Things that happened on this day in history, as defined by the arbitrary system of time measurement based on the Earth's current orbital schedule around the Sun:
1836 - Match patented by A. Phillips.
1861 - The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent from California to President Abraham Lincoln.
1861 - Last ride of the Pony Express.
1901- Anna Edson Taylor, a 43-year-old widow, became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She made the attempt for the cash award offered, which she put toward the loan on her Texas ranch.
1929 - "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.
1939 - Nylon stockings were sold publicly for the first time, in Wilmington, Delaware.
1940 - 40 hour work week established in US.
1980 - The merchant freighter SS "Poet" departed Philadelphia bound for Port Said, Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it was never heard from again..
1989 - Rev. Jim Bakker sentenced to 45 years for swindling his followers
2003 - Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic transport to a close.
Oh, and it's National Blogna Day. And Maladay, for you Discordians.