Friday, July 31, 2009

Television censorship

The first occurrence of television censorship occurred on NBC in 1944. Controversial singer Eddie Cantor was edited by NBC while he and Nora Martin performed a duet of "We're Having a Baby, My Baby and Me." NBC wanted Cantor to perform another song but Cantor refused. In order to fix the problem engineers cut the sound feed and taped Cantor from the waste up only.
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Thursday, July 30, 2009

HBO

Home Box Office first aired in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1972. HBO was established as a pay TV option with a sports focus, and served about 350 paying customers in its first year. The "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975 televised by HBO was a marquee event that established the success of the world-renowned broadcast franchise.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Pay-per-view television

The first pay-per-view television system was introduced in Chicago in 1950. The Phonevision system allowed a limited number of viewers to watch feature programming and first run movies. Each paying subscriber was equipped with a set top converter and a dedicated telephone line to receive the daily programming. The initial results of the new service were considered disappointing.
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The Red Flag Act

The world's first speed limit law was enacted in England in July 1865. The Red Flag Act introduced a speed limit of two mph in towns and villages and four mph elsewhere. A year later, the first speeding ticket was issued, followed later that year by the first road-related death.
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Monday, July 27, 2009

Motown Records

Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records in the late 1950s. He named his company after "Motown," the sound sensation centered around Detroit area bands, singers and songwriters. The record company would introduce the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye during the 1960s. Its first million-selling song was "Shop Around" recorded by the Miracles in 1961.
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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Earthquakes

In early 1783, a series of six earthquakes occurred over a two-month period centered around Calabria, Italy. The disastrous earthquakes caused massive destruction in the region killing an estimated 50,000 people. This earthquake was also historically significant in that the first formal, scientific post-earthquake investigation that included systematic documentation of the landslides was undertaken.
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Saturday, July 25, 2009

In vitro

On July 25, 1978, the world's first in vitro baby was born in Manchester, England. In vitro fertilization is a medical procedure that involves retrieving the eggs from the mother and mixing them in a lab with sperm from the father. Louise Brown was delivered as the first "test-tube" baby by caesarean section shortly before midnight, weighing 5lb 12oz.
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