Volkswagen's currywurst is currently in its 47th year of production. VW estimates that it produces about 18,000 sausages a day. The automaker makes its pork sausages at it's autoplant in Wolfsburg Germany, and it's wildly popular -- VW made 6.8 million currywursts in 2017, which is higher than the number of cars it manufactured in the same timeframe.
Today is Diwali, the Festival of Lights, one of the biggest and brightest of all the Hindu celebrations. An ancient festival celebrating the triumph of light over dark and good over evil; the day is also significant in other religions including Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.
Diwali is derived from the Sanskrit word, “deepawali”, meaning “row of lights”. The day is also the beginning of the Hindu New Year.
Today is also World Diabetes Day. The day was initially created by the International Diabetes Federation in 1991. Its development was in response to the high rise of diabetic cases across the globe. The theme for diabetes awareness month and World Diabetes Day 2020 is Nurses make the difference.
The purpose is to promote advocacy for diabetics as well as information for the general public on how to curb the disease from rising any further. The United Nations in 2007 made this an official day of their own adding to the day’s prestige and worldwide awareness.
November 14, 1941 -
Alfred Hitchcock stylist thriller Suspicion, starring Cary Grant, and Joan Fontaine, premiered in the U.S. on this date.
In interviews, Alfred Hitchcock said that an RKO executive ordered that all scenes in which Cary Grant appeared menacing be excised from the movie. When the cutting was completed, the movie ran only fifty-five minutes. The scenes were later restored, Hitchcock said, because he shot each piece of film so that there was only one way to edit them together properly.
November 14, 1964 -
The cult classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (the non-MST3K version), starring featuring the cult classic Pia Zadora, premiered on this date.
This film includes the first documented appearance of Mrs. Claus.
November 14, 1966 -
François Truffaut's foray into Science Fiction, Fahrenheit 451, opened in the US on this date.
According to producer Lewis M. Allen, François Truffaut and Oskar Werner hated each other by the end of filming. For the last two weeks, they didn't speak to one another.
November 14, 1975 -
Queen released its fourth album A Night at the Opera on this date (There actually were other songs on the album besides Bohemian Rhapsody you know.)
As it appears on the album, the song Death on Two Legs had "Dedicated to..." written after it. We found out it was dedicated to their ex-manager when he tried to sue for defamation of character. By doing so he rather admitted there was cause for them to dedicate the song to him.
November 14, 1980 -
One of the greatest films Martin Scorsese ever made, Raging Bull premiered in NYC on this date (I was actually at the premiere.)
When the real Jake LaMotta saw the movie, he said it made him realize for the first time what a terrible person he had been. He asked the real Vicki LaMotta "Was I really like that?". Vicki replied "You were worse."
November 14, 1988 -
The comedy series Murphy Brown, starring Candice Bergen premiered on CBS TV on this date.
The recurring character of Stuart Best (Wallace Shawn) was a reference to former The Beatles members Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best.
November 14, 1998 -
Pixar Animation Studios released the John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton funny animated film, A Bug's Life, featuring the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, on this date.
This is the first Pixar film to have outtakes. The outtakes were shown theatrically and on the VHS, but are only available in the bonus features on the DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the film.
November 14, 2014 -
Alejandro G. Iñárritu surprise hit black comedy, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), starring Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts, went into general release in the U.S., on this date.
There are only sixteen visible cuts in the entire film. Because the movie was carefully rehearsed and shot in sequence, editing only took two weeks.
November 14, 2015 –
Singer Adele's song Hello, from her third studio album, 25, hit No. #1 on the Billboard charts on this date.
And just in time for Thanksgiving
The music video was filmed in the countryside near Montreal and directed by Canadian actor and director Xavier Dolan. The clip features Adele picking over the pieces of a failed relationship. Tristan "Mack" Wilds (AKA Michael Lee from The Wire and Dixon Wilson from 90210) plays her ex in flashbacks.
Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today
Today in History:
November 14, 1851 -
Harper and Brothers published Herman Melville's most famous novel, on this date.
Called Moby Dick, the tale is teeming with seamen, spermaceti, and rigid harpoons. Scholars continue to debate its symbolism. The British publisher accidentally left out the ending of the book, the epilogue. This confused a lot of British readers, because without the epilogue there was no explanation of how Ishmael, the narrator, lived to tell the tale. It seemed like he died in the end with everyone else on the ship. The reviews from Britain were harsh, and costly to Melville.
Oops.
In America, Moby-Dick sold for $1.50 but contained the epilog (the great savings were seen by leaving off the ue). At the time, Americans deferred to British critical opinion, and a lot of American newspaper editors reprinted reviews from Britain without actually reading the American version with the proper ending. One reviewer said the book wasn't worth more than 25 cents. It took only two weeks for the publisher to see that Moby-Dick would sell even fewer copies than Melville's previous books. In his lifetime, Melville's royalties added up to a total of about $10,000.
These days, college students buy 20,000 copies of Moby-Dick every year.
Melville said, "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."
November 14, 1889 -
Nellie Bly, the pen name of journalist Elizabeth Cochran, sailed from New York to begin her record-breaking 24,899-mile trip around the world - a journey that would end on January 25, 1890.
The around-the-world trip originated in an attempt to beat the Jules Verne's fictional hero Phineas Fogg's 80-day journey. Millions of people followed the adventures of the plucky reporter through stories posted back to the World at every stop. Tremendous celebrations greeted Nellie when she arrived in New York. Her trip lasted 72 days, six hours and 11 minutes - a record that would stand until the Graf Zeppelin circled the globe in 20 days, four hours and 14 minutes in 1929.
November 14, 1908 -
Albert Einstein presented his quantum theory of light for the first time
McCarthy's communist witch-hunts of the mid-twentieth century live in infamy despite the fact that they failed to uncover a single communist witch.
Einstein's quantum theory remains popular because people like the word quantum. In fact, Einstein's seldom-cited Law of Quantum Usage states that there is an inversely proportionate relationship between one's understanding of quantum theory and one's likelihood of discussing it.
November 14, 1910 -
An airplane, piloted by Eugene Burton Ely, took off from the warship, USS Birmingham, off the coast of Hampton Roads, Virginia, on this date. The plane was the first airplane takes off from a ship.
The airplane plunged downward as soon as it cleared the 83-foot platform runway; and the aircraft wheels dipped into the water before rising. Ely's goggles were covered with spray, and the aviator promptly landed on a beach rather than landing at the Norfolk Navy Yard as planned.
November 14, 1940 -
The German raids, codenamed Moonlight Sonata, destroyed much of the historical, English city.
Bad Nazis.
November 14, 1948 -
Charles Philip Arthur George (Mountbatten-Windsor), Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Member of the Order of Merit, Knight of the Order of Australia, Companion of the Queen's Service Order, Royal Chief Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty and heir to the throne of England, was born on this date.
November 14, 1969 -
Apollo 12, the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program (and the second to land on the Moon,) was launched on this date.
Lightning struck the space vehicle twice, at 36.5 seconds and 52 seconds into the mission; however it suffers no discernible damage. The first strike is even visible to spectators at the launch site.
Before you go - a few more of the UK holiday commercials have been released. One of them is from Disney -
Again I can't imagine Disney coming out with a 3:00 commercial that they didn't charge you for watching it.
Very's Department Store (think Target) has an interesting take on Christmas.
It actually is a less treacly, more realistic look at the way actual people celebrate the holidays.
And so it goes
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