On this date in 1976, I was born on a rainy day in Modesto, California. Some other, slightly more important things happened on this date, too:
- 1791 – Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris.
- 1903 – In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
- 1949 – The first automatic street light is installed in New Milford, Connecticut.
- 1983 – Compact Disc players and discs are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had only been available in Japan before then.
Photo by 2happy/ShutterStock.