Wednesday, October 11, 2023

This Date in History - October 11

 

Happy birthday to Eleanor Roosevelt on what would be her 139th birthday.   She could do it all.  Here she is talking up a Led Zeppelin tune on FM radio.

1138:  A MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES ALEPPO.

Aleppo?   Wasn't that also one of the Marx Brothers?

1311:  THE ORDINANCES OF 1311 ARE ESTABLISHED, IMPOSING A SERIES OF REGULATIONS UPON KING EDWARD II OF ENGLAND BY THE PEERAGE AND CLERGY.

Whatever you say...

1582:  DUE TO THE ADOPTION OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR, THIS DAY DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS YEAR IN ITALY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, AND SPAIN.

Don't mess with December 25.

1634:  THE BURCHARDI FLOOD KILLED 15,000 MEN IN DENMARK AND GERMANY.

No women?

1767:  SURVEYING THE MASON-DIXON LINE SEPARATING MARYLAND FROM PENNSYLVANIA IS COMPLETED.

A little more than a line in the sand.

1809:  IN TENNESSEE, EXPLORER MERIWETHER LEWIS DIES UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.

A 19th Century cry for the folks at CSI.

1811:  INVENTOR JOHN STEVENS' BOAT, THE JULIANA, BEGINS OPERATION AS THE FIRST STEAM-POWERED FERRY SERVICE BETWEEN NEW YORK CITY AND HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.

And ferries still sail the war all across the US>

1865:  PAUL BOGLE LED HUNDREDS OF BLACK MEN AND WOMEN IN A MARCH IN JAMAICA.

Just to be clear, not Queens?

1884:  ELEANOR ROOSEVELT IS BORN.

My grandmother used to say she lived in a suitcase.

1890:  IN WASHINGTON DC, THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IS FOUNDED.

If they are true daughters of the American Revolution, damn, they must be old.

1899:  THE WESTERN LEAGUE IS RENAMED THE AMERICAN LEAGUE.

Which would be confusing when we got the American League West.

1906:  SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD SPARKS A DIPLOMATIC CRISIS BETWEEN THE US AND JAPAN BY ORDERED JAPANESE STUDENTS TO BE TAUGHT IN RACIALLY SEGREGATED SCHOOLS.

Would anybody be bitching about this in 1941?

1910:  FORMER PRESIDENT TEDDY ROOSEVELT BECOMES THE FIRST US PRESIDENT TO FLY IN AN AIRPLANE.  HE DOES SO FOR FOUR MINUTES.

So no time for getting any food for purchase.

1946:  SINGER DARYL HALL IS BORN.

Private eyes, we're watching you.

1950:  CBS'S MECHANICAL COLOR TELEVISION IS THE FIRST TO BE LICENSED FOR BROADCAST BY THE FCC.

Okay, so how come all the first color TV shows were on NBC??

1954:  FIRST INDOCHINA WAR - THE VIET MINH TAKE CONTROL OF NORTH VIETNAM.

Yeah, this crap will be with us for a while.

1961:  COMIC CHICO MARX DIES.

Not Aleppo.

1962:  POPE JOHN XXIII CONVENES THE FIRST ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN 92 YEARS.

What took them so long?

1968:  NASA LAUNCHES APOLLO 7, THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL MANNED APOLLO MISSION, WITH ASTRONAUTS WALLY SCHIRRA, DONN F. EISELE, AND WALTER CUNNINGHAM ABOARD.

Those were the moon practice Apollos.

1975:  SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE DEBUTS.

And this turns into a civil service job for Lorne Michaels.

1976:  GEORGE WASHINGTON'S APPOINTMENT, POSTHUMOUSLY, TO THE GRADE OF GENERAL IS APPROVED BY PRESIDENT FORD.

And you thought Pope John XXIII was slow.

1984:  ABOARD THE SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER, ASTRONAUT KATHRYN D. SULLIVAN BECOMES THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO PERFORM A SPACE WALK.

Without stopping into a mall on the way.

1986:  US PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN AND SOVIET LEADER MIKHAIL GORBACHEV MEET IN ICELAND IN AN EFFORT TO CONTINUE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT SCALING BACK THEIR MISSILE ARSENALS IN EUROPE.

A President talking to a Russian?   Seriously??

1987:  FIRST PUBLIC DISPLAY OF THE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT ON THE NATIONAL MALL IN WASHINGTON, DC.

In the early days of that horrible disease.

1991:  COMIC REDD FOXX DIES.

Dropped dead while rehearsing a new sitcom.   

2007:  SINGER WERNER VON TRAPP DIES.

Not one of his favorite things.

2008:  COMPOSER NEAL HEFTI DIES.

Dah dah dah dah dah dah Batman!

2022:  ACTRESS ANGELA LANSBURY DIES.

Anybody stop to think how many dead bodies showed up whenever she arrived?

Dinner last night:  Coconut chicken skewers.

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