Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The first stock exchange

The first stock exchange in the United States was established in the city of Philadelphia in 1790. The exchange provided brokerage and equity trading for government and semi-government bonds, public works projects, and fledgling banks. The stock exchange resided in The City Tavern, also known as the Merchants Coffee House, until 1834.
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Monday, November 29, 2010

PONG

The PONG video arcade game was released by Atari on November 29, 1972. PONG is a video adaptation of tennis where players volley a graphical ball by controlling simple up and down movement of a racquet. PONG was the first video game experience for the masses and was a huge commercial success through the 1970s.
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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Instant camera

Polaroid Corporation founder Edwin H. Land demonstrated the first "instant" camera at a meeting of the Optical Society of America in 1947. The Land camera let users snap a picture, turn a knob, and sixty-seconds later, produce a finished photograph print. The first Polaroid instant camera was sold to the public in November 1948, ushering in a new era of photography for the masses.
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Saturday, November 27, 2010

The first World Cup

The first World Cup tournament was hosted by Uruguay in 1930. Thirteen nations participated, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America. Argentina and Uruguay played the first World Cup final. Victoriano Santos Iriarte scored the game winning goal for Uruguay in the 68th minute of the second half. Uruguay won the match 4-2.
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Friday, November 26, 2010

The NHL

The National Hockey League was founded on November 26, 1917. The teams that played the NHL's first season included: the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas. The Montreal Wanderers defeated the Toronto Arenas 10-9 in the NHL's first regulation game.
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Thursday, November 25, 2010

First motor car race

The Chicago Times-Herald newspaper announced the first motor car race in the United States in June 1895. On November 28, 1895, a field of six vehicles --four gas-powered and two electric-- left Chicago for a 54 mile race to Evanston, Illinois and back. Frank Duryea won the race in just over ten hours at an average speed of about 7.3 miles per hour. Duryea earned $2,000 for the victory.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The first pizza

The first pizza was first created by chef Raffeale Esposito in Naples, Italy in the late 1880s. Flat breads called "pizzas" were popular in Italy through the 1800s but were not topped with anything. Esposito formalized the pizza by making a pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil for Italian Queen Margherita in 1889, which became one of the queen's favorite dishes.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The first traffic lights

The first traffic lights appeared before the advent of the automobile. The first traffic light was a revolving gas lantern with red and green lights installed in a London intersection in 1868. Garrett Augustus Morgan invented the modern day traffic light and received a patent on November 23, 1923. His t-shaped traffic signal was used throughout North America.
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Monday, November 22, 2010

Thanksgiving

The Pilgrim's feast celebrating their first harvest in their new land in 1621 is often referred to as the first Thanksgiving. The three day feast brought together natives and pilgrims who ate plentiful amounts of venison, turkey, duck, and geese. President Lincoln made Thanksgivings a national holiday in 1863. Congress officially designated Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November In 1941.
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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer, became the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress in November 2007. The democrat won a Minnesota seat in the House of Representatives by promoting national issues such as health insurance and energy. Mr. Ellison had served in the Minnesota House of Representatives and also the Minneapolis City Council.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Boston Police

The Boston Police Department became first paid, professional public safety department in the United States in 1838. The police force consisted of 260 officers and a chief, and was structured and modeled after the London Police force. A typical Boston police officer on duty carried a six-foot pole, painted blue and white to protect himself, and a "police rattle" to call for assistance.
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Friday, November 19, 2010

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse first appeared in a film named "Steamboat Willie" on November 19, 1928, at the Colony Theatre in New York. This film also featured the first appearance of Minnie Mouse. Walt Disney created Mickey during a train ride from New York to Los Angeles. Walt's wife Lilly suggested the name "Mickey Mouse".
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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Women voting

New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote. With the signing of the Electoral Bill by Governor Lord Glasgow, New Zealand gave national voting rights to its women citizens. New Zealand women first went to the polls in the national elections of November 1893. The U.S. granted women the right to vote in 1920. Great Britain guaranteed full voting rights for women in 1928.
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Income tax

The first income tax in the United States was enacted in 1862. Congress passed the income tax law in order to raise revenue to pay for the Civil War effort. A typical worker during this time paid about three percent of their income in taxes. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system.
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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Lisa

In 1983, Apple Computer announced the Lisa, the first commercial computer with a graphical user interface and mouse, designed for the mass market. The Lisa was named after Steve Jobs' daughter, however Lisa officially stood for "Logical Integrated Software Architecture." Although critically acclaimed, the Lisa generated relatively low sales numbers due to its $10,000 price tag.
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Monday, November 15, 2010

