Today in History

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Surrender is not an option. That is unless you're a coward as I picture General William Hull who surrendered Fort Detroit to the British in the War of 1812. Reading the account of the Siege of Detroit, it would seem we had the larger army, but General Hull felt intimidated by the British and the Indians, led by Tecumseh, and surrendered instead of holding the fort. Not a glorious day for Americans in the War of 1812. Roller coasters have been part of amusement parks for a long time. In 1898, Edwin Prescott received a patent for the loop-de-loop roller coaster with a vertical teardrop loop. Loops in roller coasters can be traced back to the 1850's. However, serious injuries occurred. In 1898 Edwin Prescott patented the teardrop vertical loop, and became part of the amusement park at Coney Island in New York City. Though it would be the last loop roller coaster built until 1976 when they finally caught on. Until then, people would rather watch them, instead of participate in the ride. Here's one for DB and Four Walls. Four brothers got together at the Bowery's CBGB Club in 1974 wearing matching leather jackets and jeans, and belted out a new style in music, known as Punk. They were the Ramone brothers: Johnny, Tommy, Dee Dee, and Joey. Blackouts anyone? How about computer crashes? In 1989 a space storm crashed the Canadian Stock Market, by affecting the microchips. The magnitude of the geomagnetic storm was greater than the one months earlier in March, when a solar flare knocked out the electrical grid over Canada and the US for nine hours. As I was listening to the radio this morning, I heard about one more historical fact. The DJ asked, "Do you know where you were 41 years ago today. As I tried, at that hour of the morning, to come up with the date 41 years ago, the DJ continued by saying, he knew where he was when he heard Elvis was dead. When he mentioned Elvis, I knew exactly where I was. I was living on Guam at the time, and my husband told me we wouldn't be going to his concerts anymore. I didn't know whose concerts he meant until he said Elvis was dead. I stared at him as if he had two heads. However, it was true. Elvis was dead. The DJ then relayed some information I wasn't aware of. Elvis received two Grammy's, both for gospel albums. He also stopped in the middle of a concert when someone held up a sign proclaiming him as king, and said, you back there. I'm not a king. There's only one King, and his name is Jesus. I found that totally inspiring as I waited for the YWCA to open this morning. Thanks for reading. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons