ON THIS DAY

On this date, in 1588, the last of the Spanish Armada was destroyed by the British. Commander Lou Schlipps had been in charge of the British fleet and his victory inspired the famous phrase, "Lou Schlipps sinks ships!"

It was on this date in 1609, Galileo demonstrated his telescope for the first time. After checking out the neighbor, he aimed it towards the stars. It was then decided they should probably do this at night.

In 1709, the very first ascent in a hot air balloon took place... indoors! Things were going great until he bumped into that sharp lighting fixture. That was when the pilot uttered those immortal words, "How in the hell do I get this thing down?"

On this date in 1829, a locomotive was operated in the western hemisphere for the first time. It only went two feet and would have gone a lot farther if there had only been railroad tracks.

In 1876, Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his mimeograph, a "method of preparing autographic stencils for printing." Before copying, before Xeroxing, there was mimeograph. Copy that. If you're old enough to remember what that was, you might remember when it came out.

On this date in 1888, the revolving door was patented.
  • Up until that time, it was a lot harder for employees to come and go. And if they did, they had nothing to compare it to.
  • Until then, people had no way to describe a company with high employee turnover.
  • It was invented by a guy who worked at a place with a high turnover.
  • Until then, companies that hired and fired people regularly had to use regular doors.

In 1963 that Britain's Great Train Robbery took place, as thieves ambushed a mail train and made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes. That was much more than thieves stole a few years earlier during the famous "Good, but not Great Train Robbery."

On this day in 1974, Richard Nixon resigned himself that he was going to resign. It was a black day for blue suits.

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