In 1879 a substance to treat addiction to morphine was introduced in the United called cocaine.
In 1853 John Coffee built a new prison in Dundalk, Ireland. He became bankrupt after the construction and became the first prisoner of his own jail.
The "Man of the Year" in 1938 according to Time magazine was Adolf Hitler.
Ronald Reagan, the former president of the United States and actor, was rejected for the main role in a 1964 film called "The Best Man" because "he had not the appearance of a president."
In 1943, Thomas Watson, IBM's director, issued a statement saying "I believe that there is a world market for maybe five computers."
"We do not like the way they sound, and guitar music is out of fashion" said the Decca Recording Company in 1962 when rejecting the Beatles.
In 1876, the Western Union was offered by Alexander Graham Bell to buy the rights of his invention (the telephone). They rejected the proposal saying that the machine had too many disadvantages so as to be considered a mean of communication and that it had no value for them.
"640 Kb memory should be enough for anyone" ... Bill Gates in 1981.
In August 1890 a prisoner was executed in the electric chair. This was the first execution done by this method. When Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia (nowadays Ethiopia) noticed this, he commissioned three electric chairs to the United States. The only problem was that after the arrival, he discovered that they needed electricity to operate (Abyssinia still did not have this advancement). Since the emperor was very inspired he soon found the solution. He used one of them as his own imperial throne.
The marmots (or MONGO), those small Asian mammals famous for killing cobras, were taken by farmers from Hawaii to try to control the rat population, but they forgot a little detail. The marmots are diurnal animals and rats are nocturnal animals. Today, the marmots are regarded as a pest in Hawaii, almost as much as rats.
Peter Archer aged 47 was arrested for running naked down a street in Melbourne, Australia, but was left free when the police was informed that he was fleeing from a funeral home where a doctor had pronounced him officially dead.
Really interesting in my opinion…
