LOLOL I saw this and was like, "Who's that? Some rapper or entertainer?" Then I realized, ahhhhhh, it's JEAN's baby. hahahahaha

Yeah, I'm a little hopped up on cold medicine............

Yep, MY baby. Who's not a baby anymore. We spent a thrilling morning going to IHOP and then a used bookstore. We'll celebrate on Sunday when people don't have other things like work or school scheduled.

Mistfox - whose baby didn't find much at the USB, but found something

Today is September 27th. That means California observes Cabrillo Day.


2006: A gunman took six girls hostage at a high school in Bailey, Colo. He molested them and killed one girl before committing suicide.

2005: Army reservist Lynndie England was sentenced to three years behind bars for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

1996: The Taliban, a band of former seminary students, drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader Najibullah.

1988: Lab tests reportedly showed the Shroud of Turin was not Christ’s burial cloth.

1979: Congress approved the establishment of the Department of Education, the 13th US cabinet agency.

1964: The Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.

1954: "Tonight!" (“The Tonight Show”) hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.

1938: Cunard introduced its largest passenger liner, the Queen Mary, at Clydebank. Queen Elizabeth, consort of George VI, launched it.

1937: The first Santa Claus Training School opened in Albion, NY.

1920: Eight Chicago White Sox players were charged with fixing the 1919 World Series.

1905: Albert Einstein published the paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" on Annalen der Physik. This paper revealed the relationship between energy and mass.

1892: Diamond Match Company patented book matches.

1825: The first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.

1791: Jews in France were granted French citizenship.

1590: Pope Urban VII died 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.

1540: The Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic missionary organization, received its charter from Pope Paul III. Ignatius de Loyola, a Spanish soldier turned priest, founded it in 1534.

Births:
1601: Louis XIII (King of France)

1722: Samuel Adams (American revolutionary leader/statesman/brewer)

1947: Meat Loaf [Marvin Aday] (American musician/singer/actor) [The Rocky Horror Picture Show]

1958: Shaun Cassidy (American singer/actor) [The Hardy Boys]

Deaths:
1917: Edgar Degas [Edgar Hilaire Germain de Gas] (French painter/sculptor)

1993: James Doolittle (American aviator/army officer ) Led the first air raid on Japan during World War II.

2003: Donald O'Connor (American actor/dancer/singer) [Singing in the Rain]


Word of the day: reave \reev\ [reaved or reft (rěft), reaving, reaves - Archaic]
Etymology: From Middle English reven, to plunder, from Old English rēafian;
(transitive verb)
1. To seize and carry off forcibly.
2. To deprive (one) of something; bereave.
(intransitive verb)
3. To rob, plunder, or pillage.


Mistfox - who didn't reave the USB

Today is September 28th. That means Guinea observes Referendum Day, Mexico observes the Feast of San Miguel, Taiwan observes Confucius's Birthday/Teachers' Day, and Brunei observes Constitution Day.


2005: The U.S. Treasury unveiled the new $10 bill, which features splashes of red, yellow and orange.

2000: Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel's hard-line opposition, sparked new Israeli-Palestinian clashes by touring the Temple Mount.

2000: After a 12-year battle, the U.S. government approved use of the abortion pill RU-486.

1968: "Hey Jude" by the Beatles peaked at #1.

1961: "Doctor Kildare," debuted on NBC-TV.

1924: Two United States Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.

1904: A woman was arrested for smoking a cigarette in a car on 5th Avenue, NYC.

1867: Toronto became the capital of Ontario province.

1850: The U.S. Navy abolished flogging as punishment.

1850: President Millard Fillmore named Mormon leader Brigham Young the first governor of the territory of Utah.

1820: The tomato was publicly proven safe when Robert Johnson ate a bushel (24 kg) of tomatoes in Salem, Massachusetts.

1745: God Save the King, the British national anthem, was sung for the first time at the Drury Lane Theatre in London.

1542: Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived in present-day San Diego.

1106: King Henry of England defeated his brother Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai and reunited England and Normandy.

1066: William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, invaded England and claimed the English throne.

Births:
551 BCE: Confucius (Chinese philosopher/teacher/political theorist)

1820: Fredrich Engels (German socialist/author) [The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital]

Deaths:
1895: Louis Pasteur (French microbiologist/chemist)

1964: Harpo Marx (American comedian) [The Marx Brothers]

1970: Gamal Abdel Nasser (Prime minister/president of Egypt)

2003: Althea Gibson (American tennis champion) She was the first African-American player to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open singles championships.


Word of the day: rotund \roh-TUHND\
Etymology: From Latin rotundus, "round" from rota, "a wheel."
(adjective)
1. Round; circular; spherical.
2. Rounded in figure; plump; chubby.
3. Full and rich in sound; sonorous.


Mistfox - who, thankfully, isn't feeling too rotund lately

Today is September 30th. That means Botswana observes Independence Day, Nigeria observes Michaelmas Day/St. Michael's Day, and Sao Tome and Principe observes Nationalization Day


2005: Controversial drawings of Muhammad were printed in the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten.

2004: Vioxx, the popular arthritis drug, was voluntarily withdrawn from the market by its maker amid concerns of increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

1991: Azerbaijan declared independence.

1982: Cyanide-laced Tylenol killed six people in the Chicago, Illinois area. Seven were killed in all.

1982: "Cheers" debuted on television.

1962: Black student James Meredith succeeded on his fourth try in registering for classes at the University of Mississippi.

1960: "The Flintstones" premiered on TV.

1960: The last episode of "The Howdy Doody Show" aired on NBC.

1950: Radio's "Grand Ole Opry" was broadcasted on TV for the first time.

1949: The Berlin Airlift ended. It had involved 278,288 relief missions to the city over 14 months

1946: An international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes.

1943: The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps became the Women's Army Corps, a regular contingent of the U.S. Army.

1938: British, French, German and Italian leaders agreed at a meeting in Munich that Nazi Germany would be allowed to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

1935: Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" premiered in Boston.

1934: Babe Ruth played his last game for the New York Yankees.

1901: Scottish inventor Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner.

1882: The world's first hydroelectric power plant began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

1881: The first stereo system (for a telephonic broadcasting service) was patented in Germany by Clement Adler.

1846: Dentist William Morton of Boston became the first to use ether as an anesthetic on a patient.

1841: Samuel Slocum patented the stapler.

1791: Mozart's opera "Magic Flute" premiered in Vienna.

1788: The Pennsylvania Legislature elected the first two members of the U.S. Senate: William Maclay of Harrisburg and Robert Morris of Philadelphia.

1630: John Billington, one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact, became the first criminal executed in the American colonies when he was hanged for murder at Plymouth.

1452: The Gutenberg Bible was published in Germany.

1399: Henry IV was proclaimed King of England.

Births:
1861: William Wrigley, Jr. (American chewing gum tycoon)

1882: Hans Geiger (German physicist) Invented the Geiger counter.

1924: Truman Capote [Truman Streckfus Persons] (American writer) [In Cold Blood, “Breakfast at Tiffany's”]

1928: Elie [Eliezer] Wiesel (Romanian-born Holocaust survivor/author/lecturer) [Night, The Oath]

Deaths:
1955: James Dean (American film actor) [East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, Giant]



Word of the day: precipice \PRES-uh-pis\
Etymology: From Latin praecipitium, "a precipice," from praeceps, praecipit-, "with head before, headlong, steep," from prae, "before" + caput, "the head."
(noun)
1. A very steep, perpendicular, or overhanging place; a cliff.
2. The brink of a hazardous situation.


Mistfox - who's sorry she didn't post yesterday. (I worked my first 8-hour day since my surgery and was absolutely wiped out when I got home. Didn't even get on the computer yesterday at all.)

No worries dear Misty!

Hope you get some rest before the next long workday!

Today is October 1st. That means China, Nigeria, Cyprus, Palau, and Tuvalu observe National Day/Independence Day.


2006: Age discrimination in employment was made illegal in the United Kingdom.

2006: The Israeli army completed its withdrawal from Lebanon, clearing the way for a U.N. peacekeeping force.

1998: ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) assumed responsibility for selling top-level domain names.

1994: National Hockey League team owners began a 103-day lockout of their players.

1988: the Supreme Soviet elected Mikhail Gorbachev president of the USSR.

1984: Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip resumed after a 2-year hiatus.

1982: Epcot Center opened at Walt Disney World.

1971: Walt Disney World, the world's largest amusement resort, opened in Florida.

1962: Johnny Carson succeeded Jack Paar as regular host of NBC's "Tonight Show"

1961: Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927.

1960: Nigeria and Cyprus gained independence from the United Kingdom.

1958: NASA was inaugurated with the transfer of the Vanguard Project from the military to NASA.

1957: "In God We Trust" first appeared on paper currency.

1946: Twelve Nazi war criminals were sentenced to be hanged at Nuremberg trials: Karl Donitz, Hermann Goring, Alfred Jodl, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachin von Ribbentrop, Fritz Saukel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Julius Streicher, and Alfred Rosenberg.

1940: The first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, 160 miles long, was opened.

1936: General Francisco Franco was named leader of Spain's fascist party, Falange, making him head of the Nationalist government.

1918: Lawrence of Arabia captured Damascus from the Turks with combined Arab and British forces.

1908: Henry Ford introduced the Model T car, which cost $825

1907: New York's Plaza Hotel opened to the public.

1903: The Boston Americans (eventually the Boston Red Sox) played the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series.

1890: Yosemite National Park was dedicated in California.

1888: National Geographic magazine was published for the first time.

1880: John Philip Sousa became the leader of the United States Marine Corps Band.

1869: Austria issued the world's first postcards.

1854: The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocated to Waltham, Massachusetts to become the Waltham Watch Company, pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing.

1811: The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi arrived in New Orleans.

1800: Spain ceded Louisiana to France in a secret Treaty of San Ildefonso.

1795: Belgium became part of the French Republic.

1746: Bonnie Prince Charlie fled to France.

0959: Edgar the Peaceable became king of all England.

331 BCE: Alexander the Great defeated Darius III at Arbela.

Births:
1903: Vladimir Horowitz (Russian-born pianist)

1924: Jimmy Carter (President of the U.S.A.)

1924: William Rehnquist (Chief Justice of the U.S.A.)

1933: Richard Harris (Irish actor) [Camelot, A Man Called Horse, This Sporting Life, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone]

1935: Julie Andrews [Julia Elizabeth Wells] (English actress/singer/children's author) [Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Victor/Victoria]

1950: Randy Quaid (American actor/comedian) [The Last Picture Show, The Last Detail, Independence Day]

1963: Mark McGwire (American baseball player)

Deaths:
1985: E. B. White [Elwyn Brooks White] (American essayist/author/humorist/poet/literary stylist) [The Elements of Style, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little]


Word of the day: bouleversement \bool-vair-suh-MAWN\
Etymology: From French, from Old French bouleverser, "to overturn," from boule, "ball" (from Latin bulla) + verser, "to overturn" (from Latin versare, from vertere, "to turn").
(noun)
1. Complete overthrow; a reversal; a turning upside down.


Mistfox - who wonders if we need a bouleversement in the government in Washington

Today is October 2nd. That means Guinea observes Independence Day.


2006: Charles Carl Roberts murdered five schoolgirls in a shooting at an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania before Roberts committed suicide.

2002: A man was shot and killed in a grocery store parking lot in Wheaton, Maryland, becoming the first victim in a series of sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C. area, that left 10 dead.

1967: Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the first black to serve on the high court.

1959: Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone" premiered on CBS-TV.

1958: Guinea became the independent Republic of Guinea, rejecting the new French constitution.

1950: The Comic strip "Peanuts," (originally titled "Li'l Folks) by Charles M. Schultz, was first published in nine newspapers.

1944: Nazi troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which 250,000 people were killed.

1916: The San Diego Zoo was founded.

1870: Rome became the capital of the newly unified Italy. The previous capital was Florence.

1836: Charles Darwin returned from his five-year survey of South American waters aboard the HMS Beagle.

1835: The first battle of the Texas Revolution took place as American settlers defeated a Mexican cavalry near the Guadalupe River.

1535: Jacques Cartier discovered Montreal, Quebec.

1492: King Henry VII of England invaded France.

1187: Saladin, the Muslim sultan, captured Jerusalem after its 88-year occupation by the Franks.

Births:
1452: Richard III (King of England)

1869: Mohandas Karamchand [Mahatma] Gandhi (Indian political/spiritual leader)

1890: "Groucho" [Julius Henry] Marx (American comedian) [You Bet Your Life, Duck Soup]

1951: Sting [Gordon Sumner] (British singer/actor) [The Police]

Deaths:
322 BCE: Aristotle (Greek philosopher/scientist/physician)

1803: Samuel Adams (American Revolution leader/politician/brewer)

1985: Rock Hudson [Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.] (American actor) [Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, McMillan and Wife]


Word of the day: supervene \soo-pur-VEEN\
Etymology: From Latin supervenire, from super-, "over, above" + venire, "to come."
(intransitive verb)
1. To take place or occur as something additional, extraneous, or unexpected (sometimes followed by 'on' or 'upon').
2. To follow immediately after; to ensue.


Mistfox - who stayed up too late reading last night and is a zombie this morning because of it

Today is October 3rd. That means Germany observes Tag der Deutschen Einheit (Day of German Unity), Korea observes National Foundation Day/Tangun Day, The Netherlands observes Leiden Day/Relief of Leiden Day, and Honduras observes Francisco Morazan Holiday.


2004: The Montreal Expos played their last major league baseball game before the franchise was moved to Washington, D.C.

2003: A tiger mauled Roy Horn, of the famed illusionist duo Siegfried and Roy, during a performance in Las Vegas.

2002: Five people were killed in random shootings in the Washington, D.C. area within a 14-hour period. Authorities began to search for the "Beltway Sniper."

1995: O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman, in Los Angeles.

1990: Less than a year after East Germany opened its borders to the West and took down the Berlin Wall, East Germany and West Germany became a united and sovereign state.

1981: The Hunger Strike by Irish Republican Army prisoners at the Maze jail in Belfast ended after seven months and 10 deaths.

1974: Frank Robinson was named Major League Baseball's first black manager, for the Cleveland Indians.

1962: Astronaut Wally Schirra blasted off from Cape Canaveral aboard the Sigma Seven on a nine-hour flight.

1961: "Mr. Ed" premiered.

1955: "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS and "The Mickey Mouse Club" premiered on ABC.

