Thursday, August 6 — National Root Beer Float Day

Some things look permanent until the world changes around them.

Today, we begin in 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire officially came to an end after lasting, in one form or another, for about a thousand years. Then we step into a New York theater in 1926 for the premiere of Don Juan, a silent film that was not quite silent anymore thanks to synchronized music and sound effects. Finally, we travel to Nevada in 1964, where a researcher cut down a bristlecone pine later known as Prometheus and only afterward realized it had been nearly 5,000 years old.

We also celebrate the birthday of Lucille Ball, whose early Hollywood work included a Three Stooges short before she became one of the most important figures in television history.

History has a way of hiding huge changes inside titles, sound effects, old trees, and performers no one quite knows how to use yet.

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