On top of that, History is also running a promotion on foursquare, the popular location-based social media platform for mobile phones. Upon checking-in to select locations, users will receive a “Fun Fact Pop Up” with interesting information about the location by HISTORY. For example: users in New York who check in to St. Paul’s Chapel will discover George Washington worshipped there on his Inauguration in 1789 and users in Los Angeles who check in at the Cinerama Dome will find out it opened in 1963 with the premiere of ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ and that it’s the world’s only concrete geodesic dome. Users are also encouraged to leave their own comments about the sites for others to discover. For more info, check out http://foursquare.com/historychannel

You can read the full text of the press release, and watch the trailer below the break.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AMERICA THE STORY OF US, an epic 6-night television event series and national educational initiative covering 400 years of American history, will premiere on HISTORY™ on Sunday, April 25, 9pm ET/PT. In conjunction with the broadcast, HISTORY will launch its largest ever educational outreach initiative and will for the first time offer a DVD of the entire 12-hour series to every single school and accredited college in America – free of charge.

Narrated by Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, A View from the Bridge), AMERICA THE STORY OF US is the most in-depth television series ever produced by HISTORY, as well as the broadest educational outreach initiative the network has ever undertaken. It is the first television event in nearly forty years to present the history of America, and the most elaborate and ambitious in the scale of its cinematic vision. This is history with roots in the physical world: wilderness, animals, weather, and the sea.

“America’s history is a journey we all share and participate in, and we are thrilled to present this adventure as it has never been experienced before,” said Nancy Dubuc, President & General Manager, HISTORY. “Viewers will see key historical turning points unfold as if they are happening right in front of their eyes. America’s story is also about the innovative ideas of people who built this country from the ground up through their own determination and ingenuity. AMERICA THE STORY OF US weaves the stories of these everyday trailblazers together to help us gain a deeper understanding of who we are as a people, and how we all contribute to the history being created today.”

Ms. Dubuc continued, “We are extremely proud of the educational backbone of this series, the biggest commitment we’ve ever made, including making the full 12-hour series available to every single school in the country on DVD. In my mind, what Eyes on the Prize was to civil rights education, AMERICA THE STORY OF US will be to U.S. history. With its innovative and fresh approach to learning about the history of our nation, we think the series will quickly become an integral part of school curriculums throughout the country.”

AMERICA THE STORY OF US tells the extraordinary story of how America was invented, looking at the moments where Americans harnessed technology to advance human progress – from the rigors of linking the continent by transcontinental railroad, the Internet of its day, to triumphing over vertical space through the construction of steel-structured buildings. The series is also a story of conflict – with Native American peoples, slavery, the Revolutionary War that birthed the nation, the Civil War that divided it and the great world war that shaped its future. This is a look at the forces that have shaped our nation – the people, places and things that created this most astounding country. It’s a tough and thrilling adventure.

Jane Root, Executive Producer of AMERICA THE STORY OF US and Founder and Chief Executive of Nutopia, said of the series, “Our goal was to create a series that will ignite viewer interest, and make history exuberant and exciting. Among the breathtaking historical events that have been portrayed are a meteor that crashes through the Appalachian Mountains 300 million years ago to create the Cumberland Gap, the British Navy’s spectacular bombardment of the New York Harbor at the dawn of the Revolutionary War, New England whalers risking their lives to kill their valuable prey, the wide open western plains teeming with massive herds of buffalo, the construction of the Statue of Liberty, and the Erie Canal and transcontinental railroad that opened up central commercial routes and connected the continent together.”

Historical events covered in AMERICA THE STORY OF US include: the arrival of the first English settlers, the Revolutionary War, westward expansion, economic growth of the North and South, the Civil War, the settling of the Great Plains, the development of modern, industrialized cities, the California Gold Rush and the western frontier, the Great Depression and the Second World War.

