Month: September 2014

Through the centuries of coffee’s popularity, if someone ordered the beverage, there was no question about what kind. Today, many Americans prefer their coffee decaffeinated. That option dates to early in the last century, when Ludwig Roselius, a coffee merchant in Bremen, Germany, succeeded in removing caffeine from coffee beans. He moved to the U.S. before World War I, and his decaffeinated coffee became available in stores in 1923. Roselius sold his process and trade name to General Mills in …

To highlight its importance, both as a crop and as part of the changing U.S. diet, this is National Rice Month. Globally, rice is the world’s most important cereal grain. Reflecting both our increasing cultural diversity and awareness of good nutrition, Americans have increased their annual consumption of rice from 1980’s 9½ pounds to today’s 31 pounds each. Rice has been grown in America since the late 17th century, and is currently a $3 billion a year crop. While not …

The first instance of debugging a computer was recorded on this date in 1947. The early Mark II computer being developed at Harvard University was balky, and a programming team– which included Navy Lieutenant Grace Hopper, a pioneer in computer history–found and fixed the problem. A moth had wedged into a relay board, causing a short circuit. The deceased moth was extracted and preserved. The log card containing notes on the de-bugging, and the appended remains of the moth, was …

Of the millions of students going to class in the new school year, many are attending junior high schools or middle schools. The first such school in the U.S. opened its doors this week in 1909 — the Indianola Junction Junior High School in Columbus, Ohio, with seventh, eighth and ninth grades. Ninth grade students were offered courses in English, German, algebra, science and geography, as well as manual training, domestic science, history, and the government of Ohio. Today, most …