Think of all the mint jelly gone to waste

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - In 1783, a volcanic eruption killed 80% of the Earth’s sheep.



The Laki volcanic fissure in the South of Iceland erupted over an eight-month period back in 1783, releasing some straight-up nasty hydrogen fluoride into the atmosphere to shower down on the Earth’s inhabitants. Because of this, roughly 25% of the world’s human population died. However, that pales compared to the 80% of the world’s sheep population that died as a result.


Bologna is a deli meat for people with eyes.



It's National Bologna Day



Just don't ask how they make it.


October 24, 1962 -
A taut thriller with the underlying theme of an afternoon tea party gone horribly wrong - The Manchurian Candidate, premiered on this date.



Frank Sinatra broke the little finger of his right hand on the desk in the fight sequence with Henry Silva. Due to on-going filming commitments, he could not rest or bandage his hand properly, causing the injury to heal incorrectly. It caused him chronic discomfort for the rest of his life.


October 24, 1969 -
The original version of Brokeback Mountain, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, premiered on this date.



Paul Newman's charity for children with serious medical conditions is named Hole in the Wall Camp after Butch's gang.


October 24, 1970 -
One of the greatest character actresses, Nancy Walker, made her first appearance in one of her most famous roles, Ida Morgenstern, in the The Mary Tyler Moore Show episode Support Your Local Mother on this date.



This episode's guest star Nancy Walker and the preceding episode's guest star John Schuck each landed regular roles on the following year's popular NBC Mystery Movie series McMillan & Wife.


October 24, 1973 -
The series about bald, dapper, New York City policeman, Kojak, starring Telly Savalas, premiered on CBS-TV on this date. (Here's a gimme piece of trivial - Telly was Jennifer Aniston's godfather.)



Telly Savalas is seen throughout the series both sucking on his lollipop and smoking. The lollipop was used to cut back on smoking. His character Kojak even admitted once that he smoked too much and sucked on lollipops every day except on Sundays.


October 24, 2004 -
Reprise Records released the third studio album from My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade, on this date.



The concept of the album is "The Patient," who dies of cancer at an early age. According to lead singer Gerald Way, death comes in the form of your most powerful memory, and for "The Patient" that memory is a parade he went to with his father, which explains the album title. Throughout the album, you can kind of see into the mind of someone in a lot of pain. The previous My Chemical Romance album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, dealt with demons, and this seems to be a continuing trend, but in a more mature way.

Don't foregt to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History:
October 24, 1601 -
Tycho Brahe, nobleman, astronomer and alchemist, died from politeness on this date. He was fabulously wealthy and had a dwarf court jester sit under the table at dinner to amuse him. Tycho lost his nose in a duel and had a metal one made which he famously wore for the rest of his life. He also had a pet moose, who died from a drunken fall (I can't make this stuff up.)



Brahe went to a party at a friend's house and drank heavily, bound by the etiquette of the day, Tycho couldn't leave the table until his host did -not even to go to the bathroom. When he finally left the table he found he could not go; his bladder was blocked from waiting too long. He lingered for days in utter agony for days until he died on this date.



Traditionally it's believed he died from urine poisoning. Recent analysis of hair taken from his remains shows that he must have ingested a large dose of mercury about 20 hours before his death, possibly as a medicine for his illness or perhaps he was poisoned - some believe by his famous student Johannes Kepler, who worked for him at the time and was appointed his successor as imperial mathematician.


October 24, 1836 -
(Please follow along on your flow charts - this will be on the test) Mankind was not fully mankind until it learned how to set things on fire. That happened a long time ago and enabled such hallmarks of early civilization as cooked meat, heated homes, and flaming heretics. Only in the past few hundred years has mankind learned how to start fires quickly and easily.

In 1680, Irish scientist Robert Boyle discovered that rubbing phosphorus and sulphur together caused them to burst into flames. Such was his reward for a lifetime spent rubbing phosphorus against things to see what would happen.

In 1827, seizing upon the Irish invention with a zeal usually reserved for Irish real estate, an Englishman named John Walker invented "sulphuretted peroxide strikeables," which were like matches except they were three feet long and as likely to explode as ignite.

A variation on this firestarter was introduced in England in 1828, patented by Samuel Jones. It was called the Promethean, and consisted of a glass bulb of sulphuric acid. The bulb was coated with potassium chlorate, sugar, and gum, then wrapped in paper. To ignite the Promethean, one broke the glass bulb against one's teeth. Dentists loved it, but the public remained wary.



Germans began manufacturing small phosphorus matches in Germany in 1832. Like so many other German inventions, however, these tended to ignite with a series of explosions that spread fire about one's feet. They also exploded when stepped on. This dampened their popularity among the arson-averse public.

Finally, on this date, a patent was issued in the United States to Alonzo D. Phillips for the manufacture of friction matches and called them Locofocos.


October 24, 1901 -
Anna Edson Taylor, a 63-year-old widow, was the first woman to go safely over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The barrel was four and a half feet high and three feet across. Ms. Taylor went over Niagara Falls and dropped 175 feet.



