On This Day...

[Skyfire77]

On March 31st:

It's World Backup Day. Make sure you back up all your important files!

• 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.
• 1918 – Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
• 1930 – The Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hayes Code, is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years.
• 1931 – A Transcontinental & Western Air airliner crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.
• 1945 – World War II: A defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.
• 1951 – Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
  - A UNIVAC I at Franklin Life Insurance Company
• 1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
• 1970 – Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
• 1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

This date marks the birth of:

• 1596 – René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1650)
• 1855 – Alfred E. Hunt, American businessman, founder of Alcoa.(d. 1899)
• 1916 – Lucille Bliss, American voice actress (d. 2012)
• 1927 – William Daniels, American actor, voice of K.I.T.T.
• 1927 – Vladimir Sergeyevich Ilyushin, Russian pilot (d. 2010)
• 1928 – Gordie Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2016)
• 1929 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-American fashion designer, founded Liz Claiborne Inc.. (d. 2007)
• 1935 – Herb Alpert, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer
  
  
  
• 1943 – Christopher Walken, American actor, director, screenwriter, and a pretty good dancer.
  
• 1945 – Gabe Kaplan, American actor and comedian
• 1948 – Al Gore, American soldier and politician, 45th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate, and First Emperor of the Moon.
  
• 1948 – Rhea Perlman, American actress
• 1955 – Angus Young, Scottish-Australian guitarist and songwriter
• 1965 – Tom Barrasso, American ice hockey player and coach
• 1971 – Craig McCracken, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
• 1971 – Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
• 1983 – Ashleigh Ball, Canadian voice actress and musician

As well as the death of:

• 1850 – John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (b. 1782)
• 1855 – Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1816)
• 1913 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier (b. 1837)
• 1995 – Selena, American singer-songwriter (b. 1971)
• 1998 – Bella Abzug, American lawyer, activist, and politician (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Frank Perdue, American businessman (b. 1920)

[facw]

@Skyfire77 Hmm, I didn't know we could make unreadable yellow text?

[facw]

@Skyfire77

1855 – Alfred E. Hunt, American businessman, founder of Alcoa.

Another thing I learned reading about the Wright Brothers this winter was that Alcoa supplied them with their engine block as a way to promote aluminum. Hunt had died by that point, but Alcoa was apparently smart enough see how huge a market for aluminum aviation could be, such that it made sense to send blocks to bicycle builders with a little-known glider.

[Skyfire77]

@facw dang, sorry. I wanted to make the captions distinct, but didn't think about the non-dark mode users.

Hang on...

[farscythe]

@Skyfire77 1918 – Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
because ww1 wasnt enough shit to be dealing with

[facw]

@farscythe I mean it was implemented specifically with the hope of conserving resources because of WWI, so the things are not at all unconnected.

[RamblinRover]

@Skyfire77

1930 – The Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hayes Code,

My two favorite things about the Hayes code are the absolute torrent of witty innuendos that a lot of '30s movies devolved into in response and a gag from the Tweety Bird cartoon Tale of Two Kitties.

(1:35)
"Give me the bird! Give me the bird!"
"If the Hayes Office would only let me, I'd give him the bird alright..."