Special consultants on AMERICA THE STORY OF US include Professors Daniel Walker Howe and David M. Kennedy. In addition, a chorus of notable Americans will speak from the heart, reflecting on our country and what it means to be an American. They include: Brian Williams, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Buzz Aldrin, Colin Powell, Sheryl Crow, Soledad O’Brien, David Baldacci, Meryl Streep, Donald Trump, Michael Douglas, and many more.

AMERICA THE STORY OF US is produced for HISTORY by Nutopia, a new production company started by Jane Root, former President of Discovery Channel. Prior to that Jane ran BBC2, and was a founder of the production company Wall to Wall Television. Jane Root is Executive Producer, Michael Jackson is co-Executive Producer and Ben Goold is Series Showrunner. For HISTORY, Nancy Dubuc, David McKillop and Julian P. Hobbs are Executive Producers.

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Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift, Notorious Prankster: An English astrologer named John Partridge spent the better part of the 1600s selling almanacs in which he predicted (incorrectly) upcoming events, the deaths of notable individuals, and other such nonsense. However, when he sarcastically referred to the Church of England as “the infallible Church,” he drew the ire of satirist Jonathan Swift, who set off one of the most elaborate April Fools’ hoaxes in history. In January 1708, Swift wrote a letter, under the pseudonym Isaac Bickerstaff, called “Predictions for the Year 1708.” In it, he “predicted” that Partridge was going to die of “a raging fever.” In March, Swift followed up with a letter from an imaginary government official, entitled “The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff’s Predictions,” in which the official endorsed the future-predicting prowess of the imaginary Bickerstaff. Finally, Swift published an elegy on March 30, in which Bickerstaff told the world of Partridge’s death. The news travelled slow in 1708, so it wasn’t until April 1 that most people found out about Partridge’s “death.” People were quite superstitious at that time, so when they saw Partridge, they assumed it was his ghost, or someone who looked strikingly similar to him. This hoax plagued Partridge for the rest of his life, and he was unable to sell anymore of his almanacs. To his credit, Swift was a lifelong fan of April Fools’ ruses.

Thomas Edison invents the “Food Creator”: Thomas Edison was one of the most prolific inventors in history. So it was that on April 1, 1878, less than a year removed from inventing the phonograph, that the New York Daily Graphic published an article about Edison’s latest invention, the “Food Creator.” Basically, this invention could turn soil into food, or water into wine, without the requisite steps in between. Edison thought the joke “quite clever” and made plans to hoax the Daily Graphic right back the following year. I’m not sure if he did or not, but if I had to guess, he probably didn’t since he was too busy inventing the light bulb.

World War I Bombing Prank: During the early days of World War I, the interactions between the warring sides tended to be civil. In fact, for the first Christmas of the war, the opposing sides on the Western Front paused hostilities in order to exchange gifts. Thus, it should be expected that 3 months later, there would be pranks. On April Fools’ Day 1915, French pilots “bombed” German soldiers, except the bombs were just footballs with notes tied to them. What did the notes say? “APRIL FOOL!”

Collapsed Dome of Wisconsin Capitol Building

The Wisconsin State Capitol Collapses: In 1933, The Madison Capital-Times ran a cover story that reported the state capitol building as having collapsed due to a series of explosions caused by “large quantities of gas, generated through many weeks of verbose debate in the Senate and Assembly chambers.” Despite the fact that no one was hurt in the story, and it ended with the phrase “April Fool,” many readers were upset by the hoax. I’m not totally sure why, although it could have to do with the fact that a wing of the building had actually collapsed 50 years earlier resulting in 4 deaths.

