History Lesson
     
     
3050 B.C. - A Sumerian invents the wheel. Within the week, the idea is stolen and duplicated by other Sumerians, thereby establishing the business code of ethics.

2900 B.C. - Egyptians create Sphinx, one of Seven Great Wonders of the Ancient, but refuse to talk about it.

1850 B.C. - Britons announce Operation Stonehenge a success after arranging slabs in sufficiently meaningless pattern to confuse scientists for centuries.

1785 B.C. - The first calendar is introduced by Babylonian scientists.

1768 B.C. - Babylonians experience winter in June.

776 B.C. - The world's first known money appears in Persia. World's first known counterfeiter appears in Persia next day.

525 B.C. - The first Olympics are held in Greece. USSR enters six footer with a moustache in women's shot put.

410 B.C. - Rome ends the practice of enslaving debtors, removing biggest single obstacle to the development of the credit card.

404 B.C. - The Peloponnesian war enters 27th year because neither side can find a treaty writer who can spell Peloponnesian.

214 B.C. - Tens of thousands of Chinese people complete 1,500 mile long Great Wall. Neighbour's dog gets through.

1 B.C. - Calendar manufacturers argue over what to call next year.

79 A.D. - Property in Pompeii turns out to be bad investment.

432 A.D. - St. Patrick introduces Christianity to Ireland, thereby giving the natives topic to fight about for the rest of recorded history.

1000 A.D. - Leif Ericsson discovers America and decides it's not worth mentioning.

1043 A.D. - Lady Godiva demonstrates against high taxes, causing all to forget what she's demonstrating against.

1125 A.D. - Arabic numerals are introduced to Europe, enabling peasants to solve how much tax each owes on MMMDCCCLX Lira when you're in the XXXVI percent bracket?

1233 A.D. - Inquisition begins. Practice is so un-Christian it's permitted to continue for only 600 years.

1297 A.D. - World's first stock exchange opens. Few have foresight to buy IBM.

1433 A.D. - Portugal launches African slave trade, proving what a small nation can do with a little ingenuity and much evil.

1456 A.D. - English judge reviews Joan of Arc's case and cancels her death sentence of 1431.

1492 A.D. - Columbus lands in Bahamas, names it San Salvador, and calls natives Indians.

1497 A.D. - Amerigo Vespucci becomes the first to think of naming the new world in honour of himself...the United States of Vespuccia!

1508 A.D. - Michelangelo accedes to Pope's demands to paint ceiling of Sistine Chapel, but refuses to wash the windows.

1513 A.D. - Ponce de Leon finds the Fountain of Youth, but dies of old age trying to remember where.

1522 A.D. - Scientists, who know the world is flat, conclude that Magellan made it all the way around by crawling across the bottom.

1568 A.D. - Upset by the slander of his good name, Russian leader kills 100,000 peasants to make them stop calling him Ivan the Terrible.

1618 A.D. - Britain executes Sir Walter Raleigh, but allow his tobacco plants to live.

1670 A.D. - Pilgrims, busy burning witches, fail to observe golden anniversary of winning religious freedom.

1755 A.D. - Samuel Johnson issues the first English Dictionary, at last providing young children with a source of dirty words.

1763 A.D. - The French and Indian War ends. Both sides lose.

1770 A.D. - The shooting of three people in the Boston Massacre touches off the Revolution. 200 Years later, three shootings in Boston are average for a Saturday Night.

1773 A.D. - Colonists dump tea into Boston Harbour. British call the act "barbaric", noting that no one added milk.

1776 A.D. - Napoleon maintains neutrality during American Revolution, primarily because he's seven years old.

1793 A.D. - "Let them eat cake!" becomes the most famous thing Marie Antionette ever said. Also, the least diplomatic thing she ever said. Also, the last.

1805 A.D. - Robert Fulton invents the torpedo.

1807 A.D. - Robert Fulton invents the steamship to provide target for torpedos.

1859 A.D. - Charles Darwin writes "Origin of the Species". Containing same general plot as "Planet of the Apes", it fails to gross as much money.

1894 A.D. - Thomas Edison displays first motion picture, applauded by all but movie critics.

1903 A.D. - Opening of Trans-Siberian Railway enables passengers from Moscow to reach Vladivostok in eight days, much sooner than most desire.

1910 A.D. - Founding of Boy Scouts of America comes as bad news to independent old ladies at traffic lights.

1911 A.D. - Rauld Amundsen discovers South Pole and confirms his suspicions - it looks a lot like the North Pole.

1912 A.D. - People with reservations for the voyage of the Titanic get their money back.

1920 A.D. - The 18th Amendment to the Constitution makes drinking illegal in the U.S. Everyone stops, except for 40 million who don't.

1924 A.D. - Hitler is released from prison four years early, after convincing parole board he's a changed man.

1930 A.D. - Pluto is discovered, the planet. The dog wasn't discovered until 1938.

1933 A.D. - Hitler establishes Third Reich, announcing it will last a thousand years, an error of only 988.

1938 A.D. - Great Britain and Germany sign a peace treaty, averting World War II.

1944 A.D. - Hitler's promise of Volkswagens for all Germans as soon as they've won the war proves to be insufficient incentive.
 
 

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