March 29

It's March 29, 2011.  Here are some things that happened on this day in history that you may not have known:

1795 - Ludwig van Beethoven, at the age of 24, debuted in Vienna as a pianist
1827 - 20,000 people attended Beethoven's funeral procession in Vienna


1848 - Niagara Falls runs dry!  "A massive assemblage of ice blocks formed upstream of Niagara Falls late on Mar 29, 1848, and by midnight had stopped water flow over the falls (which are actually three falls: the American, the Horseshoe [or Canadian] and the Bridal Veil). The ice jam held until Apr 1, when the waters of Lake Erie punched through and things got back to normal. Until that happened, hundreds of the curious swarmed into the now-waterless gorge to hunt for geological souvenirs while thousands of spectators watched from above. Although the American Falls had stopped flowing before, this 1848 stoppage was the first and only time the entire falls was affected.)"
Info from: http://www.answers.com/topic/niagara-falls-runs-dry#ixzz1Hxe5eoZt

1908 - The comic strip Mutt and Jeff appeared in William Randolf Hurst's newspaper, The San Francisco Examiner.  It's considered to be the first successful daily comic strip and it ran for 75 years!


Now aren't you glad you read the blog today?