December 30

Author Rudyard Kipling born (1865); Soviet Union is formed (1922); HBD Tiger Woods (1975); HBD LeBron James (1984); Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed (2006); RIP Oscar-winning actress Luise Rainer (2014)

December 29

President Andrew Johnson born (1808); Texas becomes the 28th US state (1845); US Army kills over 250 Lakota people at Wounded Knee (1890); Actress Mary Tyler Moore born (1936).

December 28

President Woodrow Wilson born (1856); Comic book writer Stan Lee born (1922); HBD British actress Dame Maggie Smith (1934); HBD Denzel Washington (1954); Indonesia AirAsia flight crashes, killing 162 (2014).

Madam C.J. Walker

(born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Multiple sources mention that although other women might have been the first, their wealth is not as well-documented.

Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women through the business she founded, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She became known also for her philanthropy and activism. She made financial donations to numerous organizations and became a patron of the arts. Villa Lewaro, Walker's lavish estate in Irvington, New York, served as a social gathering place for the African-American community. At the time of her death, she was considered the wealthiest African-American businesswoman and wealthiest self-made black woman in America.[4] Her name was a version of "Mrs. Charles Joseph Walker", after her third husband.

In 1888, Madam C. J. Walker and her daughter moved to St. Louis, where three of her brothers lived. Sarah found work as a laundress, earning barely more than a dollar a day. She was determined to make enough money to provide her daughter with a formal education.[15][7] During the 1880s, she lived in a community where Ragtime music was developed; she sang at the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church and started to yearn for an educated life as she watched the community of women at her church.

As was common among black women of her era, Sarah suffered severe dandruff and other scalp ailments, including baldness, due to skin disorders and the application of harsh products to cleanse hair and wash clothes. Other contributing factors to her hair loss included poor diet, illnesses, and infrequent bathing and hair washing during a time when most Americans lacked indoor plumbing, central heating and electricity.

Madam C. J. Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower in the permanent collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

Initially, Sarah learned about hair care from her brothers, who were barbers in St. Louis. Around the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904), she became a commission agent selling products for Annie Malone, an African-American hair-care entrepreneur, millionaire, and owner of the Poro Company.[5] Sales at the exposition were a disappointment since the African-American community was largely ignored.[20]

While working for Malone, who would later become Walker's largest rival in the hair-care industry,[16] Sarah began to take her new knowledge and develop her own product line.[13] In July 1905, when she was 37 years old, Sarah and her daughter moved to Denver, Colorado, where she continued to sell products for Malone and develop her own hair-care business. A controversy developed between Annie Malone and Sarah because Malone accused Sarah of stealing her formula, a mixture of petroleum jelly and sulfur that had been in use for a hundred years.[20]

Following her marriage to Charles Walker in 1906, Sarah became known as Madam C. J. Walker. She marketed herself as an independent hairdresser and retailer of cosmetic creams. ("Madam" was adopted from women pioneers of the French beauty industry.[21]) Her husband, who was also her business partner, provided advice on advertising and promotion; Sarah sold her products door to door, teaching other black women how to groom and style their hair.[8][13]

In 1906, Walker put her daughter in charge of the mail-order operation in Denver while she and her husband traveled throughout the southern and eastern United States to expand the business.[15][17][18][22] In 1908, Walker and her husband relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they opened a beauty parlor and established Lelia College to train "hair culturists." As an advocate of black women's economic independence, she opened training programs in the "Walker System" for her national network of licensed sales agents who earned healthy commissions (Michaels, PhD. 2015).

After Walker closed the business in Denver in 1907, A'lelia ran the day-to-day operations from Pittsburgh. In 1910, Walker established a new base in Indianapolis. A'lelia also persuaded her mother to establish an office and beauty salon in New York City's growing Harlem neighborhood in 1913; it became a center of African-American culture.[21]

In 1910, Walker relocated her businesses to Indianapolis, where she established the headquarters for the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She initially purchased a house and factory at 640 North West Street. Walker later built a factory, hair salon, and beauty school to train her sales agents, and added a laboratory to help with research.[18] She also assembled a staff that included Freeman Ransom, Robert Lee Brokenburr, Alice Kelly, and Marjorie Joyner, among others, to assist in managing the growing company.[13] Many of her company's employees, including those in key management and staff positions, were women.

Madam Walker and several friends in her automobile, 1911.

Walker's method of grooming was designed to promote hair growth and to condition the scalp through the use of her products. The system included a shampoo, a pomade stated to help hair grow, strenuous brushing, and applying iron combs to hair; the method claimed to make lackluster and brittle hair become soft and luxuriant. Walker's product line had several competitors. Similar products were produced in Europe and manufactured by other companies in the United States, which included her major rivals, Annie Turnbo Malone's Poro System from which she derived her original formula and later, Sarah Spencer Washington's Apex System.

Between 1911 and 1919, during the height of her career, Walker and her company employed several thousand women as sales agents for its products. By 1917, the company claimed to have trained nearly 20,000 women. Dressed in a characteristic uniform of white shirts and black skirts and carrying black satchels, they visited houses around the United States and in the Caribbean offering Walker's hair pomade and other products packaged in tin containers carrying her image. Walker understood the power of advertising and brand awareness. Heavy advertising, primarily in African-American newspapers and magazines, in addition to Walker's frequent travels to promote her products, helped make Walker and her products well known in the United States. In addition to training in sales and grooming, Walker showed other black women how to budget, build their own businesses, and encouraged them to become financially independent. In 1917, inspired by the model of the National Association of Colored Women, Walker began organizing her sales agents into state and local clubs. The result was the establishment of the National Beauty Culturists and Benevolent Association of Madam C. J. Walker Agents (predecessor to the Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culturists Union of America).[8]

Its first annual conference convened in Philadelphia during the summer of 1917 with 200 attendees. The conference is believed to have been among the first national gatherings of women entrepreneurs to discuss business and commerce. During the convention Walker gave prizes to women who had sold the most products and brought in the most new sales agents. She also rewarded those who made the largest contributions to charities in their communities. Walker's name became even more widely known by the 1920s, after her death, as her company's business market expanded beyond the United States to Cuba, Jamaica,  Haiti, Panama, and Costa Rica.

December 23

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith born (1805); Businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker born (1867); Vincent van Gogh cuts off his ear (1888); Voyager aircraft is first to fly around the world without refueling (1986).

December 22

Beethoven’s "Fifth Symphony" premieres (1808); Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson born (1912); Maurice and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees born (1949); Colo becomes first gorilla born in captivity (1956); “Don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy repealed (2010).

December 21

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres (1937); HBD actress Jane Fonda (1937); RIP F. Scott Fitzgerald (1940); HBD French President Emmanuel Macron (1977); Bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 (1988).

December 18

Mayflower arrives at Plymouth Harbor (1620); 13th Amendment formally adopted in Constitution, abolishing slavery (1865); HBD Steven Spielberg (1946); HBD Brad Pitt (1963); RIP actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (2016).

December 17

Wright Brothers make first successful airplane flight (1903); HBD Pope Francis (1936); "The Simpsons" makes television debut (1989); RIP American actress Jennifer Jones (2009); North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il dies (2011).

December 15

US Bill of Rights ratified, becomes law (1791); Eiffel Tower designer Gustave Eiffel born (1832); Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull killed (1890); RIP Walt Disney (1966); RIP actress Joan Fontaine (2013).

