It’s Wednesday, October 24, 2018, and National Bologna Day, which, in the White House, is every day. It’s also World Polio Day, though I’m a bit confused about it. The World Health Organization says that “World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis” But Salk was born on October 28, 1914. What gives?
There’s a full moon today, and though an iPhone camera isn’t great, especially in low light, here’s the Moon through the ginkgos as I walked to work:
On October 24, 2018, Chartres Cathedral, which I’ll be seeing soon, was dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France. Not much happened until 597 years later when, in 1857, the Sheffield F.C. was founded in Sheffield; it remains the world’s oldest surviving association football club. On this day in 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States was completed. And on October 13, 1901, Annie Edson Taylor, on her 63rd birthday, became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Amazingly, she survived, sustaining only a small gash on her head. (She was doing this for the money, but didn’t make much.) Here’s Annie with her barrel:
On this day in 1926, Harry Houdini gave his last performance in 1926—at the Garrick theater in Detroit. Houdini died a week later of a ruptured appendix, perhaps because of a blow to the abdomen he received from an admirer backstage that night, testing the strength of Houdini’s abdominal muscles. Exactly three years later, a big drop on the New York Stock Exchange, on “Black Thursday”, kicked off the Great Depression. On October 24, 1946, the rocket V-2 No. 13 took the first photograph of Earth from outer space from 65 miles up. Here’s that photo:
On October 24, 1947, Walt Disney, testifying before the House Un-American Activity, named Disney employees that he thought were Communists. That was a lousy thing to do, and really tarnishes my image of Disney.
On this day in 1975, 90% of Icelandic women participated in a national strike, not going to work to protest gender inequality. On this day in 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays became the first major league baseball team outside the U.S. to win the World Series. You may remember the two “Beltway snipers”, John Allen Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo, who killed 10 people and injured three others in the Washington, D.C. area. They were arrested on this day in 2002; Muhammed was executed by lethal injection and Malvo remains in prison for life (without parole). Finally, on October 24, 2004, the Arsenal Football Club ended a streak of 49 unbeaten matches by losing to Manchester United; this is the world record in the Premier League for such a streak.
Notables born on this day include Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632), Rafael Trujillo (1891), Denise Levertov (1923), The Big Bopper (1930), Bill Wyman (1936; he’s 82 today!), and Wayne Rooney (1985).
Those who died on October 24 include Hugh Capet (996), Jane Seymour (1537), Tycho Brahe (1601), Daniel Webster (1852), G. E. Moore (1958), Gene Roddenberry (1991), Rosa Parks (2005), Bobby Vee (2016), and Antoine “Fats” Domino (2017). Here’s Fats’s most famous song:
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is being obstreperous:
Hili: With all due respect, I have a different opinion.A: About what?Hili: Almost everything.
Hili: Z całym respektem, ale ja mam inne zdanie.
Ja: W jakiej sprawie?
Hili: Prawie w każdej.
Reader Barry wants to know what this thing is. I do, but I’ll let you guess:
https://twitter.com/VERYINTERESTlNG/status/1054771872489857024
I found this on the same site. Koala fight!
https://twitter.com/VERYINTERESTlNG/status/1052998544934625280
Re the Khashoggi murder. The photo in this tweet from Ali Rizvi via reader Nilou is chilling:
Chilling picture of Salah Khashoggi — Jamal Khashoggi's son — being forced to meet and shake hands with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman — the man who ordered the torture, murder, and dismemberment of his father — to thank him for his condolences.
Insanity. pic.twitter.com/d4kKOEYJGg
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) October 23, 2018
More on this from Grania:
https://twitter.com/juliamacfarlane/status/1054504771611181056
This one, from Seth Andrews via Grania, has to be the Tweet of the Day:
Why does this clip make me so happy? https://t.co/UZHyqTWR5z
— Seth Andrews (@SethAndrewsTTA) October 23, 2018
A teenage cougar awakes and makes a noise. Be sure you have the sound on:
https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1054126855937122304
A horrible pun, but I suppose it’s okay—for a vet:
https://twitter.com/YouHadOneJ0B/status/1054318950601809920
The story behind this famous video (I might have posted this a while back):
YouTuber Ginger Beard shared this home security video that captured a bird flying by and taking a look at the camera. But because the camera’s frame rate is perfectly synced to the flapping wings of the bird, the wings are only captured while they’re in a single position. This makes the bird look like it’s magically floating around in front of the camera without flapping its wings at all.
