Do you have 17 minutes?

Rolling Stones put together a history of Pink Floyd on the occasion of the re-release of of their entire catalog.

Perhaps you might want to wait until you get home later when you can watch the video while celebrating National Vodka Day today.

While not a vodka man myself - I'm not one to pass up the chilled neutral spirit.



Whatever language you order it in, make sure it's damn cold. (yes, they may quote me on that, I'd be willing to endorse the stuff.)


October 4, 1957 -
Leave It To Beaver premiered on CBS-TV on this date. Once again, another show from the 50's where the lead actor (Hugh Beaumont not Jerry Mathers) was a raging alcoholic.



In addition to his role as Ward Cleaver, Hugh Beaumont also did some writing and directing for the series.


Today in History:
October 4, 1822 -
Rutherford Hayes was born on this date , in Delaware, Ohio.



That's not especially interesting in itself. Presidents, after all, must be born somewhere - and President Hayes was not the only one to have chosen Ohio. But consider: Jimmy Carter was born on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, and Chester Arthur was born on October 5, 1830, in Fairfield, Vermont. That's three presidential birthdays in a four-day period, a glut of presidential timber not to be found anywhere else on the calendar. Hayes came into office by one electoral vote, accomplished nothing, and did not run for a second term.



Arthur came into office as James Garfield's vice-president and was promoted eight months later, upon Garfield's assassination. He accomplished nothing, and wasn't even nominated for a second term (although he does look a lot like Captain Kangaroo.)



Through no fault of his own, Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976 (and must therefore bear his share of responsibility for my own difficult misspent youth). He sought but was denied a second term.

Significance? Zero.


October 4, 1957 -
Sputnik One (meaning "companion" or "fellow traveller"), the first man-made satellite, was launched on this date, beginning the "space race."



The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds and was launched by a converted Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Sputnik orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584 miles.



In 1958, it reentered the earth's atmosphere and burned up


October 4, 1969 -
A despondent Diane Linkletter jumps out the kitchen window of her tenth-story apartment in West Hollywood, California.



Even before an autopsy can be performed, television personality Art Linkletter blames his daughter's death on a bad LSD trip. Even though the toxicology report disputes Art's assertion, the LSD story persists.


October 4, 1970 -
On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone.



Janis Joplin accidentally overdoses on an unusually-pure dose of heroin at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Los Angeles on this date.


October 4, 1976 -
Earl Butz, President Ford's Secretary of Agriculture, was forced to resign after newspapers print a comment he made regarding race relations

(and I will paraphrase for those with weak constitutions) : "I'll tell you what the coloreds want. It's three things: first, a tight female reproductive organ; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to go to the bathroom."


October 4, 1986 -
Network news anchorman Dan Rather is mugged in New York City. The attacker, one William Tager, shouts the question "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" during the beating.



While the "frequency" refers to the wavelength of the transmissions that CBS was beaming into Tager's head, history is still unclear on exactly who "Kenneth" is or why R.E.M. would record a song about it. It is rumored that the attack occurred because of Rather's uncanny resemblance to underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger.


October 4, 1989 -
Secretariat, 1973 triple crown winner and one of the greatest athletes of all time, is euthanized in Paris, Kentucky. He was 19.



Not surprisingly, horse appeared on the menu of several Parisian Bistros that night.

October 4, 1989 -
Dr. Graham Chapman (though he never actually practiced medicine professionally) died from complications related to spinal and throat cancer on this date.



Dying one day short of Monty Python's 20th anniversary, Graham Chapman stubbornly refuses to attend all subsequent reunions.



And so it goes.