August 16

Today is Joe Miller's Jest Day. 1845: Gabriel Lippmann, who produced the first color photographic plate, was born. 1858: A telegraphed message from Britain's Queen Victoria to U.S. President Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable. 1863: President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. 1888: John Pemberton, the pharmacist who invented Coca-Cola, died. 1896: The Yukon Gold Rush began when gold was discovered in Bonanza Creek. 1898: The loop-the-loop roller coaster was patented by Edwin Prescott. 1899: Robert Bunsen, of laboratory burner fame, died. 1920: Sir Joseph Lockyer, who co-discovered the element helium in the sun's spectrum, died. 1948: Baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York at age 53. 1954: "Sports Illustrated" magazine first published. 1960: Free-fall world record set by Joseph Kittinger when he fell more than 16 miles (about 84,000 feet) before opening his parachute over NM. 1977: Elvis Presley died - or so they say ;-).