Just thought I would post a couple of interesting ways that today is tied to history.

On This Day:

Born:

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of a very useful little devise known as the telephone (1876), was born today in 1847 in Edinburgh! He was an audiologist and was granted 18 individual patents, and 12 with collaborators, over the course of his career.

Facts:

Modern-day American adventurer (I love that title!) Steve Fossett became the first person to do a complete nonstop circumnavigation of the globe, solo, AND without refueling. He landed in Kansas after more than 67 hours in flight today in 2005. Sadly, his plane crashed in 2007 on another adventure, and his death was confirmed in the fall of 2008.

On this day in 1934, an American bank-robber, John Dillinger made a "most daring escape" from the prison at Crown Point, Indiana. With only a razor and a piece of wood, Dillinger carved a fake pistol, painted it black with some bootblack, and forced his way past the prison guards to escape, while singing, "I'm heading for the last roundup." A naughty chap.

The image to the right is the "Defence of Fort McHenry", this poem would later become known as The Star-Spangled Banner. Today in 1931, by act of Congress, "The Star-Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, was officially adopted as the national anthem of the United States.

AgB, VoD, Joshua Titus