March 27 : Letting go means to come to the realisation that some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.

On this day, 27 Mar...

1790 - The shoelace invented by Harvey Kennedy. (Perhaps Harvey invented a particular type of shoelace, but he did not "invent shoelaces". Like shoes, shoelaces have been around for thousands of years, long before names of inventors were ever recorded).

1841 - The first U.S. steam fire engine was tested at the City Hall in New York City. It was 14 feet long, weighed about 8 tons, and required two horses to pull it on level ground. A boiler was mounted on two small wheels at the front and two huge wheels in the rear. It was placed in service but subsequently abandoned as too heavy, and because of the sparks that were emitted from its stacks.

1849 - Joseph J. Couch received the first U.S. patent for a steam-powered percussion rock drill as “improved machinery for drilling rocks”.

1860 - M L. Byrn of New York City has issued a patent for an improved corkscrew - a “covered gimlet screw with a ‘T’ handle”. (After all, if it wasn’t for the invention of the corkscrew we’d be pulling corks out of those wine bottles with our teeth!)

1899 - Guglielmo Marconi transmitted across the English Channel from Boulogne, France, to Dover, England. Messages were exchanged over the 32 miles, and trials continued for several days, at a speed of up to fifteen words a minute. The success of Marconi's experiments made possible communications without expensive undersea cables.

1914 - 1st successful non-direct blood transfusion took place (in Brussels).

1933 - Polythene discovered by Reginald Gibson and Eric William Fawcett. (It was an accidental discovery. A team of chemists at a plant near Northwich were working on polymers when an experiment went strangely wrong. A white, waxy residue was produced - not the intended result - which turned out to be polythene).

1958 - CBS Laboratories announced a new stereophonic record that was playable on ordinary LP phonographs, meaning, monaural. In stereo, on the proper equipment, a new rich and fuller sound was heard. It eventually became a standard for record and equipment buyers.

1961 - The first mobile computer center, a UNIVAC Solid-State 90 computer loaded into a motor van, was used.

1968 - A patent application was filed for a “Wind-Propelled Apparatus” by Jim Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer. It was the first U.S. patent for the Windsurfer sailboard: a surf-board with a sail on a mast articulated by a universal joint to the board.

1993 - Hari Singh from Haryana hijacks an IA plane, but surrenders after 8 hours.

1998 - Sildenafil citrate (marketed as Viagra) was the first oral pill to treat impotence, a dysfunction affecting millions of men in the U.S. It is reported to be its sixth-biggest drug product, with annual sales of about $2 billion.

1999 - World No. 2 Viswanathan Anand won the title with a round to spare in the rapid section of the Amber rapid and blindfold chess tournaments in Monte Carlo.

Born

1965 – Renuka Shahane, actor.

RIP

1552 - Guru Angad Dev, Sikh Guru.

1767 - Khanderao Holkar, one of the Generals in Peshwa kingdom.

1990 - Bus accidentally touches high voltage wire in Kharagpur; 21 dies.

2000 – Priya Rajvansh, actor.

You may have known...

Amazon River in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and either the longest or second longest. Significantly, there are no bridges over the Amazon river.