1940: The U.S. Army decided to use airborne/parachute soldiers.

1932: With the admission of Iraq into the League of Nations, Britain terminated their mandate over the nation, and Iraq became independent .

1931: The comic strip "Dick Tracy" first appeared in the "New York News."

1929: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1922: Rebecca L. Felton, a Democrat, became the first female senator in U.S. history when she was appointed to the Senate by Governor Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia to serve out the remaining term of Thomas E. Watson.

1863: President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving.

1789: George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day to be held on November 26.

1712: Duke of Montrose issued a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor.

1678: The Taj Mahal was completed after 22 years' work.

1283: Dafydd ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd in Wales, became the first person executed by drawing and quartering

42 BC: At the First Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fought an indecisive battle with Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius. Although Brutus defeated Octavian, Antony defeated Cassius.

2333 BCE: The legendary date of the establishment of the Kingdom of Chosun (Korea)

Births:
1916: James Herriott [James Alfred Wight] (Scottish author/veterinarian) [All Creatures Great and Small]

1925: [Eugene Luther] Gore Vidal (American writer) [Decline and Fall of the American Empire, The Invention of Heterosexuality, Dreaming War: blood for oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta]

1941: Chubby Checker [Ernest Evans] (American singer) ["The Twist"] His pseudonym was given to him by the wife of Dick Clark as a play on the name of Fats Domino.

1969: Gwen Stefani (American singer) [No Doubt]

Deaths:
42 BCE: Gaius Cassius Longinus (Praetor Peregrinus/prime mover in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar)

1226: St. Francis of Assisi (Italian saint/founder of the Franciscan order)

1283: David ap Gruffydd (Prince of Gwynedd in Wales)

1967: [Woodrow Wilson] "Woody" Guthrie (American singer/composer) ["This Land is Your Land"]

2003: William Steig (American cartoonist/children's author;) [Shrek, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Doctor DeSoto]


Word of the day: motley \MOT-lee\
Etymology: From Anglo-French motteley, probably from Old English mot "speck". "Diversified in color," especially of a fool's dress. Hence, allusively, "a fool"
(adjective)
1. Exhibiting great diversity of elements; heterogeneous: a motley crowd.
2. Being of different colors combined; parti-colored: a motley flower border.
3. Wearing a parti-colored garment: a motley fool.
(noun)
4. A combination of different colors.
5. A parti-colored effect.
6. The parti-colored garment of a jester.
7. A heterogeneous assemblage.
8. A medley.


Mistfox - who might wear motley for Halloween

Today is October 4th. That means Lesotho observes National Day.


2004: Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne rocket plane reached 100 kilometers in altitude twice within a two-week period to capture the $10-million Ansari X Prize.

2004: John Walker Lindh, the dubbed "American Taliban," received a 20-year sentence before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia.

2001: Authorities confirmed that an editor at the tabloid "The Sun" in Boca Raton, Florida, had contracted the inhaled form of anthrax; he died the following day.

1997: Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C., in one of the largest religious gatherings in U.S. history.

1993: Rebel parliamentarians led by Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to president Boris Yeltsin after a 10-hour tank siege of the Russian White House parliament building.

1976: In Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court lifted the ban on the death sentence in murder cases, restoring capital punishment, which had not been practiced since 1967.

1965: Pope Paul VI arrived at Kennedy International Airport in New York City on the first visit by a pope to the United States. He visited to address the United Nations.

1958: The first transatlantic passenger jet service was begun by British Overseas Airways Corporation (now British Airways) with flights between London and New York.

1957: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first manmade satellite, officially beginning the Space Age.

1933: Esquire magazine was first published.

1910: Portugal became a republic. King Manuel II fled to Britain.

1905: Orville Wright became the first to fly an aircraft for over 33 minutes.

1895: The first U.S. Open golf tournament was held, at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.

1883: The Orient Express had its inaugural run.

1853: Turkey declared war on Russia.

1777: George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania. British General Sir William Howe repelled George Washington's last attempt to retake Philadelphia, compelling George Washington to spend the winter at Valley Forge.

1675: Christian Huygens patented the pocket watch.

1535: The first complete English language Bible was printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.

Births:
1822: Rutherford B. Hayes (President of the U.S.A.)

1861: Frederic Remington (American painter/illustrator/sculptor)

1862: Edward Stratemeyer (American author/writing syndicate owner) Created the characters the Hardy Boys, Rover Boys, Nancy Drew, and the Bobbsey Twins.

1924: Charlton Heston [John Charles Carter] (American actor) [Planet of the Apes, Tombstone, Soylent Green, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments]

1941: Anne Rice [Howard Allen O’Brien, Anne Rampling, A.N. Roquelaure] (American author) [Interview with the Vampire, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Exit to Eden, Christ the Lord]

Deaths:
1669: Rembrandt [Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn] (Dutch painter)

1947: Max Planck (German physicist)

1970: Janis Joplin (American rock singer)

1989: Graham Chapman (English comedian/actor/writer) [Monty Python and the Holy Grail]

1989: Secretariat (Triple Crown-winning race horse)


Word of the day: redoubtable \rih-DOW-tuh-buhl\
Etymology: Derives from Old French redouter, "to dread," from Medieval Latin redubitare, "to fear," literally "to doubt back at," from Latin re- + dubitare, "to doubt."
(adjective)
1. Arousing fear or alarm; formidable.
2. Illustrious; eminent; worthy of respect or honor.


Mistfox - who is definitely not redoubtable

Today is October 5th. That means Portugal observes Republic Day. Today is the most populous birthday of the year in the U.S. statistically.


2005: Defying the White House, the Senate voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody.

2003: Akhmad Kadyrov was elected President of Chechnya

1990: A jury in Cincinnati acquitted an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.

1989: A jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, convicted former PTL evangelist Jim Bakker of using his television show to defraud followers.

1974: American David Kunst completed the first round-the-world journey on foot, taking four years and 21 of shoes to accomplish the 14,450-mile journey across four continents.

1974: "I Honestly Love You" first reached #1 on the Billboard charts, giving Olivia Newton-John her first top-selling single in the United States.

1970: PBS became a television network

1970: Anwar Sadat succeeded Gamal Nasser as president of Egypt.

1969: Monty Python's Flying Circus began airing on BBC.

1962: The Beatles released their first hit, "Love Me Do," in Britain.

1953: Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1947: U.S. President Harry Truman delivered the first televised White House address.

1915: Germany issued an apology and promises for payment for the 128 American passengers killed in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania.

1910: Portugal overthrew the monarchy.

1908: Bulgaria declared its independence from Turkey.

1880: Alonzo T. Cross patented the first ballpoint pen with its own ink supply and retractable tip.

1877: Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to U.S. General Nelson A. Miles in the Bear Paw Mountains, Montana, after a 1,700-mile trek to reach Canada fell 40 miles short.

1813: During the War of 1812, British troops allied with Indians under Tecumseh, were defeated at the Battle of the Thames near Ontario, Canada, by General William H. Harrison's American forces. Tecumseh was killed in the battle.

Births:
1830: Chester Arthur (President of the U.S.A.)

