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Post by pegasus on Oct 21, 2011 12:26:37 GMT -7
BOTTLE O' RUM DAY
The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on Oct 21st in 1805. Admiral Horatio Nelson led the English fleet to victory over Napoleon’s combined French and Spanish navies. This win ended any threat to England by Napoleon.
In those days, a lot of drinking was done on board the ships. You’ve heard the refrain, “Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum.” And rum probably had a lot to do with the victory. All Lord Nelson had to say to his men was, “England expects that every man will do his duty.” And they did, getting up enough nerve to defeat the enemy in a mere five hours. There was much bravery or bravado.
Unfortunately, the good Admiral was hit by an enemy musket ball and died as the enemy surrendered.
The crew preserved his body in the rum. Now, bear in mind that the British tars were entitled a tot of rum each day; it was part of the navy regulations. When the officers aboard Nelson’s flag ship commandeered part of the crew’s booze to preserve the old boy’s body in a cask, the crew went on short rations. But when the cask was opened back home, it was discovered that the crew had been surreptitiously tapping the barrel and the admiral’s upper half was pretty ripe. Apparently even a distinct change in flavor was not enough to put a British sailor off his rum.
Now we know where that other refrain came from, “Oh, it’s rum, rum, rum that makes you feel so numb.”
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Post by pegasus on Oct 22, 2011 7:02:13 GMT -7
THE MET DAY
New York City’s nouveau riche built their own opera house on Broadway in Manhattan, staging its first performance on this day in 1883. The new socialites now had a theater where they could have opera boxes. Unlike the old Academy of Music, where the box seats were few and the likes of the Vanderbilts were unwelcome, the new structure had three levels of thirty-six boxes ... more than the number of millionaires in New York City, old or new. The lowest level became known as the ‘diamond horseshoe’. The Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera House had free opera boxes for all performances.
The Metropolitan Opera House was designed by J. Cleaveland Cady. A yellow-brick building, its interior, with red velvet and gold accents, was much more ornate than the exterior. Inside, it was truly designed for the enjoyment of millionaires.
When the curtains parted on this first night, Italian tenor Italo Campanini and Swedish soprano Christine Nilsson starred in Charles Gounod’s Faust. Orchestra-seat ticket holders paid $6 admission.
The Met remained at the Broadway between 39th and 40th Streets location until 1966, when a 3,700 seat, 14-story opera house was built in NYC’s Lincoln Memorial Center for the Performing Arts ... the present home of the venerable Metropolitan Opera House.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 23, 2011 8:28:20 GMT -7
CANNED FOOD DAY
How does that old saying go? We eat what we can and what we can’t we can. Well, without Nicolas Appert we wouldn’t be familiar with any part of that saying because he was the one who invented the canning process.
Nicolas Appert was born on Oct 22nd in 1752 at Chalons-Sur-Marne, France. He was destined to become a great chef and confectioner -- and chemist and inventor. In 1809 the French government awarded Appert with 12,000 francs for his contribution to the world. Nicolas Appert had, in his search to preserve food, invented a process of heating foods and sealing them in airtight containers. In 1812 he was bestowed with the title, Benefactor of Humanity. Just think, we still use his methods of food preservation today!
And, we wouldn’t want to forget another invention of Appert’s: the bouillon cube. It was probably the first instant soup. Just add water. Then heat to boiling and seal in an airtight jar, tin or can and serve it on Canned Food Day next year!
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Post by pegasus on Oct 24, 2011 7:52:26 GMT -7
UNITED NATIONS DAY
The United Nations charter took effect on oCT 24th in 1945 at the San Francisco Conference. 51 countries came together determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war; to reaffirm faith in human rights; to promote social progress and better standards of life; to practice tolerance and live together in peace and unite their strength to maintain international peace and security.
There are 191 member countries in the United Nations, led by a Secretary-General, controlled by the General Assembly and the Security Council. The Security Council has five permanent members (United States, Great Britain, France, China, Russian Federation) and ten temporary members (serving two-year terms, representing five regions of the world). Fifty-four members sit on the Economic and Social Council for three-year terms. There is also a Trusteeship Council and an International Court of Justice. At least fifteen agencies also exist under the auspices of the United Nations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, UNESC, UNICEF and the World Health Organization.
