1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower the nation’s first National Monument. He wasn’t qualified to be president, having been selected for VP after less than two years as a state governor.

1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded. American car makers didn’t crap their collective pants, but they should have…

1960 – USS Enterprise, 1st nuclear power aircraft carrier, launches.

1979 – CompuServe began operation as 1st computer information service. I had a CompuServe account in 1985. Anybody out there beat that?

1990 – East Germany leaves Warsaw Pact. After 45 years as a Soviet puppet…

2005 – Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana. The media is too focused on the perpetually peeved and professional beggar class in New Orleans to pay much attention to people who got up out of the wreckage and debris and went back to work.