|
1973 Americans Must Drive 55
A federal speed limit of 55 miles per hour was imposed across the United States. The new limit was intended to increase safety and fuel economy, and studies show that it succeeded. It also made speed-happy drivers cranky, and led to widespread speeding.
1900 A Car Named Mercedes
A new 35-horsepower car built by Daimler from a design by Emil Jellinek was completed. The car was named for Jellinek's daughter, Mercedes.
1990 Lech Walesa sworn in as president of Poland
Lech Walesa, well-known Polish labor leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is sworn in as the first noncommunist president of Poland since the end of World War II. His victory was another sign of the Soviet Union's lessening power and communism's waning influence in Eastern Europe.
1964 A famously controversial comedian is convicted for obscenity
Comedian Lenny Bruce is sentenced to four months in a New York jail for violating obscenity laws during his nightclub act. After the longest and costliest obscenity trial in history, Bruce was convicted for his "anthology of filth," as the prosecutor termed it. Bruce never served any time, however, because he died of a drug overdose in August 1966 while the case was on appeal.
1949 Robin and Maurice Gibb born
Twin brothers Robin and Maurice Gibb are born on this day. Together with their brother Barry, they later formed the Bee Gees (for "Brothers Gibb") and scored a record-breaking number of hits.
1972 Joni Mitchell goes gold
Joni Mitchell's album For the Roses goes gold.
1849 Dostoevsky reprieved at last minute
On this day, writer Fyodor Dostoevsky is led before a firing squad and prepared for execution. He had been convicted and sentenced to death on November 16 for allegedly taking part in antigovernment activities. However, at the last moment he was reprieved and sent into exile.
1845 Voice synthesizer
The first voice synthesizer, later known as P.T. Barnum's Euphonium, was demonstrated to the public in Philadelphia on this day in 1845. The device, developed by German inventor Joseph Faber, used a keyboard connected to a series of reeds, bellows, and chambers that mimicked the human mouth, tongue, teeth, larynx, and lungs. The machine produced sixteen basic syllables and could pronounce any word in any Western language. A mechanical head attached to the machine seemed to emit the strange-sounding but recognizable speech. P.T. Barnum exhibited the invention in London, where it was seen by Alexander Graham Bell's father, who was developing a system to teach deaf people to speak at the time.
1998 Virus infects MCI
A particularly vicious virus invaded systems at MCI WorldCom on this day in 1998. Unlike other viruses, the Remote Explorer bug was capable of damaging a system even if users did not download a file or open an e-mail attachment. The virus faked security privileges held by the system's administrator, then infected other computer servers and PCs on the network.
1998 Microsoft ordered to stop blocking rival
On this day in 1998, Microsoft was ordered to stop blocking holiday e-mail cards from Blue Mountain Arts. Blue Mountain Arts had sued Microsoft for blocking its holiday cards shortly after Microsoft launched a similar service.
1997 Another Drink for Coke
Coca-Cola went Christmas shopping on this day and came home with a rather hefty present: Orangina, the "sparkling" French beverage formerly owned by Pernod Richard. Coke’s new toy cost a cool $840 million, which caught Wall Street off-guard; financial insiders believed that Orangina’s price tag had originally been in the $600 to $700 million range. However, Coca-Cola officials were angling to expand their roster of "non-cola" drinks and Orangina, which ranked second to Coke in overall market share in France, seemed like a potentially savvy addition to the American soft-drink giant’s roster of beverages. Meanwhile, Pernod Richard planned to use the money from the deal to boost its international offerings of "wines and spirits."
1941 Churchill and Roosevelt discuss war and peace
On this day, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a future peace
|