January 11 - Shawinigan Cipher

 In 1838 the newly developed Morse Code was demonstrated.

Interestingly enough, I've learned that not only was it actually invented by a guy named Alfred Vail, and it actually is technically considered a cipher and not a code (cipher meaning letter by letter)... but even that is up for debate apparently.  So Morse Code or Vail Cipher.  You decide, it was first shown off today in 1838 in New Jersey.

It's also the birthday of Canada's 20th prime minister, the inventor of the Shawnigan Handshake, one Jean Chretien.

I kinda liked the guy.  As of today he's now 84.

January 10 - Tintin the Goblin King

 On January 10th, 1929 a new comic adventure book came out about the adventures of Tintin.

Gotta admit, as much as I was aware of the comic, I don't think I ever read it.  To be honest, I thought the dog was named Tintin (actually, it's Snowy).

It was also on this day in 2016 that we lost David Bowie.

I was never a fan of his - but when you listen to his music, you realize everyone of them is recognizable.  You have to really respect that level of talent.

January 7 - Electric Distress Arrow

 Today is January 7, which is the sad day that undercredited inventor Nikola Tesla dies unfortunately destitute in 1943.

Bit of a crazy man, but he had some amazing ideas.

Tesla's passing, but future Hawkeye star, Jeremy Renner is born in 1971.

Did you watch Hawkeye, it was really good, probably my favourite of the MCU shows.

Also, in 1904 - and I didn't know this, there was a standard distress call before SOS.  CQD.

CQ comes from the french 'secu' - as in securite, with D for distress.  (from my Ham radio days, I thought CQ was a 'looking for'... or call)

And in 1906 they adopted the German ...---... signal they used for distress, and then that became the SOS as they were more code letters.  Officially SOS became the phrase used in 1908, but even as you see above, the Titanic used the old CQD code.

January 6 - The Golden Bean

 There's a story in our house, that one day, my wife knowing that I love the nerdy Pi day stuff, went out and bought me a shirt for it.

Except she bought me 'phi' ... so now I celebrate 'phi day'.  

Phi being 1.618... so I celebrate it on Jan 6th (1/6), just like Pi day is 3/14.... however, just so you know, the ACTUAL Phi day is October 31st (as the 'distance into the year divider').

Very ungolden of the day is the day of the capital riots, which, you know, was gross and I don't want to bring that up.

So on a lighter note it's Rowan Atkinson's 67th birthday.

Mr. Bean, Edmond Blackadder, Johnny English, however you know him - he's a royal treasure.

January 5 - On the 12th day I got a hangover with dead mice

 So, all my life I thought the 12 days of Christmas started 12 days BEFORE Christmas ... so it was gifts leading UP TO the big day.

Apparently not so... today is the 12th and final day of Christmas.  The Twelvetide.

People would celebrate the "Twelfth Night".

So, not 12 drummers drumming...

Weird the things you learn.

A drum helps keep the beat and this Canadian DJ sure can do that - Deadmau5 is now 41!

Well the guy behind the mask, Joel Thomas Zimmerman.  Deadmau5 didn't really start until like 1998.

Going to a Deadmau5 party you might be inclined to party a little too hearty and have a hangover from it, and this guy knows hangovers... Bradley Cooper was in like ... how many of them... 5 or something?

Brad is now 47.

January 4 - Topsy's Bumpy Body

 In one of the darker turns of science and invention... Thomas Edison (yeah, the guy that 'invented' the lightbulb, I get the 'dark' pun) wanted to demonstrate to the populace how dangerous his rival's delivery of electricity was.  Edison was suggesting sending electricity by Direct Current, whereas his rival, Tesla (yeah, they really didn't like each other) was suggesting Alternating Current.  He suggested that AC was so dangerous it could kill an elephant.

And then he showed how.  He actually had his own movie company film the electrocution of Topsy, an Elephant who had a reputation of being 'bad' as it killed a spectator in 1902.  So Edison's film "Electrocuting an Elephant" documented.

This happened on this day in 1903.  What a weird time.

In lighter times, a retired wrestler, Jesse "the Body" Ventura, had decided to try out the ring of politics and on this day in 1999 was sworn in as the Governor of Minnesota.

He made the transition from 'the body' to 'the mind'.

In powers of 'the mind' is the ability that when someone loses their eyesight, a system of bumps was invented by a guy named Louis Braille to represent letters and word.  

Braille code, started in 1824 when Louis was just 15.  Nowadays, it's a simple 3x2 box of pixels and gives 64 possibilities.  I just find it amazing that someone can learn to read like that.

Today is World Braille Day

January 3 - Tale of the Fruit Cocktail

 That 'rival' upstart computer company, Apple incorporates in 1977.

Originally it was incorporated as Apple Computer Company April 1, 1976 (was it a fool's joke?), but then was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. on this day in 1977.

In other 'fruit' news, in the US they celebrate "National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day".

Gotta admit, I'm not a cherry fan.  Cherry flavoured 'something'... sure, but not a real cherry.  Bleck.

I'm trying to remember what stories that Tolkien would have written about in his books, I'm sure he had whole paragraphs about it...

Regardless, JRR Tolkien would have been 130 years old today.