Quite a day indeed…

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

Sorry to those who read the online paper in page order but there’s going to be a few spoilers from the “Today in History” page in this column.

I’m an admitted history nerd so I always pay attention to that particular page and let me tell you, April 30th marks the anniversary of some very, very big historical events.

George Washington was inagurated President of the United State on this day in 1789. Bugs Bunny made his first-ever Looney Tunes appearance. Lou Gehrig made his last-ever appearance for the New York Yankees. Adolph Hitler committed suicide on this day in 1945.

But if you look at the very first item and the next-to-last item on the list on Page 11, you’ll see I’ve been holding out on the big ones.

See VIEWPOINT, page A10 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

There are some conflicting records, but by several historical accounts, on this day in 30 A.D., Jesus Christ was crucified in Jerusalem by the Roman government at the behest of the Jewish leadership.

You probably can’t point to another single event in recorded history, regardless of your faith, that had a bigger impact on World History than that fateful day 1,994 years ago.

But I’ve got to say, if you’re looking for something more modern with a massive impact on our world, look no further than on this day in 1993, when the CERN Research Institute put the software for their “world wide web” into the public domain, free for developers to use.

If you haven’t already figured it out, that is the birth of what would become known as the Internet.

Whiile its impact wasn’t immediately felt, there’s no agruing the importance in and influence over our daily lives the Internet has these days. Some might even say moreso than the aforementioned Jesus.

What a day, indeed… and that’s not even taking into account that also, on this day in 1952, beloved children’s toy Mr. Potato Head was introduced. That makes him older than my Mom!