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• QOTW: What’s the most ‘futuristic’ thing you’ve tried that turned out to be a complete letdown?

On This Day In History for April 9, 2025

This is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 266 days remaining in 2025.

• It was on this date in 1682, that Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.


• April 9, 1860,  Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville made the first known recording of an audible human voice on his phonautograph machine.


• That same date in 1937, The Kamikaze arrived at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.


• April 9, 1945, The United States Atomic Energy Commission was formed.


• That same date in 1959, NASA announced the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.


• The first British-built Concorde 002 made its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford with Brian Trubshaw as the test pilot on April 9, 1969.

Happy birthday goes out on this date to:

• German physicist and academic, Thomas Johann Seebeck, born on this date in 1770.


• Polish-American mathematician and engineer, Charles Proteus Steinmetz was born 160 years ago today.


• Théodore Monod, French explorer and scholar was born on that same date in 1902.


• American engineer, invented the ENIAC, J. Presper Eckert, born on this date in 1919.


• African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer, Mary Jackson was born 104 years ago today.


• American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises, Hugh Hefner, born on this date in 1926.


• Born April 9, 1937, Canadian screenwriter and producer Marty Krofft.


• Also born on that same date in 1954,  American actor, Dennis Quaid.


• English computer scientist and academic, Nigel Shadbolt, born on this date in 1956.

Listener Birthdays

• 14 – Danny Harnish

And that’s the way it was, on this day in history for April 9, 2025

• If you want to get on the Technorama Birthday Calendar, visit our website and look for the Birthday Calendar link.

News

• Giant Mars balloon escapes Kennedy Center plaza, rolls toward highway – NBC4 Washington


• Once-in-a-lifetime star explosion expected any night now – Space News – News – Daily Express US


• A man who used an AI avatar in court because he thought it would present an argument well says he got chewed out by a panel of judges | Fortune

Hacks & Strange Stories

• An exception to the laws of thermodynamics: Shape-recovering liquid defies textbooks

Shout out to the chat room

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Remember When

• Computer Salesman’s Stunning 1979 Vision Came True


• Bill Gates Publishes Original Microsoft Source Code in a Blog Post – CNET

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Pass me the remote

• Chuck
  
  
  
  • Evil (Paramount+)
  
  
  • Einstein and the Bomb (Netflix)
  
  
  
  


• Kreg
  
  
  
  • The Bondsman – Prime
  
  
  
  

Geek Library

• Can we recreate a World’s Fair Exhibit with Laserdisc and an Apple II?


• The Clock that Reinvented Time


• Why Are Beach Holes So Deadly?