SEPTEMBER 19

On this date in 1982, Scott Fahlman executed a first in the computer industry.  Fahlman is a computer scientist from Medina, Ohio.  He got his bachelors, masters and PHD from MIT.  He now works and teaches at the Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh.

Well, just what did he do first?  He used - invented - emoticons!  On this date in 1982, he posted a message to the Carnegie Melon computer message center.  Here is the message:

I propose the following character sequence for joke markers:
:-)
Read it sideways.  Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends.  For this, use
:-(

Did you get that he thought most messages on the message board were jokes?   Just 34 years ago today.
o) o)