History of the Day: 9/25

On this day in 1690, the first newspaper to appear in print in the U.S. was published for the first and only time in Boston, MA. It might have been the unwieldy name, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick, but was probably that it was printed without the permission of the gub'mint. Later, the rebellious colonies would enshrine the ideal of a free press in their Constitution. But, as G.K. Chesterton pointed out in his essay Tyranny of Bad Journalism:

The point about the Press is that it is not what it is called. It is not the "popular Press." It is not the public Press. It is not an organ of public opinion. It is a conspiracy of a very few millionaires, all sufficiently similar in type to agree on the limits of what this great nation (to which we belong) may know about itself and its friends and enemies. The ring is not quite complete; there are old-fashioned and honest papers: but it is sufficiently near to completion to produce on the ordinary purchaser of news the practical effects of a corner and a monopoly. He receives all his political information and all his political marching orders from what is by this time a sort of half-conscious secret society, with very few members, but a great deal of money.

Happy birthday to the remote control! Leonardo Torres Quevedo demonstrated his new invention, called the Telekino, before the king and a large crowd in Portugal, guiding a boat from the shore. Presumably, he did this slouched down on a sofa with his hand under his belt.

U2 is 32. Accompanied by angelic choirs and guitar riffs from Mr. Edge, they formed on this day. In some Episcopal churches, you can attend a U2charist (worship service using U2 songs instead of hymns). No, I'm not kidding. This could be because U2 writes songs with titles like Yahweh. Or it could be because Bono thinks he is the Messiah.

Baba Wawa is 79.

Shell Silverstein was born on this day in 1930. Most know him for his beloved children's poems and books, like The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends. I have a nasty little book of ABCs penned by him. But he was also a prolific author of many rated R poems (PG-13 at least). I won't post any of the REALLY bad ones, but you probably know of two. Remember the song Cover of the Rolling Stone by Dr. Hook? Shel wrote those lyrics. And Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash? That's him, too.

Happy birthday to two heroes of geeks the world over, Mark Hamill/Luke Skywalker (1951) and Christopher Reeve/Superman (1952).

Finally, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin died on this day in 1980. Here's hoping he found the Stairway to Heaven. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)