To all of you a happy last day of April, a time of year psychologically associated with the very end of any possible winter weather before next fall comes rolling in. And what a great day that is in history; the birth of a web, the death of a dweeb and some guy who gave his name to something really not good.
On this day in 1789 George Washington becomes the first US president to trip on the steps and come close to breaking his neck in public right after being inaugurated into office, a tradition that only one of his many successors would be patriotic enough to carry over. Congress was so impress by the President’s stunt that they tried passing legislation to have his face painted on every step in the land, eventually settling on just the dollar bill instead.
1804 saw British forces make first official combat use of a weapon invented by Lt. Henry Shrapnel, a hollow shell which when fired would scatter its metallic content and do some nasty damage on the bad guys. Upon learning that the weapon would forever bear his name (and award him a yearly restitution of 1,200 pounds or 128 grand in today’s US money), Henry reportedly expressed relief that Thomas Edison wasn’t even born yet.
The first prototype for Bugs Bunny, then named Happy Rabbit, appeared on the big screen in 1939, co-starring in the cartoon short Porky’s Hare Hunt. Charges of indecency however forced theatres to pull the feature and producers to completely revamp the character. Apparently, Happy Rabbit wasn’t wearing gloves when slapping the little pig around.
Speaking of gloves, a year later California’s boxing commission licensed its first lady referee, Belle Martell, the wife of a boxing trainer and herself an announcer and time keeper. Two weeks after her debut, referring a bout between Johnny “Wife-Beater” Mongz and Jimmy “Babe-go-fetch-me-a-beer” Archuleta, the same state commission instigated a ban on opposite-sex referees. Some members of the commission felt that putting a 5’10 woman with galvanized-steel stilettos in the ring with two gorillas wasn’t quite the sports they had in mind.
Also disillusioned on this date in 1945 was poor bumbling ol’ sap Adolph Hitler, who’s wife didn’t agree with the fact that having just married him meant having to sleep with him, and claimed she’d just as soon be dragged down to the bunker and have her brains blown. He took her to her word, then had a look inside the pistol’s cannon to see how many rounds were left. Hilarity ensued.
Closer to us in 1993, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as CERN, inaugurates a communication tool in the works since 1989 under the name “Project Engine”, meant to facilitate information sharing between researchers and that should never fall in the hands of unscrupulous individuals bent on shamelessly screwing people out of their hard-earned cash. The project would later be commonly referred to as World Wide Web.
And finally a momentous event took place on April 30th 2003: President George W. Bush officially declared an end to combat operations in Iraq, promising the return home of all American troops within the next 45 years. *cough*
WOW: Words Of (a certain) Wisdom
“I have opinions of my own- strong opinions- but I don’t always agree with them.”
- George Herbert Walker Bush (Papa Bush)