ON THIS DAY

On this date in 1777, forces under General George Washington suffered defeat at the hands of the British in the Battle of Brandywine. It was fought near Wilmington, Delaware and was named after why the patriots lost. Must be something about September that causes Patriots to lose.

In 1789, Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. He didn't want the job at first, but then the government offer to put his face on the $10 bill and, well, the rest is history. He was told that, if he didn't do a really good job, some day he would be replaced by Eleanor Roosevelt.

On this date in 1853, the electric telegraph was used for the very first time.

A series of dots and dashes was used to order a box of Dots and some Dash laundry detergent. It was a confusing time.
They didn't catch on fire as easily as the gas-powered ones.
It had actually been invented years before, but the owner was a guy and refused to read the instruction book.
The trick was always finding an extension cord long enough.
Consider it the earliest form of Twitter. More like "Clicker."
In 1910, the very first commercial electric bus line opened in Hollywood, CA. People loved the quietness of the electric buses but hated having to listen to all those commercials. Outside of people continually tripping over the extension cord, it worked pretty well.

On this date in 1946, the very first mobile long-distance car-to-car telephone conversation took place. Well, it wasn't that long-distance. It was the car behind calling and saying "Hey, get off the phone. The light is green!"

In 1950, the "Dick Tracy" TV show sparked an uproar concerning violence on television. If they only knew how mild that was compared today. At least their wrist watches worked better back then.

On this date in 1985, Pete Rose got a single that put him in the record books as baseball's all-time career hit leader... and won him $25.

In 2001, our world was forever changed when terrorists crashed two hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York, bringing down the twin 110-story towers, killing more than 3000 people. Another hijacked plane slams into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, killing at least 189 people. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in rural southern Pennsylvania, killing 44 people aboard. It was worst single act of terrorism ever committed on U.S. soil. On December 13, 2001 the U.S. government released a tape in which Osama bin Laden took responsibility for the attacks. On on May 2, 2011, bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by U.S. Special Forces who attacked bin Laden's compound on direct orders from President Obama.

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