She made the attempt for the cash award offered, which she put toward the loan on her Texas ranch and help her make a fortune touring the world. Although the stunt did indeed receive international attention, Taylor reaped a few financial rewards but died in poverty after twenty years as a Niagara street vendor.


October 24, 1929 -
The stock market began a catastrophic collapse and this day became know as Black Thursday nearly 13 million shares traded hands and stock prices plummeted.



This ultimately led to the Great Depression. Scientists around the world desperately sought a cure for the millions of Depressed peoples on every continent. Researchers from the National Socialist Society eventually demonstrated that the people of Germany, Italy and Spain were Depressed because their trains didn't run on time, and fascism was invented to address this shortcoming.



Having resolved their train schedules, however, fascists discovered that many people were still unhappy. This was found to have been the result of socialism (remember, National Socialist are not Socialists i.e. Communist), which was incompatible with fascism, and persons who failed to become happy were subsequently shot.



This caused the Spanish Civil War, which was so successful it inspired World War II, after which everyone felt much better.


October 24, 1931 -
The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic, linking New York City with New Jersey. The bridge became a famous New York landmark and has been featured in many movies and TV shows. The toll to cross the bridge was to be temporary -- just to cover costs.



But it costs and costs and costs when you have to keep repairing and painting a bridge that big -- so, the bridge toll continues. And the bridge is still being painted. But there are no traffic studies today


October 24, 1947 -
In a very UN-American fashion, Neo-Nazi and American Isolationist Walt Disney testified before the House Unamerican Activities Committee on this date.



Disney named employees he believes to be Communists, ranting about how Communists were infiltrating the unions he has to deal with, and how "Commie groups began smear campaigns against [him]."


October 24, 1960 -
At the Soviet Union's Baykonur space facility, an R-16 ballistic missile exploded on the launch pad, incinerating 165 people on this date.



Included among the dead was Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is covered up as having occurred in a plane crash.

Before you go - ACME Corp would like to present this paid political announcement



Remember vote first then drink!


And so it goes


89

And shades of grey

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - For their first few months of living, babies only see in black & white.



Because their retinal nerve cells aren’t fully established yet, they lack the capability to process a great deal of visual information. They also only see silhouettes and are unable to focus on items just after their birth.


I'm sure that you thought that all the excitement of the day was because of yesterday's presidential debate 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 (especially since so many of them have sprung up like mushrooms after a spring rain 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.



In addition to the American setting, this is the first Disney animated feature film to be set in the present time of its release: 1941. That won't happen again as it would be the only film to do that until One Hundred and One Dalmatians, 20 years later in 1961.


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 October 16, 1952 world premiere, 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.



Two years after this song was released, Dion (DiMucci) married a woman named Sue. In an interview, Dion revealed that his wife tells people this song is about her, even though she knows it isn't. Said Dion: "She goes around telling everybody, 'Yeah, I'm Runaround Sue.' I said, 'Why do you tell people that?' She says, 'They remember me.' She said, 'If I don't tell them that, they won't remember me.'"


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



Quentin Tarantino wanted James Woods to play a role in the film, and made him five different cash offers. Woods' agent refused the offers without ever mentioning it to Woods, as the sums offered were well below Woods' usual salary. When Tarantino and Woods later met for the first time, Woods learned of the offer and was annoyed enough to get a new agent. Tarantino avoided telling Woods which role he was offered, "because the actor who played the role was magnificent anyway." It has been speculated that the role to which Tarantino was referring was Mr. Orange.


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



For his role as Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek was fitted with special prosthetic teeth to recreate Freddie's prominent overbite. After filming wrapped, Rami kept the teeth as a memento from the shoot, eventually having them cast in gold.


It's 5 pm somewhere in the world


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. - 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 ISIS.



Anyway, this would make this old earth just 6016 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 nice Halloween treat, a mashup of the Beastie Boys and the Ghostbusters -



I truly believe that the Beastie Boys frequently crossed the streams


And so it goes


90

Strangers in the night

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - Two stealth nuclear submarines once bumped into each other by accident.



Late at night on February 3, 2009 in the Atlantic Ocean, two stealth-cloaked nuclear submarines (the Triomphant from France and HMS Vanguard from Britain) bumped into each other out of sheer coincidence. They were both cloaked so well from each other that neither submarine could detect the other, even when they were only a couple feet apart. Fortunately, no crew members were harmed in the accident but repairs were estimated to cost a minimum of 50 million dollars.

Today is International Caps Lock Day. It is the day that campaigns for the removal of the caps lock button from standard QWERTY keyboards (or for the moving of the button), due to people continually accidentally pressing the button when they mean to use other keys.

There’s also a tendency for people to ‘shout’ (either intentionally or accidentally) by using capital letters when typing, especially online. International Caps Lock Day was created in 2000 by Derek Arnold of Iowa.


