As we celebrate the birthday of Canadian inventor Alexander Graham Bell, let’s take a quick look at a cosmic coincidence: on the 38th anniversary of Bell’s birth, AT&T was incorporated in 1885. Some of the other Headlines Du Jour from yesteryear include:
- 1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
- 1836 – Texans celebrate the first Texas Independence Day with the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, officially broke Texas from Mexico, and creating the Republic of Texas.
- 1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.
- 1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
- 1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail.
- 1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Canada as recorded in The Montreal Gazette.
- 1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.
- 1913 – Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C.
- 1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time.
- 1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.
- 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
- 1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records “Rocket 88“, often cited as “the first rock and roll record“, at Sam Phillips‘ recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
- 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
Now let’s take a look at today’s Headlines Du Jour:
AN OSCAR WRAP-UP:
Ellen DeGeneres brings pizza and deadpan affability to Oscars
Ellen DeGeneres Breaks Twitter
With Truly Epic Oscars Selfie
Things You Missed at the Oscars:
On the Scene at the Dolby Theater
Oscars 2014: Bill Murray gives
late Harold Ramis shoutout
while presenting award
U2, Pharrell and Karen O Stun With
Showstopping Oscar Performances
Oscars 2014: Ranking the acceptance speeches! — VIDEO
Oscars: ‘In Memoriam’ Snubs Cory Monteith, James Avery, Tom Clancy
GUNS, GUNS, GUNS:
ON THE CRIMEBEAT:
FBI reports a drop in crime in
2013: why the rate continues to fall
TODAY IN RELIGION:
5 Things Kentucky Could Spend $73 Million On Instead Of A Fake Noah’s Ark
SO GLAD WE’RE LIVING IN A POST-RACIAL SOCIETY:
Man Says It’s Okay To Do Blackface If You Sleep With Black Chicks
FREE THE WEED!!!
Harvard Professor To NFL:
Treat Concussions With Pot
Marijuana legalization on
cusp of mass acceptance
IN COCONUT GROVE:
If It’s News, It’s News To The Coconut Grove Grapevine
ANOTHER DISPATCH FROM DETROIT, ‘MERKA’S FIRST THROWAWAY CITY:
Ilitches to get all revenues from new publicly financed Red Wings arena
SCIENCE IS COMPLICATED:
JAZZ CORNER:
What Louis Armstrong
Really Thinks
Louis Armstrong, in His
Own Words: Armstrong
Biographer Terry Teachout
Takes Satchmo to the Stage
VIDEO DU JOUR:
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