» SFB says: Hate to correct you back, pal, but the call shown in the clip we posted earlier is the first GSM call—which the post specifically states. :) GSM is a specific kind of technology for making cell phone calls, first launched in Europe with this phone call right here (which is from 1991, by the way), and currently used in the U.S. by AT&T and T-Mobile, among others. The first cell phone call was made 40 years ago using analog technology by a Motorola engineer. — Ernie @ SFB
Sure, you may have known that the first cell phone call was made 40 years ago today, but did you know that the first GSM call was made by the prime minister of Finland? More fun details here.
Obit of the Day: Dead Together
March 5
1953 - Josef Stalin, leader of the U.S.S.R. from 1924 until his death at the age of 74.
2013 - Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death at the age of 58.
To be fair, although they both took advantage of the cult of personality, no one can match Stalin’s horrific history of mass imprisonment and government-sponsored murder.
There are few people on Earth who have positively effected the liberty movement as much as Andrew Breitbart. He encouraged conservatives and libertarians to be bold in the face of overwhelming opposition from the media and, in fact, make the media less and less relevant by becoming the media ourselves. That’s why it was such a terrible loss when he was found dead one year ago today.
From Breitbart.com
I see Andrew every day. When I fire up my buddy list there is Bodiaz bringing his dose of happy-sad. Thanks, someone, for not turning his computer off.
On the one-year anniversary of his death, many folks will speak of Andrew’s loss to the cause. Go ahead and cube that vacuum a few times. It’s true, in some measure he lives on in all of us. When I was out campaigning for Romney last year, all my tough decisions were decided by a simple What Would Andrew Do?
Love or hate, he kept you on your toes. His death was surprising and unfortunate at such an early age. His life was infuriating sometimes—especially if your name was Anthony Weiner. But he left his mark.
It’s our 135th birthday. Here’s the first edition of The Washington Post from December 6, 1877.
That’s exactly what it looked like then, too, down to the photocopying.
Happy 75th anniversary Golden Gate Bridge!
Golden Gate Birthday.
Front pages: 5/2/03 vs. 5/2/11
HT @nytjim
It’s almost funny, how sad it all is.
In other words: Bush declared a major victory, while Obama scored one.
So, when looking up stories on the upcoming one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, we noticed a bizarre trend: None of the stories seemed to agree with one another. Some seemed to suggest al-Qaeda was basically gone. Others suggested that they were still planning major terror attacks. Seeing this, we got an idea: What if we scored the stories based on the done-ness of al-Qaeda, from 1 to 10? Because one wire service’s “in ruins” is another national newspaper’s “far from defeated.” Check the results above, and take one major point from this: Not every story has an agreed-upon answer.
One way to remember them is to go to class. That’s what they were doing, and that’s what we live for.Virginia Tech Provost Mark G. McNamee • Commenting on the school’s decision to hold class today, and every April 16th going forward, only five years after the deadly on-campus shooting that claimed the lives of 32 people. Professors were given freedom to handle the day as they saw fit: Some observed a moment of silence at the beginning of class, while others canceled class out of respect. Classics instructor Trudy Harrington Becker chose to hold class under a century-old oak tree near the memorial for victims of the massacre. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is expected to speak during a candlelight vigil at the Drillfield for the victims this evening. source (via • follow)
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Congrats Tumblr!
Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
In 2007, I was...
I started tumblr when I was at one of the lowest points of...
- First Class Passengers: 63% survived (200 out of 319 lived).
- Second Class Passengers: 43% survived (117 out of 269 lived).
- Third Class Passengers: 25% survived (172 out of 699 lived).
Any death, regardless of class, is a horrible and tragic thing, but on the anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking it’s important to remember one of the things that night symbolizes: that, even in moments of terrible crisis and great collective peril, we remain divided and valued by the ticket we can afford.
A great lesson told through numbers.
I’ve been looking at the pictures on TV all day and still can’t believe we lived through it. There was a power cut and no heating, and I couldn’t call anyone after my baby was born because the phones were down. And we didn’t even know what was going on in the nuclear plant.Japanese earthquake survivor Kaori Naiji • Discussing the deadly incident, which took place one year ago today. Naiji’s daughter, Wakana, was born during the earthquake, which unleashed a major tsunami on the country. Thousands spent the day mourning the lost and protesting the scene at Fukushima, which left the country on eggshells for months afterwards. What do you remember most about the period? Do you expect to see anything like it again in your lifetime?
It is time to acknowledge this failure and adopt a more effective course for the federal role in education. Policymakers must abandon their faith-based embrace of test-and-punish strategies and, instead, pursue proven alternatives to guide and support the nation’s neediest schools and students.A policy assessment written by Lisa Guisbond, Monty Neill and Bob Schaeffer • Suggesting that No Child Left Behind, the Bush-era education law passed under bipartisan circumstances, should go the way of the dodo. The policy, now seen as an example of ineffective government overreach by many, celebrates its 10th birthday today, and politicians who once supported the law — including Rick Santorum, who voted for it and tried to push an intelligent design amendment into the bill — no longer do. Guisbond, Neill and Schaeffer’s report, which suggests revisiting the law based on the lessons learned from the past decade, is available to read over here. source (via • follow)
wnyc:
(Audio fixed.)
Listen: Seventy years ago today.
A word to listeners, your city station WNYC will remain on air for an indefinite period tonight, to bring New Yorkers news, emergency public service messages, and special announcements and orders from Naval and Army authorities in the city area. This is New York City’s own station, WNYC
In case you didn’t hear, today is the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Here’s WNYC’s take on the incident. We’ll post a couple other things like this before the morning’s out.
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