A bit of June 26th history…

1284 - According to the Luneburg manuscript, a piper leads 130 children of Hamelin away (pictured)

1498 - Toothbrush is invented in China using boar bristles

1945 - United Nations Charter is signed by 50 nations in San Francisco

1974 - The Univeral Product Code (UPC) is scanned for the 1st time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum

1997 - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 1st book in series, is published

2015 - US Supreme Court rules 5-4 same-sex marriage is a legal right across all US states 

A bit of July 4th history…

1054 - Brightest known supernova SN 1054 (the Crab Nebula) 1st reported by Chinese astronomers (pictured)

1776 - US Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from Britain

1785 - James Hulton, geologist, publicly reads an abstract of his theory of uniformitarianism for 1st time

1805 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people by President Thomas Jefferson

1876 - 1st public exhibition of electric light in San Francisco

1884 - Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris

1966 - LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act

1970 - Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40″ debuts on LA radio

2012 - Scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider announce the discovery of a new particle consistent with Higgs Boson 

A bit of June 30th history…

1520 - Spanish conquistadors are expelled from Tenochtitlan following an Aztec revolt against their rule under Cortes during “La Noche Triste” (the night of sadness); many soldiers drowned in the escape and Aztec emperor Montezuma II died in the struggle.(pictured)

1860 - Famous debate on Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution at Oxford University

1906 - US Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act; these laws owe much to the journalism of the period - Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” in particular

1908 - Tunguska Event: a giant fireball, most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet, flattens 80 million trees near Stoney Tunguska River in Russia; largest event in recorded history

1937 - World’s 1st emergency call telephone service is launched in London

1938 - Superman 1st appears in DC Comics’ Action Comic Series

1982 - Federal Equal Rights Amendment falls 3 states short of ratification 

A bit of March 6th history..

1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte captures city of Jaffa, Palestine defeating the Ottoman Empire

1836 - Battle of the Alamo: After 13 days of fighting, 1500-3000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Texas defenders, killing 182-257 including William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett

1857 - Dred Scott Decision: US Supreme Court rules Africans cannot be US citizens

1869 - Mendeleev presents 1st periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society

1899 - “Aspirin” patented at Bayer

1964 - Boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to Muhammed Ali, calling his former title a “slave name” (pictured)

2017 - US President Trump signs his 2nd executive order barring travelers from 6 mostly Muslim countries, but leaves out Iraq

2018 - Forbes names Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, the world’s riches person for 1st time at $112 billion, Bill Gates #2 

On June 7, 2025 at 01:01AM, some big things happened. Click the date to read more.

A bit of March 8th history…

1531 - Henry VIII recognized as supreme head of Church of England by the Convocation of Canterbury

1817 - The NY Stock Exchange is founded

1913 - Internal Revenue Service (IRS) begins to levy and collect income taxes

1934 - Edwin Hubble photo shows as many galaxies as Milky Way has stars (pictured)

1964 - Malcolm X resigns from the Nation of Islam

2014 - Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring mysteries 

On June 6, 2025 at 01:01AM, some big things happened. Click the date to read more.

A bit of March 12th history…

1642 - Abel Tasman is 1st European to sight New Zealand

1894 - Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for 1st time

1912 - Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) forms by Juliette Gordon Low (pictured)

1980 - Jury finds John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago

2011 - A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan’s earthquake 

On June 5, 2025 at 01:00AM, some big things happened. Click the date to read more.

A bit of March 9th history…

1500 - Pedro Cabral departs Lisbon, Portugal for an expedition to India that will also claim Brazil for Portugal

1522 - Martin Luther begins preaching his “Invocavit Sermons” in Germany, reminding citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence and thus helping bring a close the Revolutionary stage of the Reformation

1776 - Adam Smith publishes influential economics book “The Wealth of Nations”

1945 - 334 US B-29 superfortresses attack Tokyo with 120,000 firebombs; deadliest air raid of WWII

1959 - Barbie makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in NY (pictured)

1998 - Dr Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment signs the unknown rapper Eminem

2007 - The US Justice Department releases an internal audit that found that the FBI had acted illegally in its use of the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about US citizens 

On June 4, 2025 at 01:01AM, some big things happened. Click the date to read more.

A bit of March 13th history…

1781 - William Hershel sees what he thinks is a comet, but is actually the discovery of the planet Uranus

1852 - Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in NY Lantern weekly (pictured)

1868 - Senate begins US President Johnson’s impeachment trial

1943 - Nazi’s liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Krakow; Oskar Schindler with advance information, save his workers by keeping them in his factory overnight

1991 - Exxon pays $1 billion in fines and clean up of Valdez oil spill 

On June 3, 2025 at 01:01AM, some big things happened. Click the date to read more.