Since 1971, by unanimous request of the U.N. General Assembly (the world’s forum for discussing matters affecting world peace and security), this day has been observed throughout all UN member nations as a public holiday, United Nations Day.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 25, 2011 8:05:59 GMT -7
BLANDA DAY
It all started on this, a fall football day in 1970.
George Blanda, who had played pro football for the Chicago Bears for ten years, retired and then returned to the game as starting quarterback for the Houston Oilers. He led the Oilers to two AFC championships, earning the title of AFC Player of the Year in 1961. By 1966 he was no longer the starter for the team, but was the team’s kicker, leading the league with 116 points. Blanda was then traded to the Oakland Raiders, primarily as a kicker.
That’s when George Blanda became a legend in his own time. As we said, it happened on this day in 1970. That’s when Blanda, 43 years old, replaced Daryle Lamonica, the Raiders injured quarterback. Blanda tossed three touchdown passes (19, 43 and 44 yards), taking the Raiders to an easy victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers (31-14). And that was only the beginning.
The following week, George Blanda kicked a field goal 48 yards to tie the Raiders with Kansas City -- with only three seconds left to play. The next week, Blanda replaced Lamonica in the last quarter. Oakland was down by one touchdown. With one minute and fourteen seconds remaining, Blanda threw a 14-yard touchdown, tied the game, then kicked a 52-yard field goal in the last three seconds.
Another week, another game and another Blanda heroic ending -- with only four minutes left to play. Denver was in the lead over Oakland by two points. Blanda drove for 80 yards, then threw a touchdown pass to Fred Biletnikoff. Oakland won. His heroics continued the following week. With four seconds remaining, the game tied at 17, Blanda kicked a 16-yard field goal and San Diego went home the loser. Oakland won the division championship and Blanda became AFC Player of the Year and AP male athlete of the year.
George Blanda passed away at the age of 83 on September 27, 2010. His sensational story is now enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 26, 2011 7:16:28 GMT -7
ERIE CANAL DAY
After 8 years of digging ... and digging ... and digging, Clinton’s Big Ditch was completed. (That’s not Bill Clinton, but De Witt Clinton, governor of the state of New York at the time.) The 363-mile-long inland waterway, connecting Lake Erie to New York City by way of the Hudson River, opened to boat traffic on oCT 25th in 1825. Cannons fired in celebration and folks lined the route to cheer the $7,602,000, pet project of Gov. Clinton. He knew that this, the first major, man-made waterway in the U.S. would be enormously important to the settlement of the Great Lakes region. And right he was!
By the 1840s, thousands of barges used the ditch. The boatmen who worked them, known for their drinking and brawling, and their adventures on the Erie Canal became subjects of many stories and songs. One such refrain, the result of a storm that halted the ‘canawlers’ (as the barge operators were called) went something like this:
Oh, the Erie was a risin’ And the gin was gettin’ low, And I scarcely think we’ll get a drink Till we get to Buffalo.
Low bridge, everybody down Low bridge, for we're coming to a town And you'll always know your neighbors You'll always know your pals If you've ever navigated On the Erie Canal.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 27, 2011 13:48:57 GMT -7
RADIO DAY
Marconi, Fessenden, and De Forest were the catalysts. However, it was an engineer for Westinghouse Electric who, in 1916, was broadcasting music from his garage (in Wilkinsburg, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh) over a wireless (amateur radio station 8XK) who really got the whole thing started. A newspaper article about the broadcasts caused such interest that the head honchos at Westinghouse decided to build a real radio station. It took until Oct 27th in 1920 for the Westinghouse radio station to receive a license to broadcast. The license for KDKA, Pittsburgh came from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Although the license was officially issued on this day, KDKA did not start their broadcast operations for a week (they had to wait until the license was posted in the station). On November 2, 1920, the station aired the returns of the Harding/Cox election ... the first radio programming to reach an audience of any size ... approximately 1,000 people.
And so we salute this day as the official birthday of mass-appeal radio.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 28, 2011 18:11:53 GMT -7
LIBERTY DAY An emblem of Franco-American unity, the Statue of Liberty, was presented to the American people by the French and unveiled Oct 28th in 1886. The statue on Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor is the work of French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. He called it Liberty Enlightening the World. Bartholdi was present at the dedication presided over by Pres. Grover Cleveland.
