A symphony of permanence and change

October is the tenth month of the year and its name is therefore derived from Octo, the Latin word for eight (as the vegetables in V8 well knows.) October is often preceded by September and sometimes followed by November.

There are 31 days in October, many of which are Wednesdays. (Wednesday is the fourth day of the week and its name is therefore derived from Wednes, the Latin word for hump.)



October is :
National Dental Hygiene Month,
Chiropractic Month,
Cookie Month,
Sausage Month,
National Book Month,
Computer Learning Month (which naturally go together),
and Sarcastic Awareness Month.



It also Vegetarian Month.



As a result of a U.N. resolutions passed nine years ago, October is no longer compulsive masterbation Month (now celebrated in February) or International Mirrors on Your Shoe Appreciation Month (April).

There are 30 shopping days left until Halloween, 56 days until Thanksgiving, 64 days until Hanukkah and 85shopping days left until Christmas.

Plan accordingly.


October 1, 1947 -
Bing Crosby broadcasts the first ever pre-recorded radio show when he airs his Philco Radio Time show on the ABC network, on this date, using a Magnetophon, a Nazi recording technology discovered and brought to America by US Army Corps Officer John Thomas "Jack" Mullin.



The Magnetophon leads to the evolution of multi-track recording technology, which revolutionizes the music industry. Crosby becomes an investor in the technology, which he uses so he doesn't have to always do his shows live.


October 1, 1955 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Knight-Mare Hare, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



The cartoon is loosely based on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court


October 1, 1955 -
The Honeymooners half hour episodes premiered on this date.



The show was shot "as live" (filmed before an audience, edited and shown later). If you ever notice Jackie Gleason patting himself on the stomach, it was a sign that he had forgotten his line.


October 1, 1962 -
Johnny Carson hosted his first Tonight Show with Joan Crawford as his guest, on this date. On his first show, Carson was introduced by Groucho Marx; Johnny's first words, reacting to applause as he walked onstage for the first time: "Boy, you would think it was Vice President Nixon."



Although no footage is known to remain of Carson's first broadcast as host of The Tonight Show on this date, photographs taken that night do survive, as does an audio recording of Carson's first monologue. One of his first jokes upon starting the show was to pretend to panic and say, "I want my Na-Na!"


October 1, 1962 -
The follow-up to I Love Lucy series (but not a sequel to the series,) The Lucy Show, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The series was originally intended to air for only one season. Ball and Desi Arnaz's studio, Desilu, was losing money. Arnaz persuaded Ball to return to series television only to help their studio become viable again. Ball agreed to do the show only if it aired on Monday nights like I Love Lucy had and if her former co-star, Vivian Vance, and her former writers would be involved


October 1, 1962 -
The Beach Boys release their first album, Surfin' Safari, which includes their debut single, Surfin' on this date.



Led by Brian Wilson, the band started out with his brothers Carl and Dennis with friends Al Jardine and David Marks. Brian was influenced by vocal groups like The Four Freshmen, who used jazz arrangements in their songs. Lyrically, they tapped into the burgeoning California surf scene, which was a big part of youth culture thanks to movies like Gidget and music by the likes of Dick Dale and The Ventures. Brian didn't surf, but his brother did and pushed the idea. With the release of this single, it set the tone for early Beach Boys surf-themed hits like Surfin' Safari and Surfin' U.S.A.


October 1, 1968 -
The classic late night horrow film, Night of the Living Dead, directed by George A. Romero, and starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, and Keith Wayne, premiered in Pittsburgh on this date.



When the zombies are eating the bodies in the burnt-out truck, they were actually eating roast ham covered in chocolate sauce. The filmmakers joked that it was so nausea-inducing that it was almost a waste of time putting the makeup on the zombies as they ended up looking pale and sick anyway.


October 1, 1971 -
The comedy-variety sketch series, The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, starring, Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan, John Junkin, Hugh Paddick, Frances de la Tour, and Barry Levinson, premiered the UK on this date.



Terry Gilliam's animation contributions for this series were the opening and closing credits. The opening was a production line making identical looking mannequins/men, one eventually gets Marty's head, and is ejected into a rubbish bin. (This sequence appears in Gilliam's Animations of Mortality book.). The closing credits were various people saying "Good Bye!" and having horrible things happen to them. (i.e. A train conductor pulls a level and gets run over by a train, Mickey Mouse-type thingy gets smashed in a rat trap, etc... )


October 1, 1977 -
(Please I beg of you, save yourselves - it's too late for me, do not listen to the entire track) Meco's (real name Domenico Monardo) song Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band was the No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, on this date.



Fans with a keen ear will notice that many of the musical leitmotifs for each of the major characters are covered in this song as well. Impress your friends or not with this bit of trivia - the "Cantina theme" actually has its own name - it's called Mad About Me according to Wookieepedia. This is the jazzy little tune played by the quartet of fish-headed aliens (their in-script name is Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes) when Luke and Obi-Wan enter the "wretched hive of scum and villainy" to hire a ride off Tatooine.


October 1, 1979 -
One of the most famous sports commercials ever was aired by Coca-Cola featuring “Mean Joe” Greene. The now iconic commercial took place in an NFL stadium tunnel, where Mean Joe is confronted by a 9 year old fan.



The commercial ended with Greene tossing the kid a coke and uttering the famous line, “Hey, kid, catch!” The ad won a Clio Award in 1980 for best ad of the year and continues to be referenced in popular culture today. Greene later appeared in a parody of the ad for the washing product, Downey.



October 1, 1992 -
Turner Broadcasting launched a cable channel with 24 hour animated programming called the Cartoon Network on this date.



The first program aired on the channel was the Looney Tunes classic Rhapsody Rabbit.


Another little known Monopoly card.


Today in History :
October 1, 1847 -
Maria Mitchell, a distant relative of Benjamin Franklin, using a telescope, discovered "Miss Mitchell's Comet" (Comet 1847 VI, modern designation is C/1847 T1) on this date. Some years previously, King Frederick VI of Denmark had established gold medal prizes to each discoverer of a "telescopic comet" (too faint to be seen with the naked eye). The prize was to be awarded to the "first discoverer" of each such comet (note that comets are often independently discovered by more than one person). She duly won one of these prizes, and this gave her worldwide fame, since the only previous woman to discover a comet had been Caroline Herschel. She was also asked by her Nantucket neighbors to stop peeking into their bedrooms at night.

There was a temporary question of priority because Francesco de Vico had independently discovered the same comet two days later, but had reported it first; however, this was resolved in Mitchell's favor. The prize was awarded in 1848 by the new king Frederick VII.



She was the first professional woman astronomer in the United States, noted for her discovery that sunspots are whirling vertical cavities and not, as previously thought, clouds.


October 1, 1888 -
The National Geographic Society was founded by Gardiner Hubbard, the father-in-law of Alexander Graham Bell on January 13, 1888. National Geographic magazine was published for first time on this date. It primarily contains articles about geography, history, and world culture.

Overly-excited boys had to wait an addition eight years until the first photographs of bare-breasted women appeared in the magazine. Tissue sales increased precipitously.


October 1, 1890 -
The Yosemite National Park and the Yellowstone National Park were established by the U.S. Congress on this date.



Lasy year, both parks had more than 8.8 million visitors.


October 1, 1903 -
The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the home team Boston Americans (Red Sox), 7-3, in the first World Series game.



Boston, however, went on to win the series, five games to three.


October 1, 1907 -
Located at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, one of NYC most iconic sites, the Plaza Hotel opened on this date. (It was the second incarnation of a hotel on this site. The first Plaza Hotel stood on the same location from 1890 to 1905.) The first guest to check into the Plaza Hotel, was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt famously, survived the Titanic tragedy by his last minute decision not to return home on the ill-fated ocean liner, only to lose his life three years later during another ocean liner disaster, the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915.



Guests at the Plaza's opening gala got a special ride home: they were the first in New York to ride in motorized cabs. The initial fare was 30 cents for the first half-mile, 10 cents for each quarter-mile thereafter, and 10 cents for each six minutes of waiting. The well-to-do guest didn't have to reach into their deep pockets, though: the rides on this evening were complimentary.


October 1, 1908 -
Rabid Anti-semite and American Isolationist Henry Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of $825 on this date.



Ford sold over 10,000 cars in the first year of production. (Remember that when you want to put a Ford into your future.)


October 1, 1924 -
When you single out any particular group of people for secondary citizenship status, that's a violation of basic human rights..



James Earl 'Jimmy' Carter, the 39th president of the U.S. (1977-1981), was born in Plains, Georgia, on this date.


October 1, 1946 -
Roland Berrill, an Australian lawyer and Dr. Lancelot Ware, a British scientist and lawyer, founded the Mensa organization at Lincoln College, in Oxford, England, on this date. Mensa was established as a non-profit organization for the world's highest IQ testers.



To quote the great philosopher Groucho Marx, "I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member."


October 1, 1949 -
The People's Republic of China was formed with Mao Zedong as its head with its capital at Beiping (Peiping), which was renamed Beijing (Peking).



I will make no other comment other than Happy National Day and hope all is well in the South China Sea today. I've already pissed off a large segment of the world with some of my other comments about China.


October 1, 1958 -
American Express launched their first charge card on this date with an annual fee of $6. It was $1 higher than Diners Club. American Express had started out as an international mail company before branching into financial services.



The first cards were paper, with the account number and card member's name typed, but by 1959 it had already become the plastic green card we know today.


October 1, 1971 -
Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida opened 55 years ago on this date.



Epcot Center opened on this date in 1982.



Here's an odd fact to throw out - No structure at Disney World stands taller than 200 feet. That's no coincidence, either. Buildings taller than 200-feet are required to flash aviation lights. And, of course, that would ruin some of the magic.


October 1, 1975 -
The Thrilla in Manila was the third and final famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World, fought in Manila, Philippines on this date.



Muhammad Ali TKOd Joe Frazier in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.


On a personal note, Happy 32nd Anniversary Cara and Matt.

A date I can remember without a Facebook notification.



And so it goes

Basically, gum is an adult pacifier

Even though your bubble gum WILL lose it's flavor on the bedpost overnight, today is National Chewing Gum.



William Wrigley, founder of Wrigley’s Gum, invented direct mail marketing because of chewing gum. In 1915 he mailed a pack of gum to every person in the phone directory in the United States. People are even trying to collect and recycle used chewing gum into new products, such as rubber soles for shoes.


September 30, 1938 -
RKO Studios released the eighth Marx Brothers film, Room Service, on this date.



This is the only film The Marx Brothers made at RKO. During salary negotiations with the studio, erstwhile member Zeppo Marx represented The Marx Brothers, threatening to rejoin the group if their demands weren't met. This was the only time Zeppo represented his brothers, as their agent. He secured a salary of $250,000 for the team from RKO, their biggest payout ever.


September 30, 1944 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Lost and Foundling, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Sniffles, was released on this date.



The labels of two bottles read GRIB and BROEK respectively - the surname of Robert Gribbroek, who was a layout man and background artist at Warner Bros. Cartoons.


September 30, 1948 -
Howard Hawks released his iconic western, Red River, starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift on this date.



Montgomery Clift had learned to ride horses while at military prep school, but it was a different kind of riding than he was required to do in this role. He asked experienced Western actor Noah Beery Jr.. for help and worked hard to become convincing on screen. Beery later said, "The thing he enjoyed most was becoming a hell of a good cowboy and horseman." Howard Hawks always had high praise for how hard Clift worked on the picture.


September 30, 1952 -
The motion picture process Cinerama -- which employed three cameras, three projectors and a deeply curved viewing screen -- made its debut with the premiere of This Is Cinerama at the Broadway Theater in New York City on this date.



Cinerama technicians were working on the system right up to the last minute. The was no time for a trial run. It wasn't until the actual premiere in front of an audience that the entire presentation of this film, from start to finish, took place.


September 30, 1958 -
The first network series to be filmed entirely in New York City, the police drama, The Naked City debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



Harry Kadison played Det. Sgt. Arcaro in the pilot. In episode two, the role was recast with Harry Bellaver. Bellaver appeared in 136 out of 138 episodes.


September 30, 1960 -
The first prime-time animated series aimed at adults, The Flintstones, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Fred and Wilma Flintstone were the first animated married couple ever shown on American television in the same bed together. They have been mistaken as the first couple ever shown in bed together on any American TV show, but that title goes to the 1947 series, Mary Kay and Johnny.


September 30, 1965 -

Gerry Anderson's supermarionation take on The Tracy family business, Thunderbirds premiered on this date in the UK.



The five Tracy brothers were named after astronauts from the Mercury programme:

Scott Tracy after Scott Carpenter.

Virgil Tracy after Gus Grissom whose real first name was Virgil.

Alan Tracy after Alan Shepard.

Gordon Tracy after Gordon Cooper.

John Tracy after John Glenn.

September 30, 1982 -
Cheers, the comedy television series that ran eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993, premiered on this date.



From the start of the series, writers and producers made it a point to never show anyone leaving the bar drunk to drive home. The series would come to be recognized and cited by anti-drinking and driving groups for depicting and helping promote designated driver programs.


September 30, 1984 -
The inhabitants of Cabot Cove, Maine started dropping like flies when CBS premiered the series, Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Landsbury on this date.



Lansbury earned Emmy nominations for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the each of the show's twelve seasons but failed to win any.


September 30, 1995 -
Mariah Carey's megahit Fantasy went to No. 1 and stayed there for several months on this date.



This was Mariah's 9th #1 hit in the US. It was also only the second single to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The first was You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson.


September 30, 1998 -
On The Drew Carey Show episode In Ramada Da Vida, Slash, Lisa Loeb, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, Dave Mustaine, Jonny Lang, Joey Ramone, Joe Walsh and Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen audition for Drew's band, which has a gig at the Ramada Inn, on this date.



Walsh gets the job.


September 30, 2011 -
The TV drama, Pan Am, starring Christina Ricci, Margot Robbie, Karine Vanasse, Kelli Garner, Michael Mosley, and Mike Vogel, premiered on ABC-TV, on this date.



The average career for a Pan Am Stewardess in the 1960's averaged around 18 months due to the strict weight, age, marital status and childlessness requirements. Pan Am required its stewardesses to be at least five foot two and weigh no more than 130 pounds. They also couldn't be married or have children. On top of that the mandatory retirement age for flight attendants was 32. At 5'1", Christina Ricci would have been too short to have been accepted, and at 31, would only have had a few months as a stewardess until she would have hit the mandatory retirement age.


September 30, 2011 -
Pearl Jam wrapped up Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's week-long performance tribute to Pink Floyd by performing Mother from the legendary British rock band's classic 1979 album The Wall.



Their performance was the coda to a week of Pink Floyd tribute performances, which featured The Shins performing Breathe , Roger Waters and Foo Fighters tackling In the Flesh? , MGMT paying their tribute to Floyd's earliest work with Lucifer Sam and country star Dierks Bentley's interpretation of Wish You Were Here.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts.


Today in History:
September 30, 1452 -
It's the anniversary of the printing of the Gutenberg Bible in Mainz, Germany on this date. It was the first book ever printed with movable type. What made Gutenberg's invention revolutionary was not that it allowed you to print letters on paper, but that you could print an infinite number of different pages from a small number of letter blocks simply by rearranging them.

The first section of the Bible came out on this day. He printed 180 copies on expensive Italian paper. It was designed to be used for public reading in the dining halls of monasteries. But within three decades there were print shops all over Europe, and Gutenberg's invention launched a revolution in education.



Today about four dozen copies of the Gutenberg Bible survive. One of the most recent copies to come on the market was auctioned in New York in 1987 and sold for more than $5 million.


September 30, 1630 -
Pilgrim John Billington, who arrived on the Mayflower, was hanged at Plymouth for killing John Newcomen with a musket, on this date.

Billington was the first Englishman executed in New England.


September 30, 1846 -
On this evening in 1846, Mr. Eben Frost, suffering from a violent toothache, called upon Dr. William Thomas Green Morton. Dr. Morton administered ether and extracted the tooth.

Thus ether was used for the first time as an anesthetic on this date.


September 30, 1882 -
The first commercial hydroelectric power plant ,the Vulcan Street Plant,(later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States, on this date, supplying electricity to private and commercial customers in North America.

Powered by a water wheel, a single dynamo provides 12.5 kilowatts, just enough for 180 lights of ten candlepower each which lit the Appleton Paper and Pulp Company building, the Vulcan Paper Mill and the home of H.J. Rogers, who was the president of the Appleton Paper and Pulp Co at the time.


September 30, 1927 -
Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season, on this day.



Roger Maris tied Ruth's record on September 27, 1961. Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run Wednesday, tying Roger Maris’ single-season American League home run record. (Mark McGwire born on October 1, 1963, hit 70 home runs in 1998, so this no longer matters to some. Although, the Bambino was only hopped up on booze.)


September 30, 1938 -
The Germans occupied the Sudetenland in late summer of 1938. This enraged the British and the English, who both feared for the loss of the Sudetenland's celebrated pea crops.



British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to meet Hitler at Bertesgarden to discuss the situation, on this date.



Hitler assured him of legume security in Europe, and Chamberlain returned to England with the famous proclamation of Peas in Our Time. World War II was therefore avoided and did not break out until some time later.


September 30, 1955 -
Teen idol James Dean was killed in a car accident that probably could have been avoided if he had had his car inspected and tuned up regularly, obeyed all posted highway signs, and driven only when alert and sober on this date.



(Remember kids, if you are going to drink til you drop - And don't drive. If Alec Guinness tells you something, listen to him. Also watch your own PSAs.)


September 30, 1962 -
Labor leader Cesar Chavez organized the National Farm Workers Association, on this date



His union would later merge with one created by Dolores Huerta, another prominent activist for farmers' rights, to create United Farm Workers.



And so it goes

Coffee first. Schemes later.

Today is National Coffee Day. If you love coffee (I don't), there are a bunch of places you can score free or very low cost cups of joe!

If you're passing by a McDonalds, Krispy Kreme, or Dunkin Donuts today and see what their special deal for the day is. Starbucks is once again not really participating this year - Screw them. (Sunday is International Coffee Day. The inclusion of alcohol in your coffee to celebrate is between you and your maker.)


For those of you not near your church bulletin, today is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. It's also known in England as Michaelmas Day. St. Michael is the patron saint of the sea and maritime lands, of ships and boatmen, of horses and horsemen. He was the Angel who hurled Lucifer down from Heaven for his offenses against God.

There’s a legend concerning Lucifer falling into a blackberry bush after being expelled from Heaven by St. Michael and spitting on the blackberries to make them bitter so that they cannot be picked after Michaelmas.

So kids, unless you want a mouthful of Satan's saliva, don't eat those blackberries tomorrow (unless you're into that.)


September 29, 1934 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Shake Your Powder Puff , directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



This is the first Warner Brothers short to conclude with the "That's All, Folks!" gag. The antagonistic dog shouts the soon-to-be-familiar line before getting a pumpkin in the face.


September 29, 1948 -
Laurence Olivier's powerful interpretation of Shakespeare's melancholy Dane, Hamlet premiered in New York City on this day.



This is the only movie version of Hamlet that entirely omits the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Laurence Olivier was severely criticized for leaving them out of the movie, as they provide many opportunities for Hamlet to behave in a sarcastically humorous way toward them, and many felt that Olivier probably would have played these moments brilliantly. However, Olivier did retain a few of Guildenstern's lines ("put your discourse into some frame", et cetera) and gave them to Polonius.


September 29, 1953 -
The family comedy Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas, premiered on ABC TV on this date.



Danny Thomas was forced against his will to have Jean Hagen as his television wife. He could not stand her attitude, or what he considered her slovenly appearance. During one rehearsal, he is said to have have shouted, "For God's sake, Jean, put on a little lipstick." She left after the third season, and at the beginning of the fourth season, to assure that she could not come back, he had her character die.


September 29, 1954 -
The movie musical A Star Is Born, (the fourth version of the film, fifth, if you count What Price Hollywood) starring Judy Garland and James Mason, had its world premiere at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood on this date.



George Cukor offered Marlon Brando the role of Norman Maine on the set of Julius Caesar. "Why would you come to me?" asked Brando. "I'm in the prime of my life... If you're looking around for some actor to play an alcoholic has-been, he's sitting right over there"- pointing at his costar James Mason, who got the part.


September 29, 1954 -
United Artist released the Joseph L, Mankiewicz film, The Barefoot Contessa, starring Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart on this date. (If you haven't seen this movie, seek it out!)



Joseph L. Mankiewicz wanted James Mason, whom he had just directed in Julius Caesar, for the part of the nobleman. MGM executive Nicholas Schenck, who had had a vehement disagreement with the director, would not release Mason for the film. According to Mankiewicz, he ended up with Rossano Brazzi, "who cannot act, cannot be sensual . . . could hardly speak English . . . " Ironically, Rosemary Matthews, who was hired to help Brazzi with his English, and Mankiewicz later married.


September 29, 1955 -
The only film Charles Laughton directed, The Night of the Hunter opened in New York City on this date.



At their initial meeting, Lillian Gish asked Charles Laughton why he wanted her for the part and he replied, "When I first went to the movies, they sat in their seats straight and leaned forward. Now they slump down, with their heads back, and eat candy and popcorn. I want them to sit up straight again."


September 29, 1956 -
The Looney Tunes short, Deduce, You Say , directed by Chuck Jones and starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



The sign inside of Henry the Eight's Fifth advertising "Selzer's Water" is a nod to producer Eddie Selzer.


September 29, 1959 -
One of the first series that featured the lives of American teenagers, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, starring Dwayne Hickman, Bob Denver and Tuesday Weld premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The pilot for this series was the first professional acting job for Bob Denver, who had been a grade school teacher and postal worker before joining the cast. Denver's sister was a casting agent's secretary, and had his name added to the audition candidates for the role of Maynard G. Krebs.


September 29, 1960 -
We were all welcomed into the Douglas household when My Three Sons, starring another of TV favorite alcoholic dads, Fred McMurray, premiered on ABC on this date.



The show was originally going to be named The Fred MacMurray Show, but Fred MacMurray didn't like the idea.


September 29, 1963 -
My Favorite Martian, starring Ray Walston and Bill Bixby premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Ray Walston admitted later that he regretted taking the role of Uncle Martin. He took it for the money, and felt that it prevented him from getting substantial roles for many years. He enjoyed working with Bill Bixby, and they became lifelong friends.


September 29, 1967 -
Gerry Anderson's supermarionation take on superheroes, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons premiered on this date in the UK.



The face and voice of Captain Scarlet were both based on Cary Grant. In fact, Captain Scarlet's voice artist, Francis Matthews was chosen to voice the character based on the fact he could do a Cary Grant impression. In fact series creator Gerry Anderson came close to moving heaven and earth to get Matthews who had been either uninterested or unavailable.


September 29, 1969 -
Paramount Television's anthology comedy series Love, American Style, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



This series had more direct and indirect spin-offs than any other American television series. The following series can trace their roots back to this show: Barefoot in the Park, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, Joanie Loves Chachi and possibly others.


September 29, 1985 -
The Sci-Fi anthology series created by Steven Spielberg, Amazing Stories, premieres on NBC-TV on this date.



Four directors who worked on the series, all of whom are best known as film directors, later won the Academy Award for Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, and Robert Zemeckis.


September 29, 1986 -
American got to met the people who worked at the Sugarbaker & Associates design company went the CBS-TV series Designing Women, starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Jean Smart, and Meshach Taylor, premiered on this date.



According to creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason during the 2006 Designing Women Reunion the character of Anthony played by Meshach Taylor was supposed to be a one off. But fans loved the character of Anthony so much that he was offered a full time role on the show. He joined the main cast officially for the second season in 1987.


September 29, 1987 -
We all were forced to endure the trials and tribulations of some very oblivious baby boomers, when thirtysomething, starring Ken Olin, Mel Harris, Melanie Mayron, Timothy Busfield, Patricia Wettig, Peter Horton, and Polly Draper, premiered on ABC TV on this date.



