08 September 2018
Interesting tidbits:
1504 – Michelangelo's David was unveiled in Florence.
1565 – The Knights of Malta lifted the Turkish siege of Malta that began on May 18. Many authors have tried to capture the desperation and ferocity of the siege and the astonishment that 6,000 defenders could win over almost 5 times as many seasoned professional Ottoman troops. It is also fictionalized in the video game Age of Empires III. More famously, the Knights annual tribute of a single Maltese falcon to the King of Spain was used as the plot hook in Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon.
1810 – The Tonquin set sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men establish the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.
1860 – The Steamship Lady Elgin sank on Lake Michigan, with the loss of around 300 lives. The Lady Elgin was a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship that was rammed in a gale by the schooner Augusta in the early hours of September 8, 1860. The Lady Elgin disaster remains the greatest loss of life on open water in the history of the Great Lakes.
1883 – The Northern Pacific Railway was completed in a ceremony at Gold Creek, Montana. Former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final “golden spike” in an event attended by rail and political luminaries.
1888 – Isaac Peral's submarine, the world's first practical submarine ever built, made it's first successful trial run. In a test with naval authorities, the Peral submarine successfully attacked a cruiser at night without being noticed and returned to port without any damage on the 8th of September of 1888. However, for what seem to be political reasons the project was cancelled and no further submarines were built.
1888 – In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, was found. Modern analysis techniques have been applied to the Ripper evidence, but have not indicated the Ripper's identity.
1930 – 3M began marketing Scotch transparent tape.
1944 – World War II: London was hit by a V-2 rocket for the first time.
1960 – In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicated the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).
1962 – Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, 9F locomotive 92220 Evening Star.
1966 – The first Star Trek series premiered. Fans know the story that Star Trek's Nielsen ratings were low, and the network canceled it after three seasons and 79 episodes. And how the show became a cult classic in broadcast syndication during the 1970s. We also know that the show eventually spawned a franchise, consisting of additional television series, theatrical films, and numerous books, games, toys, and other products. But the show's real legacy is the class of shows that were loved by fans, cancelled by the professional "media expers", and had a major influence on popular culture. Firefly comes to mind.
2004 – NASA's unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-landed when its parachute failed to open.
Today's birthday crew:
1922 – Sid Caesar, American comedian and actor.
1925 – Peter Sellers, English film actor, comedian and singer.
1937 – Archie Goodwin, American comic book writer, editor artist (Yes, that is his name) best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work.
1954 – Michael Shermer, American historian and writer, founded The Skeptics Society.
1971 – Martin Freeman, English actor best known for his portrayal of Tim Canterbury in The Office, Dr. Watson in Sherlock, and Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit film trilogy. Freeman also appeared in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
1979 – Pink, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress.
Happy birthday guys!