October 22, 1942 -
The biggest box office hit of Bette Davis' career, Now, Voyager opened in NYC on this date.



Paul Henreid's act of lighting two cigarettes at once caught the public's imagination and he couldn't go anywhere without being accosted by women begging him to light cigarettes for them.


October 22, 1948 -
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger technicolor fever dream about the world of ballet, The Red Shoes, starring Moira Shearer and Anton Walbrook, opened in New York City on this date.



Much to his surprise, Michael Powell had great difficulty persuading Moira Shearer to be in the film. She held out for a year before giving in. Shearer herself, however, did not particularly care for Powell. In later years, she described the making of the film as being a terrible ordeal. She said that Powell was distant and aloof and never really gave her much direction; further, having to dance for hours on end on concrete floors physically took a toll on all the dancers, making their legs swell.


October 22, 1949 -
The second film in director John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, premiered on this date.



John Ford initially was uncertain who to cast in the lead role. However, he knew that he did not want John Wayne for the part, taking into account that, among other factors, Wayne would be playing a character over 20 years older than he was at the time. Ford realized Wayne had grown considerably as an actor, and was now capable of playing the character he envisaged for this film. When shooting was completed, Ford presented Wayne with a cake with the message, "You're an actor now."


October 22, 1965 -
The Beatles recorded the song Nowhere Man for their influential album Rubber Soul on this date.



This is probably the first Beatles song that has nothing to do with love.


October 22, 1965 -
The Rolling Stones released the single Get Off My Cloud on this date in the U.K.



There was a bit of controversy over this song, as it sounded like it could be about drugs. Some radio stations shied away from the song.


October 22, 1971 -
Peter Bogdanovich's break out film, The Last Picture Show opened on this date.



This film was one of the first to use already popular recordings by original artists to score a film. Featured here are songs by Frankie Laine, Hank Williams, Jo Stafford and others.


Another possible ACME sponsor


Today in History:
October 22, 1797 -
In 1785, J.P. Blanchard threw a dog wearing a rudimentary parachute out of a hot-air balloon. History does not divulge the outcome of this experiment. Mr. Blanchard may simply have been a disgruntled cat person.

There lived at that time a swindler by the name of Andre-Jacques Garnerin, who traveled around France offering (for a fee from his spectators) to ascend into the sky in a hot-air balloon and leap to the earth in a parachute. Strangely enough, his balloon never managed to get off the ground. Refunds were never offered.

One day an angry spectator brought Garnerin's con to the attention of the local authorities, who promptly arrested him. He was given a choice: he could either get his balloon to fly and make the promised jump or he could go directly to jail.

And so, one early evening 223 years ago today, Garnerin's balloon rose 3000 feet into the evening air above Paris.

Then it exploded.



Fortunately, Garnerin was already in his parachute and survived the landing. The suddenly successful showman didn't die his inevitable horrible aviation-related death for a full quarter-century later.


It was on this day in 1836 that Sam Houston was sworn in as the first president of the Republic of Texas. Texas had become an independent nation after winning its independence from Mexico, and would not be incorporated into the United States as a state until 1845.

There are some who insist to this day that Texas was never properly admitted into the Union because, like everything else, its admission had been Unconstitutional. (We will leave this conversation to Mr. Cruz.)


October 22, 1844 -
The 'Second Coming' failed to occur on this date, for the Seventh Day Adventists, led by Bible scientist William Miller. The Millerites were expecting the End Times to accompany the appearance of Jesus Christ, so that didn't happen either.



Oops, I guess Mr. Miller has some explaining to do.


The Gare Montparnasse, one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris, became famous for a derailment on October 22, 1895 of the Granville-Paris Express that overran the buffer stop. The engine careened across almost 100 ft off the station concourse, crashed through a two foot thick wall, shot across a terrace and sailed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes more than 30 feet below, where it stood on its nose.

All on board the train survived, five sustaining injuries: two passengers, the fireman and two crew members; however, one woman on the street below was killed by falling masonry. The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine drivers who were trying to make up for lost time. The conductor incurred a 25 franc penalty and the engine driver a 50 franc penalty; he was also sent to prison for two months.



Do you think the passengers got their money back?


October 22, 1907 -
President Theodore Roosevelt visited The Hermitage, in Nashville, Tennessee, home of the late President Andrew Jackson on this date.

Years later, Maxwell House claimed that Roosevelt had praised a cup of its coffee during this visit by saying it was "good to the last drop."


October 22, 1918 -
The cities of Baltimore and Washington ran out of coffins during the Spanish Influenza epidemic on this date.

This puts much of the days' troubles today in perspective


October 22, 1934 -
Here's another story of your tax dollars at work:

FBI agents, led by the ambitious Melvin Purvis and local Ohio authorities captured and killed Public enemy No. 1, Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, in a shoot out on this day. Or so the official story goes. But as many of you loyal readers know the 'authorized' version and actual facts of events can differ wildly.



