09 September 2018 Interesting tidbits:

09 September 2018

Interesting tidbits:

AD 9 – Arminius' alliance of six Germanic tribes ambushed and annihilated three Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Arminius is the Latinized version of the Germanic name Hermann, leading to the oft used phrase "Herman the German."

1753 - The first steam engine arrived in the US colonies.

1830 - Charles Durant, the first US aeronaut, flew a balloon from Castle Garden, NYC to Perth Amboy, NJ.

1839 – John Herschel took the first glass plate photograph.

1886 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was finalized.

1892 - E E Barnard at Lick Observatory discovered Amalthea, he 5th moon of Jupiter.

1908 - Orville Wright made the first 1-hr airplane flight at Fort Myer, VA.

1914 – The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade made it the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.

1940 – George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer.

1947 – First actual case of a computer bug being found: a moth lodged in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University.

1956 – Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

1972 – In Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, a Cave Research Foundation exploration and mapping team discovered a link between the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems, making it the longest known cave passageway in the world.

1978 - Venera 11 Launch (USSR Venus Lander).

2001 – At exactly 01:46:40 UTC, the Unix billenium was reached, marking the beginning of the use of 10-digit decimal Unix timestamps.

2015 - According to the authorities at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning British monarch this evening.

Today's birthday crew:

1737 – Luigi Galvani, Italian physician and physicist who discovered that the muscles of dead frogs legs twitched when struck by a spark. Galvani's work inspired Mary Shelley in the creation of her novel Frankenstein.

1754 – William Bligh, British admiral and statesmen, 4th Governor of New South Wales. Despite the stories about Mutiny on the Bounty, Captain Bligh was a respected naval officer who was occasionally given difficult or potentially dangerous assignments. Interestingly, the name Bligh comes from the Cornish (related to Welsh) word Blyth, meaning Wolf.

1823 – Joseph Leidy, American paleontologist.

1828 – Leo Tolstoy, Russian author.

1839 – "Devil" Anse Hatfield, Patriarch of Hatfield Family. (Despite the series on the History Channel, no one EVER called him "Devil" Anse to his face.)

1873 – Max Reinhardt, German director and actor.

1890 - Harland Sanders, American businessman, best known for founding Kentucky Fried Chicken (now known as KFC).

1899 – Neil Hamilton, American actor known for his role as Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV series of the 1960s.

1900 – James Hilton, English novelist and scriptwriter best remembered for "Lost Horizon".

1903 – Phyllis A. Whitney, American author.

1941 – Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language.

1952 – Angela Cartwright, American actress best known as Penny Robinson in the 1960s television series Lost in Space.

1954 – Jeffrey Combs, American actor whose best known horror role was as Dr. Herbert West, the main character in the movie Re-Animator, which he has reprised in the film's two sequels. He also portrayed author H. P. Lovecraft (creator of the Herbert West character) in 1993's film Necronomicon: Book of the Dead. Combs has starred in eight H.P. Lovecraft adaptations. His largest science-fiction role to date has been his regular guest role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Vorta clone Weyoun. He also had a recurring role as the Ferengi character Brunt. During the DS9 episode "The Dogs of War", Combs appeared as both Weyoun and Brunt, making Trek history as the first actor to play two unrelated recurring roles on screen in the same episode. On Star Trek: Enterprise, Combs had a recurring role as Shran, an Andorian military officer. Combs also voices the character of Romulan Commander Suldok for the "Star Trek: Elite Force II" video game. In July 2009, Combs returned to his stage roots and reprised his role as Edgar Allan Poe in a one-man theatrical show entitled Nevermore...an Evening with Edgar Allan Poe. Although only supposed to run for a month, the show enjoyed much success and sold-out crowds, and was extended four times. Nevermore as it is now simply known, closed its run in Los Angeles on December 19, 2009. Combs stars with Andrew Divoff in the 2012 Screen Media Films release Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation, a prequel to the 2006 cult hit Night of the Living Dead 3D. Combs is also the voice of the narrator in the online game called Imperium Galactic War.

1955 – John Kricfalusi, Canadian animator.

1968 – Julia Sawalha, English actress (Absolutely Fabulous, Johnathan Creek).

1976 – Chace Ambrose, American actor and screenwriter.

1987 – Joshua Herdman, English actor known for his roles in the Harry Potter films as Gregory Goyle. He has appeared in all eight movies of the series.

Happy birthday guys!