One hundred years ago today, American newspapers reported that John D. Rockefeller (above) had become the first individual to be worth more than a billion dollars.

Rockefeller’s 247,692 shares of stock in his Standard Oil Co. were now worth close to $499 million, after an increase in their share price the previous day. The article concluded that this amount, when combined with his possessions “in various banks, railroads, enormous blocks of national, state, and municipal bonds, [that] brings his total up to the billion mark.”
Read More

The Norman forces led by William, Duke of Normandy, landed at Pevensey in Sussex, in the south of England, 950 years ago today.

A few years later, the event was depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, the enormous (230 feet long) artwork that commemorates the Norman invasion and victory at the Battle of Hastings. (Seen above.)

* * * *

“The affair between Boston and Ted Williams has been no mere summer romance; it has been a marriage, composed of spats, mutual disappointments, and, toward the end, a mellowing hoard of shared memories. It falls into three stages, which may be termed Youth, Maturity, and Age; or Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis; or Jason, Achilles, and Nestor.”—John Updike, “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” October 22, 1960, The New Yorker

Read More

Today is the 11th anniversary of Google claiming that it was launched on September 27, 1998, making the Internet giant 18 today. The company is celebrating with a “Google doodle” that may have already greeted you this morning. (See above.)

Google registered “google.com” on September 15, 1997, which means it is at least 19 years of age, and the company received its first payments from investors in August 1998, before it was even incorporated, which finally took place on September 4, 1998, but starting in 2005, the company has claimed September 27 as its “official” birthday. Its corporate website semi-explains, semi-cutely: “Google opened its doors in September 1998. The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake.”

“I Wish I Was Eighteen Again” by Sonny Throckmorton, sung by George Burns (after the jump):
Read More