December 16

Ludwig van Beethoven born (1770); Boston Tea Party occurs (1773); Author Jane Austen born (1775); Anthropologist Margaret Mead born (1901); World War II’s Battle of the Bulge begins (1944).

December 14

President George Washington dies (1799); Author Shirley Jackson born (1916); Actress Patty Duke born (1946); Eugene Cernan is last person to walk on the moon (1972); 20 children and 6 staff murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012).

December 11

King Edward VIII abdicates throne, younger brother King George VI takes crown (1936); Germany and Italy declare war on the US (1941); HBD John Kerry (1943); RIP musician Sam Cooke (1964); RIP model Bettie Page (2008).

December 10

Poet Emily Dickinson born (1830); Spanish-American War ends (1898); First Nobel Prize ceremony held (1901); RIP comedian Richard Pryor (2005); Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies (2006).

December 9

Actor Kirk Douglas born (1916); HBD actress Dame Judi Dench (1934); “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuts (1965); RIP diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche (1971); Smallpox declared eradicated (1979).

December 8

Mary, Queen of Scots born (1542); US declares war on Japan (1941); Musician Jim Morrison born (1943); John Lennon murdered outside his residence in New York City (1980); North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, signed into law (1993); RIP astronaut and senator John Glenn (2016).

December 7

Editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast dies (1902); HBD Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award winner Ellen Burstyn (1932); Pearl Harbor Naval Base bombed by Japan, killing 2,403 (1941); HBD basketball legend Larry Bird (1956); Apollo 17, the final Apollo moon mission, is launched (1972).

December 4

RIP English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1679); President Woodrow Wilson travels to Versailles for WWI peace talks, is first US president to travel to Europe while in office (1918); HBD Jay-Z (1969); HBD Tyra Banks (1973); American journalist Terry Anderson released after more than six years as hostage in Lebanon (1991).

December 3

RIP novelist Robert Louis Stevenson (1894); HBD rock star Ozzy Osbourne (1948); HBD actress Julianne Moore (1960); First human heart transplant carried out (1967); Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush declare end to Cold War (1989).

December 2

RIP abolitionist John Brown (1859); US Environmental Protection Agency formed (1970); HBD Britney Spears (1981); Benazir Bhutto becomes first female prime minister of Pakistan (1988); Colombia drug lord Pablo Escobar is killed (1993).

December 1

First moving assembly line introduced by Ford Motor Company (1913); Rosa Parks arrested in Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat (1955);  RIP author and activist James Baldwin (1987); World AIDS Day commemorated for first time (1988).

November 30

Winston Churchill born (1874); Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" is released, becomes bestselling album in history (1982); Exxon and Mobil merge to form one of world's largest companies (1999);  HBD model Chrissy Teigen (1985); RIP President George H.W. Bush (2018).

November 27

The Nobel Prize is established (1895); Bruce Lee born (1940); Jimi Hendrix born (1942); Mars 2, a Soviet space probe, is first man-made object to reach Mars (1971); LGBTQ rights activist Harvey Milk is assassinated (1978).

November 25

Businessman Andrew Carnegie born (1835); Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” opens, becomes longest-running play in history (1952); President John Kennedy and his assassin Lee Harvey Oswald both buried (1963); Author Upton Sinclair dies (1968); Cuban leader Fidel Castro dies (2016).

November 24

Charles Darwin’s “On the Origins of Species” published (1859); Lee Harvey Oswald is shot and killed just two days after assassinating President Kennedy (1963); RIP Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury (1991); RIP “Brady Bunch” actress Florence Henderson (2016).

November 23

First issue of Life magazine published (1936); First episode of "Doctor Who" airs on BBC (1963); Children’s book author Roald Dahl dies (1990); Hockey great Wayne Gretzky scores his 600th goal (1988); HBD Miley Cyrus (1992).

November 20

Bobby Kennedy born (1925); HBD President-elect Joe Biden (1942); Nuremberg trials against 24 Nazi war criminals begin (1945); HBD actress Bo Derek (1956); Microsoft Windows 1.0 released (1985).

November 19

President James Garfield born (1831); President Abraham Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address (1863); Indira Gandhi, first and only female prime minister of India born (1917); President Ronald Reagan meets Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for first time (1985); Charles Manson dies while in prison (2017).

November 18

Abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth born (1797); HBD poet and novelist Margaret Atwood (1939); 918 die in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (1978); Massachusetts court ruling makes the state the first to recognize same-sex marriage (2003).

November 17

Suez Canal opens (1869); HBD actor Danny DeVito (1944); HBD former US national security adviser Susan Rice (1964); Arnold Schwarzenegger sworn in as governor of California (2003); First known case of COVID-19 traced to man who visited Wuhan, China (2019).

November 16

Blues musician W.C. Handy born (1873); UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, is founded (1945); Benazir Bhutto elected prime minister of Pakistan, becomes first woman in modern history to lead Muslim-majority country (1988); RIP Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman (2006).

November 13

Walt Disney’s groundbreaking animated film "Fantasia" premieres (1940); HBD Whoopi Goldberg (1955); Montgomery bus boycott pushes US Supreme Court to rule Alabama bus segregation illegal (1956); First up-close photo of Saturn sent back from spacecraft Voyager I (1980).

Auguste Rodin

Did you know...... that today is the birthday of Auguste Rodin (1840)? The French sculptor's most widely known works are The Kiss and The Thinker. Unlike many famous artists, Rodin didn't start sculpting until he was in his 40s. Celebrate by thinking about kissing one of your favorite people! ;-)

November 12

American suffragist and civil rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton born (1815); Joseph Stalin gains undisputed control of Soviet Union (1927); Actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly born (1929); RIP comic book writer Stan Lee (2018).

November 11

Nat Turner is hanged after organizing slave uprising (1831); General George S. Patton born (1885); Armistice signed by Germany and Allies, ending World War I (1918); HBD Demi Moore (1962);  HBD Leonardo DiCaprio (1974).

Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, software developer, and philanthropist. He is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation.[2][3] During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He is one of the best-known entrepreneurs and pioneers of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Gates co-founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it went on to become the world's largest personal computer software company.[4][a] Gates led the company as chairman and CEO until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, but he remained chairman and became chief software architect.[7] During the late 1990s, Gates had been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive. This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings.[8] In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning to a part-time role at Microsoft and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the private charitable foundation that he and his wife, Melinda Gates, established in 2000.[9] He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie.[10] He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 and assumed a new post as technology adviser to support the newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.[11] In March 2020, Gates left his board positions at Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on his philanthropic endeavors including climate change, global health and development, and education.[12]

Since 1987, he has been included in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people.[13][14] From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world all but four of those years.[1] In October 2017, he was surpassed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who had an estimated net worth of US$90.6 billion compared to Gates's net worth of US$89.9 billion at the time.[15] As of August 2020, Gates had an estimated net worth of US$113.7 billion, making him the second-wealthiest person in the world, behind Bezos.[16][b]

Later in his career and since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors. He has given sizable amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reported to be the world's largest private charity.[18] In 2009, Gates and Warren Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropy.[19]

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28, 1955.[3] He is the son of William H. Gates Sr.[c] (1925–2020) and Mary Maxwell Gates (1929–1994).[20] His ancestry includes English, German, and Irish/Scots-Irish.[21] His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way of America. Gates's maternal grandfather was J. W. Maxwell, a national bank president. Gates has an older sister Kristi (Kristianne) and a younger sister Libby. He is the fourth of his name in his family but is known as William Gates III or "Trey" (i.e., three) because his father had the "II" suffix.[22][23] The family lived in the Sand Point area of Seattle in a home that was damaged by a rare tornado when Gates was seven years old.[24]

