Archive for July, 2009

On this day in 1940 Bugs Bunny made his debut.

Some of the graphics in this video remind me of the outdoor furniture covers that used to be around the pool where my grandparents used to live. Talk about a flashback.

I don’t care how old the Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes get, the comedy in them is timeless.

On this day in history, the U.S. Post Office was created and soon afterward life insurance coverage for mailmen skyrocketed.

The United States Post Office (U.S.P.O.) was created in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin on July 26, 1775 by decree of the Second Continental Congress. Based on the Postal Clause in Article One of the United States Constitution, empowering Congress “To establish post offices and post roads,” it became the Post Office Department (U.S.P.O.D.) in 1792. It was part of the Presidential cabinet and the Postmaster General was the last person in the United States presidential line of succession. In 1971, the department was reorganized as a quasi-independent agency of the federal government and acquired its present name. The Postmaster General is no longer in the presidential line of succession.

The Post Office Department was enlarged during the tenure of President Andrew Jackson. As the Post Office expanded, difficulties were experienced due to a lack of employees and transportation. The Post Office’s employees at that time were still subject to the so-called ’spoils’ system, where faithful political supporters of the executive branch were appointed to positions in the post office and other government agencies as a reward for their patronage. These appointees rarely had prior experience in postal service and mail delivery. This system of political patronage was replaced in 1883 after passage of the Pendleton Act (Civil Service Reform Act).

On this day in 1946, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis first appeared as a team. They will definitely go down in the history books as one of the greatest comedy duos ever.

Crooner Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis staged their first show as a team this day in 1946 at Club 500 in Atlantic City, NJ. Actually, the two had met while performing — separately — at the Glass Hat in New York City and decided to try an ad-lib act together. The rest is entertainment history.

The duo went from earning $350 a week to $5,000 a week in under eight months, with Martin playing the romantic straight man opposite Lewis as his goofy, unpredictable partner. Ten years later, the curtain came down on their final team performance at the Copacabana in New York. Over that decade, the zany two made seventeen movies including My Friend Irma, That’s My Boy, The Caddy, Pardners, Jumping Jacks and The Stooge.

You can find out more about this day in history at Those Were The Days, and InfoPlease.

For a few years now I have had to fight the battle of the bulge caused by my intake of delicious treats and Coca-Cola. When it comes to desserts or my soft drinks, I am a glutton for punishment, literally. I have tried everything short of taking ephedra pills to control my appetite, to no avail.

With that said, on this day in 1985, Coca-Cola realized the impact of their decision and brought back original recipe Coca-Cola, known from then on as Coca-Cola Classic.

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke (a now genericized trademark) or (in European and American countries) as cola, pop, or in some parts of the U.S., soda. Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

New Coke was horrible. If they had kept it, they may have saved me about 50 pounds.

On this day in 1889, the Wall Street Journal was published for the first time. Who knew that a little over 100 years later newspapers would be dying off and online resources which offer news and web directory services would be taking their place?

The Wall Street Journal is an English-language international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, in New York City, with Asian and European editions. As of 2007, it has a worldwide daily circulation of more than 2 million, with approximately 931,000 paying online subscribers. It was the largest-circulation newspaper in the United States until November 2003, when it was surpassed by USA Today. Its main rival is the London-based Financial Times, which also publishes several international editions.

The Journal newspaper primarily covers U.S. and international business and financial news and issues—the paper’s name comes from Wall Street, the street in New York City that is the heart of the financial district. It has been printed continuously since being founded on July 8, 1889, by Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. The newspaper has won the Pulitzer Prize thirty-three times, including 2007 prizes for backdated stock options and for the adverse impact of China’s booming economy.

But what happens when all the newspapers are gone?