The Soviet Union Joins Usenet: One of the precursors of modern Internet forums was a network known as Usenet, which was created in 1980, and initially linked computer users from North America and Western Europe. So, when the Usenet world received a post from then-Soviet Prime Minister Konstantin Chernenko on April 1, 1984, announcing the creation of the Usenet site “Kremvax,” and an expressed desire to get the U.S.S.R. on Usenet, users were quite shocked. After all, the Soviet Union was a closed society, and wouldn’t including the Soviet Union on Usenet be a national security concern for the U.S.? After two weeks of discussion, Piet Beertema finally came forward to acknowledge that the Kremvax site was, in fact, a hoax. Six years later, when the Soviet Union did actually join Usenet, one of the first sites was called Kremvax, in honor of the hoax. UPDATE: This is considered by some to be the first Internet hoax.

Richard Nixon Seeks Third Term (in 1992): One of the biggest April Fools’ pranksters in the world is NPR, whose programs often carry fake news stories on April Fools’ Day. On the April 1, 1992 episode of Talk of the Nation, Richard Nixon made a special appearance to announce that he was entering the 1992 presidential race with the campaign slogan: “I never did anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.” The show even went as far as to have Ivy League professors and a George Bush campaign official on the show. Needless to say, listeners called up in nearly violent opposition to the idea. It wasn’t until the second half of the program that host John Hockenberry revealed that it was a joke, and “Richard Nixon” was in fact comedian Rich Little. I’ve been looking, but can’t seem to find the audio for this prank. If anybody knows where I can find it, please let me know.

Iraqis do April Fools’ (in very poor taste): On April 1, 1998, Uday Hussein ran an April Fools’ article in his newspaper Babil, in which he reported that U.S. President Bill Clinton was lifting the sanctions against Iraq. Of course, all of the Iraqis who were actually suffering from the sanctions had the rug pulled out from under them when the paper declared it a prank. In 1999, Uday tried again, ostensibly to make up for the fact that the previous year’s joke was in very poor taste. However, he couldn’t quite get it right, and published a story stating that Iraqi’s monthly food rations would now include bananas, chocolate, and Pepsi. Nobody liked that joke either, and after that it appears that Hussein gave up, simply recycling the same tired “jokes” over the next two years.

Uday Hussein wasn’t the only Iraqi official who didn’t understand humor, though. In 2003, with the American invasion of Iraq underway, Iraqi Ambassador to Russia, Abbas Khalaf Kunfuth, held a press conference in Moscow. Most people expected the presser to be an announcement that Iraq conceded defeat, but Kunfuth had other plans. Holding up a “press release,” Kunfuth announced that the U.S. had launched a nuclear bomb, which accidentally struck British forces, killing seven. The room full of reporters sat in shocked silence, when Kunfuth joyously declared, “April Fools!” Besides the fact that it was a very bad joke, it should have been a hint that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction since they obviously didn’t understand the destructive power of a nuclear bomb.

MentalPlex, Google’s 1st April Fools’ Prank: On April 1, 2000, Google announced the release of a new product, Google MentalPlex, which read people’s minds, eliminating the need for a keyboard and mouse. When using the new feature, users were treated to a fake error code, and then a list of results about April Fools’ Day. You can still see the original Google MentalPlex page over at Google.com/MentalPlex, although they still haven’t gotten to work right…

Have a good April Fool’s prank or joke? Tell everyone about it in the comments. Have a safe, and happy April Fool’s Day!

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Finally, a documentary entitled A War For Your Soul. It’s only about 25 minutes long, but it’s 25 minutes well spent:

A War For Your Soul-Birmingham version from Erisai Films on Vimeo.

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1796: John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson
In 1776, the mutual respect of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson was so strong, that each thought the other should write the Declaration of Independence. Ultimately, Jefferson wrote it, but it was Adams who defended the document in front of the Continental Congress. During the American Revolution, the two men shared a common purpose; to free America from the tyranny of Great Britain. Sadly, it would be political exploits during George Washington’s presidency which would ultimately drive these two into one of the most bitter political rivalries in American history. Once the nation was established, Adams and Jefferson had opposing views on the role of the federal government and foreign policy, with Jefferson opting for states’ rights and an alliance with France, while Adams supported a strong central government and an alliance with Britain. It also didn’t help that Jefferson was George Washington’s first Secretary of State, while Adams was Washington’s Vice President. So, the stage was set for a showdown when Washington decided that he would not seek a third term in 1796. In the first contested election in U.S. history, John Adams won by only by three electoral votes! Strangely, election rules at the time stipulated that each member of the Electoral College got two votes, but they had to cast them for separate people. Thus, whoever received the 2nd-highest number of votes would be Vice President. Jefferson, being the 2nd-place vote getter ended up becoming Adams’ VP, which didn’t bode well for the Adams Presidency.