Early in his life, Gates observed that his parents wanted him to pursue a law career.[25] When he was young, his family regularly attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches, a Protestant Reformed denomination.[26][27][28] Gates was small for his age and was bullied as a child.[23] The family encouraged competition; one visitor reported that "it didn't matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock; there was always a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing".[29]



Gates (right) with Paul Allen at Lakeside School in 1970

At 13, he enrolled in the private Lakeside prep school,[30][31] where he wrote his first software program.[32] When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers' Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the students.[33] Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC, and he was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine, an implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute software code perfectly.[34] After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, Gates and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC) which banned for the summer Gates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Gates's best friend and first business partner Kent Evans, after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time.[35][23]

The four students formed the Lakeside Programmers Club to make money.[23] At the end of the ban, they offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for extra computer time. Rather than use the system remotely via Teletype, Gates went to CCC's offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including Fortran, Lisp, and machine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970 when the company went out of business.

The following year, a Lakeside teacher enlisted Gates and Evans to automate the school's class-scheduling system, providing them computer time and royalties in return. The duo worked diligently in order to have the program ready for their senior year. Towards the end of their junior year, Evans was killed in a mountain climbing accident, which Gates has described as one of the saddest days of his life. Gates then turned to Allen who helped him finish the system for Lakeside.[23]

At 17, Gates formed a venture with Allen called Traf-O-Data to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor.[36] In 1972, he served as a congressional page in the House of Representatives.[37][38] He was a National Merit Scholar when he graduated from Lakeside School in 1973.[39] He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973.[40][41] He chose a pre-law major but took mathematics and graduate level computer science courses.[42] While at Harvard, he met fellow student Steve Ballmer. Gates left Harvard after two years while Ballmer stayed and graduated magna cum laude. Years later, Ballmer succeeded Gates as Microsoft's CEO and maintained that position from 2000 until his resignation in 2014.[43][44]

Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series of unsolved problems[45] presented in a combinatorics class by professor Harry Lewis. His solution held the record as the fastest version for over 30 years, and its successor is faster by only 2%.[45][46] His solution was formalized and published in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.[47]

Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen and joined him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974.[48] In 1975, the MITS Altair 8800 was released based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw the opportunity to start their own computer software company.[49] Gates dropped out of Harvard that same year. His parents were supportive of him after seeing how much he wanted to start his own company.[50] He explained his decision to leave Harvard: "if things hadn't worked out, I could always go back to school. I was officially on leave."[51]

Gates read the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics which demonstrated the Altair 8800, and he contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform.[52] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration was held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. MITS hired Allen,[53] and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with him at MITS in November 1975. Allen named their partnership "Micro-Soft", a combination of "microcomputer" and "software", and their first office was in Albuquerque. The first employee Gates and Allen hired was their high school collaborator Ric Weiland.[53] They dropped the hyphen within a year and officially registered the trade name "Microsoft" with the Secretary of the State of New Mexico on November 26, 1976.[53] Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies.

Microsoft's Altair BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked out and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, he wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter in which he asserted that more than 90% of the users of Microsoft Altair BASIC had not paid Microsoft for it and the Altair "hobby market" was in danger of eliminating the incentive for any professional developers to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software.[54] This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems.[53] The company moved from Albuquerque to Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979.[52]

Gates said he personally reviewed and often rewrote every line of code that the company produced in its first five years. As the company grew he transitioned into a manager role, then an executive.[55]

IBM partnership

IBM, the leading supplier of computer equipment to commercial enterprises at the time, approached Microsoft in July 1980 concerning software for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC.[56] IBM first proposed that Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter. IBM's representatives also mentioned that they needed an operating system, and Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system.[57] IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly, however, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and asked if Microsoft could provide an operating system. A few weeks later, Gates and Allen proposed using 86-DOS, an operating system similar to CP/M, that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC.[58] Microsoft made a deal with SCP to be the exclusive licensing agent of 86-DOS, and later the full owner. Microsoft employed Paterson to adapt the operating system for the PC[59] and delivered it to IBM as PC DOS for a one-time fee of $50,000.[60]

The contract itself only earned Microsoft a relatively small fee. It was the prestige brought to Microsoft by IBM's adoption of their operating system that would be the origin of Microsoft's transformation from a small business to the leading software company in the world. Gates had not offered to transfer the copyright on the operating system to IBM because he believed that other personal computer makers would clone IBM's PC hardware.[60] They did, making the IBM-compatible PC, running DOS, a de facto standard. The sales of MS-DOS (the version of DOS sold to customers other than IBM) made Microsoft a major player in the industry.[61] The press quickly identified Microsoft as being very influential on the IBM PC. PC Magazine asked if Gates was "the man behind the machine?".[56]

Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates the president and chairman of the board, with Paul Allen as vice president and vice chairman. In early 1983, Allen left the company after receiving a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, effectively ending the formal business partnership between Gates and Allen, which had been strained months prior due to a contentious dispute over Microsoft equity.[52][62] Later in the decade, Gates repaired his relationship with Allen and together the two donated millions to their childhood school Lakeside.[23] They remained friends until Allen's death in October 2018.[63]

Windows

Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985. In August of the following year, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, the partnership deteriorated due to mounting creative differences.[64]

Management style



Gates delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, January 2008

Gates had primary responsibility for Microsoft's product strategy from the company's founding in 1975 until 2006. He gained a reputation for being distant from others; an industry executive complained in 1981 that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning phone calls."[65] An Atari executive recalled that he showed Gates a game and defeated him 35 of 37 times. When they met again a month later, Gates "won or tied every game. He had studied the game until he solved it. That is a competitor".[66]

Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers, and the managers described him as being verbally combative. He also berated them for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk.[67][68] He interrupted presentations with such comments as "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard"[69] and "why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps?"[70] The target of his outburst would then have to defend the proposal in detail until Gates was fully convinced.[69] When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend."[71][72][73]

During Microsoft's early years, Gates was an active software developer, particularly in the company's programming language products, but his primary role in most of the company's history was as a manager and executive. He has not officially been on a development team since working on the TRS-80 Model 100,[74] but he wrote code that shipped with the company's products as late as 1989.[72] Jerry Pournelle wrote in 1985 when Gates announced Microsoft Excel: "Bill Gates likes the program, not because it's going to make him a lot of money (although I'm sure it will do that), but because it's a neat hack."[75]

On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his role at Microsoft to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He divided his responsibilities between two successors when he placed Ray Ozzie in charge of management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy.[76]

Antitrust litigation

Further information: United States Microsoft antitrust case and European Union Microsoft competition case



Gates giving his deposition at Microsoft on August 27, 1998

Gates approved of many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices. In the 1998 United States v. Microsoft case, Gates gave deposition testimony that several journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examiner David Boies over the contextual meaning of words such as "compete", "concerned", and "we". Later in the year, when portions of the videotaped deposition were played back in court, the judge was seen laughing and shaking his head.[77] BusinessWeek reported:

Early rounds of his deposition show him offering obfuscatory answers and saying "I don't recall" so many times that even the presiding judge had to chuckle. Worse, many of the technology chief's denials and pleas of ignorance were directly refuted by prosecutors with snippets of e-mail that Gates both sent and received.[78]

Gates later said that he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to mischaracterize his words and actions. "Did I fence with Boies? … I plead guilty… rudeness to Boies in the first degree."[79] Despite Gates's denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had committed monopolization, tying and blocking competition, each in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[79]

November 10

Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther born (1483); US Marine Corps is founded (1775); Singer and actress Jane Froman born (1907); "Sesame Street" debuts (1969); Bill Gates introduces Windows 1.0 to public (1983).

