Today’s Motto: ‘Never be surprised by your own success’

This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History! 

On this day, 15 May….

1718 – The world’s first  rapid fire  gun is patented by a London lawyer james Puckle.  It is sometimes considered an ancestor of the machine gun. It was, in effect, a flintlock revolver with a barrel 3 feet long and a bore of 1.25 inches. A pre-loaded “cylinder” held 11 charges and could fire 63 shots in 7 minutes (pic credit-brewminimate.com).

1873 – The proposal to dissolve East India Company was passed in England.

1902 – According to local legend, an unwitnessed heavier than air flight took place with a 20-h.p. steam-engined aircraft as claimed by Lyman Gilmore of California. History cannot document Gilmore’s fantasy of becoming the first person to achieve powered flight. Doubt was overwhelming, yet he spent the rest of his life trying to prove his claim, and he remains a skeptical footnote in history (pic credit-reddit.com)..

1923 – Listerine was registered as a trademark. The modern Listerine is a mouthwash, but the original amber-coloured product was a disinfectant for surgical proceduresm. The name they chose incorporated the name of the English surgeon, Joseph Lister, famous for performing the first antiseptic surgical procedure on 12 Aug 1865 and pioneering wider use of antiseptics by surgeons .

1928 – Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy and Mice games.

1935 – The Moscow Metro opened, transporting an estimated 285,000 people that day. Its subterranean spaces still feature chandeliers, marble, mozaics, murals and heroic statutes. During WW II, the spacious stations served as shelters during Nazi bombing (pic credit-onmanorama.com).

1940 – Nylon stockings went on general sale for the first time in the United States in Delaware. Four million pairs were sold in few hours.

1940 – The first McDonald’s fast-food  Restaurant opens. 1993 – A woman in Paris was surgically given two new lungs, both of which were cut from the single lung of a large man. Only previously attempted in animal trials, this was the first human to receive such surgery. The procedure is of particular interest for children, for whom finding donor lungs of the correct size is a problem.

1999 – The BJP and at least 13 of its allies rename themselves the National Democratic Alliance and form 3rd  government under PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, that lasted its full term…

2015 – Google was to begin testing self-driving cars on the streets of Mountain View, California this summer; the company has tested modified versions of existing vehicles but would now test cars developed specifically for self-driving. (The cars drove nearly 636,000 miles last year, compared with just over 424,000 in 2015.

2018 – An old Flyover collapses in Varanasi, India, killing at least 18 travellers..

2019 – US birthrate in 2018 the lowest for 32 years (total fertility rate 1,728 births per 1,000 women), with record lows for teen births.

Born…. 1048 – Omar Khayyam,Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer. In geometry, he contributed to the theory of parallel lines. He is known to English-speaking readers for his “quatrains” as The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, published in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, though it is now regarded as an anthology of which little or nothing may be by Omar.

1817 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author and brother of Nobel Laurette Rabindernath Tagore. He joined Brahmo Samaj in 1842 and the founder  of  Brahmo religion in Bengal, which today is synonymous with Brahmoism.  Hs father Dwarkanath Tagore  was a rich industrialist  and philonthropist. His main writings were : Brahmo Dharma (1948), Brahma Dharmo Grantho , Atmatatto Bdya,  Brahma Dharmer Mot O Biswas, Kalikata Bramha Samajer Baktrita,  Gyan O Dharmer Unnati  and  Porolo O Mukti  (in 1895).

1907 – Sukhdev Thapar, a senior member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association He participated in several actions alongside Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru and was hanged by the British authorities on 23 March 1931 at the age of 23 (pic on the right corner)..

1967 – Madhuri Dixit, actress, dancer, producer, television personality, and music artist. One of the most popular actresses in Hindi cinema, she has appeared in over 70 Bollywood filmsand has featured seven times on “Forbes India‘s’’ Celebrity 100 list.

1973 – Shiny Ahuja,  model and  Bollywood actor.  He debuted in Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in 2006, won Filomfare Award  and then followed with several hit films like Gangster, Woh Lamhe, Life in a Metro, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai, and Welcome Back etc. He allegedly raped a domestic help and  lost his filmy career.

RIP…. 1993 – Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, the former Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army from  Oct. 14, 1951to Jan. 14, 1953.

2010 – Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, BJP politician  whe served as Rajasthan Chief  minister between 1977 and  1998,  and   Vice President of India from August 2002 to 2007. He lost Presidential election to Pratibha Patil, the Congress and Left Parties candidate.

You may have known…. 1.  To avoid polluting the elements (fire, earth, water, air), followers of Zoroastrianism in India don’t bury their dead, but instead leave bodies in buildings called “Towers of Silence” for the vultures to pick clean. After the bones dry, they are swept into a central well. 

2.  A  Research by Goodyear suggests that  Right  Shoes wear out  faster on the Left foot shoes (likely reason our uneven walking pattrens).                                                                       {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}