ON THIS DATE: In 1776, during the American Revolution the first naval battle of Lake Champlain was fought. The forces under General Benedict Arnold suffered heavy losses. In 1811, the Juliana, the first steam-powered ferryboat, was put into operation by the inventor John Stevens. The ferry went between New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1869, Thomas Edison filed for a patent on his first invention. The electric machine was used for counting votes for the U.S. Congress, however the Congress did not buy it. In 1881, David Henderson Houston patented the first roll film for cameras. In 1890, The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, D.C. In 1929, J.C. Penney opened a store in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states. In 1939, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt was presented with a letter from Albert Einstein that urged him to develop the U.S. atomic program rapidly. In 1968, Apollo 7 was launched by the U.S. The first manned Apollo mission was the first in which live television broadcasts were received from orbit. Wally Schirra, Don Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham were the astronauts aboard. In 1975, “Saturday Night Live” was broadcast for the first time. George Carlin was the guest host. In 1984, American Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first female astronaut to space walk. She was aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “I have never been hurt by what I have not said.”—Calvin Coolidge