1800: John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson (Part II)
For four years, Mr. Adams set about strengthening the federal government, as well as ties with Great Britain, much to the chagrin of Mr. Jefferson. One major point of contention was the Alien and Sedition Acts, which greatly expanded the power of the federal government. So great was Jefferson’s opposition to this legislation, that despite being Adams’ Vice President, he set out to undermine him by co-writing the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. These resolutions stated the opposition to a strong federal government and laid the groundwork for future states’ rights arguments. After four years of undermining the President, Jefferson decided to run again, but this time his political party was better organized. While jockeying for electoral votes, he asked that any elector who cast a vote for him, cast a vote for his running mate, Aaron Burr, with one elector abstaining. This was to prevent what would have likely been a Jefferson presidency with Adams as VP. However, due to miscommunication, every elector who voted for Jefferson also voted for Burr, creating the only tie in U.S. history. Ultimately, the House of Representatives had to resolve the debate, and they chose Jefferson as president. This debacle led to the creation of the 12th amendment, which stipulated that each elector had to cast a distinct vote for President and VP. It was also the pinnacle of the Jefferson-Adams rivalry, which was so strong that Adams didn’t even attend Jefferson’s Inauguration.

1824: John Quincy Adams vs. Andrew Jackson
The Era of Good Feelings was a time of strong national unity and little to no partisanship in government. In fact, James Monroe ran effectively unopposed in 1820 and got all but 1 electoral vote. Four years later, though, it would be a different story, as four men, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford would jockey for the presidency. When the dust settled, Andrew Jackson had won a plurality of the popular vote, as well as the electoral vote, but he had not won the majority, which was necessary to assume the presidency. Per the rules of the 12th amendment, the vote goes to the House of Representatives, but they could only choose between the top 3 vote-getters, which left out Clay. Conveniently for Adams, though, Henry Clay was a bitter enemy of Andrew Jackson, in addition to being Speaker of the House. Clay threw all of his support behind Adams, who would win the presidency in just one round of voting. Adams subsequently made Clay his Secretary of State, prompting Jackson supporters to accuse the two of a corrupt bargain, which would cast a pall over Adams’ entire presidency. The Era of Good Feelings was officially over.

1828 Andrew Jackson campaign poster

1860: Abraham Lincoln vs. Everyone Else
The 1850s saw the deterioration of U.S. politics, as the country become increasingly partisan, with many regional rivalries. It also didn’t help that the 14th and 15th Presidents, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, respectively, did very little to try to prevent the slide into civil war. Thus, the stage was set in 1860, as the upstart Republican party, led by Abraham Lincoln, took on the fractured Democratic Party, which presented three separate candidates. Needless to say, the lack of unity among the Democrats was their downfall, as Lincoln was able to take a majority of the electoral votes despite winning only 39.8% of the popular vote. Southern states quickly cried foul, as Lincoln had no support in the south, and won by carrying the northeast and upper midwest, which had the majority of the electoral votes. Sadly, barely six weeks after the election, South Carolina seceded from the Union, leaving Lincoln to preside over the most difficult period in American history.