November 9

Napoleon Bonaparte leads coup and becomes dictator of France (1799); Actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr born (1914); Astronomer Carl Sagan born (1934); First issue of Rolling Stone published (1967).

November 6

Basketball inventor Dr. James Naismith born (1861); Teddy Roosevelt travels to Panama and becomes first president to make diplomatic tour outside the US (1906); UN formally condemns apartheid in South Africa (1962); RIP Hollywood great Gene Tierney (1991).

November 5

"Gone with the Wind" actress Vivien Leigh born (1913); Franklin D. Roosevelt is first and only US president elected to third term (1940); Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death (2006); Android operating system from Google unveiled (2007).

November 4

Journalist Walter Cronkite born (1916); Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes first woman elected governor in the US (1924); HBD Sean "Diddy" Combs (1969); Iran hostage crisis begins (1979); Barack Obama becomes first African American elected US president (2008).

November 3

RIP American sharpshooter Annie Oakley (1926); HBD journalist and fashion icon Dame Anna Wintour (1949); Soviet Union launches first animal into space (1957); US arms sale to Iran revealed (1986); One World Trade Center officially opens on former site of Twin Towers (2014).

November 2

Marie Antoinette born (1755); RIP Nobel Prize-winning playwright George Bernard Shaw (1950); First president of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated (1963); Martin Luther King Jr. Day is created in the US (1983).

October 30

President John Adams born (1735); Orson Welles broadcasts "The War of the Worlds" radio hoax, causing mass panic in US (1938); Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in historic Rumble in the Jungle (1974); HBD Ivanka Trump (1981).

October 29

Sir Walter Raleigh is executed (1618); International Red Cross is formed (1863); "The Joy of Painting" host Bob Ross born (1942); HBD Gabrielle Union (1972); Astronaut John Glenn becomes the oldest person in space at age 77 (1998).

October 28

RIP English philosopher John Locke (1704); "Gulliver’s Travels" is first published (1726); Polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk born (1914); HBD Bill Gates (1955); HBD Julia Roberts (1967).

October 27

Ivan the Great dies (1505); Philadelphia is founded (1682); President Teddy Roosevelt born (1858); New York City subway opens (1904); American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath born (1932).

October 26

Erie Canal opens (1825); RIP women’s rights leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1902); HBD Hillary Clinton (1947); RIP Hattie McDaniel, first African American Academy Award winner (1952); Last known natural case of smallpox detected (1977).

Gertrude Ederle

Did you know...

... that today is the Birthday of Gertrude Ederle (1906)? American swimmer Gertrude Ederle achieved fame when she competed in the 1924 Olympics and became the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926. Trivia fans: In her private later life, Ederle taught swimming at a school for deaf children. Take today to think about some of the influential women in your life.

October 23

First National Women’s Rights Convention begins (1850); Comedian and "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson born (1925); HBD soccer legend Pelé (1940); Suicide bombings at US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon kills 241 US servicemen (1983); 130 die in Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002).

October 22

Original metropolitan Opera House opens in NYC (1883); Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine born (1917); Actress Annette Funicello born (1942); President Kennedy addresses nation on Cuban Missile Crisis (1962); HBD reggae artist Shaggy (1968).

Willie Hugh Nelson

He was born on April 29, 1933 and was an American musician, singer, songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist.

October 21

USS Constitution first launched (1797); Actress Carrie Fisher born (1956); Guggenheim Museum opens to the public (1959); RIP poet and novelist Jack Kerouac (1969); HBD Kim Kardashian West (1980).

Alice Ann Bailey

(June 16, 1880 – December 15, 1949) was a writer of more than twenty-four books on theosophical subjects, and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. Bailey was born as Alice La Trobe-Bateman, in Manchester, England.[1] She moved to the United States in 1907, where she spent most of her life as a writer and teacher. Bailey's works, written between 1919 and 1949, describe a wide-ranging system of esoteric thought covering such topics as how spirituality relates to the Solar System, meditation, healing, spiritual psychology, the destiny of nations, and prescriptions for society in general. She described the majority of her work as having been telepathically dictated to her by a Master of Wisdom, initially referred to only as "the Tibetan" or by the initials "D.K.", later identified as Djwal Khul.[2] Her writings bore some similarity to those of Madame Blavatsky and are among the teachings often referred to as the "Ageless Wisdom". Though Bailey's writings differ in some respects to the Theosophy of Madame Blavatsky, they have much in common with it. She wrote on religious themes, including Christianity, though her writings are fundamentally different from many aspects of Christianity or other orthodox religions. Her vision of a unified society included a global "spirit of religion" different from traditional religious forms and including the concept of the Age of Aquarius.[3][4]

October 20

Baseball great Mickey Mantle born (1931); Congress investigates "Reds" in Hollywood (1947); Tom Petty born (1950); HBD Sen. Kamala Harris (1964); RIP President Herbert Hoover (1964); Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi killed (2011).

October 16

Marie Antoinette is executed (1793); Author Oscar Wilde born (1854); The Walt Disney Co. is founded (1923); HBD actress Angela Lansbury (1925); RIP Tony, Academy, and Emmy Award-winning actress Shirley Booth (1992).

October 15

"I Love Lucy" airs for first time (1951); HBD Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, the Duchess of York (1959); Black Panther Party is created (1966); Wayne Gretzky becomes all-time NHL points leader (1989); RIP Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen (2018).

October 13

Continental Navy established (1775); UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher born (1925); Italy declares war on Germany (1943); RIP television host Ed Sullivan (1974); 33 Chilean miners rescued after 69 days underground (2010).

October 12

Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean, believes he reached the Indies (1492); American playwright Alice Childress born (1916); RIP Wilt Chamberlain (1999); USS Cole is attacked by suicide bombers, killing 17 American sailors (2000); Eliud Kipchoge becomes first person to run a sub-two-hour marathon (2019).

October 9

John Lennon born (1940); Landslide in Italy kills more than 2,000 (1963); Cuban Revolution figure Che Guevara is executed (1967); Oskar Schindler dies (1974); Female education activist Malala Yousafzai survives assassination attempt (2012). 

October 8

RIP American politician John Hancock (1793); HBD civil rights leader Jesse Jackson (1941); HBD actress Sigourney Weaver (1949); "Cats" debuts on Broadway (1982); Office of Homeland Security is created in wake of 9/11 attacks (2001).

October 7

RIP Edgar Allan Poe (1849); World’s oldest airline still operating, KLM, is founded (1919); HBD Nobel Prize-winner Desmond Tutu (1931); Saint Teresa of Calcutta, or Mother Teresa, starts her Missionaries of Charity (1950); Russian President Vladimir Putin born (1952).

October 6

Civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer born (1917); Yom Kippur War begins (1973); Pope John Paul II is first pope to visit White House (1979); Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, assassinated (1981); RIP Hollywood legend Bette Davis (1989). 

October 5

Harry Truman makes first US presidential television address (1947); HBD astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958); PBS launches (1970); HBD actress Kate Winslet (1975); RIP Steve Jobs (2011).