Chester Smith, a retired East Liverpool Police Captain, the sharpshooter who claimed that he shot Floyd first, stated in a 1979 interview, that after he had (deliberately) wounded, but not killed, Floyd.

"I knew Purvis couldn't hit him, so I dropped him with two shots from my .32 Winchester rifle."

Smith claims that he then disarmed Floyd, and that Melvin Purvis, the agent in charge, ran up and ordered: "Back away from that man. I want to talk to him." Purvis questioned him briefly and then ordered him shot at point-blank range, telling agent Herman Hollis to "Fire into him." The interviewer asked if there was a coverup by the FBI, and Smith responded: "Sure was, because they didn't want it to get out that he'd been killed that way."

This account is extremely controversial. If true, Purvis effectively executed Floyd without benefit of judge or jury.



Floyd's body was quickly embalmed and shipped to Oklahoma. His funeral was attended by between twenty and forty thousand people. It remains the largest funeral in Oklahoma history.


October 22, 1962 -
President John F. Kennedy appeared on television, this date in history, to inform Americans of the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.



The President demanded their removal and announced a naval "quarantine" of Cuba. A little more than a year later, the nation was safe and the president was dead.


October 22, 2008 -
India launched the unmanned Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe on this date. It was India's first lunar exploration mission.



The mission ended early, after just 312 days, but largely succeeded in its objectives.



And so it goes


91

And yet he appeared in Sharknado 5: Global Swarming

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - Dolph Lundgren has an IQ of 160.

That’s right; the European Champion of Karate in 1981 also has a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney and the Royal Institute of Technology, alongside a Fulbright scholarship to MIT.


Halloween is in 10 days. I used to urge readers to begin purchasing those candies filled with poison. Unfortunately, trick or treating has been cancelled in many locales.

(If you find yourself in a pinch though, loose pieces of candy corn will do in a pinch.)


October 21, 1937 -
The great screwball comedy, The Awful Truth, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, premiered on this date.



Cary Grant was so convinced this film was not working, he begged to be released during production. The film turned out to be a big hit.


October 21, 1942 -
The first of three movie musicals in which Judy Garland and Gene Kelly starred in, For Me and My Gal, premiered in New York City on this date.



This was the first film in which Judy Garland had her name billed before the title, which showed her growing importance and stature at MGM.


October 21, 1954 -
The episode of Climax!, an anthology series - broadcast live, on this evening was the first time James Bond (Barry Nelson) appeared on-screen in Casino Royale, and more than half a century later Bond is still making movies.



The program was thought to be lost for decades until it resurfaced in 1981 when film collector and airlines executive Jim Shoenberger discovered a 16mm kinescope print of it among some old cans of film.


October 21, 1964 -
Possibly the most fully realized movie musical, My Fair Lady premiered at the Criterion Theater in New York, on this date.



When Audrey Hepburn (Eliza Doolittle) was first informed that her voice wasn't strong enough and that she would have to be dubbed, she walked out. She returned the next day and, in a typically graceful Hepburn gesture, apologized to everybody for her "wicked behavior".


October 21, 1977 -
Meat Loaf releases the landmark album Bat Out Of Hell, on this date.



The album, written by Jim Steinman and produced by Todd Rundgren, became one of the most popular albums of the '70s, eventually selling over 14 million copies in America.


Another failed ACME product


Today in History:
October 21, 1805 -
The Battle of Trafalgar was a historic sea battle fought on this date, between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy - the battle, it self, was the most decisive British victory of the Napoleonic Wars and was a pivotal naval battle of the 19th century.



Admiral Lord Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming and remaining Britain's greatest naval war hero.



Nelson's body was placed in cask of brandy, mixed with camphor and myrrh, and returned to England for a spectacular funeral. An enduring rumor has evolved that the sailors aboard ship kept taking a sip from Nelson's liquory tomb hence the phrase 'Nelson's blood' came into use for rum.


October 21, 1837 -
It's another banner day for the relations between the United States and the Native American tribes. During the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops under Gen. Thomas S. Jesup violated a truce and captured Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida and sent him and several other leaders to prison, where the chief later died of malaria.

Osceola's capture by deceit caused a national uproar. General Jesup and the administration were condemned.

Makes you proud to be an American.


October 21, 1869 -
The first shipment of fresh oysters came West overland from Baltimore via refrigerated train cars on this date.

Fresh cases of E-coli poisoning, Salmonella and Hepatitis A cases followed soon thereafter.


October 21, 1879 -
Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Alva Edison demonstrated the incandescent electric lamp on this date (or some other date, as previously mentioned.)



That invention was the fruit of study, hard work (of people other that Edison,) and years of persistent experimentation (of people other than Edison,) rendering it entirely inappropriate for discussion here.

More worthy of our attention is Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize, born on this date in 1833.

Mr Nobel is interesting because his fortune was founded in large part on the commercial success of something he invented in 1866: Dynamite.



Dynamite proved so lucrative for Mr Nobel that he was able to spend most of the rest of his life blowing things up in the interests of world peace. World peace was not achieved in his lifetime, however, so he endowed a foundation with millions of dollars to give prizes to the men and women of future generations who helped bring the world closer to peace by blowing things up.


In 1943, Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya, the maître d' of the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, prepared the first plate of crunchy, spicy nachos for Texas women who were on a shopping trip.



To honor his ingenious creation, we celebrate by eating his delicious gut busting cheesy dish on this date.


There were days I could barely struggle into a size 46 or 48, months of larges and XXLs, and endless rounds of leggings with the elastic at the waist stretched to its limit and beyond - topped with the fashion equivalent of a tea cozy. And always black, because I was in mourning for my slimmer self.

Carrie Fisher, actress and writer was born on this date. You can't say anything bad or funny about her that she hasn't already said better herself.


October 21, 1959 -
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City on this date.



The structure faced harsh criticism when it opened in 1959. One critic dismissed it as "a war between architecture and painting, in which both come out badly maimed." Another called it "an indigestible hot cross bun." NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses snapped that it looked like "an inverted oatmeal dish."


October 21, 1973 -
John Paul Getty III's ear was cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; It doesn't arrive until November 8.

So much for the Italians getting the trains to run on time.


October 21, 1992 -
A day after her Erotica album was released, Madonna's erotic-book Sex went on sale in the nation's bookstores on this date.



Shirley Booth, 94, Emmy, Oscar and Tony award winning actress accidentally flipped through the book and promptly dropped dead on this date as well.


October 21, 2015 -
Today is the day that Dr Emmett Brown takes Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer to the future to prevent their kids from "ruining their lives", back to the future



This used to be exciting but let's all calm down. (Wow, I'm so old.)



And so it goes


92

And the force be with you

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - There is a gargoyle with Darth Vader’s head on it on the Washington Cathedral.



It was placed there after a child’s “design a carving” competition was held in the 80s to decide what character should adorn the Cathedral.


October 20, 1918 -
Rarely seen now, but one of Charlie Chaplin's most popular films at it time, Shoulder Arms, was released on this date.



Chaplin's fellow director, Ernst Lubitsch, once said that this was the best film depiction of World War I.


October 20, 1939 -
The ninth Marx Brothers film, At the Circus, premiered on this date.



The Marx Brothers had been out of favor at MGM since the sudden death in 1936 of their producer and benefactor Irving Thalberg during the production of A Day at the Races. So in the middle of the production of this film, longtime Thalberg rival Louis B. Mayer removed songwriters Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg from this film and reassigned them to the "prestige" MGM production The Wizard of Oz.


October 20, 1955 -
Harry Belafonte, advocate for civil rights and humanitarian causes, recorded the famous Day-O (Banana Boat Song) on this date.





This song was first recorded in 1952 by Edric Conner, a musician from Trinidad who sang it with his band The Carribeans as Day De Light. The song re-emerged in 1956 when the folk singer Bob Gibson taught the song to the folk trio The Tarriers (Alan Arkin was a member of the trio,) after hearing it on a trip to Jamaica. Once The Terriers recorded it, the Calypso Craze took off in America, and Belafonte capitalized on the trend: According to BMI, the Calypso album was the first to sell over 1 million copies.



(Now try getting the song out of your head today.)


October 20, 1973 -
One of the rare ballad for The Rolling Stones, Angie became a #1 hit on this date.



There was speculation that Keith Richards' girlfriend Anita Pallenberg inspired this song, but Keith cleared it up in his 2010 autobiography Life, where he wrote: "While I was in the [Vevey drug] clinic (in March-April 1972), Anita was down the road having our daughter, Angela. Once I came out of the usual trauma, I had a guitar with me and I wrote 'Angie' in an afternoon, sitting in bed, because I could finally move my fingers and put them in the right place again, and I didn't feel like I had to s--t the bed or climb the walls or feel manic anymore. I just went, 'Angie, Angie.' It was not about any particular person; it was a name, like ohhh, Diana. I didn't know Angela was going to be called Angela when I wrote 'Angie.' In those days you didn't know what sex the thing was going to be until it popped out."

October 20, 1980 -
U2 released their debut album, Boy, produced by Steve Lillywhite, on this date.



It doesn't yield any hits but I Will Follow becomes one of their most popular songs.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
October 20, 480 BC -
(Sometimes the world changes in a day) The Athenian fleet, under the command of Themistocles, defeated the Persians in the Naval Battle of Salamis on this date.

Though the Persians armies scored a major victory over Athens only weeks prior, this decisive naval victory, coupled with the losses the Persians suffered in the Battle of Thermopylae forced Persian forces to withdraw from Greece.



That victory will arguably lead to the rise of Greece as a global power and the eventual dissemination of Greek philosophies and ideals, such as democracy, throughout the western world. And as always, there was much roasted lamb consumed and much sodomy engaged in that night.


October 20, 1720 –
Caribbean pirate Calico Jack Rackham, one of the first pirates to use the “Jolly Roger”, was captured by the Royal Navy, on this date.



While the majority of pirate crews used designs that had a depiction of full human skeletons using some weapon, Calico Jack promoted an iconic pirate flag design that today represents a synonym for a naval piracy - black flag with white human skull and two white crossed swords beneath it.


October 20, 1818 -

Canada and the United States in the "Convention of 1818", established the 49th Parallel as their mutual boundary (known as the International Border) for most of its length from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky mountains.



The International Boundary is commonly referred to as the world's longest undefended border, but this is true only in the military sense, as civilian law enforcement is present. But we're keeping an eye on those sneaky Canadians and their cheese curd fries.

There are some 150 people who live in the Northwest Angle, MN, a spot of land that is separated from the rest of the USA by Lake of the Woods.



Students who live in the Northwest Angle go to school in Warroad, MN, the Angle Inlet School (the only surviving one room school,) and have to cross the international border on their way to and from school each day. It must suck to get a full body cavity search every day before school.



Thank you to our family from the north for your kind words. Now keep to your side of the parallel!


October 20, 1930 -
Death row murderer William Kogut committed suicide in San Quentin prison with MacGyver like ingenuity. He tore the red spots from a deck of playing cards, at the time the red dye used on the pack of cards was made from nitrocellulose, saturated them with water, and jammed them into a length of steel pipe from his bed frame. Kogut placed the bomb on the heater and waited for science to take it's course.

I wonder if he went to a specialized High School.


October 20, 1944 -
Gen. Douglas MacArthur stepped ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after he'd said, "I shall return," on this date.



He landed with Sergio Osmena, the president-in-exile, Gen’l. Carlos Romulo, who later served as foreign minister and a boatload of press and photographers to record the event.


October 20, 1947 -
Chaired by J. Parnell Thomas (one of the committee's members was Richard M. Nixon), The House Un-American Activities Committee began its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood.



The resulting hysteria results in the creation of a blacklist in the film industry, preventing certain individuals from working in the business for years.


October 20, 1967 -
Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin reported that on this date they had captured a purported Sasquatch on film at Bluff Creek, California. This came to be known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, which is purported to be the best evidence of Bigfoot by many advocates.



If only that had named their film - Bigfoot: I want to grab you by your nether regions, perhaps it would have done better box office in it's opening weekend.



Many years later, Bob Heironimus, an acquaintance of Patterson's, claimed that he had worn an ape costume for the making of the film. Organizations such as Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization have suggested that that Heironimus himself is a fraud.


October 20, 1973 -
The Saturday Night Massacre: Richard Nixon fired Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus when they each refuse to fire special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox on this date.



Who was the man who finally fired Cox: Robert Bork - it's that evil beard.


October 20, 1977 -
En route to a gig at Louisiana State University, Lynyrd Skynyrd band members Ronnie Van Zandt and Steve Gaines were killed when their private plane runs out of fuel and crashes into a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. Their record company MCA withdraws the flame-filled cover art for their ironically-named Street Survivors album



Drunken frat boys everywhere cry out in their mournful lamentations, "Play 'Freebird' man".



And so it goes.


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And someone had to count all those poles

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - Amsterdam’s Royal Palace sits on 13,659 wooden poles.



Because of the thick layer of fen and clay present in Dutch soil, all the buildings in the Netherlands are built on wooden poles. These wooden poles are fixed into a sandy layer over 35 feet below ground-level.

If this week hadn't been liver damaging enough with all the news from Washington, driving you to drink, several sources, including the eponymously named Facebook page, lists today as International Gin and Tonic Day. Some cite April 9th as the date. I'm up for celebrating on both dates. (But don't confuse it with World Gin Day which always falls on the second Saturday of June.)



So celebrate the day with the British Royal Family by drinking your G and T and make the room begin to spin.


October 19, 1966 -
The first pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (who went on to work together in 11 additional films), The Fortune Cookie, premiered on this date.



This was director Billy Wilder's second film in a row in which one of his lead actors suffered a heart attack. In preceding film, 1964's Kiss Me, Stupid, Peter Sellers' health problem forced Wilder to replace him with Ray Walston. In Fortune Cookie, Walter Matthau suffered attack midway through production but shooting was postponed until he recovered; his drastic weight loss from scene to scene is noticeable.


October 19, 1973 -
Columbia Pictures released Sydney Pollack's romantic drama, The Way We Were, written by Arthur Laurents and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, on this date.



Despite their differences, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford had a deep respect for each other and worked well together. They were both opposite in many ways, just like their characters, and they used those differences to the benefit of the film.


October 19, 1977 -
Richard Brooks' somewhat lurid look at the 70s dating scene, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, starring Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, and Richard Gere, premiered in Los Angeles on this date



Actress Diane Keaton's contract explicitly prohibited the manufacture of any production photograph stills from any "sexually suggestive" frames from the film's print.


October 19, 1985 -
The Norwegian band a-Ha, who went from total unknowns to chart-topping pop stars when the song Take On Me, hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart on this day.



This song became a hit in the US because of its innovative video where a cartoon figure beckons the reader to join him in comic. It was created by Michael Patterson and his wife Candace Reckinger, who would later work on videos for Opposites Attract, Luka and Impulsive.


The Word of the Day


Today in History:
October 19, 202 BC - (it's quite silly to think that this is the exact date: Julius Caesar will not be working on his calendar for more than a century. The scribes and historians of the day would have been too involved with the celebratory orgies to note the proper date.)
Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending Second Punic War and the advancement of Rome as a major world force.



But what the hell do you care.


October 19, 1879 (I've also seen the date as 10/21/79, 10/22/79, 10/25/79 or 11/03/79 - I'm guessing geniuses can't be bothered when they're filing other people patents under their name every 12 minutes or crushing their competition with false and scurrilous rumors.) - Thomas A. Edison successfully demonstrates the electric light.



Unfortunately, it took several years to straighten out his first electric bill.


October 19, 1890 -
My favorite self-circumcising, Muslim passing, male brothel habitué, Late-Victorian pornographer and international man of mystery Richard Francis Burton, explorer, British consul, translator, died on this date.



His wife, Lady Burton, spent several years burning most of his unpublished notes (he had been working on translating the book The Perfumed Garden and its controversy chapters concerning homosexual sex positions - I kid you not,) before published a (highly sanitized) biography of her late husband.


October 19, 1901 -
Alberto Santos-Dumont successfully circled the Eiffel Tower in his Santos-Dumont No. 6 dirigible within a half hour and won a 100,000 franc prize.



An initial ruling said that he failed by 40 seconds because the race wasn’t finished until he touched ground. A 2nd vote granted him the win.

This proved the airship maneuverable and parking was very bad in Paris at the turn of the previous century even for dirigibles.


In the midst of the First World War, Salvation Army volunteers in France found themselves stymied by inadequate supplies and ovens for baking. Unable to prepare the cakes and and pies they so badly wanted to bake for the troops, they came up with the novel idea of frying rather than baking the dough.

Two Salvation Army volunteers (Ensign Stella Young and Adjutant Helen Purviance) came up with the idea of providing doughnuts. This resulted in the appearance of the world's first fried donut on a WWI front on October 19, 1917.



The donut should not be confused with the bagel, despite their physical resemblance. The bagel is boiled and baked, whereas the donut is fried (but sometimes baked.)



Bagels are found in varieties such as onion, garlic, salt, poppy-seed, and sesame-seed, and are frequently consumed with cheese and fish.

Donuts are found in varieties such as glazed, chocolate, chocolate-frosted, strawberry-frosted, powdered, jelly-filled, and sprinkled.

They are rarely consumed with cheese or fish, but they go pretty damn well with coffee (or tea.)


October 19, 1953 -
After Julius La Rosa had finished singing Manhattan on Arthur Godfrey Time, the host (and general scum bag) Arthur Godfrey fired him on the air, announcing, "that was Julie's swan song with us."



Unaware the firing was coming (or what the phrase "swan song" meant), La Rosa tearfully met with Godfrey after the broadcast and thanked him for giving him his "break."


October 19, 1982 -
Maverick carmaker John DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles with $24 million dollars worth of cocaine in his suitcase on this date.



The case was later thrown out of court when a judge rules that the FBI sting operation constituted entrapment.


October 19, 1987 -
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22% (508 points), in what has become know as Black Monday.



$500 billion in market capitalization was evaporated from the Dow Jones stock index, making the drop the largest percentage-wise decline ever.


Before you go - Just saw this wonderful Disney parody extolling us to - Wear a Mask! -



Remember, Masks work!


And so it goes


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Talk about being hangry

Other things to occupy your mind with other than COVID-19 - Sometimes woodpeckers will become so hungry that they will eat the brains of other birds.



Normal woodpeckers, and not just zombie woodpeckers, if they’ve gone too long without food, will pin down other birds and peck at the back of their heads until they crack through their skulls and then eat their brains.


October 18 is also Alaska Day, observed in the U.S. state of Alaska. Previously, they tried celebrating Alaska Day in Hawaii. The seething resentment of stealing their nation hadn't abated in Hawaii, so sponsors thought better of the plan. (Note to readers who find themselves in Alaska today - once again, avoid the Palin clan; rumors abound that Sarah has been once again hitting the bottle rather heavily as of late, I guess celebrating early. She's looking out her front porch for the signal from you know where, should things go really badly in Washington DC for you know who.)



It is the anniversary of the formal transfer of the Territory of Alaska from Russia to the United States which took place at a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867.


We missed celebrating Global Champagne Awareness Day (or International Champagne Day) - the third Friday in October. Most champagne-lovers will already know that, in order for the sparkling nectar to be classified as "champagne", the wine must come from the Champagne province in France. You may not know that to be termed "champagne" it must also be made by the traditional process of secondary fermentation in the bottle.





Bunkies, please be forewarned: The pressure in a bottle of champagne is 90 pounds per square inch, about three times that in your automobile tire.


October 18, 1961 -
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' film version of Broadway musical, West Side Story, premiered in New York City on this date.



Russ Tamblyn (Riff) said that initially he was very unhappy with his dancing in the film, until Fred Astaire came over to him at the premiere and told him that he admired his dancing in it very much.


October 18, 1967 -
The 19th animated feature and the first film Disney Studios released after Walt Disney's death, Jungle Book, premiered on this date.



The original child actor who voiced Mowgli, David Alan Bailey, had to be let go as his voice broke during the film's three-year production.


October 18, 1974 -
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, based loosely on Ed Gein's story opened in theatres on this date. At the time of release, the film was so strongly criticized for its content that it was eventually banned in various countries around the world, including Australia and the United Kingdom.



Surprisingly, this film is one of the least bloody horror films of all time. This is because Tobe Hooper intended to make the movie for a "PG" rating, by keeping violence moderate, language mild, and having most of the horror implied off-screen rather than shown in great detail onscreen. However, this plan had actually backfired, and made the film even more horrifying. Because despite cutting and repeated submissions, the Ratings Board insisted on an "X" rating, and it wasn't until the film received the "R" rating when Hooper gave up and released it. Hooper had a similar ratings problem with the sequel.


October 18, 1988 -
Poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, sex, menstruation, birth control, teenage pregnancy, masturbation, obesity, abortion, race, social class, domestic violence, and homosexuality - some of the topics dealt with on the series, Roseanne (which premiered on this date.)



Sara Gilbert's contribution to the show was considered so important to Roseanne that the show's producers juggled storylines and taping schedules to allow her to study at Yale University while remaining part of the cast, shooting remote segments of Darlene at a soundstage in New York City.


A Message from the League of Women Voters


Today in History:
October 18, 1216 -
King John was not a happy sovereign. Not the favorite child; his brother Richard the Lionheart was. John was king of England on and off while his brother enjoyed fighting the Crusades in the Middle East and engaging in royal sodomy with the King of France. Finally John became king outright when some kid shot his brother in the neck with an arrow (but that's another story.)



Once John became king, he argued with everyone: the Pope, the King of France (with whom his brother may or may not have been having romantical liaisons) and most of the Barons of England. King John died on this day after eating too many peaches and drinking too much cider. He was trying to cheer himself up after being chased by revolting Barons half way across England and losing the crown jewels while fleeing from them.


October 18, 1767 -
The border between Maryland and Pennsylvania was settled on this date. Dubbed the Mason-Dixon line, it became the unofficial boundary between North and South.



Naughty confederates, naughty.


October 18, 1898 -
The United States took control of Puerto Rico one year after Spain had granted self-rule to the Caribbean nation. Since 1917, people born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens.



So class, once again, that makes all Puerto Ricans - U.S. citizens!


October 18, 1903 -
Hundreds of people in San Francisco were startled to see Dr. August Greth fly his 80-foot-long American Eagle airship over the city on this date.

At first his flight seemed successful but then the dirigible's engine stalled and the wind carried it over the bay where it plummeted into the water. He and his assistant, overcome by escaping gas, were safely recovered by soldiers from Fort Point.

Bad Hydrogen, bad.


October 18, 1931 -
Thomas Alva Edison, one of the most prolific inventors (and evil businessmen) in history, forgot to file a patent on avoiding death so he died in West Orange, N.J., at the age of 84, on this date.



Bad Grim Reaper, bad. (or good, depending on your viewpoint of Mr. Edison.)


October 18, 1945 -
The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for America's plutonium bomb, courtesy of secret agent Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, on this date.



Shame on you Mr Fuchs, shame.


October 18, 1959 -
The Soviet Union announced an unmanned space vehicle had taken the first pictures of the far side of the moon a few days earlier.



Remember kids, there is no dark side of the moon - it's all dark.


October 18, 1963 -
Félicette the cat was sent into space in a capsule on top of a French Véronique AG1 rocket. Félicette traveled 120 miles into space for 1 hour and 20 minutes and then returned to Earth by parachute and was recovered safely.



She was a black and white female found on the streets of Paris and was selected from 14 cats the French trained for the mission. Félicette was the only cat to have been sent into space and survived (she unfortunately was euthanized a few months later so scientists could study the impact of space travel on her brain, but that's another story...).


October 18, 1968 -
The police with the help of two sniffer dogs named Yogi and Boo-Boo, on this date, raided the apartment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and finds a very small amount of pot. The couple is fined £150.

Bad Beatle, bad Beatle.


October 18, 1974 -
On this date, the jury in the Watergate cover-up trial heard a tape recording in which U.S. President Richard Nixon told aide John Dean to try to stop the Watergate burglary investigation before it implicated White House personnel.

Bad Dick, bad.


October 18, 1984 -
President Ronald Reagan ordered an investigation of a CIA handbook for Nicaraguan rebels that suggested assassination as a political tactic.

Bad - oh forget it, he's dead.



And so it goes


95