Inscribed on a tablet inside the pedestal of ‘Miss Liberty’ is a poem by Emma Lazarus. It describes the statue of a woman holding a book and torch. The symbol of freedom, she waits for immigrants who must pass by her on their way to Ellis Island and admission to America. It reads:
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land; here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
‘Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she with silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’”
The 152-foot high statue, weighing 225 tons, now sits on Liberty Island. On August 3, 1957, U.S. Pres. Dwight Eisenhower changed the name from Bedloe’s Island to Liberty Island.
Liberty and justice for all!
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Post by pegasus on Oct 29, 2011 14:00:47 GMT -7
DEPRESSION DAY
Over 16 million shares were traded in panic selling on the New York Stock Exchange and thousands of investors were wiped out on Oct 29th in 1929. Prices plummeted, millions lost billions, and the buying boom was over. The market crashed. It had been preceded, by four days, with a speech by the Pres. Herbert Hoover, in which he said, “The fundamental business of the country ... is on a sound and prosperous basis.”
The Great Depression was longer and harsher than previous depressions, which had seen an upturn in business activity after one or two years. But, from October, 1929 until Franklin D. Rooselvelt became President in March, 1933, the economy just went from bad to worse on an almost monthly basis. Banks, factories and stores failed and unemployment soared. Millions of people lost their jobs, savings and homes.
Astrologer Evangeline Adams saw into the future and predicted the crash - along with other events that actually occurred, like Lindbergh’s flight - but didn’t listen to her own predictions. She lost $100,000.
The Great Depression was depressing, indeed!
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Post by pegasus on Oct 30, 2011 7:17:48 GMT -7
WAR OF THE WORLDS DAY
Folks throughout the United States were pretty skittish on Oct 30th night in 1938. Maybe they just wanted to believe that the world was going to come to an end. Nobody ever found out why 1000s of people believed the science-fiction drama that was played out over the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Orson Welles, known to radio audiences as The Shadow, presented his famous dramatization of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds on CBS’s Mercury Theater at 8 p.m. The show was set up as a music program interrupted by news bulletins saying that Martians had landed near Princeton, New Jersey. Though a disclaimer was broadcast several times throughout the hourlong program, most people did not pay attention to the explanation telling them that the story was fictional and a radio fabrication. Even the newspaper program guides printed the warning. But 1000s paid no attention.
Some folks, in fact, got pretty desperate when they heard the ‘news’ that the world was coming to an end. They rushed out of their homes with handkerchiefs covering their mouths to guard against Martian gas. They clogged phone lines, caused traffic jams and checked into hospitals in shock.
In just one hour, Orson Welles panicked the majority of the populace with his version of War of the Worlds.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 31, 2011 8:11:42 GMT -7
HOUDINI DAY
This is the day to keep some tricks up your sleeve, much like the famous magician, illusionist and escape artist, Harry Houdini. Houdini (born Ehrich Weiss), the greatest escape artist in history, always managed to find his way out of handcuffs, straitjackets, padlocked boxes, even a Scotland Yard jail cell. He could walk through walls, make an elephant disappear, and escape from the Water Torture Cell (suspended headfirst into a tank of water with his ankles locked in stocks). However, Harry Houdini was unable to escape fate.
His fatal destiny began on October 22, 1926 while Houdini was performing at the Princess Theater in Montreal, Canada. As he relaxed on a couch in his dressing room at the theater, Houdini was visited by a student athlete from Montreal’s McGill University. The young man asked Houdini if it was true that he could actually withstand punches to the stomach. Houdini replied in the affirmative, but before he could prepare himself for the stunt by tightening his stomach muscles, the student punched the magician several times in his mid-section.
Houdini performed that night and several more, then headed for Detroit where he did one show, then collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. At the time, it was assumed that his appendix had been ruptured by the blows from the student. Current medical knowledge leads experts to believe that Houdini already had appendicitis and only thought that the blows to his stomach were the cause of his pain.
Harry Houdini died on this day in 1926, of peritonitis. Magicians and mediums throughout the world still gather on this night, Halloween, to honor the Great Houdini.
Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve), an ancient celebration dating back to the 6th or 7th centuries, is a rather fitting time for this memorial celebration. Harry Houdini was not only a magician but one who devoted much of his time to exposing fake mediums (in fact, he was not only performing in Montreal at the time of his death, but was also in the city as a guest lecturer at McGill University. The subject of his lecture: Exposing spiritualism.) His spirit still lives on this, the holiday which combines the Druid autumn festival and the Christian celebration of Hallowtide, long associated with witches, ghosts, devils, spirits, magic ... and all scary things that go bump in the night.