October 3

Did you know...... that today is the birthday of Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac (1949); Chubby Checker, rock singer (1941); Tommy Lee of Motley Crue (1962); Gwen Stefani of No Doubt (1969); and Stevie Ray Vaughan of Double Trouble (1954). Celebrate by listening to your favorite music today.

October 2

Mahatma Gandhi born (1869); HBD fashion designer Donna Karan (1948); Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first Black Supreme Court justice (1967); Rock Hudson is first major US celebrity to die from AIDS-related complications (1985); RIP Tom Petty (2017).

Charles Kettering

Marlene

Who was Charles Kettering? He was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. He was a founder of Delco, and was head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947.

What an amazing journey he took in life. There's an article about Mr. Kettering on the Engineers Club of Dayton Ohio website. 

October 1

Yosemite National Park is established (1890); HBD President Jimmy Carter (1924); HBD actress Dame Julie Andrews (1935); Walt Disney World opens (1971); 58 killed, 868 injured in mass shooting in Las Vegas (2017).

September 30

American novelist and screenwriter Truman Capote born (1924); Babe Ruth is first player to hit 60 home runs in a season (1927);  Actor James Dean dies in a car crash (1955); President Kennedy authorizes federal troops to integrate University of Mississippi (1962); RIP Oscar-winning actress Simone Signoret (1985).

September 29

John D. Rockefeller becomes world’s first billionaire (1916); Pope John Paul II is first pope to visit Ireland (1979); Stacy Allison becomes first American woman to climb Mount Everest (1988); HBD basketball star Kevin Durant (1988). 

September 28

Chinese philosopher Confucius born (551 BCE); Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (1928); Ted Williams is last major league baseball player to bat over .400 (1941); RIP jazz legend Miles Davis (1991); RIP American tennis great and color barrier breaker Althea Gibson (2003).

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 (/ˈbeɪdər ˈɡɪnzbɜːrɡ/; born Joan Ruth Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death.[1] She was nominated by President Bill Clinton and at the time was generally viewed as a moderate consensus-builder. She eventually became part of the liberal wing of the Court as the Court shifted to the right over time. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor. During her tenure, Ginsburg wrote notable majority opinions, including United States v. Virginia (1996), Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000), and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005).

Ginsburg was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school. She earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University and married Martin D. Ginsburg, becoming a mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class. Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated joint first in her class. She became a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School, teaching civil procedure as one of the few women in her field.
Ginsburg spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women's rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. She advocated as a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she served until her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993.

September 25

US Congress passes the Bill of Rights (1789); "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve born (1952); The Little Rock Nine integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957); HBD Will Smith (1968); HBD Catherine Zeta-Jones (1969).

September 24

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald born (1896); American astronomer Charlotte Moore Sitterly born (1898); Devils Tower is proclaimed the first American national monument (1906); "Muppets" creator Jim Henson born (1936); Honda Motor Company founded (1948); RIP Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel (1991).

September 23

American civil rights activist Victoria Woodhull born (1838); Nintendo is founded as a playing card company (1889); Musician Ray Charles is born (1930); RIP psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1939); Hurricane Jeanne kills more than 3,000 people in Haiti (2004).

September 22

President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in Confederate states (1862); Peace Corps formally authorized by Congress (1961); Iraq invades Iran, beginning the Iran-Iraq War (1980); “Friends” debuts on NBC (1994); RIP baseball great Yogi Berra (2015).

September 21

"The Hobbit" is published (1937); HBD Stephen King (1947); HBD Bill Murray (1950); Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first female Supreme Court justice (1981); RIP track and field legend Florence Griffith Joyner (1998).

September 18

Royal Opera House opens in London (1809); HBD New York Times (1851); Margaret Chase Smith becomes first woman to be elected to both the US House and Senate (1948); RIP Jimi Hendrix (1970); Cyclist Lance Armstrong born (1971).

September 17

 US Constitution is signed (1787); Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery for first time (1849); Actress Anne Bancroft born (1931); Camp David Accords signed providing framework for Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1978); Vanessa Williams becomes first Black woman crowned Miss America (1983).

September 16

Pilgrims depart from England on the Mayflower (1620); Actress Lauren Bacall born (1924); American musician BB King born (1925); HBD historian and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950).

September 15

Mystery writer Agatha Christie born (1890); Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (1928); Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to win heavyweight title a record third time (1978); HBD Prince Harry (1984); Google.com registered as domain name (1997).

September 14

President William McKinley dies of gunshot wounds (1901); Soviet probe Luna 2 becomes the first man-made object to reach the moon (1959); OPEC is founded (1960); RIP Grace Kelly (1982); Singer Amy Winehouse born (1983).

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux

 (6 May 1868[1] – 15 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. His 1907 novel The Mystery of the Yellow Room is one of the most celebrated locked-room mysteries.

Leroux was born in Paris in 1868 and died in 1927 in Nice. After schooling in Normandy, he moved to Paris, where he completed his studies in law in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. In 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. He was present at, and covered, the 1905 Russian Revolution.
Another case at which he was present involved the investigation and in-depth coverage of the former Paris Opera (presently housing the Paris Ballet).[1] The basement contained a cell that held prisoners of the Paris Commune.
He left journalism in 1907 and began writing fiction. In 1919, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans, publishing novels and turning them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel titled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; English title: The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to those of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe in the United States.
Leroux published his most famous work, The Phantom of the Opera, as a serial in 1909 and 1910, and as a book in 1910 (with an English translation appearing in 1911).
Leroux was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur in 1909.

The Adventures of RouletabilleEdit

1907 - Le mystère de la chambre jaune (English translation: The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 1907; Rouletabille and The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 2009, translated by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Randy Lofficier, ISBN 978-1-934543-60-3)

1908 - Le parfum de la dame en noir (English translation: The Perfume of the Lady in Black, 1908)

1913 - Rouletabille chez le Tsar (Rouletabille and the Tsar; English translation: The Secret of the Night, 1914)

1914 - Rouletabille à la guerre (Rouletabille at War) consisting of

Le château noir (The Black Castle)

Les étranges noces de Rouletabille (The Strange Wedding of Rouletabille;)

1917 - Rouletabille chez Krupp (English translation: Rouletabille at Krupp's, 2013, by Brian Stableford, ISBN 978-1-61227-144-6)

1921 - Le crime de Rouletabille (The Crime of Rouletabille; English translation: The Slave Bangle, 1925; The Phantom Clue, 1926, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

1922 - Rouletabille chez les Bohémiens (Rouletabille and the Gypsies; English translation: The Sleuth Hound [UK], 1926; The Octopus of Paris [US], 1927, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

Chéri Bibil

Première Aventures de Chéri-Bibi (1913, English translations: The Floating Prison [UK] and Wolves of the Sea [US], Translated by Hannaford Bennett in 1923)

Chéri-Bibi et Cécily (1916, English translations: Missing Men: The Return of Cheri-Bibi [US], Cheri-Bibi and Cecily [UK], 1923, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

Nouvelles Aventures de Chéri-Bibi (1921, English translations: Part I - The Dark Road, 1924; Part II - The Dancing Girl [UK], Nomads of the Night [US], Translated by Hannaford Bennett 1925)

Le Coup d'État de Chéri-Bibi (1926, English translation: The New Idol, Translated by Hannaford Bennett 1928)

Other novels

Still of Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Poster of the film adaptation of Balaoo in 1913