A political cartoon depicting the Democrats trying to keep Lincoln out of the White House (click to enlarge)

1876: Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden
This was the most disputed election in U.S. history, and the first election in which the winner of the popular vote did not win the electoral vote. With all but 20 electoral votes counted, Tilden held the lead 184-165, but the count was delayed in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida due to allegations of fraud and voter intimidation. The vote ultimately had to go to the Electoral Commission, which was made up of 5 representatives, 5 senators, and 5 Supreme Court Justices, 8 of whom were Republican, and 7 of whom were Democrat. Voting along party lines, the commission determined that the 20 disputed votes should go to Hayes, and in exchange, Hayes ended Reconstruction. By the way, this election wasn’t settled until 2 days before the Presidential Inauguration, the closest call in U.S. history.

"A truce - not a compromise, but a chance for high-toned gentlemen to retire gracefully from their very civil declarations of war" -Thomas Nast

1884, 1888, & 1892: The Elections of Grover Cleveland
In 1884, a young, Democratic upstart from upstate New York shocked the country when he defeated Maine Senator James Blaine for the presidency. Cleveland’s political career was more of a rapid rise to political stardom, as he didn’t get started until 1882, when he was elected Mayor of Buffalo. Then, in 1883, he was elected Governor of New York, before being elected President of the United States in 1884. What’s also amazing about Grover Cleveland is that he was the first Democrat elected after the Civil War, and the only one between 1860-1912. Unfortunately, he could not parlay that early success into another victory in 1888, and he was voted out after just one term, despite the fact that he had won a plurality of the popular vote. Nevertheless, he didn’t give up, and ran again in 1892, this time winning both the popular and electoral vote. This makes Cleveland the only president to serve split terms. He also holds the distinction of being one of only three people (the others being Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt) to win the popular vote 3 times. Interestingly, though, Cleveland never won a majority of the popular vote, ironically coming the closest in 1888, when he lost the presidency.

"Who Dares Give Battle With Me?"

This is the first in a two-part series. Be sure to subscribe to EiH so you’ll be notified of the second part in the series.

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Go to Wikipedia and find your hometown (either the place you were born, where you grew up, or where you live now). If you feel that Wikipedia doesn’t do your hometown justice, either because the article is missing key information or is plain non-existent, edit it. You can add a new article, edit the whole article, or just a section of it (just look for the tab at the top of the page that says “edit this page” or the links to the right of each heading that simply say “edit”).

Once you’ve edited your article, post your hometown in the comments section plus any interesting facts found in the Wikipedia article. If you need any help, check out the Editing Wikipedia help section. Together we can make Wikipedia an even greater resource!

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1. The Census has been around since 1790.
2. The government has been collecting microdata, individual records that contain information collected about each person and housing unit, since 1850.
3. Because of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, Census identifying data remains private for 72 years. This means that this year’s Census results identifying information will remain private until 2082.
4. The Supreme Court determined that no government agency, not even the FBI or IRS, has a right to access Census data prior to the expiration of the 72 year time period.
5. The Census is used to determine the number of members from each state in the House of Representatives, ergo the Electoral College, so it determines the power of your vote.

Bonus: The Census Bureau also uses this data to determine government spending. If you don’t fill out the Census, or fill it out incorrectly, your community could miss out on valuable resources.

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Cleveland Torso Murderer: This serial killer was active in the mid-1930s in Cleveland, Ohio, and is credited with the deaths of 12 people, although he could have been responsible for the deaths of over 40 people from the 1920s-1950s. He got his name because of the condition that the bodies were often found in: they were decapitated, dismembered, and male victims were castrated. Eliot Ness, who orchestrated the capture of Al Capone, was Cleveland Public Safety Director during the murders. Ness’ inability to catch the Cleveland Torso Murderer is often credited with ending his successful career in law enforcement.