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Post by pegasus on Nov 1, 2011 8:38:42 GMT -7
FACE MASK DAY
For as long as ice hockey has been played - since 1855 in North America, and the 16th century in the Netherlands - goalies have been getting their faces smashed by flying hockey pucks.
On Nov 1st in 1959, Jacques Plante had had enough! The goalie for the Montreal Canadiens had been hit again and had to have seven more stitches added to his face. This time, however, he returned to the ice wearing a plastic face mask. Plante had made it out of fiberglass and resin. His design was so popular, that goalies throughout the National Hockey League followed suit.
The face mask is now standard issue. Thanks to Jacques Plante, goalies have more teeth and we hardly ever know what they really look like.
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Post by pegasus on Nov 3, 2011 7:40:22 GMT -7
HOW NOW DOW JONES DAY
The Dow Jones industrial average surged 43.41 points on Nov 3rd in 1982, marking the greatest single day gain in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. (By today’s standards, fluctuations of several hundred points are not uncommon.) Most of us are pretty happy to see any of the Dow Jones averages rise without ever giving any thought to how this financial gamble got started.
In 1897, Dow Jones & Company, a financial publishing firm, began to publish an average of the common stock prices of twelve industrial companies. It was simply a daily total of the prices of these stocks divided by 12. Over the years, this system of averaging has become a little more complicated - taking into account the distortion of averages caused by stock splitting, etc.
Computation was expanded to hourly averaging and to include 30 industrial firms. Then four different kinds of averages were included: the industrial; transportation averages (20 transportation companies); utility averages (15 utilities); and an overall average of all of the above.
That’s how it all got started. And now, for the latest Dow Jones averages...
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Post by pegasus on Nov 4, 2011 9:16:31 GMT -7
20TH CENTURY REPUBLICAN FOR PRESIDENT DAY
November 4th was very lucky for Republican U.S. Presidential candidates during most of the 20th century. The lucky streak began back in 1924 when Calvin Coolidge was elected to the top office of the United States. Calvin Coolidge was already in the office of president having to complete Warren G. Harding’s term ( Harding died in office). This time, and on this day, he was voted into office by the people of the United States. He served another four years. History repeated itself in 1952. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in World War II, was running against Democrat Adlai Stevenson. Once again, Election Day was on November 4, and Ike won - the first Republican presidential victory in 24 years. Eisenhower became the 34th U.S. President.
1980 was a good year for Republicans all around. Most of those Republicans running for seats in the U.S. Senate were victors, winning a majority of the seats. And Ronald Reagan won the race for President against the incumbent, Jimmy Carter.
Before 1924, it was a different story: Democrat Grover Cleveland made it to the top in 1884; and Democrat James Buchanan was elected President of the U.S. on November 4, 1856.
And the Republican lucky streak did not continue into this century. It ended on November 4, 2008 in the first presidential election held on November 4 in the 21st century, when Democrat Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of America.
We’re taking bets on the next November 4 election in 2036.
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Post by pegasus on Nov 5, 2011 9:20:12 GMT -7
GUY FAWKES DAY
The year was 1605. Eleven men, led by one Guy Fawkes, came together to find a way to return England to the Catholic faith. It seems that King James had been sending Jesuits into exile. The conspirators plotted to kill the King and all members of the Parliament by blowing up the Houses of Parliament on November 5. They had amassed 36 barrels of gunpowder and placed the barrels under the Houses of Parliament.
The plot was discovered on November 4th, and the conspirators were arrested, tried and convicted. The following January, Guy Fawkes and seven other surviving members of the group were beheaded. Their heads were then displayed on the spikes of London Bridge.
The following November 5th (1606), the same Parliament Guy Fawkes and his men had attempted to annihilate, established a national day of Thanksgiving. Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night has been celebrated every year since with fireworks and the burning of Guy Fawkes’ effigy. The effigies are referred to as ‘Guys’ and as they are burned, the revelers repeat this verse:
Remember, Remember the Fifth of November Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot. I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes twas his intent To blow up the houses of Parliament, With three score barrels of powder below, Poor old England to overthrow.
But by God’s providence he was catched, With darkened lantern and slow burning match. Holloa boys, Holloa boys, ring bells ring, Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God saved the King!
Almost four hundred years later, some wonder whether the holiday is in honor of Guy Fawkes’ attempt at removing the government, or in celebration of his execution.
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