Friday, June 10, 2011

My name is Rob, and I'm an alcoholic.

June 10th
On this day in 1935 Alcoholics Anonymous was founded by two recovering drinkers. The program is 12 steps to help anyone with a drinking problem recover and regain their sobriety. Thousands of people have since been helped and it has created off shoot programs for drug addiction, sexual addiction, and gambling addiction. Interesting that this was created only a year and a half after the repeal of prohibition. That worked well to curb the nations thirst for alcohol.

On this day in 1979 actor Paul Newman finished second in the 24 hour race at Le Mans. This is the most famous endurance race in the world and takes great skill to compete. It's hard to imagine another actor crossing over to sports. We see it happen the other way all the time, thanks Shaq Fu. Newman had a love for cars and had his own racing teams in Indy car.

On  this day in 1752 Benjamin Franklin conducted his experiments with electricity by flying a kite in the middle of a thunderstorm. He proved that lightning was electricity. In a time when electricity was unknown to most people it was Franklin and his experiments that pushed us towards where we are today, completely dependent on it. He coined the terms battery, conductor, and electrician, and invented the lightning rod which is still used in most tall buildings to prevent fires caused by lightning.

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