Selldon

  • The Cannes Film Festival is Reopened (1946)

    The Cannes Film Festival, until 2003 called the International Film Festival (Festival international du film), is considered the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world. Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually (usually in…

  • Ötzi was Discovered (1991)

    Ötzi, also called The Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. Ötzi’s remains were discovered on 19 September 1991, in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname “Ötzi) at the Austria–Italy border. He is Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy, offering an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper…

  • The Royal Opera House opens in London (1809)

    The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, which are known…

  • NFL is Founded (1920)

    The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest…

  • General Motors is Founded (1908)

    General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing four automobile brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac, each a separate division of GM. By total sales, it has continuously been the largest automaker in the United States…

  • Charles Darwin reaches Galapagos (1835)

     Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred…

  • Gravitational Waves are Observed for the First Time (2015)

    Gravitational waves are oscillations of the gravitational field that travel through space at the speed of light; they are generated by the relative motion of gravitating masses. They were proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1893 and then later by Henri Poincaré in 1905 as the gravitational equivalent of electromagnetic waves. In 1916, Albert Einstein…

  • Happy Birthday Roald Dahl (1916)

    Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children’s literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He has been called “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”. Dahl…

  • Mae Jemison Travels to Space (1992)

    Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first African American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. Jemison joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 1987 and was selected to serve for…

  • Happy Birthday Ludacris (1977)

    Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he first began rapping. Starting out with a brief stint as a DJ, he formed his own record label, Disturbing tha Peace in the late 1990s to…

  • The LHC is powered up in Cern (2008)

    The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists, and hundreds of universities and laboratories across more than 100 countries. It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi)…

  • The Playstation 1 is Launched (1995)

    The PlayStation (codenamed PSX, abbreviated as PS, and retroactively PS1 or PS one) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in Japan on 3 December 1994, followed by North America on 9 September 1995, Europe on 29 September 1995, and other regions following thereafter. As…

  • Happy Name Day Mary (08/09)

    Every person’s name has a corresponding name day. As a car and movie fan, I have taken the 2000 movie Gone in 60 seconds, starring Nicolas Cage an inspiration. In the movie fifty cars are stolen in one night. The fifty cars are listed and given girls names. I have created selective coloration images…

  • Happy Birthday Richard the Lionheart (1157)

    Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion (Old Norman French: Quor de Lion) because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy,…

  • Maiden Flight of the F-22 Raptor (1997)

    The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is an American twin-engine, jet-powered, all-weather, supersonic stealth fighter aircraft. As a product of the United States Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, the aircraft was designed as an air superiority fighter, but also incorporates ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence capabilities. The prime contractor, Lockheed Martin,…

  • Columbus Sets Sail to America (1492)

    Christopher Columbus (between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were…

  • Cheese Pizza Day in the US

    Pizza was introduced to the United States in the 1890s along with waves of Italian immigrants who settled primarily in the larger cities of the Northeast, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore. Pizza and pizzerias rapidly grew in popularity in the late 1940s. During the latter half of the 20th century, pizza…

  • Happy Name Day Rose (04/09)

    Every person’s name has a corresponding name day. As a car and movie fan, I have taken the 2000 movie Gone in 60 seconds, starring Nicolas Cage an inspiration. In the movie fifty cars are stolen in one night. The fifty cars are listed and given girls names. I have created selective coloration images…

  • Buckminsterfullerenes are Discovered (1985)

    Buckminsterfullerene is a type of fullerene with the formula C60. It has a cage-like fused-ring structure (truncated icosahedron) made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons and resembles a football. Each of its 60 carbon atoms is bonded to its three neighbours. Buckminsterfullerene is a black solid that dissolves in hydrocarbon solvents to produce a…

  • eBay is founded (1995)

    eBay Inc. (stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. Sales occur either via online auctions or “buy it now” instant sales, and the company charges commissions to…

  • Happy Name Day Lynne (02/09)

    Every person’s name has a corresponding name day. As a car and movie fan, I have taken the 2000 movie Gone in 60 seconds, starring Nicolas Cage an inspiration. In the movie fifty cars are stolen in one night. The fifty cars are listed and given girls names. I have created selective coloration images…

  • Happy Name Day Lindsay (02/09)

    Every person’s name has a corresponding name day. As a car and movie fan, I have taken the 2000 movie Gone in 60 seconds, starring Nicolas Cage an inspiration. In the movie fifty cars are stolen in one night. The fifty cars are listed and given girls names. I have created selective coloration images…

  • Happy Birthday Keanu Reeves (1964)

    Keanu Reeves (born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public image, and his philanthropic efforts. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him as the fourth-greatest…

  • Air Canada was Founded (1937)

    Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 222 destinations worldwide. It operates major hubs…

  • Happy Birthday Buddy Hackett (1924)

    Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American comedian and comic actor. Known for his raunchy material, heavy appearance, and thick New York accent, his best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in The Music Man (1962), Benjy Benjamin in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963),…

  • Maiden Flight of Shuttle Discovery (1984)

    Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The space-plane was one of the orbiters from NASA’s Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service…

  • Gottlieb Daimler Patents the First motorcycle (1885)

    The Daimler Reitwagen (“riding car”) or Einspur (“single track”) was a motor vehicle made by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885. It is widely recognized as the first motorcycle. Daimler is often called “the father of the motorcycle” for this invention. Even when the steam powered two-wheelers that preceded the Reitwagen, the Michaux-Perreaux…

  • Happy Birthday Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749)

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosophical thought in the Western world from the late 18th century to the present. A…

  • Happy Birthday Charles Rolls (1877)

    Charles Stewart Rolls FRGS FRMetS MICE (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft, when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke…