Sunday, October 23, 2022

Let joy reign supreme!

I'm sure that you thought that all the excitement of the day was because it's the anniversary of the Byzantine Empress Irene attending the final session of the second church council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey)] on this date. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.

or the Feast day of St. John of Capistrano, patron saint of jurists,

and that all of the swallows are leaving Capistrano. But no, while you weren't looking, it's Mole Day once again. Mole Day is celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 AM until 6:02 PM - Mole Day commemorates Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry.





Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.



Don't tell anybody that you celebrated this day.


Today is also TV Talk Show Host Day. We celebrate and honor all TV Talk Show hosts (strange how so many of them are coming to an end this year.)



This very special day is celebrated on the birth date of legendary night time talk show host Johnny Carson. Carson is considered the "King of Late Night Television". He hosted The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992 for a record 29 years, 7 months, 21 days (4,531 episodes - David Letterman did a total of 6,028, counting his 1982-93 run at NBC in addition to his CBS tenure.)



While this day is celebrated on Johnny Carson's birth date, it is intended to show appreciation to all Television talk show hosts, daytime and nighttime.







Celebrate today, by staying up all day and night and watch talk shows (until you pass out.)


October 23, 1939 -
Raoul Walsh's crime-thriller, The Roaring Twenties, starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Gladys George, premiered on this date.



This marked the end of James Cagney's cycle of gangster films for Warner Bros. Cagney wanted to diversify his roles: he would not play a gangster again until White Heat, ten years later.


October 23, 1941 -
Walt Disney studios release their fourth animated film, Dumbo on this date.



The first Walt Disney movie for Sterling Holloway (the Stork) and Verna Felton (the Elephant Matriarch). Both would become regulars in Disney animated films over the next 35 years.


October 23, 1952 -
Limelight, directed, written, produced and starring Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom with appearance by Buster Keaton premiered in NYC on this date.



Charles Chaplin sailed to London for the London premiere on October 16,1952, but his re-entry permit was revoked after he left because of accusations that he was tied to the Communist party - a common charge in the "Red Scare" era in the US in the 1950s made against those--especially in the arts--who raised questions or objections to American foreign or domestic policies. After showings of Limelight in New York and other East Coast cities, an anti-Chaplin frenzy whipped up by ultra-conservative politicians and organizations caused cancellation of showings in other cities.


October 23, 1961
The Dion song Runaround Sue hit No. #1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date.



In the liner notes of Dion's box set King Of The New York Streets, he wrote: "It came about by partying in a schoolyard. We were jamming, hitting tops of boxes. I gave everyone parts like the horn parts we'd hear in the Apollo Theater and it became a jam that we kept up for 45 minutes. I came up with all kinds of stuff. But when I actually wrote the song and brought it into the studio to record it, well, her name wasn't actually Sue. It was about, you know, some girl who loved to be worshiped but as soon as you want a commitment and express your love for her, she's gone. So the song was a reaction to that kind of woman."


October 23, 1972 -
Al Green's fifth studio album, I'm Still in Love with You (on the Hi Record Label) was released on this date.



Al Green mentioned the I'm Still in Love with You album cover in his 2000 autobiography, Take Me to the River: "In my white turtleneck, white patent leather shoes with the stacked heels and just a touch of diamond and gold, I was as cool and in control as the music between that cover."


October 23, 1992 -
The first feature length debut of a Quentin Tarantino film, Reservoir Dogs opened in the US on this date.



The film's budget was so low that many of the actors were asked to simply bring their own clothing as wardrobe; most notably Chris Penn's track jacket. The signature black suits were provided for free by the designer, based on her love for the American crime film genre. Steve Buscemi wore his own black jeans instead of suit pants, and Michael Madsen wore a jacket and pants that came from two different suits.


October 23, 2006 -
Ironically one of Amy Winehouse's most famous songs Rehab, from her second studio album, Back to Black, was released on this date.



