Author Archives: dcaligari

August 11, 1995 –The Hollywood Picture film, Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, and Courtney B. Vance, opened in US theaters on this date. The movie’s soundtrack tops the Billboard albums chart thanks to its lead single, Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise. Originally entitled My Posse Don’t Do Homework, the name of the book from which this trueContinue reading “Dangerous Minds premiered”

August 11, 2008 –The Canadian singer Feist appears on Sesame Street on this date, where she turns her song 1234 into a lesson in counting. It becomes one of the most popular music segments on the show, and far more popular than the original.

August 11, 1929 –Booze hound and notorious whore monger Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run at Cleveland’s League Park on this date, becoming the first baseball player to do so. He ended his career in 1935 with 714 career home runs – still the third best in Major League Baseball history.

August 11, 1942 –Actress Hedy Lamarr (that’s Hedy not Hedley) and composer George Antheil received a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that will later became the basis for the technology behind Wi-Fi and wireless telephones. In 1997, she and George Anthiel were honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award.Continue reading “Not just a pretty face”

It’s the Feast of St. Clare today. St. Clare of Assisi (or Clair or Claire – spelling wasn’t a major issue back then. Living past 29 years old was considered miraculous) didn’t want to marry the rich young man her parents picked out for her and ran away from home to become the biggest FrancisContinue reading “Every time you turn on the TV – think of her”

The Dog Days of Summer are officially over today. Mark your calendar for the upcoming ‘Crazy Political Campaign Season of Autumn‘.

There are 136 days until Christmas Secure your position on the naughty/ nice list accordingly

August 10, 1963 –Stevie Wonder’s single Fingertips (Part 2) becomes the first live recording to hit #1 in the US on this date. Wonder’s first two albums were The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie and Tribute to Uncle Ray, both released in 1962 and intended to frame Stevie as a young Ray Charles. They didn’tContinue reading “Fingertips (Part 2) topped the charts”

August 10, 1968 –According to the strip below, Snoopy’s birthday is August 10. There had, however, been no reference to this in previous years and it did not become an annual feature of the strip, (in fact, there are some references to Snoopy’s birthday being August 28.)

August 10, 1962 –While not the worst film ever made – it is the sickest. The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, opened on this date. (Watch it now.) This was the first movie watched by Michael J. Nelson after Joel Hodgson had left in the previous episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.