Author Archives: dcaligari

September is the ninth month of the year, which is why its name is derived from the Latin Septem, meaning seven. (We have previously addressed this problem last month; see August, the Sixth Month.) On the French Revolutionary calendar, September is known as Vendémiaire (vintage,) and in Dutch, September is “the begining of autumn“, Hertmaand.Continue reading “Welcoming Summer’s Ghost”

August 31, 1879 –Alma Maria Schindler, noted in her native Vienna for her beauty and intelligence, was born on this date. In her youth she was an aspiring composer. But that’s not why I bring her up. She was the wife, successively, of the composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius, and novelist Franz Werfel, andContinue reading “Ach, that is the fräulein I must have!”

August 31, 1929 –RKO released the musical film-short St. Louis Blues, starring singer Bessie Smith, on this date. At W.C. Handy’s suggestion, Bessie Smith was picked to be the star of the film. Bessie had scored a huge hit in 1925 with her recording of St. Louis Blues, which had featured Louis Armstrong on cornet.Continue reading “St. Louis Blues”

August 31, 1950 –A mouse flew on a US V-2 rocket from New Mexico, USA on on this date, reaching an altitude of 137 km (85 miles). It was the first mouse in space. Unfortunately the rocket disintegrated because the parachute system failed. But what the hell do you care.

Louise-Marie-Thérèse de Saint Maurice, Comtesse de Vercellis farted while she was dying. She said, “Good. A woman who can fart is not dead.”

August 30, 1859 – At the University of Göttingen, PhD candidate Albert Niemann isolates the alkaloid C17H21NO4 from leaves of the plant Erythroxylum coca. Niemann names his white, powdery discovery Cocaine and observes firsthand its peculiarly strong anesthetic effect: “it benumbs the nerves of the tongue, depriving it of feeling and taste.“ Oh, that’s whatContinue reading “The more you know”

August 30, 1993 –Moving himself and his gang of cohorts from NBC-TV, The Late Show with David Letterman premiered on CBS-TV, on this date. The microphone on David Letterman’s desk was an old RCA DX 77. It was a replacement for the original microphone given to him as a gift from the NBC crew whenContinue reading “The Late Show with David Letterman”

Abraham Lincoln was a wrestling champion. He is a member of the Wrestling Hall of Fame Before becoming America’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln was an avid wrestler. He only lost one fight out of 300.

America’s National School Lunch Program of 1946 was due in no small part to WWII. By mid 1945, America had just come out of a huge, resource-depleting war. So why on Earth would they be handing out free food for school kids? After all, it’s no secret that food rationing in Britain continued until nineContinue reading “What’s for lunch today”

August 29, 1949 –The Soviet Union joined the nuclear club on this date when they detonated a nuclear weapon, code-named First Lightning (Pervaya Molniya) at a test site in Kazakhstan. American experts were shocked and dismayed because they had thought the Soviets were still years away from having a workable bomb. The resultant fear helpedContinue reading “It certainly got our attention”