1882: Robert Goddard (American rocket scientist)

1902: Ray Kroc (American entrepreneur/McDonald's founder)

1975: Kate Winslet (English actress) [Titanic]

Deaths:
1941: Louis D. Brandeis (American Supreme Court justice)

2004: Rodney Dangerfield [Jacob Cohen] (American comedian/actor) [Caddyshack]



Word of the day: prolix \proh-LIKS, PROH-liks\
Etymology: From Middle English, from Old French prolixe, from Latin prōlixus, poured forth, extended.
(adjective)
1. Extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long and wordy.
2. (Of a person) Given to speaking or writing at great or tedious length.


Mistfox - who stayed up too late reading again

Today is October 6th. That means Egypt observes Armed Forces Day, Ireland observes Ivy Day, the United States observes German-American Day, and the United Nations observes Children's Day.


2004: The top U.S. arms inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, reported finding no evidence Saddam Hussein's regime had produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991.

1994: Michael Jordan announced his retirement from professional basketball to play professional baseball.

1973: War erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War.

1967: Haight-Ashbury hippies threw a funeral to mark the end of hippies.

1966: LSD was declared illegal in the United States.

1965: Patricia Harris took a post as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, becoming the first African-American U.S. ambassador.

1961: U.S. president John F. Kennedy, advised Americans to build or buy a bomb shelter to protect them from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.

1928: Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek became president of China.

1927: The first successful talking picture was shown: "The Jazz Singer," starring Al Jolson (Warner Brothers), in New York City.

1908: Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1893: Nabisco Foods invented Cream of Wheat.

1889: The Moulin Rouge in Paris first opened its doors to the public.

1883: The Orient Express completed its first run from Paris to Constantinople (now Istanbul); it took nearly 78 hours.

1876: The American Library Association was founded at Philadelphia.

1857: The American Chess Association was organized. The first major U.S. chess tournament was held in New York City.

1847: Charlotte Bronte's novel "Jane Eyre" was published in London.

1769: English naval explorer Captain James Cook, aboard the Endeavour, landed in New Zealand.

1683: Thirteen families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in present-day Philadelphia to begin Germantown.

1600: Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premiered in Florence.

Births:
1846: George Westinghouse (American inventor) Developer of AC electricity and the founder of the Westinghouse Electric Company.

1930: Hafez al-Assad (President of Syria)

1948: Gerry Adams (Irish politician/President of Sinn Fein)

Deaths:
1892: Alfred Tennyson (English poet/1st Baron Tennyson)

1981: [Mohamed] Anwar el-Sadat (Egyptian president) Assassinated by Islamic extremists as he reviewed troops on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

1989: Bette Davis [Ruth Elizabeth Davis] (American actress) [Of Human Bondage, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, All About Eve]



Word of the day: exiguous \ig-ZIG-yoo-us\
Etymology: From Latin exiguus, "strictly weighed; too strictly weighed," hence "scanty, meager," from exigere, "to determine; to decide; to weigh."
(adjective)
1. Extremely scanty; meager.


Mistfox - whose chocolate supply has gotten exiguous

Today is October 7th. That means East Germany observes Republic Day.


2006: Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who had chronicled Russian military abuses against civilians in Chechnya, was found shot to death in Moscow.

2004: King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicated because of ill health.

2003: Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian immigrant actor/body builder, was elected governor of California. The election was a recall of Gov. Gray Davis just 11 months into his second term due to the state's perilous financial condition.

1999: American Home Products Corp. resolved one of the biggest product liability cases in history by agreeing to pay up to $4.83 billion to settle claims that the fen-phen diet drug caused heart problems.

1985: Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship "Achille Lauro" in the Mediterranean Sea with more than 400 people aboard. After demanding the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the terrorists killed Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly disabled American tourist, throwing him and his wheelchair overboard.

1982: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical "Cats," opened on Broadway. It closed after a record 7,485 performances.

1981: Egypt's parliament named vice president Hosni Mubarak to succeed the assassinated Anwar Sadat.

1968: The Motion Picture Association of America adopted its film-rating system.

1957: "American Bandstand" with Dick Clark premiered on national television.

1954: Marian Anderson became the first African-American opera singer in New York's Metropolitan Opera.

1952: The first "Bandstand" was broadcast in Philadelphia on WFIL-TV (Dick Clark joined in 1955 as a substitute-host).

1950: The U.S.-led United Nations forces crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea, in response to North Korea's invasion of South Korea.

1949: The Democratic Republic of Germany, or East Germany, was formed. Approximately half the size of West Germany, East Germany consisted of the German states of Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Lusatia, Saxony, and Thuringia.

1919: The Dutch airline KLM, the oldest existing airline, was established.

1915: Georgia Tech's football team defeated Cumberland College with a record score of 222-0.

1913: The Ford Motor Company started operation of the first assembly line. It could turn out a car in three hours.

1908: Crete revolted against Turkey and aligned with Greece.

1896: Dow Jones began reporting an average of the prices of 12 industrial stocks in the Wall Street Journal.

1886: Spain abolished slavery in Cuba.

1868: Cornell University opened in Ithaca, New York.

1826: The first gravity-powered railroad went into operation - the Granite Railway from Quincy to Milton, Massachusetts.

1806: The first carbon paper was patented by its English inventor, Ralph Wedgwood.

1765: Twenty-eight delegates from nine American colonies met at the Stamp Act Congress in New York City to protest Parliaments' British Stamp Act, which imposed a direct tax on the colonies to raise revenue for a standing army in America.

1763: George III of Great Britain issued Proclamation of 1763, closing lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlement.

1571: The Battle of Lepanto was fought between Christian allied naval forces and the Ottoman Turks attempting to capture Cyprus from the Venetians. It was the last great clash of galley ships.

Births:
1853: James Whitcomb Riley (American poet) ["Little Orphant Annie"]

1885: Niels Bohr (Danish physicist)

1931: Desmond Tutu (South African political activist/archbishop)

1951: John Cougar Mellencamp (American singer/songwriter) ["Jack and Diane"]

1955: Yo Yo Ma (French-Chinese-American cellist)

Deaths:
1849: Edgar Allan Poe (American poet/short story writer/editor/critic) ["The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Raven"]


Word of the day: facetious \fuh-SEE-shuhs\
Etymology: From French facetieux, from Latin facetia, "wit," from facetus, "witty."
(adjective)
1. Given to jesting; playfully jocular.
2. Amusing; intended to be humorous; not serious.


Mistfox - who is often facetious

Today is October 8th. That means Peru observes the Day of the Navy and the United States observes Columbus Day.


2005: A major earthquake flattened villages on the Pakistan-India border, killing an estimated 86,000 people.

2004: Martha Stewart reported to the Alderson Federal Prison in West Virginia to begin serving her sentence for lying about a stock sale.

2001: U.S. President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security, which was headed by Tom Ridge.

1982: Poland banned Solidarity and all labor unions.

1971: John Lennon released his megahit "Imagine".

1970: Soviet Union author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

1956: Don Larsen pitched the first (and only, to date) perfect game in the World Series as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0.

1945: President Harry Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.

1938: Norman Rockwell published his famous self-portrait in the "Saturday Evening Post."

1919: The first transcontinental air race in the U.S. began. 63 planes competed in the round-trip aerial derby between California and New York. Lieutenant Belvin W. Maynard, flying a Havilland-4 with a Liberty motor, won the 5,400-mile race across the continent and back.

1918: During World War I, in the Argonne Forest in France, United States Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132.

1912: The First Balkan War (against Turkey) began -- from which World War I arose.

