| The trial and execution of of Socrates in Athens in 399 B.C.E. puzzles historians. Why, in a society enjoying more freedom and democracy than any the world had ever seen, would a seventy-year-old philosopher be put to death for what he was teaching? Socrates stood before a jury of 500 of his fellow Athenians accused of "refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state" and "of corrupting the youth." |
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| In 1758, mustard was first advertised for sale in America, by Benjamin Jackson who had set up business in Globe Mills, Germantown, Philadelphia, selling mustard packed in glass bottles with his label on them. In the Philadelphia Chronicle, Penn., he claimed to be "the original establisher of the mustard manufactory in American, and ... at present, the only manufacturer on the continent," and that he had brought the art with him from London to America. |
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| St. Louis was founded by the French in 1764 when Auguste Chouteau established a fur-trading post and Pierre Laclède Liguest, a New Orleans merchant, founded a town at the present site. They named it after King Louis XV of France and his patron saint, Louis IX. From 1770 to 1803, St. Louis was a Spanish possession, but it was ceded back to France in 1803 in accordance with the Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800), only to be acquired by the U.S. as part of the Louisiana purchase later that year. |
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| Originally these ballots, which are still used in many smaller municipalities across the county, were called 'vest-pocket tickets'. Why? Because the ballot ticket slid into a heavy-paper pocket which fit nicely in a vest pocket. |
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| The "City Dispatch Post"; of New York issued in early 1842. These stamps became a semi-official government issue in September 1842, under the name "United States City Dispatch Post";, albeit their use was limited to city delivery. |
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| Parsons embarked on a 72-inch reflector. To make a disc six feet in diameter was an enormous
undertaking; the turf-fired furnace had to burn for ten hours in order to reach a sufficient temperature, and they
needed three crucibles - each 24 feet across - to hold enough speculum metal. The casting worked but the mirror broke
after a month of grinding. The second time around he was successful. The concave mirror was six feet in diameter and
weighed four tons.
By February 1845, the telescope had become known as The Leviathan of Parsonstown and was ready for use. Parsons, by now the third Earl of Rosse, wanted to find out about nebulae. A number had been discovered in deep space, but to an ordinary telescope each nebula looked like a faint blur; it was difficult to determine whether it was a cloud of gas or a multitude of stars. |
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| On the first complete map of Boston, drafted by Captain John Bonner in 1722, is a record of three trees only, standing at the time the first settlers came. One of these, represented as the largest, was the Old Elm on Boston Common, blown down in the great storm of 1876. |
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| In Washington D.C., Belva Lockwood lobbied Congress on three separate occasions to change the Supreme Court admissions rules to allow a woman to argue before the court. Her efforts succeeded, and in 1879 she became the first female lawyer to argue before the highest court in the country. |
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| The battleship U.S.S. Maine is sent on a "courtesy" visit to Havana, with words of friendship to Spain, which sends a naval ship to New York in exchange. The Maine blows up in Cuba's Havana harbor, killing 266. Spain's government is blamed. Spain denies the charge. President McKinley gives into passions, goes before Congress, asks and receives authority to send troops to Cuba. |
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| The first teddy bear in America was made by Morris and Rose Michtom, Russian immigrants and owners of a toy novelty store in Brooklyn, New York. In the U.S., it is said they connected teddy bear name with President Theodore Roosevelt (also nicknamed "Teddy"). While bear hunting in Mississippi in 1902, Roosevelt decided to spare the life of a bear cub which had been orphaned during the hunt. Inspired by a cartoon about Roosevelt's deed in the Washington Post, Mrs. Michtom made a toy bear and upon being displayed as "Teddy's Bear" in the shop window, the bear proved enormously popular with the public. | |
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| A group of twenty officers who served in the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in France in World War I is credited with planning the Legion. A.E.F. Headquarters asked these officers to suggest ideas on how to improve troop morale. One officer, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., proposed an organization of veterans. In February, 1919, this group formed a temporary committee, and selected several hundred officers who had the confidence and respect of the whole army. |
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| In 1920 the world's first advertised public broadcast programme , from Chelmsford was broadcast and in 1922 broadcasts began from Marconi House in London (2LO). The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in London by Marconi and five other companies. |
