14 years ago today, Turkish-American Erden Eruç became the first person to perform a human-powered circumnavigation of the world, in a journey of 41,000 miles and over 5 years. The trip crossed the equator twice and all lines of longitude, and passed over twelve pairs of antipodal points, meeting all the requirements for a true circumnavigation of the globe according to Guinness World Records, the title for which Eruç holds. READ more about this incredible feat… (2012)nnnn
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- Belgium became independent with the crowning of Leopold I as King (1831)
- The actor and comedian Robin Williams was born (1951—2014)
- At a Geneva summit, US President Dwight Eisenhower presented his ‘Open Skies for Peace’ proposal under which the US and the Soviet Union would trade maps detailing locations of each other’s military facilities and offer mutual aerial observation—it led to a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights to help build trust (1955)
- The fully restored USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) celebrated her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years (1997)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final volume of the wildly successful wizarding saga by British single mom J.K. Rowling, went on sale, shattering publishing records broken by every previous books in the series (2007)
- Research was published that showed how scientists from Temple University were able to permanently delete the HIV virus from human DNA—snipping out the gene, and allowing the cell’s repair machinery to take over, soldering the genome back together—resulting in virus-free cells (2014)
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n nn171 years ago today, the New York State legislature voted to set aside or purchase 770 acres in the middle of Manhattan Island for a city park. Central Park is now the most visited urban park in the U.S., with 42 million visitors annually by 2016—and more films shot on location here than any place in the world.nn
nnAn oasis of carefully landscaped nature in the heart of a concrete city, its main attractions today include Hallett Nature Sanctuary, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, and Sheep Meadow; amusement attractions such as Wollman Rink, Central Park Carousel, and the Central Park Zoo; formal spaces such as the Central Park Mall and Bethesda Terrace and fountain; and the Delacorte Theater.nn
nnComing at the tail end of the LA glam-rock era, the album’s return to a heavier-set rock sound was probably far more appreciated than anyone could have anticipated, with Gibson’s online features writer at the time stating it “injected a much-needed dose of ’70s-style rebellion into the frothy pop metal of the ’80s”.nnRecording the album wasn’t a straightforward process, but more a stop-start affair, with major discrepancies between the amount of work each member was putting in. Steven Adler’s drum tracks were finished in six hours, whereas Axel Rose insisted on recording his vocal lines one at a time which took weeks to finish. Mixer Mike Clink was working 18-hour days for a month.nnSeveral producers were brought in and sent away before the album was finished, including Paul Stanley of KISS, but it was Spencer Proffer who produced the majority of the songs. A serious slow burner, it took a year, guitarist Slash would later recall, to even get on the charts. (1987)nn nn
nnAnd on this day in 1899, the novelist and journalist Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. His elegant, yet lean style of writing—which he termed the iceberg theory—was a major influence on 20th-century writers and won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, including The Sun Also Rises and To Have and Have Not, along with six short-story collections, and two non-fiction works. He served as an ambulance driver in World War I and his wartime experiences there, and as a war correspondent in WWII, formed the basis for his novels A Farewell to Arms (in 1929), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (his 1940 novel about the Spanish Civil War).nnHemingway’s bold and adventurous lifestyle made him a popular celebrity and took him to far-flung places, like Key West, Wyoming, Paris, Spain, on safari in Africa, and to Cuba, where he lived (and drank heavily) among the local fishermen and wrote The Old Man and the Sea, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953.nnAt age 29, he received word that his father had killed himself and was devastated—having recently written to his father telling him not to worry about financial difficulties, a letter that arrived minutes after the suicide. He commented to his wife, “I’ll probably go the same way.” And, at age 61 after undergoing electroshock treatments for his depression and paranoia, he took his own life in Ketchum, Idaho, and was buried there by his family.nn
nnHemingway’s behavior during his final years had been similar to that of his father before he killed himself. Medical records later confirmed that Hemingway had been diagnosed with hemochromatosis, a genetic disease whereby the inability to metabolize iron culminates in mental and physical deterioration. Both his sister and his brother also killed themselves, as well as his granddaughter, Margaux Hemingway. WATCH a short bio and learn about his tragic death below—and learn what ‘Papa’ Hemingway thought about the craft of writing in a compilation called, Ernest Hemingway On Writing.nn[raw][/raw]nn nn34 years ago today, Roger Waters performed The Wall in Berlin for 350,000 fans to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall eight months earlier.nnStaged on a vacant lot between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, the event was broadcast live throughout the world, and featured performances by Van Morrison, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell, The Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper, and Sinead O’Connor. Right before the performance started, the gates were opened which enabled another 100,000 people to watch.nn