1906: Karl Ludwig Nessler of London demonstrated the first machine to put permanent waves in hair. It was a six-hour process.

1895: Queen Min of Joseon, the last empress of Korea, was assassinated.

1871:Three major fires broke out on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and Holland, Michigan.
* The Great Chicago Fire is the most famous of these, burning 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) in one day, eventually destroying about 17,450 buildings, and killing about 250 people while leaving another 90,000 homeless.
* The Peshtigo Fire (Wisconsin) burned 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) across six counties in one day and kills 1,200 to 2,500 people, making it the deadliest in United States history.
* The Holland Fire (Michigan) destroyed at least two towns.

1862: Union and Confederate forces fought at Perryville, Kentucky in a one-day battle that stopped the South's attempt to bring that border state into the Confederacy.

1818: Two English boxers are the first to use padded gloves.

1633: The Massachusetts Bay Colony formed its first government.

1600: San Marino adopted its written constitution.

1085: St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice was consecrated.

Births:
1890: Eddie Rickenbacker (American fighter pilot/aviation pioneer/airlines executive)

1895: Juan Perón (President of Argentina)

1920: Frank Herbert (American science fiction writer) [Dune]

1941: Rev. Jesse Jackson (American civil rights leader)

1943: Chevy Chase [Cornelius Crane Chase] (American comedian/actor) [Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon's Vacation, Caddyshack]

1943: R. L. [Robert Lawrence] Stine (American author) [Goosebumps, Fear Street]

1948: Johnny Ramone [John Cummings] (American punk guitarist) [The Ramones]

1965: C.J. Ramone [Christopher Joseph Ward] (American musician) [The Ramones]

Deaths:
1869: Franklin Pierce (President of the U.S.A.)

1992: Willy Brandt (West German statesman/chancellor)


Word of the day: maladroit \mal-uh-DROYT\
Etymology: From French, from mal-, "badly" + adroit, from à droit, "properly," from à, "to" (from Latin ad) + droit, "right," from Latin directus, "straight, direct," past participle of dirigere, "to lead or guide."
(adjective)
1. Lacking adroitness; clumsy; awkward; unskillful; inept.


Mistfox - who has been known to be maladroit

Today is October 9th. That means that Iceland, Norway, Wisconsin, and Minnesota observe Leif Erikson Day; Uganda observes Independence Day; Korea observes Hangul Nal/Alphabet Day; and the United Nations observes World Post Day,


2006: North Korea announced that it had conducted its first nuclear weapons test, drawing condemnation from around the world.

2004: Democratic elections were held for the first time in Afghanistan.

1986: "The Phantom of the Opera" premiered in London.

1970: Cambodia declared itself the Khmer Republic.

1967: A day after being caught, Che Guevara was executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.

1965: The Beatles' "Yesterday," single went to #1 and stayed #1 for 4 weeks.

1963: Uganda became a republic.

1949: Harvard Law School began admitting women.

1946: The first electric blanket was manufactured. It sold for $39.50.

1936: Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) began to transmit electricity from the Colorado River 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.

1930: Laura Ingalls became the first woman to fly across the United States as she completed a nine-stop journey from Roosevelt Field in New York to Glendale, Calif.

1888: The public was first admitted to the Washington Monument, designed by Robert Mills.

1874: The World Postal Union formed in Bern, Switzerland.

1804: Hobart, Tasmania was founded.

1781: In the last major battle of the Revolutionary War, American and French armies under General George Washington started bombarding Lord Cornwallis's British forces at Yorktown, Virginia.

1776: Father Francisco Palou founded Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.

1701: The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later Yale University) was chartered in New Haven, Connecticut.

1635: Religious dissident Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He went on to found Rhode Island, found the first Baptist church in America, and edit the first dictionary of Native American languages.

1470: English king Henry VI was restored to the throne after being deposed in 1461. However, six months later he was again deposed and then murdered in the Tower of London.

1446: The Hangul alphabet was created in Korea.

1238: James I of Aragon conquered Valencia and founded the Kingdom of Valencia.

1000: Leif Erikson supposedly landed on North American mainland near Newfoundland (Vinland).

Births:
1835: Camille Saint-Saëns (French composer) [Le Carnaval des Animaux (The Carnival of the Animals)]

1873: Charles Rudolph Walgreen (American pharmacist) Known as the "Father of the Modern Drugstore."

1940: John Lennon (British singer-songwriter) [The Beatles]

1954: Scott Bakula (American television actor) [Quantum Leap, Murphy Brown, Enterprise]

1975: Sean Lennon (American musician) Son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Deaths:
1967: Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Argentinian-born guerilla leader/revolutionary)

1974: Oskar Schindler (German businessman)


Word of the day: vim \vim\
Etymology: Said to be from Latin vim, accusative of vis "strength, force, power, energy." But the modern word may be purely imitative.
(noun)
1. A healthy capacity for vigorous activity; "he seemed full of vim and vigor".
2. An imaginative lively style (especially style of writing).


Mistfox - who needs to go vote in the local election today

Today is October 10th. That means that Fiji observes Independence Day, Oklahoma observes Oklahoma Historical Day, Taiwan observes Double Tenth Day/National Day, United Nations observes World Mental Health Day, Japan observes Health-Sports Day, and Kenya observes Moi Day.


2006: Google Inc. announced it was snapping up YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in a stock deal.

2003: Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh announced during his syndicated radio show that he was addicted to painkillers and was checking into a rehab center.

2002: The House of Representatives voted 296-133 to give President George W. Bush the authority to use military force against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, with or without United Nations support. The next day, the Senate joined the House in approving 77-23 the use of America's military against Iraq.

1973: Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, accused of accepting bribes, pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion, and resigned. He was the first U.S. Vice President to resign in disgrace.

1971: Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, the London Bridge reopened in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

1971: Fenholt and Webber's musical "Jesus Christ Superstar," premiered in NYC.

1970: After nearly a century of British rule, Fiji became independent.

1970: The Quebec Liberation Front, a militant separatist group, kidnapped Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte during the October Crisis. He was found dead a week later.

1966: Simon and Garfunkel released the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

1961: The entire population of the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha was evacuated to the United Kingdom after a volcano erupted.

1957: "Zorro" premiered on television.

1943: Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China.

1935: George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway.

1933: The first synthetic detergent, "Dreft" by Procter and Gamble, went on sale.

1913: The U.S.-built Panama Canal was completed with the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, concluding one of the largest construction projects in history.

1911: Revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen overthrew China's Manchu dynasty.

1886: The dinner jacket made its U.S. debut at a ball in Tuxedo Park, New York. It was named tuxedo, after its venue. Griswold Lorillard designed it.

1865: John Hyatt patented the celluloid billiard ball.

1850: The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was completed and opened for business along its entire 184.5 mile length from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland.

1845: The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Maryland.

1733: France declared war on Austria over the question of Polish succession.

0732: Charles Martel, the mayor of the palace of the last Merovingian Kings of France, halted the Moslem expansion into Western Europe by defeating Saracen troops at the Battle of Tours.

0680: At the Battle of Karbala, forces under Caliph Yazid I decapitated Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. This is commemorated by Shi'a Muslims as Aashurah.

