Steven Dahl had a quite clever scheme
To take down the whole Disco regime
Fans with records took aim
The outfield turned to flame
Let’s just say: ’twas a little . . . extreme

Event: “Disco Demolition Night”: a promotion gets out of hand and fans storm the field, leading the Chicago White Sox to forfeit the game to the Detroit Tigers, the last game forfeited in this way in the American League
Year: 1979
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night

Why did the apple fall from the tree?
Things at rest tend to stay there, you see
A force drew it that way
(As F=ma)
Apple pushed head; head pushed equally

Event: Publication by Isaac Newton of Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
Year: 1687
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica

“Oh it’s taken me years now to hone
Meant to bridge gap ‘tween flute and trombone
Though it looks like a brass
As a woodwind ’twill pass
I shall call it: the Saxo-ma-phone!”

Event: Adolphe Sax patents the saxophone
Year: 1846
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxophone

Far away from the fierce battle plain
In a temple he would meet his bane
A disloyal cohort
Chose to cut his life short
Brought a premature end to his reign

Event: The “Incident at Honnō-ji”: The warlord Oda Nobunaga is attacked by his traitorous retainer Akechi Mitsuhide and forced to commit suicide at Honnō-ji Temple
Year: 1582
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Honn%C5%8D-ji

Charles’ engine did not quite get done
(Though ’twas proved that it could well have run)
Six-point-five score years passed
Seeming not at all fast
But computers had still just begun

Events: Charles Babbage proposes a “difference engine” in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society; UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer produced in the United States, is dedicated
Years: 1822; 1951
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I

Before royal tempers could flare
The two countries decided to share
Ferdinand got the west
Portugal got the rest
How could anything else have been fair?

Event: Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the New World between them
Year: 1494
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas
See also: http://wordsman.dxli.com/2010/05/04/this-day-in-history-entry-64/

A squash court, some baths, and a pool
Enough lifeboats to follow the rule
But the gigantic boat
Just could not stay afloat
Proving hubris is not really cool

Event: RMS Titanic first launched
Year: 1911
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.M.S._Titanic
See also: http://wordsman.dxli.com/2009/10/20/this-day-in-history-entry-36/

Oh, its fleece was as white as the snow
And where Mary went, it too did go
Violating the rule
It went with her to school
And the punishment? Well, I don’t know

Event: Mary Had a Little Lamb, a poem by Sarah Josepha Hale, is first published
Year: 1830
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Had_a_Little_Lamb

Sometimes even the wise make mistakes
And to right them a quite long time takes
But there’s naught to discuss
It was unanimous
“Separate can’t be equal, for god’s sakes!”

Event: U.S. Supreme Court rejects the constitutionality of school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Year: 1954
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education
See also: http://wordsman.dxli.com/2010/05/18/this-day-in-history-entry-66/

In the old days it was quite a hike
Going west by horse, boat, foot, or bike
But the mighty steam train
Helped to lessen the pain
Once they drove in that bright golden spike

Event: First U.S. Transcontinental Railroad is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah
Year: 1869
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad