Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

April 28, 1789: The crew of HMS Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian, mutineed against the harsh regime of Captain William Bligh in perhaps the most famous naval mutiny in history. Most of the mutineers were captured on Tahiti but Christian and several of the crew settled on Pitcairn Island where their descendents still live today. After being set adrift by the mutineers, Bligh and his loyal remaining crew members reached Timor alive, after a journey of 3,618 nautical miles. The mutineers later burned Bounty while she was moored at Pitcairn Island in the Southern Pacific Ocean in 1790.




April 28, 1961: CONELRAD was on the air for about a half-hour as part of the annual civil defense drill, Operation Alert. Starting in 1954 the annual national civil defense exercise called "Operation Alert" extended over several weeks to months, and would culminate in a one-day public drill simulating a nuclear attack. Opposition to the drills increased; young mothers with children joined the protests in 1960 and were finally stopped after the 1961 protest. However, the FBI took a dim view of the new administration's Operation Alert '61 participation (or lack thereof).

Here is that broadcast in full. JFK can be heard praising CONELRAD at about the 13:20 mark.




FOIA on FBI, Operation Alert 1961



April 28, 1983: 3,000 friends and family of the crew of USS Enterprise waited on a pier in the rain for the carrier to return from a very long 8 month deployment only to see it get stuck in the mud 1,000 yards out in San Francisco bay. The crew lined the port side in an effort to shift weight and dislodge the carrier. Ha, unreal!


After 5 hours, the Enterprise was finally freed by tugs, the incoming tide, and the weight of the crew. On board was guest George Takei. He later remarked that the event should be marked with a new drink named "Enterprise on the Rocks".

Even though groundings and collisions are usually career-ending events for U.S. warship captains, the captain at the time, Robert J. Kelly, who had already been selected for promotion to commodore, eventually became a four-star admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet. All the stars were aligned for that captain on this day.


April 28, 1985: Royal Canadian Navy HMCS Nipigon (DDH 266) became known as the "Trawler Mauler" after rescuing the crew of the floundering Lady Marjorie and then blasting the fishing vessel with 28 three-inch shells on the pretense that it was a navigation hazard. Though Lady Marjorie was a total loss, the insurance company refused the captain's claim, stating that damages resulting from navy gunfire were not covered by his policy. The captain later reached an out of court settlement with the Canadian Navy.


HMCS Nipigon was sunk for an artificial reef north-east of Rimouski, Quebec in 2003.


April 27, 1981: Say Hello to the First Personal Computer Mouse. The first integrated mouse intended for use with a personal computer makes its appearance with the innovative, yet very expensive, Xerox 8010 Star Information System. USD $16,595 (equivalent to $57,000 in 2024)!


"I am Emperor Xerox! This is STAR, my wife!"


XEROX ALTO - First workstation with Windows mouse & network
"Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak stole the idea from Xerox"




Apple acquired Siri on April 28, 2010.


Siri derives its name from the Scandinavian name Siri, inspired by creator Dag Kittlaus's Norwegian heritage. "Siri" is a Swahili word which means "secret"!


Kids these days cannot comprehend the power of vertical stacks. LOL


Retelling the stories from early tech history... the glory of DOS, Windows 3.11/95, BSOD's of screamin horror and the beauty of IRQs and Abort Retry Fail.

My beloved gaming card...for a short time, about 20 years ago.



Behold, the prestige S3 Virge DX; 3dfx Voodoo; Nvidia...



Think I had every gaming card that came out on the market from late 90s to 2012. Spent thousands of company money and always ordered two...one for work, one for home.

2024: Nvidia, the third-largest company in the U.S. by market capitalization, with a valuation north of $2.2 trillion. A $10,000 investment in Nvidia made in March 2004 would have grown to a stunning $5.23 million today.


Come join me at the grotto. LOL