Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (69).

On April 30, 1993, four years after publishing a proposal for
“an idea of linked information systems,” computer scientist
Tim Berners-Lee released the source code for the world’s
first web browser and editor. 

The browser, originally called Mesh, that he dubbed World
Wide Web became the first royalty-free, easy-to-use means
of browsing the emerging information network that soon
developed into the internet as we know it today.

The average American now spends 24 hours a week online.

2024

This NeXT Computer was used by Berners-Lee at CERN and became the world’s first web server.

The auctioned-off letter was dated April 10 and postmarked
April 12 – just days before disaster struck.

(FOX NEWS) – A "prophetic" letter written aboard the ill-fated RMS
Titanic ocean liner has been auctioned in England for a stunning
sum.

The letter was sold by Wiltshire-based Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd.
on April 26. It was written by Archibald Gracie IV on April 10, 1912
– just five days before the ship sank on April 15.

Gracie penned the note on April 10, when the ship left Southampton, England. The letter was postmarked in London two days later, on
April 12.

"It is a fine ship but I shall await my journey’s end before I pass
judgment on her," Gracie wrote compellingly in the letter.

"The Oceanic is like an old friend and while she does not possess
the elaborate style and varied amusement of this big ship, still her seaworthy qualities and yacht-like appearance make me miss her,"
he added.

"As dawn broke, Col Gracie returned to New York City aboard the
rescue ship Carpathia, where he began writing about what he had
been through."

Originally predicted to fetch the equivalent of $80,000, the
103-year-old piece of paper was sold for an eye-popping 
$399,000.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge called the letter "one of the
finest of its type known."

Though Gracie survived the shipwreck, his health was
severely impacted by the disaster. He suffered from
hypothermia and various physical injuries on the day
of the sinking. In Dec. 1912, he fell into a coma before
dying of complications from diabetes.

.

On April 29, 2004, the last Oldsmobile came off the assembly
line at the Lansing Car Assembly plant in Michigan, signaling
the end of the 106-year-old automotive brand, America’s oldest.

The last 500 Aleros ever manufactured featured “Final 500″
emblems and were painted dark metallic cherry red.

In 1897, Ransom E. Olds (1864-1950), an Ohio-born engine
maker, founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing.

Along with Daimler and Peugeot, Oldsmobile was among the      
world’s oldest auto brands.

A dealer from Florida took home the last ever Oldsmobile 
built for $42,000, nearly double its original price.

Beverly Bolton looks for the signature of her son-in-law on
the hood of the last ever Oldsmobile.

On April 28, 1988, a seemingly routine, 35-minute flight from
Hilo to Honolulu turned into terror when an 18-foot-long
section of the upper fuselage suddenly tears off Aloha
Airlines Flight 243.

The explosive decompression and roof loss sweep flight
attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing off the Boeing 737,
sending freezing winds of hurricane force through the
cabin, leaving passengers in the first five rows of the
plane completely exposed to the sky.

Miraculously, Captain Robert Schornstheimer landed the
plane in Maui with no further deaths.

The bizarre incident happened about 20 minutes into the
flight from Hilo International Airport to Honolulu, at 24,000
feet with 95 passengers and crew members on board.

Captain Robert Schornstheimer       
      
      
         
       

The steamboat Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near
Memphis, killing 1,700 passengers including many discharged
Union soldiers. The accident is still considered the largest
maritime disaster in U.S. history in terms of lives lost.

The Sultana was launched from Cincinnati in 1863. The boat
was 260 feet long and had an authorized capacity of 376
passengers and crew.

        
On April 25, 1865, the Sultana left New Orleans with 100
passengers. It stopped at Vicksburg, Mississippi, for repair
of a leaky boiler.

R. G. Taylor, the boilermaker on the ship, advised Captain J.
Cass Mason that two sheets on the boiler had to be replaced,
but Mason ordered Taylor to simply patch the plates until the
ship reached St. Louis.

   
    
    
   

The only known photograph of the Sultana taken on the last
day of its fateful voyage in Helena, Arkansas on April 27,
1865.

Model of Sultana by artist & Lincoln Shrine docent Ken Jolly.