Cable television

John Walson established the first Community Antenna Television (CATV), now called cable television, in the hills of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania in June 1948. Walson connected a large antennae receiving Philadelphia television at his appliance store with several nearby homes via a physical wire, enabling clear TV reception. John Walson is credited as the founder of the cable television industry.
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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Email

Ray Tomlinson sent the first email messages in late 1971. While working on the TENEX timesharing system, Tomlinson modified the existing SNDMG mail utility and CYPTNET protocol to allow mail transmission from one ARPANET host to another. Tomlinson also devised the ubiquitous @ between the user's name and the host name.
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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Electric guitars

The first electric guitar was developed by Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp in the early 1930s. Production of an aluminum cast, six-string electric guitar nicknamed the "Frying Pan" began in Rickenbacker's Los Angeles tool and die plant in 1931. Use of electric guitars was initially slow due to the Great Depression and musicians' skepticism.
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Friday, November 12, 2010

Zoos

The world's first zoological garden was established in Vienna, Austria in 1752. Emperor Franz I commissioned the design of a menagerie in the park of Schönbrunn, which consisted of twelve equally sized animal houses along with an administrative building. In summer 1752, after a one-year construction period, the animals were brought to the zoo and presented to the public.
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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was the first woman to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. On November 11, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson awarded Dr. Mary Edwards Walker the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously to recognize her contributions during the Civil War. Dr. Edwards served as a volunteer surgeon in the Army and was also taken prisoner by the Confederate army for four months.
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Street lights

The UK city of Godalming installed the world's first electric street lights in 1881. The electric current for the lights was produced by two water wheels in the nearby River Wey as well as an additional steam engine. Siemens A.C. alternators and dynamos transferred the electric power from the generators to the city's electric arc street lamps.
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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone magazine was founded by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The first issue of Rolling Stone Magazine was sold from the publication's San Francisco office on November 9, 1967. The bi-weekly magazine's first edition cover resembled a newspaper, and featured a photograph of Beatle John Lennon from his film "How I Won the War."
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Monday, November 8, 2010

Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey originated around 1800 at King's College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The students adapted the field game of Hurley to the ice and originated a new winter game called Ice Hurley. Over the ensuing decades, Ice Hurley gradually developed into Ice Hockey, first by the soldiers at Fort Edward, in Windsor, who brought the game with them to Halifax, Kingston, and Montreal.

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Sunday, November 7, 2010

The first First Lady

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first First Lady to be elected to a public office in the United States. On November 7, 2000, the former First Lady of the United States and the State of Arkansas defeated Republican Rick Lazio by a resounding 55% to 43% to become the first female U.S. Senator to represent New York state.
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Saturday, November 6, 2010

Meet the Press

NBC TV's "Meet the Press" is the longest-running network television program. The political interview panel show premiered on NBC on November 6, 1947. James A. Farley, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Franklin Roosevelt’s postmaster general was the show's first guest. The show's most frequent guest through the years has been Senator Bob Dole.
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Friday, November 5, 2010

Coffee

The coffee plant was first discovered in the Ethiopian region of Kaffa and its use spread to other parts of Africa and the Middle East. Coffee as a beverage was first served up by Arabians and Turks in 800 B.C. Around this time, stories tell about a mysterious black and bitter beverage with powers of stimulation.
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Thursday, November 4, 2010

The election of 1848

The election of 1848 was the first U.S. presidential election held in every state and on the same day. Zachary Taylor was elected the 12th President of the United States on November 7, 1848. Whig Party candidate won over Democrat party candidate Lewis Cass, capturing 163 of the 290 electoral votes.
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Movie rating system

On the heels of social change, court challenges, and ever-racier Hollywood films, the Motion Picture Association of America announced the first movie rating system on November 1, 1968. Movies would be rated according to one of four categories: G, M, R, and X. The M rating was subsequently replaced with PG and PG13, and the X with NC-17.
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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

KDKA in Pittsburgh

KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is credited with being the first commercial radio station in the United States. KDKA started broadcasting on November 2, 1920 under the call letters 8XK with a 75 watt signal. The first entertainment programming heard by 8XK listeners was produced by holding a microphone next to a phonograph. KDKA AM radio continues to operates in Pittsburgh.
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Monday, November 1, 2010

NBA

Toronto, Canada was the site of the first official NBA game. The New York Knicks defeated the Toronto Huskies 68-66 before a crowd of 7,090 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens on November 1, 1946. The eleven team league played 60 games during the first season. The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Chicago Stags 4-1 in the first best-of-seven NBA title series.
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