Happy birthday, Robert! Double 5? (I hit that this past April) I hope you have a great day!

It does seem hard to believe that people our age have seen such changes, though in some ways it has been more incremental than for our parents. My father-in-law was born 100 years ago this September (he passed away in 98). In 1908, the first gas station in Canada opened, powered flight was a fantastical new thing, and only a very few had telephones. TV was nothing, and electronic computers not even dreamed of.

Some interesting aeronautical, astronomical and miscellaneous events of 1908:

January 24 * General Baden-Powell starts Boy-Scouts.
January 27 * Pasiphaë, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Melotte
February 17 * Geronimo Apache chief, dies at about age 79
February 29 * Dutch scientists produce solid helium
March 5 * First ascent of Mount Erebus, Antarctica
March 29 * Daily newspaper comic strip Mr. A. Mutt adds character Jeff, creating popular Mutt & Jeff
April 24 * Mr and Mrs Jacob Murdock become the first to travel across the US by car, they leave Los Angeles in a Packard and arrive in New York City in 32 days-5 hours-25 minutes
May 12 * Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield
May 14 * First passenger flight in an airplane
May 21 * First horror movie (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) premieres in Chicago
June 10 * First flying club, Aeronautical Society of New York, opens
June 24 * A Kopff discovers asteroids #663 Gerlinde and #664 Judith
June 30 * Giant fireball impacts in Central Siberia (Tunguska Event)
July 6 * Robert Peary's expedition sails from New York City for the north pole
July 22 * W Lorenz discovers asteroid #665 Sabine
July 23 * A Kopff discovers asteroids #666 Desdemona and #667 Denise
July 26 * Federal Bureau of Investigation established
July 27 * A Kopff discovers asteroid #668 Dora
September 9 * Orville Wright makes first one-hr airplane flight, Fort Myer, Virginia
September 16* General Motors founded by William C Durant
September 17* Thomas Selfridge becomes first fatality of powered flight
October 1 * Henry Ford introduces the Model T car (costs $825)
December 29 * Patent granted for a 4-wheel automobile brake, Clintonville Wisconsin

From here