Author Archives: dcaligari

October 1, 1962 –The follow-up to I Love Lucy series (but not a sequel to the series,) The Lucy Show, premiered on CBS-TV on this date. The series was originally intended to air for only one season. Ball and Desi Arnaz’s studio, Desilu, was losing money. Arnaz persuaded Ball to return to series television onlyContinue reading “The Lucy Show”

October is the tenth month of the year and its name is therefore derived from Octo, the Latin word for eight (as the vegetables in V8 well knows.) October is often preceded by September and sometimes followed by November. There are 31 days in October, many of which are Wednesdays. (Wednesday is the fourth dayContinue reading “A symphony of permanence and change”

In China, the police use geese as sentries. In many parts of rural China, police have opted to use geese as police animals as they are highly alert and capable of making lots of noise. Also “police geese” sounds cooler than “police dogs”. And so it goes

September 30, 1938 –The Germans occupied the Sudetenland in late summer of 1938. This enraged the British and the English, who both feared for the loss of the Sudetenland’s celebrated pea crops. British Prime Minister flew to Germany to meet Hitler at Bertesgarden to discuss the situation, on this date. Hitler assured him that thereContinue reading “Always proofread your pacts with Rat Bastards”

September 30, 1965 – Gerry Anderson’s supermarionation take on The Tracy family business, Thunderbirds premiered on this date in the UK. The five Tracy brothers were named after astronauts from the Mercury program: Scott Tracy after Scott Carpenter.Virgil Tracy after Gus Grissom whose real first name was Virgil.Alan Tracy after Alan Shepard.Gordon Tracy after GordonContinue reading “Thunderbirds”

With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses. The song Hail to the Chief became specially connected to the presendency, specifically because of James Polk. Although it had been played in connection with at least three earlier presidents, Sarah Polk, James’ wife, asked for Hail to the Chief toContinue reading “More Presidential Trivia”

The letter ‘E’ is the most common letter in the English language. It appears in roughly 11% of all words used in the English language, and is used 12 times in this very sentence alone!

September 29, 1957 –An explosion at the Chelyabinsk-40 complex, a Soviet nuclear fuel processing plant, irradiated the nearby city of Kyshtym with strontium-90, cesium-137 and plutonium on this date. This accident releases twice the radioactivity of the Chernobyl incident. Oops And so it goes

It’s Miguel de Cervantes‘ birthday today. Born in 1547, Cervantes is best known as the author of Don Quixote, a cunning satire on mental illness. The work is an epic treatment of the perennial question, “wouldn’t the world be better off if we were all crazy?“ The answer from the novel is a qualified yes:Continue reading “To be prepared is half the victory.”

September 29, 1967 – Gerry Anderson’s supermarionation take on superheroes, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons premiered on this date in the UK. The Spectrum organizations’ radio code SIG stood for Spectrum Is Green (essentially an OK), whilst the less used SIR stood for Spectrum Is Red (indicating a dangerous situation). Both radio codes have beenContinue reading “Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons”