Picture this: it’s 1974, and running is starting to catch fire as a fitness craze, but the shoes? They’re clunky, flat, and about as exciting as a soggy sock. Enter Bill Bowerman, a track coach turned mad scientist, who’s tinkering in his Oregon kitchen with a wild idea. One morning, he stares at his wife’s waffle iron, pours in some liquid rubber, and—bam!—the Waffle Shoe is born. And his wife? Probably not too happy he just ruined her waffle maker. But this isn’t just a sneaker; it’s a lightweight, grippy marvel that changes the game for runners everywhere.

Bowerman wasn’t new to the shoe biz—he co-founded Nike, known back then as Blue Ribbon Sports—with Phil Knight in the ‘60s, selling imported kicks to athletes. But he was obsessed with making something better, something that’d give his University of Oregon runners an edge. Legend has it he ruined a few waffle irons before nailing the design: a sole with little rubber squares that cushioned feet and gripped tracks like a dream. When he showed it to Knight, they knew they had a winner—runners started raving, and Nike’s first big hit was off and running—pun intended.

The Waffle Shoe didn’t just look cool—it performed. Debuted as the “Waffle Trainer,” it hit stores in 1974 and flew off shelves, turning Nike from a scrappy underdog into a serious player. The secret sauce? That waffle sole soaked up shock and gave traction that old flats couldn’t touch, perfect for pounding pavement or trails. Athletes loved it, weekend joggers snatched it up, and suddenly, Nike wasn’t just a brand—it was a vibe. Fun fact: the soles were so popular, they sparked lawsuits from rivals claiming Nike stole their thunder!

So why does 1974 matter? Because a coach with a crazy hunch and a kitchen appliance kicked off a sneaker revolution. The Waffle Shoe put Nike on the map, paving the way for Air Maxes, Jordans, and a billion-dollar empire. It’s proof that sometimes genius comes from the weirdest places—like a breakfast gone rogue. Next time you lace up, give a nod to Bill and his waffle iron—they made running history, one tasty step at a time.

It’s February 26, 1993, and New York City’s World Trade Center is humming along—until 12:17 p.m., when a massive explosion rocks the underground parking garage. A Ryder rental van packed with 1,300 pounds of homemade explosives just went kaboom, courtesy of a terrorist crew led by Ramzi Yousef. The blast ripped through concrete, killed six people, injured over a thousand, and sent a chilling message: America’s iconic towers were in the crosshairs. Spoiler alert—this was just a warm-up for worse to come.

The plot was straight out of a thriller. Yousef, a bomb-making whiz with a grudge against the U.S., teamed up with a small group tied to radical Islamist networks. Their goal? Topple one tower into the other, killing tens of thousands. They rented the van, stuffed it with fertilizer-based explosives, and parked it beneath the North Tower, hoping the foundation would crumble. It didn’t—those towers were tougher than they thought—but the attack still turned Lower Manhattan into a smoky, chaotic mess. Workers stumbled out covered in soot, while firefighters raced into the dark.

The aftermath was a wake-up call. The FBI kicked into high gear, tracing the van’s VIN number back to the bombers in a matter of days—turns out, one of the plotters even tried to get his deposit back! Yousef slipped away for a while, but his crew got nabbed, and the investigation exposed a shadowy network that would haunt the U.S. for years. New Yorkers, being New Yorkers, shrugged off the fear and got back to work, but the attack left scars—both literal and in the nation’s psyche.

February 26, 1993, wasn’t the day the towers fell, but it was the day the world realized they were targets. It marked America’s rude introduction to a new kind of threat—one that’d hit home again, harder, in 2001. This wasn’t just a bombing; it was a grim preview of a fight that’s still echoing today. History’s got a way of sneaking up on you like that.

Cleopatra’s Invention🪰
As queen of Egypt, Cleopatra didn’t do pests—which is why she had a servant whose only job was to wave flies away using a luxurious peacock-feather fan. But when she got fed up with his efforts, Cleopatra reportedly designed her own mechanical fly-trap contraption to do the job instead. While no blueprint survives, historians believe it may have been a pulley-based fan or an early automatic trap.

The Pope’s Rhino🦏
In 1515, Portugal’s King Manuel I tried to impress Pope Leo X by gifting him something truly exotic—a real-life rhinoceros named Ganda. Sadly, on its way to Rome, the ship sank in a storm, and poor Ganda drowned in the Mediterranean. But the Pope? Still wanted his rhino. So, the carcass was fished out, stuffed, and put on display like a bizarre taxidermy trophy.

Origins of Bluetooth🛡️
King Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson of Denmark (d. 986) wasn’t just famous for uniting Denmark and Norway—he also had a dead, blue-tinted tooth, earning him his unique nickname. Fast forward 1,000 years, and when engineers developed Bluetooth technology, they named it after Harald, since the tech was designed to unite devices—just like he united Scandinavia. Even the Bluetooth logo is a mashup of his runic initials (ᚼ and ᛒ). So next time you connect your headphones, just remember—you owe it all to a Viking with questionable dental health.

Drunk War Elephant🍷
In 270 BCE, Indian King Chandragupta Maurya sealed a peace deal with Greek ruler Seleucus I by trading 500 war elephants—because in ancient diplomacy, massive, armored animals were a solid bargaining chip. But during transport, one elephant got into a stash of wine, got spectacularly drunk, and went on a legendary marketplace rampage. Imagine a five-ton, tipsy tank crashing through stalls, terrifying merchants, and probably having zero regrets. Eventually, handlers regained control, but the lesson was clear: never leave war elephants alone with booze.

If you enjoy this edition of Today In History be sure to send it to a friend and force them to sign up because that’s what good friends do. Until next time, stay curious, question everything, and keep uncovering the mysteries of the past. - Zach⛺️