La double vie de Théophraste Longuet (1903, English translations: The Double Life, 1909, translated by John E. Kearney; The Man with the Black Feather, 1912, translated by Edgar Jepson)

Le roi mystère (1908)

Le fauteuil hanté (1909, English translation: The Haunted Chair, 1931)

Un homme dans la nuit (1910)

La reine de Sabbat (1910, English translations: Part I as The Midnight Lady [UK], 1930; Part II as The Missing Archduke [UK], 1931)

Le fantôme de l'Opéra (1910, English translation: The Phantom of the Opera, 1911)

Balaoo (1911, English translation: Balaoo, 1913)

L' épouse du soleil (1912, English translation: The Bride of the Sun, 1915)

La colonne infernale (1916)

Confitou (1916)

L' homme qui revient de loin (1916, English translation: The Man who Came Back from the Dead, 1916)

Le capitaine Hyx (1917, English translation: The Amazing Adventures of Carolus Herbert, 1922, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La bataille invisible (1917, English translation: The Veiled Prisoner [UK], 1923, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

Tue-la-mort (1920, English translation: The Masked Man, 1929)

Le coeur cambriolé (1920, English translation: The Burgled Heart, 1925; The New Terror, 1926)

Le sept de trèfle (1921)

La poupée sanglante (1923, English translations: The Kiss That Killed, 1934, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La machine à assassiner (1923, English translation: The Machine to Kill, 1934)

Les ténébreuses: La fin d'un monde & du sang sur la Néva (1924)

Hardis-Gras ou le fils des trois pères (1924, English translation: The Son of 3 Fathers, 1927, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La Farouche Aventure (serialized in "Le Journal" as La Coquette punie, 1924; English translation: The Adventures of a Coquette, 1926, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La Mansarde en or (1925)

Les Mohicans de Babel (1926)

Mister Flow (1927, English translation: Part I as The Man of a Hundred Faces [USA] and The Queen of Crime [UK], 1930; Part II as Lady Helena, or The Mysterious Lady [USA], 1931)

Les Chasseurs de danses (1927)

Pouloulou (1990, posthumous)

Short stories

Gaston Leroux's "Not'olympe" was translated into English as "The Mystery of the Four Husbands" and published in the December 1929 issue of Weird Tales.

1887 - "Le petit marchand de pommes de terre frites"

1902 - "Les trois souhaits"

1907 - "Baïouchki baïou"

1908 - "L'homme qui a vu le diable" (English translation: "In Letters of Fire", 1908)

1911 - "Le dîner des bustes" (English translation: "A Terrible Tale", 1925)

1912 - "La hache d'or" (English translation: "The Gold Axe", 1925)

1924 - "Le Noël du petit Vincent-Vincent" (English translation: "The Crime on Christmas Night", 1930)

1924 - "La femme au collier de velours" (English translation: "The Woman with the Velvet Collar", 1929)

1924 - "Not'olympe" (English translation: "The Mystery of the Four Husbands", 1929)

Plays

1908 - Le Lys (co-author: Pierre Wolff)

1913 - Alsace (co-author: Lucien Camille)

September 11

Legendary college football coach Bear Bryant born (1913); Chilean President Salvador Allende dies by suicide in midst of coup d'état (1973); Pete Rose breaks baseball’s all-time hits record (1985); US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya attacked resulting in death of four Americans (2012).

Donald John Trump

(born June 14, 1946) is the 45th and current president of the United States. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.

Trump was born and raised in Queens, a borough of New York City. He attended Fordham University for two years and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became president of his father's real-estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded its operations to building or renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. Trump later started various side ventures, mostly by licensing his name. Trump and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies. He owned the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015. He produced and hosted The Apprentice, a reality television series, from 2003 to 2015. As of April 2020, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $2.1 billion.^[a]

Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, and nationalist. He entered the 2016 presidential race as a Republican and was elected in a surprise victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, although he lost the popular vote.^[b] He became the oldest first-term U.S. president,^[c] and the first without prior military or government service. His election and policies have sparked numerous protests. Trump has made many false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. The statements have been documented by fact-checkers, and the media have widely described the phenomenon as unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist.

During his presidency, Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, citing security concerns; after legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld the policy's third revision. He enacted a tax-cut package for individuals and businesses, rescinding the individual health insurance mandate penalty. He appointed Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In foreign policy, Trump has pursued an America First agenda, withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal. He imposed import tariffs which triggered a trade war with China, recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria. Trump met three times with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, but talks on denuclearization broke down in 2019. Trump reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic; he minimized the threat, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials, and promoted false information about unproven treatments and the availability of testing. He is seeking a second term as the Republican nominee in the 2020 presidential election.

A special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller found that Trump and his campaign welcomed and encouraged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election under the belief that it would be politically advantageous, but did not find sufficient evidence to press charges of criminal conspiracy or coordination with Russia.^[d] Mueller also investigated Trump for obstruction of justice, and his report neither indicted nor exonerated Trump on that offense. After Trump solicited Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, the House of Representatives impeached him in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate acquitted him of both charges in February 2020.

September 10

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer born (1929); RIP Jane Wyman, actress and first wife of President Reagan (2007); Large Hadron Collider is tested for first time (2008); Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Florida, is responsible for 134 deaths and $65B in damage (2017).

September 9

United States of America officially gets its name (1776); HBD actor Hugh Grant (1960); HBD actor Adam Sandler (1966); China founding father Mao Zedong dies (1976); Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest-reigning monarch of the UK at more than 63 years with crown (2015).

September 8

Michelangelo’s David statue unveiled to the public (1504); St. Augustine, Florida, becomes first permanent European settlement (1565);  Singer Patsy Cline born (1932); HBD Bernie Sanders (1941); HBD Ruby Bridges, first Black student to attend an all-white school in Louisiana (1954).

Edmond Halley

Edmond^[1] (or Edmund^[2]) Halley, FRS (/ˈhæli/;^[3][4] 8 November [O.S. 29 October] 1656 – 25 January 1742 [O.S. 14 January 1741]) was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.^[5]

September 4

Edmond Halley observes Halley’s comet for first time (1682); HBD Beyoncé (1981); Google is founded (1998); Crocodile Hunter host Steve Irwin killed by a stingray (2006); RIP comedian Joan Rivers (2014).

September 3

Treaty of Paris signed, ending American Revolutionary War (1783); Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Marguerite Higgins born (1921); HBD author Malcolm Gladwell (1963); RIP football coaching legend Vince Lombardi (1970).

September 2

US Treasury Department is founded (1789); Japan surrenders, ending World War II (1945); Astronaut and teacher Christa McAuliffe born (1948); HBD Keanu Reeves (1964); Vietnamese president and revolutionary Ho Chi Minh dies (1969).

September 1

Lewis and Clark explorer William Clark dies (1838); Germany invades Poland (1939); HBD singer Gloria Estefan (1957); Bobby Fischer wins “Match of the Century” and becomes first American world chess champion (1972); Wreckage of the Titanic found at bottom of North Atlantic (1985); HBD actress and singer Zendaya (1996).

Diana, Princess of Wales

(CNN) In 1995, two years before Diana, Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris, she said in a TV interview that she'd like to be a queen. But she wasn't talking about the British monarchy into which she'd married. She wanted to be a queen of people's hearts.

In the 23 years since her death on August 31, 1997, it's become clear how well she fulfilled that hope. Every August, tributes pour in to celebrate her life and legacy -- one that valued authenticity over protocol, and humanity over prestige.