Births:
1813: Guiseppe Verdi (Italian composer) [Rigoletto, La traviata, Aida]

1917: Thelonious Monk (American jazz pianist/composer)

1924: James Clavell [Charles Edmund DuMaresq de Clavelle] (American novelist/screenwriter) [Shogun; The Great Escape; To Sir, with Love]

1969: Brett Favre (American football player)

1974: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (NASCAR driver)

Deaths:
0019: Germanicus (Roman emperor) Father of Caligula and brother of Claudius.

0680: Husayn bin Ali (Grandson of Muhammad)

1985: Orson Welles (American actor/director/writer/producer) [Citizen Kane , The Magnificent Ambersons, A Man for All Seasons]

1985: Yul Brynner (Taidje Khan), Russian-born American actor) [The King and I, The Ten Commandments, Anastasia, Westworld]

2004: Christopher Reeve (American actor) [Somewhere in Time, Superman, The Bostonians] Became a quadriplegic after a May 1995 horse riding accident.


Word of the day: slough(1) \slou for 1, 2, 4; sloo for 3\
Etymology: From Middle English "muddy place"; Old English slōh; from Middle Low German slōch, Middle High German sluoche "ditch".
(noun)
1. An area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or swamp like region.
2. A hole full of mire, as in a road.
3. Also, slew, slue. Northern U.S. and Canadian. A marshy or reedy pool, pond, inlet, backwater, or the like.
4. A condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness.


Mistfox - who will try to remember to have the second form of "slough" up tomorrow

Hey Jean, you missed a few "births" today.

Born on this date:
Nora Roberts
Roarke!--Although, I guess technically, he hasn't been born yet.....

Today is October 11th. That means that Indiana observes General Pulaski Memorial Day.


2006: A plane carrying New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and flight instructor Tyler Stanger crashed into a high-rise apartment building in New York City, killing both men.

2001: The USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, passed the U.S. Senate.

2001: Polaroid Corporation filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

1987: The March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights attracted between 500,000 and 600,000 people to protest the Bowers v. Hardwick decision and the U.S. government's handling of the AIDS epidemic. It was the first public display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

1984: On the space shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space.

1975: "Saturday Night Live" made its TV debut, with comedian George Carlin as host.

1968: Apollo Seven, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

1950: The Federal Communications Commission authorized the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to begin commercial color television broadcasts.

1939: Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, arguing the scientific feasibility of atomic weapons and urging the rapid development of a U.S. atomic program.

1929: JC Penney opened Store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.

1899: The South African Boer War began between the British Empire and Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, who were settlers from the Netherlands.

1890: The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, D.C.

1887: A patent was granted to Dorr Eugene Felt for the first adding machine.

1862: The Confederate Congress in Richmond passed a draft law allowing anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service.

1809: Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis died under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.

1727: George II of England was crowned.

1521: Pope Leo X conferred the title of "Defender of the Faith" on England's Henry VIII for his support of Catholic principles. Henry VIII denounced Martin Luther's teachings.

Births:
1884: Eleanor Roosevelt (First Lady/U.S. delegate to the United Nations)

1906: Charles Revson (American entrepreneur/founder of Revlon cosmetics)

Deaths:
1779: Casimir Pulaski (Polish fighter for American independence)

1809: Meriwether Lewis (American explorer)


Word of the day: slough (2) \sluhf\
Etymology: From a Middle English noun meaning "the skin thus cast off", probably related to Old Saxon sluk "skin of a snake," Midlle High German sluch "snakeskin," Middle Low German slu "husk, peel, skin".
(noun)
1. The outer layer of the skin of a snake, which is cast off periodically.
2. Pathology. A mass or layer of dead tissue separated from the surrounding or underlying tissue.
3. Anything that is shed or cast off.
4. Cards. A discard.
(verb - used without object)
5. To be or become shed or cast off, as the slough of a snake.
6. To cast off a slough.
7. Pathology. To separate from the sound flesh, as a slough.
8. Cards. To discard a card or cards.
(verb - used with object)
9. To dispose or get rid of; cast (often fol. by off): to slough off a bad habit.
10. To shed as or like a slough.
11. Cards. To discard (cards).
(verb phrase)
12. Slough over - to treat as slight or trivial: to slough over a friend's mistake.


Mistfox - Well, Suz, I figured our Nora didn't want me to post the year she was born. (Though I guess I could have put "19??) And, as you say, Roarke hasn't been born yet (though I think I posted his birthday last year). I'll have to remember for next year.

Today is October 12th. That means that Bahamas observes Discovery Day, Equatorial Guinea observes Independence Day, Mexico observes Dia de la Raza/Day of the Race, and Spain observes a National Holiday.


2006: An enormous lake effect snow storm dropped 4 feet of snow on Western New York shutting power out for 1 1/2 weeks, destroying more than 5 million trees and causing more than 1 million dollars worth of damage.

2000: A suicide bomb attack on the U.S. destroyer USS Cole in Yemen killed 17 sailors.

1999: The world population reached six billion, according to the United Nations.

1999: Pakistan's military overthrew the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

1997: Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and Eyad Ismoil were convicted in the United States of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York.

1971: "Jesus Christ Superstar," the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, opened on Broadway.

1964: The Russian Voskhod 1 was the first spacecraft to carry a multi-person crew; it orbited the Earth on a two-day mission.

1960: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe during a dispute

1942: U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle announced that Italian nationals in the U.S. would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

1938: Filming started on The Wizard of Oz.

1928: Graf Zeppelin, the first commercial dirigible to cross the Atlantic Ocean, embarked on its maiden voyage. It made more than 500 transatlantic flights before being retired in favor of the ill-fated Hindenburg.

1901: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt renamed the Executive Mansion "The White House."

1822: Brazil gained independence from Portugal.

1810: The Bavarian royalty invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities, held for Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's (later King Ludwig I of Bavaria) wedding to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The decision to repeat the festivities in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the annual Oktoberfest.

1793: The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina.

1792: Columbus Day was first celebrated.

1681: A London woman was publicly flogged for the crime of "involving herself in politics."

1609: The song "Three Blind Mice" was published in London. It is believed to be the earliest printed secular song.

1492: Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas, believing he had found Asia.

Births:
1537: Edward VI (King of England)

1935: Luciano Pavarotti (Italian operatic tenor)

1968: Hugh Jackman (Australian actor/singer) [X-Men, Swordfish, Kate and Leopold, Someone Like You, Van Helsing, The Boy From Oz]

Deaths:
1870: Robert E. Lee (American Civil War Confederate General)

1997: John Denver [Henry John Deutschendorf] (American singer/songwriter/actor) ["Annie's Song"; "Rocky Mountain High"; "Thank God I'm a Country Boy"; "Take Me Home, Country Roads"] Died while flying an aircraft he built.

1998: Matthew Shepard (American college student/gay-bashing victim]


Word of the day: heinous \HEY-nuhs\
Etymology: From Middle English, from Old French haineus (French haineux), from haine, "hatred," from hair, "to hate," from Frankish hatjan.
(adjective)
1. Hateful; odious; abominable; totally reprehensible: a heinous offense.

Mistfox - who has to go get her 1-year mammogram today

Today is October 13th. That means that Portugal observes the Pilgrimage to Fatima.


2006: Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty in an influence-peddling investigation of Congress.

1999: The JonBenet Ramsey grand jury was dismissed after 13 months of work; prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone in the 6-year-old's strangulation.