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| Harry S. New, postmaster general under President Calvin Coolidge, wanted the airmail carriers to expand their routes and to buy larger airplanes to carry more passengers. New awarded eight airmail routes to seven airmail carriers, beginning in October 1925. One carrier, Ford Air Transport, won two of the routes and was the first to fly airmail under contract, starting on February 15, 1926. |
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| Dracula is one of the earliest classic American horror films from Universal Pictures - an acclaimed masterpiece directed by Tod Browning. With this "talkie" horror film, Hungarian stage actor Bela Lugosi (originally named Bela Blasko), who had starred in the smash-hit Broadway stage play, took over the part for the film when Lon Chaney, Sr. ("The Man of a Thousand Faces") died of throat cancer. |
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| Burns & Allen were touring England in 1929 when they made their first radio appearance on the BBC. Burns & Allen returned to America and joined "The Guy Lombardo Show" in 1932. By 1934, the comedy had become the main attraction, and the show was re-titled "The Adventures of Gracie." |
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| In December of 1940 a long-running spat between American radio networks and the music publishing organisation known as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) came to a head. The radio stations refused to increase their music broadcasting payments. Ellington's repertoire was virtually wiped out overnight. He needed a completely new set. Billy Strayhorn, a young songwriter, and Duke Ellington's son, Mercer, got to work. After only a couple of days the two men had written an impressive array of numbers including a brushed up version of Strayhorn's "Take The A Train." Suitably impressed, Ellington was to use it as his new theme tune on radio broadcasts. It became his greatest commercial success. |
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| Cinderella is the twelfth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. It was produced by Walt Disney, and released to theaters on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Songs in the film include "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes", "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", "So This is Love," "Sing Sweet Nightingale", and "Cinderella". |
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| Ernest Lawrence built the Bevatron at Berkeley, California (BeV, at the time, was what we now call GeV). The Bevatron could collide two protons together at an energy of 6.2 GeV, expected to be the optimum for producing antiprotons. Meanwhile a team of physicists, headed by Emilio Segre', designed and built a special detector to see the antiprotons. |
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| In 1954, an ocean exploration depth record of 13,287 feet (4,050 meters, over 2,000 fathoms, or over 2-1/2 miles) in FNRS III was set when two French Navy officers, Lt. Commander Georges Houot and Lt. Pierre Willm, reached the Atlantic Ocean floor, 120 miles southwest of Dakar, Senegal, Africa, in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The French research submersible they used was untethered and self-propelled, designed by Auguste Piccard, and built by the French Navy. This exceeded Otis Barton's 1948 diving record of 4,500 feet (1,372 meters) off the coast of California in a tethered modified bathysphere. |
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| In 1955, the General Electric Company announced their successful synthesis of 1/16" diamonds using the first process that was reproducible. The GE Super Pressure Project research team had worked since 1951 to create a special pressure vessel to subject carbon compounds to pressures of up to 1,500,000 lb/sq.in. at temperatures of up to 5,000 deg F. Manufactured diamonds are used as abrasives in masonry saws, mining drill bits, polishing machinery, and cutting tools. |
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| "Get a Job" was written by group member Richard Lewis when he was in the US army. When he returned to his Philadelphia home, he joined a church quartet, the Gospel Tornadoes, which evolved into a secular group, the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds recorded for a local label (Kae Records) owned by DJ Kae Williams, whose first act as manager of the group was to suggest that they change their name. Group member Earl Beal offered The Silhouettes. |
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| In the first three months of 1958, Elvis recorded songs for his fourth motion picture, "King Creole." The "Don't" and "I Beg of You" singles were released in late January. "King Creole" also starred Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dean Jagger and Vic Morrow. |
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| TRITON put to sea on her shakedown cruise on February 15, 1960, bound for the South Atlantic. She arrived in the middle Atlantic off St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks on February 24 to commence its history-making voyage. Having remained submerged since her departure from the east coast, TRITON continued on south towards Cape Horn, rounded the tip of South America and headed west across the Pacific. After transiting the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagoes and crossing the Indian Ocean, she rounded the Cape of Good Hope and arrived off the St. Peter and Paul Rocks on April 10 - 60 days and 21 hours after departing the mid-ocean landmark. She arrived back at Groton on May 10, having completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the earth. |
