Today In History / February 22
Table of contents for Today In History
Today we begin a new feature here at NewsLink Briefs called Today In History. And we are doing this because it is important to remember the things that happened on this day in history. Someone once said that those who do not remember their history lessons are doomed to repeat them. And based on my experiences in school I can say this is definitely true.
And don’t assume that this means you can just repeat them one time and go on your way. You can become a habitual repeater if you are not careful. So did you know that on this day in 1913 the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution giving Congress the power to levy and collect taxes went into effect?
NOW do you see my point? Because I knew this little gem and so I do not have to pay my taxes over and over again. Oh wait. Actually I do have to pay them over and over again. I just blocked out this painful fact for a moment.
Maybe if I DIDN’T know about this I wouldn’t have to pay taxes over and over again. Then I could write this post while looking up from time to time at the neatly arranged iron bars that interfere with my view of Giant Eddie who doesn’t mind smiling even though he is missing most of his teeth.
In 1836 on this date Samuel Colt patented his famous Colt revolver. And boy was he a happy guy. Because those things were selling like hot cakes. Samuel Colt was a New England inventor who went far beyond his predecessor Eli Whitney as a “Pioneer of the machine shop”. And I know about Eli Whitney who invented the cotton gin because we both grew up in the same small town in central Massachusetts called Westborough.
Before Samuel Colt invented the revolver you only had one or two barrels at you disposal and if you missed the bear then he was probably going to eat you. After his invention went into mass production you could probably make a much greater impression on the bear and discourage him from having you for lunch. Maybe you could even have him for lunch and end up with a nice rug in front of the fireplace as well.
Progress is a mighty impressive thing.
In 1964 on this day Cassius Clay who was later known as Muhammad Ali whooped Sonny Liston in Miami Beach. I actually remember this fight because my father and I listened to it in front of the fireplace in our living room. Everyone thought that Sonny was going to erase this chatty fellow Clay from the boxing ring in short order. But something happened and he fell down and couldn’t get up. He tried clapping his hands because it seemed to him that someone had turned out the lights. But the boxing gloves got in the way and he didn’t make a sound.
Cassius Clay however made lots of sounds and jumped up and down. He really made enough noise for both of them and half the crowd if you can believe it. Cassius taunted Sonny while he lay on the ground trying to figure out why his clapper wasn’t working. Eventually the lights came back on and he decided to retire.
Actually it seems clear now that he decided to retire about the second time Clay hit him and he realized he couldn’t see the punches on their way to his large body. Also they hurt more than he had imagined and he probably just decided to lay down and take a short nap until everyone went home.
And finally on this day please say “Happy Birthday” to Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. who is 35, Comedian Carrot Top who is 41, the Harry Potter movie twins Oliver and James Phelps who are 22 and CBS newsman Bob Schieffer who is 71.
And that’s all for now history fans. For those of you who are interested here is a fascinating article about Samuel Colt who led a productive if somewhat short life.
http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/machine_4.htm
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And don’t forget to take an RSS feed home with you because you wouldn’t want to forget the birthday of someone important!
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Filed in History, Posts and blogs 2 Comments so far
barbara on 04 Mar 2008 at 2:26 am #
I remember Liston/Clay. Wow, that was in 1964? Where did those 44 years go?
davidlind on 04 Mar 2008 at 9:21 am #
I’m not sure where they went either. But wherever they went they took a lot of my hair with them. And they left some blubber.
Not a very good trade.