She used her celebrity to raise awareness for a number of causes, from leprosy to domestic violence to mental health. She made headlines in 1987 when she intentionally shook hands with an AIDS patient, working to dispel the myth that HIV/AIDS could be spread through touch. And in the months before she died, she took her media spotlight and placed it squarely on the dangers of landmines in Angola.

She was, in the words of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, "the people's princess."

'People felt a kinship with her'

When Blair used that phrase in a speech following Diana's death, he was searching for words to help a nation grieve a shockingly sudden loss.

The Princess of Wales had finalized her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996, but intense media scrutiny still trailed her as she went on vacation the following summer with boyfriend Dodi Fayed. Just after midnight on August 31, a Mercedes carrying Diana and Fayed crashed in a tunnel not far from Paris' Eiffel Tower. The accident killed Diana, Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul.

The news reached the royal family while they were away in Scotland at Balmoral Castle. Within hours, Charles flew to Paris to retrieve Diana's body before returning to Balmoral to be with his and Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

"The immediate reaction of the royal family was to say, 'We must hunker down and protect the children; there will be formalities that will followed but that's what we do," says author Jonathan Dimbleby in CNN's Original Series on the royal family, "The Windsors."

August 31

HBD Richard Gere (1949); RIP boxing legend Rocky Marciano (1969); Princess Diana dies in car crash in Paris (1997); 953 die in bridge stampede in Iraq (2005).

Sacagawea

 (/səˌkɑːɡəˈwiːə/; also Sakakawea or Sacajawea; May c. 1788 – December 20, 1812 or April 9, 1884)[1][2][3] was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, at age 16, met and helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American populations in addition to her contributions to natural history.

Sacagawea was an important member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The National American Woman Suffrage Association of the early 20th century adopted her as a symbol of women's worth and independence, erecting several statues and plaques in her memory, and doing much to spread the story of her accomplishments.[4]

Reliable historical information about Sacagawea is very limited. She was born c. 1788 into the Agaidika ('Salmon Eater'; aka Lemhi Shoshone) tribe near Salmon, Lemhi County, which sits by the continental divide at the present-day Idaho-Montana border.[5]

In 1800, when she was about 12 years old, she and several other girls were kidnapped by a group of Hidatsa in a battle that resulted in the deaths of several Shoshone: four men, four women, and several boys. She was held captive at a Hidatsa village near present-day Washburn, North Dakota.[6]

At about age 13, she was sold into a non-consensual marriage to Toussaint Charbonneau, a Quebecois trapper living in the village who had also bought another young Shoshone, known as Otter Woman, as his wife. Charbonneau was variously reported to have purchased both girls to be his wives from the Hidatsa or to have won Sacagawea while gambling.[6]

The Corps of Discovery arrived near the Hidatsa villages, where Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark built Fort Mandan, to spend the winter of 1804–05. They interviewed several trappers who might be able to interpret or guide the expedition up the Missouri River in the springtime. Knowing they would need the help of Shoshone tribes at the headwaters of the Missouri, they agreed to hire Toussaint Charbonneau after discovering that his wife, Sacagawea, who was pregnant with her first child at the time, spoke Shoshone.

On November 4, 1804, Clark recorded in his journal:[7][a]

[A] french man by Name Chabonah, who Speaks the Big Belley language visit us, he wished to hire & informed us his 2 Squars (squaws) were Snake Indians, we engau (engaged) him to go on with us and take one of his wives to interpret the Snake language.…

Charbonneau and Sacagawea moved into the expedition's fort a week later. Clark nicknamed her "Janey."[b] Lewis recorded the birth of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau on February 11, 1805, noting that another of the party's interpreters administered crushed rattlesnake rattles in water to speed the delivery. Clark and other European-Americans nicknamed the boy "Little Pomp" or "Pompy."

In April, the expedition left Fort Mandan and headed up the Missouri River in pirogues. They had to be poled against the current and sometimes pulled from the riverbanks. On May 14, 1805, Sacagawea rescued items that had fallen out of a capsized boat, including the journals and records of Lewis and Clark. The corps commanders, who praised her quick action, named the Sacagawea River in her honor on May 20, 1805. By August 1805, the corps had located a Shoshone tribe and was attempting to trade for horses to cross the Rocky Mountains. They used Sacagawea to interpret and discovered that the tribe's chief, Cameahwait, was her brother.

Lewis and Clark reach the Shoshone camp led by Sacagawea.

Lewis recorded their reunion in his journal:[9]

Shortly after Capt. Clark arrived with the Interpreter Charbono, and the Indian woman, who proved to be a sister of the Chief Cameahwait. The meeting of those people was really affecting, particularly between Sah cah-gar-we-ah and an Indian woman, who had been taken prisoner at the same time with her, and who had afterwards escaped from the Minnetares and rejoined her nation.

And Clark in his:[10]

…The Intertrepeter [sic] & Squar who were before me at Some distance danced for the joyful Sight, and She made signs to me that they were her nation…

The Shoshone agreed to barter horses to the group and to provide guides to lead them over the cold and barren Rocky Mountains. The trip was so hard that they were reduced to eating tallow candles to survive. When they descended into the more temperate regions on the other side, Sacagawea helped to find and cook camas roots to help them regain their strength.

As the expedition approached the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific Coast, Sacagawea gave up her beaded belt to enable the captains to trade for a fur robe they wished to give to President Thomas Jefferson.

Clark's journal entry for November 20, 1805, reads:[11]

one of the Indians had on a roab made of 2 Sea Otter Skins the fur of them were more butifull than any fur I had ever Seen both Capt. Lewis & my Self endeavored to purchase the roab with different articles at length we precured it for a belt of blue beeds which the Squar—wife of our interpreter Shabono wore around her waste.… [sic]

When the corps reached the Pacific Ocean, all members of the expedition—including Sacagawea and Clark's black manservant York—voted on November 24 on the location for building their winter fort. In January, when a whale's carcass washed up onto the beach south of Fort Clatsop, Sacagawea insisted on her right to go see this "monstrous fish."

On the return trip, they approached the Rocky Mountains in July 1806. On July 6, Clark recorded:

The Indian woman informed me that she had been in this plain frequently and knew it well.… She said we would discover a gap in the mountains in our direction [i.e., present-day Gibbons Pass].

A week later, on July 13, Sacagawea advised Clark to cross into the Yellowstone River basin at what is now known as Bozeman Pass. Later, this was chosen as the optimal route for the Northern Pacific Railway to cross the continental divide.

While Sacagawea has been depicted as a guide for the expedition,[12] she is recorded as providing direction in only a few instances. Her work as an interpreter certainly helped the party to negotiate with the Shoshone; however, her greatest value to the mission may have been simply her presence during the arduous journey, which demonstrated the peaceful intent of the expedition.