1998: National Basketball Association canceled the first two weeks of its regular season because of a lockout.

1995: Microsoft released Windows 95.

1976: Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis (who was then working at the C.D.C) obtained the first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle.

1972: A Fairchild passenger plane transporting a rugby team crashed in the Andes. They were found alive December 20 but they had to resort to cannibalism to survive (chronicled in the 1993 film Alive: The Miracle of the Andes).

1962: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," by Edward Albee, opened on Broadway.

1947: "Kukla, Fran & Ollie" premiered.

1943: Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.

1923: Ankara replaced Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.

1904: Sigmund Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" was published.

1903: The Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in baseball's first World Series.

1903: Victor Herbert's "Babes in Toyland," premiered in NYC.

1860: The first aerial photo was taken in the U.S., from a hot air balloon over Boston.

1843: The Jewish organization B'nai B'rith (meaning "Sons of the Covenant") was founded in New York City by Henry Jones and 11 others.

1792: The Executive Mansion (later White House) cornerstone block was laid by President George Washington; it was designed by Irish-American architect James Hoban. John Adams was the first President to occupy it.

1792: "The Old Farmer's Almanac" was first published.

1775: The Continental Congress authorized the first American naval force.

1670: Virginia passed a law that blacks arriving in the colonies as Christians cannot be used as slaves.

1307: Members of the Knights of Templar were arrested throughout France, imprisoned and tortured by the order of King Philip the Fair of France.

Births:
1784: Ferdinand VII (King of Spain).

1909: Herblock [Herbert Lawrence Block] (American editorial cartoonist)

1925: Margaret Hilda Thatcher (Baroness Thatcher/first female Prime Minister of Great Britain)

1941: Paul Simon (American singer/songwriter) ["Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Mrs. Robinson", "Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard"]

Deaths:
0054: Claudius I (Roman emperor) May have been poisoned by his wife, Agrippina.

1974: Ed Sullivan (American television host)

2002: Stephen E. Ambrose (American biographer/historian) [Eisenhower and Berlin, Crazy Horse and Custer, Band of Brothers]


Word of the day: agglomeration \uh-glom-uh-RAY-shuhn\
Etymology: The noun form of agglomerate, "to gather into a ball or mass," which derives from the past participle of Latin agglomerare, "to mass together; to heap up," from ad- + glomerare, "to form into a ball," from glomus, glomer-, "ball."
(noun)
1. The act or process of collecting in a mass; a heaping together.
2. A jumbled cluster or mass of usually varied elements.


Mistfox - who puts together an agglomeration of history facts almost every day

Today is October 14th. That means that Belize observes Columbus Day.


2003: John Allen Muhammad pleaded innocent to murder in the Washington-area sniper case. (He was later convicted and sentenced to death.)

2001: Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office was quarantined after an anthrax-tainted letter was opened.

1986: Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in promoting human rights.

1982: A mass wedding took place in Seoul, South Korea, when 5,837 couples were married simultaneously.

1979: The first gay rights march in the United States took place in Washington, DC, involving many tens of thousands of people.

1966: The city of Montreal inaugurated its metro system.

1964: American civil rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1960: Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggested the idea of a Peace Corps.

1957: The Everly Brothers' "Wake Up Little Susie" reached #1 on the charts.

1947: Air Force test pilot Charles E. Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier when he flew the experimental Bell X One rocket plane over Edwards Air Force Base in California.

1944: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face trial and execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

1926: The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, was published for the first time.

1920: The University of Oxford conferred degrees on women for the first time.

1912: While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former president Theodore Roosevelt was shot by saloonkeeper William Schrank. With a fresh flesh wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt still delivered his scheduled speech.

1884: U.S. entrepreneur and inventor George Eastman patented photographic film.

1066: The Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English and King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings.

Births:
1644: William Penn (Quaker/founder of Pennsylvania)

1890: Dwight D. Eisenhower (President of the U.S.A./ U.S. General/Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War II)

1894: E.E. Cummings (American poet/author/playwright) [Eight Harvard Poets, The Enormous Room, ViVa?]

1927: Roger Moore (British actor) [The Saint, he Persuaders, Live and Let Die]

Deaths:
1066: Harold Godwinson (Last Anglo-Saxon king of England)

1944: Erwin Rommel (German field-marshal)

1959: Errol Flynn (Australian actor) [Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex]

1990: Leonard Bernstein (American composer/conductor/pianist)


Word of the day: indubitable \in-DOO-bi-tuh-buhl, -DYOO-]\
Etymology: From Latin indubitabilis "that cannot be doubted," from in- "not" + dubitabilis "doubtful," from dubitare "hesitate, doubt".
(adjective)
1. That cannot be doubted; patently evident or certain; unquestionable.


Mistfox - who is indubitably a history geek

Today is October 15th. That means that China observes the Chong Jiu Festival, Jamaica observes National Heroes Day, and the United States observes White Cane Safety Day.


2005: Iraqis voted to approve a constitution.

2003: China launched its first manned space mission, becoming the third country to send a person into orbit.

2003: A Staten Island ferry crashed into a pier amid high winds, killing 11 people and injuring 71 others.

1991: U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, 52-to-48, despite sexual harassment allegations.

1977: Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life," went to #1 and stayed #1 for 10 weeks.

1965: The first draft card was burned in protest of the U.S.'s involvement in Vietnam.

1964: It was announced that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev had been removed from office. Leonid I. Brezhnev succeeded him as premier and Alexei N. Kosygin succeeded him as Communist Party secretary.

1961: Amnesty International, the human rights organization, was established in London.

1951: "I Love Lucy" premiered on TV.

1946: Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo, poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed.

1940: The Great Dictator, a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin, was released.

1937: Ernest Hemingway novel "To Have & Have Not" was published.

1881: The first American fishing magazine, American Angler, was published.

1878: Thomas A. Edison founded the Edison Electric Light Co.

1860: Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

1815: Napoleon began his exile on the island of St. Helena, after suffering a final defeat against a force under the Duke of Wellington.

1764: While visiting Rome, Edward Gibbon observed a group of barefoot friars singing vespers in the ruined Temple of Jupiter, a sight that inspired him to begin work on a history that would be published as The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

1582: Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain October 4 of this year was followed directly by October 15, skipping over 10 days. Other countries followed at various later dates.

1581: The first major ballet was staged at the request of Catherine de' Medici at the palace in Paris.

533: Byzantine general Belisarius made his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals.

Births:
70 BCE: Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (Roman poet) [the Eclogues, the Georgics, the Aeneid]

1921: Mario Puzo (American novelist/screenplay writer) [The Godfather]

1924: Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca (American industrialist)

1959: Sarah Ferguson ["Fergie"] (Duchess of York)

1959: Emeril Lagasse (American chef/restaurateur/television personality/writer)

Deaths:
1917: Mata Hari [Margarete Gertrude Zelle] (Dutch exotic dancer/spy)

1946: Hermann Goering (German air force commander)

1964: Cole Porter (American composer/lyricist) [Kiss Me, Kate]


Word of the day: wiseacre \WY-zay-kuhr\
Etymology: From Middle Dutch wijssegger, "a soothsayer," from Old High German wissago, alteration of wizago, "a prophet."
(noun)
1. One who pretends to knowledge or cleverness; a would-be wise person; a smart aleck.