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| John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote this in McCartney's living room after they skipped school one day. The Beatles performed this on their first 2 Ed Sullivan Show appearances, which took place a week apart in February, 1964. Getting on the show was a really big deal because it had a huge audience. About 73 million people watched the first show, which made The Beatles household names. This wasn't released as a single in England. In the US, it was released as the flip side of "I Want To Hold Your Hand," which was their first hit in the America. |
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| Sly Stone wrote this about how everyone is essentially the same, regardless of race or background. Billy Preston played organ on this. Preston has appeared on many famous songs, including some by The Beatles and Rolling Stones. |
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| Written by Clint Ballard, Jr., "You're No Good" was originally recorded by Betty Everett. Ballard wrote songs for Connie Francis and The Hollies. Emmylou Harris sang backup on this. |
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| "How Will I Know" was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who record as Boy Meets Girl and had a hit in 1988 with "Waiting For A Star To Fall." George and Shannon were a romantic couple, and secured a record deal with A&M Records after writing a batch of songs together and playing the Seattle club scene. |
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0399 Philosopher Socrates sentenced to death
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1758 Mustard was advertised for the first time in America
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1764 St Louis founded as a French trading post
by Pierre Laclade Ligue
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1799 Printed ballots were authorized for use in
elections in the State of Pennsylvania.
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1842 First adhesive postage stamps in US (private
delivery company), New York, NY
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1845 William Parsons - the Earl of Rosse - first
uses 72-inch reflector
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1876 Historic Elm at Boston blown down
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1879 Female attorneys to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court
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1895 23 cm (9") of snow falls on New Orleans
1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor
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1903 First Teddy Bear introduced in America
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1919 American Legion organizes in Paris
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1922 Marconi begins regular broadcasting transmissions
from Essex
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1926 Contract air mail service begins in US
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1931 First Dracula movie released
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1931 Spring training site of New York Yankees
in St Petersburg is renamed Miller Huggins Field in honor of the team's late
manager
1932 Burns and Allen debuted as
regulars on "The Guy Lombardo Show"
More ...
1936 State record low temperature of -60°
in Parshall, ND
1941 Duke Ellington first records "Take the
A Train"
More ...
1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released
More ...
1954 First bevatron in operation-Berkeley CA
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1954 Ocean depth record
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1955 First pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds
announced
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1956 Pirates & Kansas City A's cancel an exhibition
game in Birmingham AL, because of local ordinance barring black from playing
against white
1958 "Get A Job", by The Silhouettes, reached the top
spot on the music Tunedex
More ...
1958 "Don't/I Beg of You" by Elvis Presley
topped the pop charts
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1960 US nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater
round-world trip
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1964 "I Saw Here Standing There" by
the Beatles topped the charts
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1964 Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!" album
goes #1 & stays #1 for 11 weeks
1969 "Everyday People" by Sly &
the Family Stone topped the charts
More ...
1972 William Kolff obtained a patent for the soft
shell mushroom shaped artificial heart
1975 "You're No Good" by Linda Ronstadt
topped the charts
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1985 The Centers for Disease Control reported
that more than half of all nine-year-olds in the U.S. showed no sign of tooth
decay. Fluoride was given credit for these ‘pearly’ figures.
1986 "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston
topped the charts
More ...
1990 Baseball owners lock out players