Albert “The Boogeyman” Fish: This guy was a sick puppy who engaged in cannibalism, child molestation, coprophagia (eating feces), and self-mutilation. He got his nickname from a child witness who saw him kidnap Billy Gaffney in 1927. When asked what happened to Gaffney, the child responded, “the boogey man took him.” We know for sure that he killed 3 people, although he claimed that his victims were in the 100s and that he had “had children in every state.” To get an idea of how sick he was, check out this excerpt from the letter he wrote to the family of one of his victims:

On Sunday June the 3, 1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese—strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down the stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mamma. First I stripped her naked. How she did kick – bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms. Cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could of had I wished. She died a virgin.

The Bloody Benders: For the Benders, killing was a family business, and their method is straight out of a horror movie. The mother and father operated an inn in post-Civil War Kansas, and they would kill wealthy patrons and steal their money. However, it wasn’t just murder, it was how they committed the murders. Their daughter Kate would distract their guest, then her brother John would bludgeon him with a hammer. Then they would throw the body into the cellar through a trap door, where they would then slit their victim’s throat to ensure death. Afterwards, the body was buried in the family orchard. The Benders killed at least 11 people between 1872-1873 before they were finally driven out of town by a posse looking to avenge the death of one of their victims. They escaped, though, and justice was never served.

Locusta: This killer is incredible, not because of her number of victims or MO, but because she is history’s first documented serial killer. Locusta was active in first-century Rome, where she was a professional poisoner. Her ultimate downfall was her involvement in the assassination of Emperor Claudius, which drew her a death sentence. However, Claudius’ successor, Nero, granted her immunity in exchange for her services, and she was able to ply her trade until Nero ultimately committed suicide in 68 A.D. At that point, the Roman Senate had had enough and they executed for her crimes.

Sheet music cover to a 1919 song about the Axeman

The Axeman of New Orleans: The Axeman was a prototypical axe-murderer. He would break into his victims’ homes by breaking the door down with an axe, then he would precede to use the tool to murder them. What makes this guy really scary was his viciousness and the random nature of his victims, which included a pregnant woman and a baby in its mother’s arms. In March 1919, the Axeman sent a letter to a New Orleans newspaper stating that he would kill at 15 minutes past midnight on March 19, but that he would spare places that had jazz music playing. In response, New Orleans residents did what they do best; they partied. Hundreds of house parties and clubs hosted jazz bands throughout the entire night. To add to the mystery of the Axeman, the killings just seemed to stop for no reason in October 1919, and he was never apprehended.

The Servant Girl Annihilator: This killer was brutal and brash and was responsible for the deaths of seven people in Austin, Texas from 1884-1885. The Annihilator got his nickname because his early victims were servants, and he would break into their cabins, attack the occupants, drag the female servant from her cabin, then rape and murder her. Coincidentally, the author O. Henry was living in Austin at the time, and coined the moniker “Servant Girl Annihilator.” The murderer reached the pinnacle of his insane boldness when he murdered two wealthy white women in downtown Austin on Christmas Eve in 1885. That was the last of the Annihilator’s murders in the Austin area. However, three years later, a series of murders committed in the Whitechapel area of London, England drew the attention of several American newspapers who proposed that the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper were the same person. However, other than the timeline and one common suspect, all of the other evidence is tenuous, at best, including the fact that the MO’s don’t match.

Your Random Fact
You know I couldn’t leave you without a random fact, so here it is: The Austin Moonlight Towers, the last set of moonlight towers still in operation, were erected in 1894, partially in response to the Annihilator murders from a decade before.

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Now is your time to contribute! While I don’t have time to write new articles everyday, I certainly have time to read them, and I’d love to see your opinions on here. Check out the guest posting guidelines for more information, and you could be featured on EiH!

Still need a daily history fix? I will continue to post daily This Day in History facts on Twitter and share links and quotes on Facebook, so I’ve still got you covered.

