People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better.
413 BC
A lunar eclipse causes panic among the sailors of the Athens fleet, affecting the outcome of a battle in the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians were ready to move their forces from Syracuse when the Moon was eclipsed. The soldiers and sailors are frightened by this celestial omen and are reluctant to leave. The fleet’s commander, Nicias, consults soothsayers and postpones the fleet’s departure for twenty-seven days. The delay gives an advantage to their enemies, the Syracusans, who go on to defeat the entire Athenian fleet and army, killing Nicias in the process.
1783
The first experimental hydrogen-filled balloon leaves Champs de Mars, Paris, unmanned, and reaches a 900m altitude. Under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, Jacques A.C. Charles sent up a 13ft (4m) diameter hydrogen-filled balloon of rubber-coated silk. One of the spectators present for the demonstration is the American ambassador Benjamin Franklin. The gas had been manufactured, beginning on August 23, 1783, by pouring 225kg of sulphuric acid over half a ton of scrap iron. Able to lift about 9kg, it travels 24km in about forty-five minutes. The balloon descended close to the little village of Gonesse, where frightened local farmers attacked it with pick axes and spades, leaving only torn remains.
1875
The element Gallium was discovered by P.E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. In an article in the Annales de Chimie in 1877, he will recount the discovery, “On August 27, 1875, between three and four at night, I perceived the first indications of the existence of a new element that I named gallium in honor of France (Gallia).” His first spectroscopic analysis of the tiny amount (he estimated 1/100 mg) of the prepared sample showed a previously unknown violet line at 417.0, indicating a new element.
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Is this Microsoft’s mis-guided attempt at humor, or just the honest sentiment of some harried employee?
The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.
1346
A cannon is first used during a battle in France, using a round ball carved from rock. Edward III of England reportedly uses twenty-two cannons during to defeat of Philip VI of France at Crécy. These cannons, with no more power than a trebuchet, were incapable of bring down the walls by themselves. Their primary purpose is psychological. The flash and noise of them make it impossible for the French to forget that their lives are in danger. Their effect will be recorded in a well known manuscript, Froissart’s Chroniques of the battle of Crécy. “The English fired of some cannons which they had brought to the battle to frighten the Genoese.” However, despite the extensive use of cannons, the battle’s victory will be attributed to the longbowmen.
1843
The first US typewriter design is patented by Charles Thurber of Norwich, Connecticut. (US No. 3,228) The patent is described as a “machine for printing by hand by pressing upon keys which contain the type, called ‘Thurber’s Patent Printer.’” Thurber is the first to design a mechanism which places the paper on a roller and move it longitudinally with accurate letter and word spacing.
1858
News is dispatched via telegraph for the first time in history. The news is a story concerning China’s agreement to the peace demands of Europe, and it is sent to The New York Sun, which will print the story the next day.
1884
The first US patent for the Linotype typesetting machine is issued to Ottmar Mergenthaler of Baltimore, Maryland. (US No. 304,272) The patent is for a “matrix making machine.” It will first be used commercially on July 3, 1886.
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Show your love of both gaming and tech with one shirt. This shirt, available from Wire and Twine, comes in sizes ranging from XS to 3X in either army gray or navy blue for fifteen dollars. Unfortunately, they all come with the same teal ink.
Also, don’t miss the video on the making of this Tii-Shirt at Vimeo.
Source: Wire&Twine
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