Today’s Motto: ‘Human life is seldom without cracks. That’s how the light gets in’

This is Your Day:  TODAY:  Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History!

On this day, 12 Apr….

1606 – England adopts Union Jack as its flag. (It is formed by combining the red and white crosses of St George, St Andrew, and St Patrick and retaining the blue ground of the flag of St Andrew).

1799 – The first US patent for a comb-cutting machine was issued to Phineas Pratt of Connecticut. He and his son cut the plates with hand-saws and the teeth with circular saws operated by a windmill and waterpower. (Previous manufacturing of combs in the U.S. began with the first commercial scale comb factory by Enoch Noyes of West Newbury in1759, who made combs from flattened animal horns. The first U.S. made ivory comb was made in 1789 by Andrew Lord, who cut the plate and teeth with a handsaw).

1833 – The first U.S. patent for a fireproof safe was issued to Charles A. Gaylor. He made it from two chests, one within the other, with a space between to “inclose air of any non-conductor of heat.” Gaylor called his product the Salamander Safe, after the mythical salamander, an animal having the power to endure fire without harm.

1888 – A French newspaper mistakenly published an obituary for Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, calling him “”a merchant of death. ”It was actually Alfred’s brother, Ludwig Nobel, who had just died. However, shocked by the newspaper’s report, Alfred Nobel began to seek a change in public opinion, which led to him bequeathing 94% of his assets to a  Nobel Foundation  which established  5  Prizes prizes (for those “who confer the greatest benefit on mankind”) in  1901, on his 5th death Anniversary.  He actually  died on Dec. 10, 1896.

1957 – In Bonn, leading German physicists ceased all work connected with nuclear weapons.

1961 – Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. (Gagarin died in a plane crash 7 years later).

1988 – Harvard University patents genetically engineered mouse.

1992 – The 350-tonne Buddha statue salvaged from the Hussain Sagar lake  in Hyderabad,  where it had sunk in 1990.

1994 – The first Internet spamming program was used by an attorney in Arizona.

Born…. 1917 – Mulvantrai Himatlal Mankad better known as Vinoo Mankad, cricketer, India’s great all-rounder played 44 Test matches for India between 1944 to 1959 and was the first to have scored  over 1000 runs and 100 wickets. He also took 8 wickets in an  innings,  twice. His score of 231 with Pankaj Roy helped make a Test Record of 413 for first wicket in 1955-56 against New Zealand in Madras/Chennai. He was awarded Padma Bhushan, ICC  Cricket Hall of Fame  and an Under-19 One Day  Tournament for Vinno Mankad Trophy has been started to honour him.
RIP….  2006 – Dr. Rajkumar, ( real name Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj ),  a very versatile Kannada  film actor/singer,  who acted in over 200  films over 5 decades. His films from Bhakta Prahalada, Hari Bhakta, Om Namo Shivay, Bhoodana, Valmiki etc. and many were on mythological and  historical stories. He won several state film awards, one National Film awards, and  8 Filmfare South awards. He was also  honoured with Padma Bhashan (1986) and Dada Saheb Phalke (1995) and Karnataka Ratna  award.  (He was abducted by Sandal smuggler Veerauppan on July 30, 2000 and released after 108 days, allegedly after taking a  ransom amount).
You may have known….

Bengaluru, called India’s  Tech Capital and Silicon Valley   has increased its office supply  by six times since 2006, and now has more Grade-A offices than Singapore.

                                                                               {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}