The word "thirtysomething" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a direct result of its popular usage from this series.


September 29, 1991 -
MTV debuts Nirvana's video for their single Smells Like Teen Spirit on this date, giving most Americans their first look at the band. A little over a month later, the song is #1 on the Hot 100.



The girls who played the cheerleaders in the video were originally supposed to be very fat and unattractive (Cobain's idea). The director, Samuel Bayer, did not like this idea, but still allowed the cheerleaders to have "sleeve" tattoos and the symbol for anarchy on their shirts. He says he recruited them from a local strip club, which helps explain their unorthodox cheers. For a while, MTV refused to air the video. When they finally did, it was on their alternative show 120 Minutes. When the song became a hit, the video went into hot rotation.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
September 29, 1399 -
... For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings...



Richard II was deposed on this date, which only served him right for having posed in the first place. He was succeeded by Henry IV Part I.


September 29, 1513 -
Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, on this date (although he may have discovered it four days earlier - I'm not sure what the Spanish Navy's stance was on the the whole rum ... question.)

How something that covers roughly a third of the earth's surface could have been lost for so long is a question that stumps historians to this day.


It's Miguel de Cervantes' birthday today. Born in 1547, Cervantes is best known as the author of Don Quixote, a cunning satire on mental illness. The work is an epic treatment of the perennial question: "Wouldn't the world be better off if we were all crazy?"

The answer from the novel is a qualified yes: the story supports the premise, but its length and lucidity suggest that the author himself was not crazy, which rather contradicts the premise.



Ever since the publication of Don Quixote, the idea of improving the world through mental illness has taken root in the popular culture of the West. From the Good Soldier Švejk and Prince Myshkin to Chauncey Gardiner, Elwood P. Dowd, and Forrest Gump, Western readers and filmgoers have a galaxy of benevolent lunatics to show them the way to a better, purer existence. Grand mal seizures, delirium tremens, and hallucinations are merely the price of admission to their wistful world of blissful ignorance.



The sane and hard-working do not come off nearly so well in film or literature. In fact, sane and hard-working people seldom even appear in film or literature. No one wants to read about them, or spend good money to watch them go about their plodding lives, because most of us are surrounded by sane and hard-working people already and know what they're like - they're just like us, only less so.



Early to bed and early to rise may make a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise, but it won't do a goddamn thing for his Nielsens. In fact, if you're healthy, wealthy, wise, and well-rested, you're only going to piss the rest of us off. Lighten up, slack off, drink up, and spend plenty of quality time with imaginary friends.



That's the real road to happiness - or at least to our acceptance, without which you have no right to be happy.


September 29, 1957 -
An explosion at the Chelyabinsk-40 complex, a Soviet nuclear fuel processing plant, irradiated the nearby city of Kyshtym with strontium-90, cesium-137 and plutonium on this date.



This accident releases twice the radioactivity of the Chernobyl incident.

Oops


September 29, 1976 -
At his birthday party, musician Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shoots his bass player Norman Owens twice in the chest, trying to open a soft drink bottle with a .357 magnum. Owens survived and files a lawsuit.

Now don't you wish you were at that party !!!


September 29, 1988 -
Stacy Allison was one of several female mountaineers who took part in a competition to see who could be the first to climb Mount Everest.



After harsh weather conditions forced the other participants to turn around midway through their climb, Allison surprised many (including herself) by reaching the peak of 29,000 feet, being the first American woman to do so on this date.


September 29, 1988 -
The Space Shuttle Discovery, (STS - 26) lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral to launch a communications satellite, on this date.



This is the first manned space mission since the space shuttle Challenger disaster two and a half years ago.


September 29, 1989 -
Zsa Zsa Gabor, a person famous for no apparent reason and with no visible means of support (It's too weird to think that Zsa Zsa and her sisters were the original Kardashians, without the sex tapes), was convicted of slapping a Beverly Hills police officer on this date.



Gabor later complains that she was denied a jury of her peers, saying "It was not my class of people, There was not a producer, a press agent, a director, an actor."



And so it goes