While traveling through what is now Franklin County, Washington, in October 1805, Clark noted that "the wife of Shabono [Charbonneau] our interpetr we find reconsiles all the Indians, as to our friendly intentions a woman with a party of men is a token of peace,"[13] and that she "confirmed those people of our friendly intentions, as no woman ever accompanies a war party of Indians in this quarter" [sic].[14]

As he traveled downriver from Fort Mandan at the end of the journey, on board the pirogue near the Ricara Village, Clark wrote to Charbonneau:[15]

You have been a long time with me and conducted your Self in Such a manner as to gain my friendship, your woman who accompanied you that long dangerous and fatigueing rout to the Pacific Ocian and back diserved a greater reward for her attention and services on that rout than we had in our power to give her at the Mandans. As to your little Son (my boy Pomp) you well know my fondness of him and my anxiety to take him and raise him as my own child.… If you are desposed to accept either of my offers to you and will bring down you Son your famn [femme, woman] Janey had best come along with you to take care of the boy untill I get him.… Wishing you and your family great success & with anxious expectations of seeing my little danceing boy Baptiest I shall remain your Friend, William Clark. [sic]

— Clark to Charbonneau, August 20, 1806

Mary Wollenstone Shelley

Did you know...... that today is the birthday of Mary Wollenstone Shelley (1797)? Shelley was an English novelist and short story writer best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.

August 28

Black teenager Emmett Till is brutally lynched for allegedly flirting with a white woman (1955); MLK delivers "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, DC (1963); HBD Shania Twain (1965); HBD LeAnn Rimes (1982); Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorce (1996)

August 27

Krakatoa volcano eruption is largest in recorded history, kills around 40,000 (1883); President Lyndon B. Johnson born (1908); "Guinness Book of World Records" first published (1955); RIP W.E.B. Du Bois (1963); RIP American vaudevillian Gracie Allen (1964).

August 26

Mother Teresa born (1910); 19th Amendment, granting US women right to vote, takes effect (1920); First televised Major League Baseball game (1939); RIP aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh (1974).

August 25

Matthew Webb becomes first person to swim across English Channel (1875); Singer Aaliyah dies in plane crash (2001); Voyager 1 becomes first man-made object to enter interstellar space (2012); RIP astronaut Neil Armstrong (2012); RIP Sen. John McCain (2018).

August 24

Mount Vesuvius erupts, killing about 15,000 (79); Thomas Edison invents motion picture camera (1891); Amelia Earhart is first woman to fly nonstop across the US (1932); HBD Dave Chappelle (1973); Windows 95 released (1995).

August 21

Nat Turner leads slave rebellion (1831); Mona Lisa stolen from Louvre, is recovered two years later (1911); Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain born (1936); Hawaii becomes 50th US state (1959); HBD Usain Bolt (1986).

August 20

First around-the-world telegram sent (1911); "Valley of the Dolls" author Jacqueline Susann is born (1918); Leon Trotsky fatally wounded in Mexico (1940); NASA launches Viking 1 probe toward Mars (1975); RIP comedian Jerry Lewis (2017).

Benjamin Harrison

Did you know...

... that today is Benjamin Harrison's Birthday? Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States, was born at North Bend, Ohio, on August 20, 1833. Trivia buffs: He was the only grandson of a president (William Henry Harrison) to be elected president.

Eugene Wesley Roddenberry

(August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer and creator of the original Star Trek television series, and its first spin-off The Next Generation. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II, and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he also began to write scripts for television.

Gene Roddenberry

Roddenberry in 1976, outside the Space Shuttle Enterprise

Born

Eugene Wesley Roddenberry

August 19, 1921

El Paso, Texas, U.S.

DiedOctober 24, 1991 (aged 70)

Santa Monica, California, U.S.

Other namesRobert WesleyEducationFranklin High SchoolAlma materLos Angeles City CollegeOccupationTelevision writer, producerHome townLos AngelesSpouse(s)

Eileen-Anita Rexroat

​

(

m. 1942; div. 1969)

Majel Barrett

​

(

m. 1969)

Children3, including Rod RoddenberryParent(s)Eugene Edward Roddenberry

Caroline "Glen" Golemon

As a freelance writer, Roddenberry wrote scripts for Highway Patrol, Have Gun – Will Travel, and other series, before creating and producing his own television series, The Lieutenant. In 1964, Roddenberry created Star Trek, which premiered in 1966 and ran for three seasons before being canceled. He then worked on other projects, including a string of failed television pilots. The syndication of Star Trek led to its growing popularity; this, in turn, resulted in the Star Trek feature films, on which Roddenberry continued to produce and consult. In 1987, the sequel series Star Trek: The Next Generation began airing on television in first-run syndication; Roddenberry was heavily involved in the initial development of the series, but took a less active role after the first season due to ill health. He continued to consult on the series until his death in 1991.

In 1985, he became the first TV writer with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he was later inducted by both the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Years after his death, Roddenberry was one of the first humans to have his ashes carried into earth orbit. The popularity of the Star Trek universe and films has inspired films, books, comic books, video games, and fan films set in the Star Trek universe.

Roddenberry was born on August 19, 1921, in his parents' rented home in El Paso, Texas, the first child of Eugene Edward Roddenberry and Caroline "Glen" (née Golemon) Roddenberry. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1923 after Gene's father passed the Civil Service test and was given a police commission there.[1] During his childhood, Roddenberry was interested in reading, especially pulp magazines,[2] and was a fan of stories such as John Carter of Mars, Tarzan, and the Skylark series by E. E. Smith.[3]

Roddenberry majored in police science at Los Angeles City College,[4][n 1] where he began dating Eileen-Anita Rexroat and became interested in aeronautical engineering.[4] He obtained a pilot's license through the United States Army Air Corps-sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program.[6] He enlisted with the USAAC on December 18, 1941,[7] and married Eileen on June 13, 1942.[8] He graduated from the USAAC on August 5, 1942, when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.[9]

He was posted to Bellows Field, Oahu, to join the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Group, of the Thirteenth Air Force, which flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.[10]

On August 2, 1943, while flying B-17E-BO, 41-2463, "Yankee Doodle", out of Espiritu Santo, the plane Roddenberry was piloting overshot the runway by 500 feet (150 m) and crashed into trees, crushing the nose, and starting a fire, killing two men: bombardier Sgt. John P. Kruger and navigator Lt. Talbert H. Woolam.[11] The official report absolved Roddenberry of any responsibility.[11] Roddenberry spent the remainder of his military career in the United States,[12] and flew all over the country as a plane crash investigator. He was involved in a further plane crash, this time as a passenger.[12] He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.[13]

In 1945, Roddenberry began flying for Pan American World Airways,[14] including routes from New York to Johannesburg or Calcutta, the two longest Pan Am routes at the time.[14] Listed as a resident of River Edge, New Jersey, he experienced his third crash while on the Clipper Eclipse on June 18, 1947.[15] The plane came down in the Syrian Desert, and Roddenberry, who took control as the ranking flight officer, suffered two broken ribs but was able to drag injured passengers out of the burning plane and led the group to get help.[16] Fourteen (or 15)[17] people died in the crash; 11 passengers needed hospital treatment (including Bishnu Charan Ghosh), and eight were unharmed.[18] He resigned from Pan Am on May 15, 1948, and decided to pursue his dream of writing, particularly for the new medium of television.[19]

Roddenberry applied for a position with the Los Angeles Police Department on January 10, 1949,[20] and spent his first 16 months in the traffic division before being transferred to the newspaper unit.[21] This became the Public Information Division and Roddenberry became the Chief of Police's speech writer.[22] He became technical advisor for a new television version of Mr. District Attorney, which led to him writing for the show under his pseudonym "Robert Wesley".[23] He began to collaborate with Ziv Television Programs,[24] and continued to sell scripts to Mr. District Attorney, in addition to Ziv's Highway Patrol. In early 1956, he sold two story ideas for I Led Three Lives, and he found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to be a writer and a policeman.[25] On June 7, 1956, he resigned from the force to concentrate on his writing career.[26]