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1. Skylab was the first spacecraft to be inhabited for over 100 days. The crews that visited Skylab remained in orbit for a total of 171 days. They proved that humans could remain in space for an extended period of time.
2. Each Skylab crew set a new spaceflight duration record. The first crew was the first to remain in orbit for four weeks, the second crew was the first to remain in orbit for eight weeks, and the third crew was the first to remain in orbit for twelve weeks.
3. The commander of the first manned Skylab mission was also the 3rd person to walk on the moon. Paul Pete Conrad, commander of the Skylab-2 mission was also the commander of the Apollo 12 mission, which was the second trip to the moon.
4. Skylab was NOT the world’s first space station. The Soviet Union launched Salyut-1, the first manned space station, in 1971. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Union built four space stations before the United States launched Skylab in 1973. One failed to enter orbit and two failed to remain in orbit long enough to send a manned mission to them.
5. Skylab re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere prematurely. Skylab was supposed to remain in orbit for 8-10 years after the last mission in 1974. However, due to unexpectedly high solar activity, Skylab re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere in 1979. When it re-entered, it scattered debris across Western Australia and the eastern part of the Indian Ocean. The Shire of Esperance, a municipal area of southwest Australia, issued NASA a $400 fine for littering, a fine which remain unpaid until 2009.

Skylab is a monument to human achievement. It proved that people could survive in weightlessness for extended periods, and many of the principles of Skylab have been used in successive space stations, including Mir and the International Space Station.

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UPDATE: I’ve received a number of comments about Tesla’s ethnicity, so let me clarify. I said he was from Serbia, but he was actually born in Croatia. Tesla was, in fact, an ethnic Serb, though.

1. Radio: Nikola Tesla first demonstrated radio in 1894. The world quickly took notice as a means to gossip with others from a distance. However, Tesla had other ideas in mind. In the late 19th century, Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the U.S. military, expecting them to jump at the chance to control their equipment remotely. Unfortunately, they didn’t, and the world didn’t start taking radio-control vehicles seriously until the 1960s. Just imagine how different the World Wars might have been if the vehicles were controlled by radio…
2. 

   Tesla with one of his inventions, a wirelessly powered light bulb

   Wireless Energy Transfer: Tesla promoted the idea of being able to power machinery without the hassle of wires. I’m no electrical engineer, so I have no idea how it worked, but he was able to wirelessly power light bulbs as early as 1891. By 1899, Tesla was able to power 200 light bulbs using one electric motor 26 miles away! Here we are over 100 years later, and the closest we’ve come is an overpriced mat that requires special adapters to charge our electronic toys.

3. Free Energy: Tesla also worked on the idea of using renewable energy in order to create electricity. He believed that energy could be harnessed from anywhere in the universe, such as the sun, and even the Earth itself. One of his more ambitious ideas was to utilize the environment in order to wirelessly power planes and boats. His ideas laid the groundwork for the current field of ocean thermal energy conversion, which includes technologies such as desalinization. With cheap and easy access to fossil fuels, though, Tesla’s contemporaries just didn’t see the need to research this innovation further.
4. VTOL Aircraft: Long before the F-35 or the Harrier Jump Jet, Tesla came up with the idea for a plane that could take off and land vertically. You’d think his idea would be awkward, with rotors and such, making it look like the bastard child of a jet and helicopter. However, his idea is the basis of current versions of VTOL aircraft. What’s even more amazing is that Tesla patented his VTOL aeroplane in 1928, yet it didn’t enter into serious development until the 1960s.
5. Death Ray: In 1934, Nikola Tesla claimed to have built a directed-energy weapon that he called a teleforce. Tesla’s teleforce was a charged particle beam projector which was intended for military use. Nobody invested in his idea at the time, so he never got to actually build it. To this day, though, the U.S. government is doing experiments related to Tesla’s “death ray.”

Nikola Tesla was a brilliant man, considered by some to be a mad scientist. However, upon his death in 1943, the U.S. War Department confiscated his materials, classifying them Top Secret. They then spent the following two years making copies of everything Tesla had on file, proving the value of his ideas. Tesla was truly one of the greatest inventors in history, and I’m not just saying that because I’m submitting this via wi-fi.

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