Wednesday, January 27, 2016

On this Day...a step back in time

History is filled with myth and mystery, fact and fiction. It is the foundation of who we are, from whence we came. Each step back in time brings forward the beginnings of so much that has made us what we are today. Wartime and peacetime have both left their marks. As for foundings and inventions, some come, some go, many leaving the imagination to wonder how people ever survived without them. The things taken for granted today in the 21st century had to begin somewhere some time with those who lived without them actually surviving.

Can you imagine life without the Internet?

Journey a few years back...

2010 Steve Jobs (Apple) unveiled (announced) the "iPad." This became known as the first-generation iPad. 300,000 iPads were sold on their first day of availability. During the first 80 days, three million iPads were sold. This iPad was relatively short lived for on March 2, 2011, Apple announced the new iPad2 and the discontinuation of production of the original iPad. By the launch of the iPad2, Apple sold more than 15 million iPads.

Now, go farther back to the 20th century...

1957 The "CBS Radio Workshop" was heard for the first time. It was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled “radio’s distinguished series to man’s imagination,” it was a revival of the earlier broadcasts in 1932 and from 1936 to 1943. The CBS Radio Workshop was one of American network radio's last attempts to hold onto, and perhaps recapture, some of the demographics they had lost to television in the post-World War Two era.

1944 The world was at war. World War II, which started in 1935, would not end until 1945. Men and women served their prospective countries but still found times for leisure and enjoyment. The bowling alleys of Fort McClellan, Alabama, were well patronized by the WAC Det #2 in their off-duty hours.

Also in 1944...

Leningrad liberated by Soviet Troops from siege by Nazi troops in approx. 880 days. Some reports death count at 600,000, others much higher, 980,000 soldiers/officers of the Red Army and a million civilians. 2014 marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad.

Casey Stengel, manager of the Boston Braves since 1938, resigns. Lou Perini, Guido Rugo, & Joseph Maney buy control of Boston Braves.

How about even farther back to the 19th century...

1880 Thomas Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp. Can you imagine life without this invention? Hard to do so in today's society yet during century upon century, people managed!

1888 The National Geographic Society was founded in Washington, DC. The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States of America, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions in the world. On January 13, 1888, 33 explorers and scientists gathered at the Cosmos Club, a private club then located on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., to organize "a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge." After preparing a constitution and a plan of organization, the National Geographic Society was incorporated two weeks later on January 27, 1888.

Keep going to the 18th century...

1785 1st U.S. state university chartered, Athens Georgia. Founded in 1785 as the United States' first state-chartered university, it is the oldest and largest of Georgia's institutions of higher learning and along with the College of William and Mary and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill claims the title of the oldest public university in the United States.