JULY 14th - Everything is a Thing

On this day in 1891, John T. Smith patented corkboard after inventing a new heating process to mold the cork particles together. For the next thirty years corkboard was used in a variety of ways, but mainly as a form of insulation. But just like when somebody decided that grapes would be better digested after fermentation, George Brooks decided in 1924 that cork board would be better utilized as a place to hang or pin stuff. Basically the dude created a hub for information where people could post things and read what others had posted. He created a physical interwebs for a bygone era. Or for this era’s Luddites. Or hipsters who only hang out in authentic 1920’s coffee joints, though I’m not quite sure authentic 1920’s coffee joints are a thing. But they probably are. Everything is a thing. If you Google “Parrot Mysteries” you get 671,000 hits. Cause Parrot Mysteries are a thing. Everything is a thing. Except Albino Midgets. They should be a thing. But I’ve been searching for one for well over 10 years now, and all I’ve found is some disturbing movie called Gummo and few like-minded individuals who are also on the hunt for the Unicorn of the Human Race. Not to sound insensitive about little people or albinos. I just think if there is a little person out there lacking pigmentation he or she is missing out on the opportunity to be an international treasure. The only reason I can even search any of this though, is because of John T Smith. Because John T. Smith figured out how to make corkboard, George Brooks saw the untapped potential of the corkboard, and because of that sight, many years later, Al Gore figured out how to bring the physical hub of a bulletin board into the virtual World Wide Web which in turn allowed everything to be a thing. Like bottle mosaic jewelry. That’s a thing too. Albino Midgets are not. But if they ever are you’ll know about it fairly quickly. Thanks to John T. Smith and George Brooks. And Al Gore.

This Day has been Marked.