On the 13th in 1987, Roberto dos Santos and Wagner Mota were squatters in an abandoned hospital in Goiania, Brazil, which they searched in hopes of finding things that they would be able to sell. Among the items they scavenged was a small cylinder, which they were able to sell to Devair Alves Ferreira, a nearby junk dealer. The cylinder had a brilliant blue glow and Ferreira thought it would make a beautiful ring for his wife. Unfortunately, the source of the blue glow was radioactive Cesium-137 and this tiny cylinder went on to cause one of the deadliest releases of radiation in the entire history of the Atomic Age.
The world’s first intercity passenger railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which operated, oddly enough, between Liverpool and Manchester in England. After making it over several engineering hurdles, not the least of which was figuring a way to get a very heavy train across a bog without the cars sinking into it, work progressed surprisingly quickly. All obstacles having been cleared, service on this line was inaugurated on September 15, 1830. At one point during the opening run, the train came to a halt. William Huskisson, a Member of Parliament for Liverpool saw the opportunity to schmooze with the Duke of Wellington, who also happened to be the Prime Minister. Huskisson spoke to the Prime Minister from the roadbed next to the Duke of Wellington’s carriage. Apparently Wellington must have been quite the conversationalist because Huskisson failed to notice another train approaching. He was struck by the approaching train and was severely injured. He was loaded on to the train that had hit him and rushed to a hospital but he died later that day. That must have put a bit of a damper on the party to celebrate the railway’s opening held later that evening. There are unconfirmed reports that Huskisson’s last words were “No problem, he’s got plenty of room to get by.”
Unsung American heroes Noah and Joseph McVicker received patent #3,167,440 for an invention that would bring joy and hours of fun to perhaps millions of children of all ages. On the 16th in 1956, their invention was delivered to an anxiously waiting world when Play-Doh ® made its entrance to a world yearning for a delightful diversion. America immediately took Play-Doh to its heart. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Play-Doh’s introduction, this year (2006) the Demeter Fragrance Library released a fragrance that smells just like Play-Doh. If this had been introduced several years ago Hasbro, the distributor of the modeling clay, might not have had to go court to get an order of protection barring me from coming within 100 yards of a Play-Doh display because once in its vicinity I was compelled to take the tops off the cans and inhale the distinctive Play-Doh smell. However, this new fragrance seems to take all the fun out of sneaking into the crafts section of a Toy-R-Us and “browsing” through the Play-Doh items. My hope is that the company marketing the fragrance doesn’t go belly-up before I have an opportunity to lay in an adequate supply of their fragrance.
On the 19th in 1985, Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore, together with three other women, all of them married to prominent Washington, D.C. figures, formed the Parents Music Resource Center. This was a group that wanted to censor pop music and remove all objectionable material from music that was available to impressionable children. It has not yet been confirmed that they discovered that when Pat Boone’s 1956 hit “Gee Whittaker!” is played backwards Boone was actually singing, “I am the anti-Christ and I’ve come for your children and cuddly house pets.”
On the 27th in 1964, the Warren Commission, which had been formed to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy, released its report, which concluded that it had been Lee Harvey Oswald, acting along, who killed Kennedy. Recently declassified documents however prove that it was actually Professor Plum in the Library with the candlestick that did it.
