Author Archives: dcaligari

October 24, 1836 –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.Continue reading “(Please follow along on your flow charts – this will be on the test)”

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. on a Tuesday – exactly? (Where didn’t appear to enter into their consideration.) This strikesContinue reading “You may, or may not, have to send a birthday card”

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“. HeContinue reading “Today is TV Talk Show Host Day.”

I’m sure that you thought that all the excitement of the day was because it’s the anniversary of King Carlos I being crowned as German emperor Charles V, a Holy Roman Emperor, on this date, or the Feast day of St. John of Capistrano, patron saint of jurists, and that all of the swallows areContinue reading “O Fabjous Day!”

October 22, 1934 – 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 factsContinue reading “Here’s another story of your tax dollars at work:”

October 22, 1971 –Peter Bogdanovich’s break out film, The Last Picture Show opened on this date. Peter Bogdanovich had originally offered the role of “Sam the Lion” to James Stewart, who liked the part but had already committed to a TV series and couldn’t get out of it. The role was then offered to BenContinue reading “The Last Picture Show”

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 capitalContinue reading “Today is INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK Day.”

(Usually) on statues, a horse’s legs tell you how the statue figure died. According to the urban legend, if the statue shows the horse posed with both front hooves up in the air, the rider died in battle. If the horse is posed with one front leg up, it means the rider was wounded inContinue reading “This one isn’t real but we believe the real one is real.”

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 theContinue reading “Kind of puts you off of rum”

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 inappropriateContinue reading “Blow you up real good”