Today’s Motto: ‘The greatest pleasure in life is in doing what others say you cannot do’

https://youtu.be/00d_dLvH-6I

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

On this day,  May 15……..

1718 – A “Defence” rapid-fire gun was 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.

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 in 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.

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 (pic credit-Wikipedia).

1928 – Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy. (PNG credit-Wikipedia)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 (Pic credit-Iran Dostan).

1817 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author. Father of Nobel laurate Rabundranath Tagore (pic credit-Santiniketan)

1907 – Sukhdev Thapar, a revolutionary, was born in Ludhiana. He was an accomplice of Bhagat Singh, and Shivaram Rajguru.

1967 – Madhuri Dixit, legendary Bollywood  dancer and heroine. Played very romantic

and scintilating  roles in about 70 fillms from Dil To Paagal Hai, Tezaab, Dil,  Devdas (remake in 20020), Saajan, Aaja Nachle, Koyla, Khal Nayak, Raja, Beta  etc. (credits-  Gaane Naye Purane and Astrotalk)

1973 – Shiny Ahuja, Bollywood actor.

RIP….

1993 – Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa. Army Chief from  Oct. 14, 1951 to Jan. 14, 1953.

2010 – Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, politician, and former Vice President of India.

You may have known….

Research by Goodyear suggests that shoes wear out

faster on the right foot.

 

{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}