Tidbits of History, September 12

September 12 is:

National Video Games Day
National Day of Encouragement
National Programmers Day – 256th Day of the Year. On the 256th day of the year, the Day of the Programmer honors the innovators who continue to change the world, one program at a time. Also known as International Programmers Day, this day is celebrated based on binary code. The number 256 is distinct to programmers. Represented by an eight-bit byte 256 equals 2 to the eighth power.

Chocolate Milk Shake Day
From Foodimentary.com:

• Milkshakes got their name from being served in bars. If the customer enjoyed the milkshake, he shook hands with the bartender. If not, the bartender didn’t get a tip.
• Malted milk powder was invented in 1897 by James and William Horlick, but it was Ivar Coulson, a soda jerk for a Walgreen’s drug store, who first added it to milkshakes in 1922. This created the malted milkshake or just plain “malt.”
• Steven Poplawski invented the electric blender in 1922 just for milkshakes. Before that, the effort of shaking them up must have required a lot of upper body motion.
• Australians can still buy traditional milkshakes in “milk bars,” which are much like old-fashioned drugstores with counter service. They’re usually served still in the steel cup, but may be poured into a paper cup for carry out orders.

On September 12, 1846, Elizabeth Barrett eloped with Robert Browning.

In 1857, the SS Central America sank about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning a total of 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon. The ship was carrying 13–15 tons of gold from the California Gold Rush.

From Today in Science”
In 1915, a prisoner developed a rash associated with the disease pellegra. He was part of a study designed by Dr. Joseph Goldberger to provide a protein-deficient diet for several months to 12 volunteer inmates of the state prison at Jackson, Mississippi. For Goldberger, it meant a proof that the cause of the deadly disease pellegra was a result of poor diet, and that it was not contagious. For the inmates, it earned a pardon.

1953 – U.S. Senator and future President John Fitzgerald Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island.

From Today in Science”
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous space speech.  Speaking at the stadium of Rice University, the text of his speech included these memorable lines,

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.”«

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(home of the speech)