It's not quite the weekend yet -

but it's National Cocktail Day (World Cocktail Day is on the 13th of May,)

And no, some of you may think, 'Every day is National Cocktail Day in your house'. I need to give my liver a break once in a while. Geez!


The right treatment at the right time is a dream for many and we need to turn it into reality



Today is World Tuberculosis Day, commemorating the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the cause of Tuberculosis, the TB bacillus.



(also it is supposed to remind people that we must step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic.)


Today is also National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day - a day to enjoy this tasty combination of chocolate and fruit. Chocolate lovers who like raisins, find the combination simply irresistible. Kids find them irresistible, too.



Just make sure nobody owns a rabbit (or a guinea pig, believe me, we know from personal experience) at the home where you are enjoying those Raisinets (TM).


March 24, 1939 -
... Murder, my dear Watson. Refined, cold-blooded murder....

Twentieth Century Fox released on this date, the first of 14 films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles.



Although Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are the stars of the film, 20th Century Fox was unsure whether the film would be a hit or not, therefore Richard Greene, already a well-established star, was given top billing, while Rathbone and Bruce were billed second and fourth respectively. After the massive box office success of the first film, Rathbone and Bruce received top billing in the thirteen films which followed.

Oh Watson, the needle!


March 24, 1939 -
William Wyler's adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic tragic romance, Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, premieres in Los Angeles on this date.



In one scene, William Wyler insisted that David Niven break down. When Niven told him his contract said he would never have to cry on-camera, Wyler didn't believe him. Niven got the contract and the "no crying" clause was in there.


March 24, 1951 -
Scent-Imental Romeo, another funny Looney Tunes short starring (the soon to be banned) Pepé Le Pew, was released on this date.



This is the only Golden Age Pepe Le Pew cartoon in which Pepe does not continue chasing the cat (nor catches her) in the end.


March 24, 1973 -
The O'Jays' single Love Train (considered to be one of the first disco songs,) went to No. #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



The song was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, producers for the O'Jays. The team of Gamble & Huff would go on to write and produce over 170 gold and platinum records - and they also wrote Back Stabbers and For The Love Of Money, two more key songs in the O'Jays' career.


March 24, 2005 -
NBC-TV allowed us to follow the goings on at Dunder Mifflin when The Office, starring Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Mindy Kaling, and B.J. Novak premiered on this date.



The computers on the Dunder Mifflin office set were wired for the internet. Cast members admitted that when they're in the background of scenes, they were often checking e-mail and surfing the net.


Another moment of edifying culture.


Today in History:
March 24, 1401 -
Tamerlane conquered Damascus on this date. Tamerlane (Timur the Lane) was a descendant of Ghenghis Khan, and one of the greatest Tater leaders ever, expanding the Mongol empire from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

Tamerlane is best remembered for having built pyramids out of human skulls, owing to a faulty understanding of architecture which no one ever had the courage to correct.

Feel free to bring this up at the next cocktail party you attend, perhaps tonight, while you are celebrating National Cocktail day.


March 24, 1603 -
Tudor Queen Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen," died on this date. She had reigned from 1558-1603 and claimed never to have had a date. Her last words were apparently, "All my possessions for one moment of life."



Scottish King James VI, son of Mary, Queen of Scots and great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, who was Henry VIII's oldest sister, became King James I of England in the union of the crowns.


March 24, 1874 -
Harry Houdini, Erik Weisz (Ehrich Weiss) magician, escape artist, performed his first trick when he escaped from his mother's womb in Budapest on this date.



He is still working on perfecting his final trick of coming back from the dead.


March 24, 1895 -
Arthur Murray, American dancer who founded dance schools, was born on this date.



He proved to millions of Americans that they have no innate sense of rhythm.


March 24, 1944 -
76 Allied officers escaped Stalag Luft 3 on this date. In 1949, Paul Brickall wrote The Great Escape. The story of Jackson Barrett Mahon, an American fighter pilot, and the Allied POW escape from Stalag Luft III in Germany during WW II.



The 1963 film The Great Escape starred Steve McQueen, directed by John Sturges, was based on the true story.


March 24, 1958 - (Please note, you are about to see Elvis, stripped to the waist, in his skivvies. Should you need healing of any sort, please press one of your damp hands upon the screen and the other ever sweaty palm upon your afflicted region.)
Elvis Aron Presley entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee (serial number 53 310 761), on this date, and then spent three days at the Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, Reception Station.

While in the army, Elvis met his future wife, Priscilla, at a party. He left active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on March 5, 1960, and received his discharge from the Army Reserve on March 23, 1964.


March 24, 1975 -
Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King's Lynn, England, died laughing while watching an episode of The Goodies, featuring a Scotsman in a kilt battling a vicious black pudding with his bagpipes on this date.



After 25 minutes of continuous laughter Mitchell finally slumped on the sofa and expired from heart failure. His widow later sent The Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant. (And the address where they can send her check.)


March 24, 1989 -
Cold Fusion was announced 33 years ago yesterday.



To celebrate this amazing advancement in energy, Captain Joseph Hazelwood downed, in rapid succession, five double vodka on the rocks and piloted the Exxon tanker Valdez.



He ran the Valdez into a well-charted reef at Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil. An estimated 250,000 seabirds were killed.

Oops



And so it goes.