Author Archives: dcaligari

Today is Armed Forces Day in Egypt (we’ll get back to Armed Forces Day in a moment but it’s not in celebration of the Elvis Costello album) and Ivy Day in Ireland. (Ivy Day is not a horticultural celebration. The date marks the anniversary of the 1891 death of Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell; IrishContinue reading “Stick with me, I’ll get to the point”

October 6, 1973 –Cher’s single, Half-Breed, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. (Sorry for the earworm.) Snuff Garrett produced the song despite his intention to quit working with Sonny and Cher. He had been battling Sonny, the singer’s then-husband, over what type of material she should be singing. Lyricist MaryContinue reading “Half-Breed”

0ctober 6, 1966 –The Star Trek episode The Enemy Within, first aired on this date. In it, a transporter mishap divides Captain Kirk into two versions of himself, one good and one evil, but neither is able to function separately for long. The episode marks the first use of the line, “He’s dead, Jim.”

Scientists created a machine to harness power from snowfall. The machine worked by using negatively charged silicone to catch positively charged snowflakes, which created a static electric effect that was then harvested.

October 5, 1877 –… I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking-glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-suit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men, now, who say ’yes’ or ’no’[that is, vote in council]. He who led on the young men [Joseph’s brother, Ollicut] is dead. It is cold,Continue reading “Just in time for Indigenous Peoples’ Day”

October 5, 1973 –The seventh studio album by Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, (a double LP,) was release on this date. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to this and most of Elton’s other songs. He often seems to write about Elton, but this one appears to be about himself. The lyrics are about givingContinue reading “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”

Belgium once tried using cats to deliver mail. In the 1870s, the town of Liège came up with the idea of employing 37 cats as their new mail couriers. The mail was loaded into waterproof bags that were tied around the kitties’ little collars and they were sent to their destination. However, this was quicklyContinue reading “There was also a spike in the criminal class of dogs”

October 5, 1969 – The British Empire had been on a long slow decline for many years. The last flourish of that dying world power happened on this date – Monty Python’s Flying Circus made its debut on BBC-TV. The phrase “And now for something completely different” was taken from a real phrase often usedContinue reading “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”

October 4, 1957 –Sputnik One (meaning “companion” or “fellow traveller“), the first man-made satellite, was launched on this date, beginning the “space race.” The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds and was launched by a converted Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Sputnik orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a maximum height of 584Continue reading “… a firework, a rocket, a new invention”

Rutherford Hayes was born on this date, in Delaware, Ohio. That’s not especially interesting in itself. Presidents, after all, must be born somewhere – and President Hayes was not the only one to have chosen Ohio. But consider: Jimmy Carter was born on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, and Chester Arthur was born onContinue reading “Maybe today should be President’s Day”