21 st. June The summer solstice takes place. (See December 22nd entry.)

1834 The reaping machine was patented.

1948 The long-playing record was demonstrated.

Although the summer solstice isn’t always precisely punctual, today is often the first day of the summer season. When “summer is icumen in,” as the Scottish poet Robert Burns put it, our major purpose in life is, or should be, to keep cool.

Today is a record anniversary. In 1948, the long-playing record was demonstrated by CBS Laboratories’ Dr. Peter Goldmark. The LP—with its high-fidelity recording and its extended playing time—ushered in the advent of new medium for recording sounds and launched a forty-year tidal wave of gold and platinum records. The LP— and its smaller cousin the 45—have since been replaced by cassette tapes and compact discs, though there are still purists who swear that nothing sounds better than a carefully dusted vinyl platter.

As the old saying goes: “Ye shall reap what ye shall sow.” And today’s anniversary reaped a good profit for inventor Cyrus McCormick. In 1834, McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine. The bountiful harvest it provided ushered in a new age of agriculture.