History Schmistory: August 20. Who brought the cannon?

1882: Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky premiers the 1812 Overture in Moscow, with a section of real cannon blasting away during the finale. Six months later a cannonball falls out of the sky and kills Wagner. It was that awesome.

Don’t think you know it? Skip to 3:05….

History Schmistory: August 16. Can you hear me now?

1858: The United States exchanges overseas greetings with the United Kingdom for the first time through the transatlantic telegraph cable.

See page for author [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

See page for author [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Which was destroyed 4 weeks later by this guy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Portrait of Wildman Whitehouse, 1856-1865, Maull and Polyblank, Science Museum, 1856-1865. Object No. 1980-2/50. © This image is available for use under the following license: CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0]

His complaint was it didn’t work fast enough, so he turned up the juice too high and fried the thing. Way to go, Wildman.

He tried to make it up to everybody with a communications device of his own…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No one was amused.

History Schmistory: August 9. No more Richard jokes!

1974: President Richard M. Nixon becomes the only US president in history to resign. He does, however, retain the rights to all merchandising.
By Edmund S. Valtman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Edmund S. Valtman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

History Schmistory: August 8. Riiiiiicolaaaa!

1786: The first successful ascent of the highest mountain in the Alps and western Europe, Mont Blanc. Sadly, both climbers forgot to bring their Alphorns.

© Hans Hillewaert / , via Wikimedia Commons

© Hans Hillewaert / , via Wikimedia Commons

History Schmistory: August 3. La Scala-kazam!

1778: La Scala Opera House opens in Milan, Italy, with a show by F. Murray Abraham’s character in Amadeus.
By ungenannt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By ungenannt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Speaking of mediocre composers, here’s a Marco classic!

History Schmistory: August 1. Breathe, durn-it!

1774: Oxygen is ‘discovered’ by Britain’s Sir Joseph Priestly, and given a symbol (O), though most refer to it as “the substance formerly known as air.”
By penner (http://flickr.com/photos/penner/2450784866) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

By penner (http://flickr.com/photos/penner/2450784866) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

History Schmistory: July 23. Speak now or forever hold your tongue.

1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film. Silent film actors remain unable to vocalize their concerns.
Chaplin_The_Kid_2_crop

History Schmistory: August 31. Zeppelin’s Zeppelin

1895: German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon. He soon explores the heavens in search of the elusive stairway.

By Till Krech from Berlin, Germany (stairway to heaven  Uploaded by perumalism) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Till Krech from Berlin, Germany (stairway to heaven Uploaded by perumalism) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

History Schmistory: August 30. “Vhaaaat?”

1940: Nazi Germany re-assigns Romania’s Northern Transylvania territory to Hungary. They hold daytime meetings to avoid Dracula.

By Screenshot from "Internet Archive" of the movie Dracula (1958) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Screenshot from “Internet Archive” of the movie Dracula (1958) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Deadword of the Day: Errorist

Errorist: One who errs. A proliferator of error.

As in: Major League Baseball has had its share of errorist attacks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Herman Long

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