Mistfox - who doesn't thinks she's a wiseacre

Today is October 16th. That means that it's Dictionary Day, the U.S. observes National Boss’s Day and the United Nations observes World Food Day.


2002: U.S. President George W. Bush signed a congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq.

1998: British police arrested former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London.

1995: The Million Man March occurred in Washington, DC.

1987: 175-kph winds caused a blackout in London and much of southern England.

1984: Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1978: The Sacred College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church chose Cardinal Karol Wojtyla as the new pope (John Paul II).

1970: In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act imposing martial law.

1962: The Cuban missile crisis began when President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba.

1956: "Love Me Tender" with Elvis Presley premiered.

1949: Nikos Zakhiariadis, leader of the Communist Party of Greece, announced a "temporary cease-fire to prevent the complete annihilation of Greece", effectively marking the end of the Greek Civil War.

1945: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was founded

1942: Aaron Copland and Agnes de Milles' ballet "Rodeo," premiered in NYC.

1934: Mao Zedong started his march with 10,000 followers, battling forces for 6000 miles until he reached Yenan in 1935 and established Chinese Communist headquarters.

1923: John Harwood patented the self-winding watch in Switzerland.

1922: The Simplon II railway tunnel, under the Alps, linking Switzerland and Italy, was completed.

1916: Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic, in New York City.

1869: England's first residential college for women, Girton College, was founded in Cambridge.

1868: America's first department store "ZCMI" (Zion's Co-Operative Mercantile Institution) opened in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1859: Abolitionist John Brown led a group in a raid on Harper's Ferry, intending to seize the arsenal of weapons and retreat to the Appalachian Mountains of Maryland and Virginia, where they would establish an abolitionist republic of liberated slaves and abolitionist whites. John Brown was later hanged in Virginia for treason.

1853: The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia, starting the Crimean War.

1847: Charlotte Bronte's book "Jane Eyre" was published.

1781: George Washington captured Yorktown, Virginia

Births:
1758: Noah Webster (American lexicographer/revolutionary/educator/author)

1854: Oscar Wilde (Irish playwright/poet/author) [The Canterville Ghost, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest]

1886: David Ben-Gurion (Israel's first prime minister)

1888: Eugene O'Neill (American playwright) [Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night]

1890: Michael Collins (Irish revolutionary leader)

Deaths:
1793: Queen Marie Antoinette (Wife of the late King Louis XV) Beheaded during the French Revolution for treason.

1981: Moshe Dayan (Israeli general/politician)

1997: James Michener (American author) [Hawaii, The Drifters, Centennial, The Source]

2004: Pierre Emil George Salinger (White House Press Secretary to U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson/political commentator)


Word of the day: frangible \FRAN-juh-buhl\
Etymology: Derives from Latin frangere, "to break."
(adjective)
1. Capable of being broken; brittle; fragile; easily broken.


Mistfox - who is glad she's not frangible

Today is October 17th. That means that the United Nations observes the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Haiti observes the Death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and the United States observes Black Poetry Day


2003: The pinnacle was fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 106-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the world's tallest high-rise.

1989: An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck northern California, killing 67 people and causing $7 billion worth of damage. It was witnessed on live television by millions of people who were watching the third game of the World Series of baseball, being played in San Francisco.

1979: Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1978: President Jimmy Carter signed a bill restoring U.S. citizenship to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

1973: Leaders of OPEC decided to suspend oil exports to all nations supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War. The embargo caused major shortages and gas rationing.

1967: The musical Hair opened at the Anspacher Theater on Broadway.

1961: The NY Museum of Modern Art hung Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau" upside-down. It wasn't corrected until December 3rd.

1945: A massive number of people gathered in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Peron's release. This is known to the Peronists as the Dia de la lealtad (day of loyalty) or San Peron (Saint Peron). It's considered the birthday of Peronism.

1937: Huey, Dewey and Louie, Donald Duck's three almost identical nephews, first appeared in a newspaper comic strip.

1933: Albert Einstein, fleeing Nazi Germany, moved to the U.S.

1931: Mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

1860: The first British golf open was held.

1777: British forces under General John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, New York. It was a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

1483: Tomas de Torquemada was appointed inquisitor-general of Spain.

1469: Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella of Castile. Their marriage led to the unification of Aragon and Castile in a single country, Spain

1346: During the Battle of Neville's Cross, King David II of Scotland was captured by Edward III of England at Calais, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years

Births:
1880: Charles Kraft (American food and cheese entrepreneur)

1915: Arthur Miller (American playwright) [Death of a Salesman, The Crucible]

Deaths:
1849: Frédéric Chopin (Polish-French composer/pianist)

2002: Derek Bell (Irish harpist/composer) [The Chieftains]


Word of the day: suasion \SWAY-zhun\
Etymology: From Latin suasio, from suadere, "to present in a pleasing manner," hence, "to advise." It is related to suave, "gracious or agreeable in manner."
(noun)
1. The act of persuading; persuasion.


Mistfox - who just wants to go back to bed this morning but has too much to do

Today is October 18th. That means that Azerbaijan observes Independence Day, Alaska observes Alaska Day, and Canada observes Persons Day.


2006: The Dow Jones industrial average passed 12,000 for the first time before pulling back to close at 11,992.68.

2001: It was announced that a New Jersey letter carrier and an employee in CBS news anchorman Dan Rather's office had tested positive for skin anthrax.

1989: Hungary was proclaimed a free republic.

1989: Erich Honecker was ousted as leader of East Germany after 18 years; Egon Krenz succeeded him.

1969: The U.S. federal government banned cyclamates, the artificial sweeteners, because it was shown that the substance caused cancer in laboratory rats.

1967: Walt Disney's "Jungle Book" was released.

1962: Dr. James D. Watson of the United States, and Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Maurice Wilkins of Britain, were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.

1954: Texas Instruments announced the production of the first Transistor radio.

1944: Soviet Union troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.

1925: The Grand Ole Opry opened.

1922: The British Broadcasting Company (later British Broadcasting Corporation) was officially formed.

1898: American troops raised the U.S. flag over Puerto Rico, formalizing U.S. authority over the island.

1867: The U.S. took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. It had cost $7.2 million.

1767: The Mason-Dixon line, the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, was agreed upon.

1685: King Louis XIV of France revoked The Edict of Nantes, granting religious freedom to the Huguenots.

1009: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, was completely destroyed by the "mad" Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacked the Church's foundations down to bedrock.

Births:
1919: Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Prime Minister of Canada)

1926: Chuck [Charles Edward] Berry (American guitarist/singer/composer.) ["Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene"]

1927: George C. Scott (American actor) [Patton, The Hustler]

1939: Lee Harvey Oswald (American assassin)

1956: Martina Navratilova (Czechoslovakian-born tennis player)

1961: Wynton Marsalis (American trumpeter/composer )

Deaths:
1931: Thomas Alva Edison (American inventor)

1982: Bess Truman (First Lady of the U.S.)


Word of the day: caterwaul \KAT-uhr-wawl\
Etymology: From Middle English caterwawen, "to cry as a cat," either from Medieval Dutch kater, "tomcat" + Dutch wauwelen, "to tattle," or for catawail, from cat-wail, "to wail like a cat."
(intransitive verb)
1. To make a harsh cry.
2. To have a noisy argument.
(noun)
3. A shrill, discordant sound.


Mistfox - who couldn’t find many smilies today