On August 14, 2007, Winehouse entered The Causeway Retreat, a rehab center in Essex, England, with her new husband (and fellow addict), Blake Fielder. Addiction specialists know that admitting a couple to rehab together is a bad idea, but The Causeway was not an ethical institution: it was shut down amid a host of violations in 2010.


October 23, 2018 -
Bryan Singer's bio-pix about Freddie Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek, premiered in London on this date.



The Queen band-mates credited Paul Prenter (Freddie Mercury's personal assistant) with facilitating the rock star's drug use and hard-partying lifestyle. He ultimately became Mercury's self-appointed personal manager, refusing interviews and "annoying" Queen with unchecked, self-centered influence on Mercury's decision-making.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library


Today in History:
October 23, 42 BC -
While it is not the Ides of March - today was a very bad day for Brutus.

Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the lead assassins of Julius Casear, and his army are decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian in the Second Battle of Philippe, on this date.

Brutus didn't take the loss well and committed suicide.

His last words were allegedly Yes, we must escape, but this time with our hands, not our feet. (I believe they really were, Ouch, that really hurts except in Latin, of course.)


According to James Ussher, the venerable 17th century Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr John Lightfoot of Cambridge, it was at exactly 9:00 a.m. on the chilly autumn morning of October 23, 4004 BC, that God created the world.



9:00 A.M. on a Tuesday - exactly? (Where didn't appear to enter into their consideration.) This strikes me as monumental. If the world was created at 9:00 AM Greenwich Time, it would have been 5:00 AM Eastern Time, meaning the world was technically created earlier in the Old World than it was in the New. What's worse, Hawaii, the Midway Islands, Samoa, and other points west would have been created the day before.



It's conceivable, I suppose, that Ussher and Lightfoot (which sounds like either a rock group, law firm, or television action series) could have been mistaken in their calculations, but if we start questioning men of God, where will it end? Sooner or later we'll start questioning God himself, which couldn't possibly lead anywhere good. No, it's either blind obedience to God or the Hell with us all.

Just ask theTaliban.



Anyway, this would make this old earth just 6017 years old on October 23 (according to Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum and others.)



But then again, the voice of reason keeps rearing it's ugly head.


October 23, 1910 -
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, Blanche S. Scott became the first woman to undertake a solo airplane flight on this date, reaching an altitude of twelve feet.



Early in the year, Scott was the second woman, after Alice Huyler Ramsey, to drive an automobile across the United States and the first driving westwards from New York City to San Francisco, California.


October 23,1935 -
Gangsters Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman and Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz were fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.



Remember kids, crime doesn't pay (except perhaps for Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.)


October 23, 1959 -
Alfred Matthew Yankovic, Grammy Award winning singer, musician, actor, satirist, parodist, songwriter, music producer, accordionist, and television producer, was born on this date.



And you just thought he was some nerdy guy who sang some funny songs.


October 23, 1987 -
United States Senate rejected the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork on a 58-to-42 vote. Ostensibly this was because he admitted to smoking marijuana as a youth, which would be the wrong reason. He should have been rejected for his dealings in the Saturday Night Massacre (with evil chin hair.)



Some have since argued that Bork was the target of a smear campaign, and they began using his last name as a verb, saying that they wanted to prevent future nominees from getting "borked." The word "bork" was added to Webster's dictionary, defined as, "[Seeking] to obstruct a political appointment or selection, also to attack a political opponent viciously." Robert Bork said, "My name became a verb, and I regard that as one form of immortality."

The chip on Mr. Bork's shoulder made the one on Clarence Thomas' very small indeed. BTW, Mr. Thomas was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice on this date in 1991.


October 23, 1995 -
The murderer of the Pop Star singer Selena, and president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, was found guilty in Houston of her slaying on this date.

It helped that case tremendously that with her last breathe, Selena was able to say, "Hey, the big fat ugly embezzling head of my fan club just shot me in the back."

Very lucky break for the prosecution.


Before you go - here's a strange holiday treat, a mashup of Led Zeppelin and Christmas -



It's a great way of reminding you that Halloween is in 8 days and Christmas is in 63 days



And so it goes

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