This Day in Pop Culture for August 23

1991: Welcome to the Information Superhighway

While we can’t live without it today, it wasn’t that long ago when we were first introduced to the World Wide Web. It was on this day in 1991 that Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee introduced the world to his invention. Back in 1978, Berners-Lee helped to create a type-setting software for printers. In 1980, he proposed a concept for hypertext as a way to share and update information among researchers called “Enquire.” He later took what he learned from Enquire and developed an editor called WorldWideWeb in 1990. The first web site was built was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html, which centered on information regarding the WWW project. Visitors could learn more about hypertext, technical details for creating their own webpage, and even an explanation on how to search the Web for information. Today, he is a director of the Web Science Research Initiative and a member of the advisory board of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. (Image: Pixabay)

1812: Dolley Madison Saves Portrait

Long before she became a symbol for snack cakes, First Lady Dolley Madison became famous for saving a portrait of George Washington by British troops during the war of 1812 on this day. Her husband, President James Madison, left the White House to meet with his generals on the battlefield. However, soon British troops gathered nearby and Dolley took it upon herself to save a full-length portrait of the first president from desecration by vengeful British soldiers, many of whom would have rejoiced in humiliating England’s former colonists