Still one of the best examples of what happens when the camera frame rate is in sync with some actions going on, like the wings of a bird flying by chance in front of a security cam: you can happen to see this https://t.co/RjNVrdY7Dr pic.twitter.com/Clx1Drny83
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 21, 2018
You can turn the sound up on this one, but you’re not going to hear anything. For this is The Silent Miaow of Paul Gallico fame:
https://twitter.com/EmrgencyKittens/status/1053813663923023872
Reader Blue sent this tweet. I’m not sure I’d try this at home, but the cat seems to like it.
https://twitter.com/xxlfunny1/status/1054527893257248768
Regarding Salk – the 28th is a Sunday so not a good day to publicise anything health related… I suppose they choose weekdays…? By the way, if Saturday & Sunday are the weekend, does that make Wednesday the strong end?
No mention of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723)? Seems notable. 🙂
Oy, I’d better add that. I missed it, and Matthew would KILL me if he knew that.
Good job he doesn’t have any reason to look here eh?!
#WorldGibbonDay!!!!!
In Melbourne Zoo…
https://www.aol.co.uk/video/view/melbourne-zoo-siamangs-tear-into-world-gibbon-day-gifts/5bcfea660ca7c80139dfad38/?guccounter=1
Yes, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek is an unsung hero. With his (doomed) single lens microscopes he discovered spermatozoids, amoebas and lots of other prokaryotes, as well as the cellular structure of all advanced life.
A humble but great man
Rat bastard.
The Dies Committee is where Richard Milhous Nixon made his red-baiting bones.
How did that Fish Cheer go – The only good commie is the one that’s dead.
The Country Joe cheer I remember spelled out a certain Anglo-Saxonism. 🙂
On the other hand, after every bombing or shooting today, people ask how neighbors and colleagues did not notice the extremist views of the culprit or, if they did, why didn’t they report.
The beltway murders occurred in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. US Attorney General John Ashcroft arraigned to have Muhammed’s criminal trial held in Virginia, which had an ambitious young Republican state AG who was most likely to seek and obtain the death penalty.
In Virginia, the condemned is given the choice of method of execution between electrocution and lethal injection. Muhammed refused to choose, so the state imposed lethal injection on him, its default method of capital punishment.
“arraigned” should be “arranged” — got criminal procedure on the brain, I guess.
And a darling FULL MOON it is ! Tonight ‘s and
last night’s … … almost … … as well !
If you may have cause to gift a wee child,
may I recommend this book in re the ancient
nomenclatures within North America given to same:
https://tinyurl.com/y84gumet
Blue
Where is the Coyne Children’s book about Evolution?!
Forcing the dead man’s son to shake the hand of the sociopathic strongman who ordered his murder — that’s as pathologically authoritarian as it gets. Enough to make a camel puke.
And I understand that neither the son nor any other members of the family are allowed to leave KSA.
And I understand that neither the son nor any other members of the family are allowed to leave KSA.
Apologies for the double post.
As always, I request that readers do not dominate threads; I suggest that at most 15% of any comments in a thread be from a given reader.
Barry: that’s a frilled lizard.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlamydosaurus
Yep. Took me one second. It’s unmistakeable.
Australian, of course.
But boy look at that thing go!
cr
I like the iPhone moon shot. Chiaroscuro
lends mystery.
If cows have hooves, why do they get foot and mouth disease?
Abd what’s more, they have calves!
What do you call a cow with no legs?
Beef.
Close but not quite.
Ground beef.
Loved the slinky on treadmill “Stayin’ Alive”. Plus I like to get my cardio out of the way first thing.
PCC(e), there’s a minor typo in the description of the dedication of Chartres Cathedral. It took place in 1260 (not today) according to Wikipedia.
I look forward to hearing about your visit to the cathedral.
bPer
Walt Disney had somewhat liberal politics until the late 1940s, when he got spooked by what he saw as the increasing influence of Marxism and Communism on American liberals, after which he became far more politically conservative. (His friend, Ronald Reagan, went through a similar shift at the same time.)
The business side of Disney was largely managed by his brother Roy, though the family carefully cultivated the misleading image that Walt was in charge of everything.
Walt Disney was thrown for a loop by a strike at Disney studios, found it incomprehensible that anyone who worked for him would want to strike, and elected to blame it on Communist subversion, although historians are convinced that there was no such influence at all.
This helps explain (if not excuse) Disney’s willingness to to testify before HUAC.
Ironically, one of Disney’s earliest champions was the great Soviet (and Communist) film-maker Serge Eisenstein. (See the 1986 book “Eisenstein on Disney”).
=-=-=
Chartres Cathedral was dedicated in 1260, not 2018!!!!
Fabulous picture you took! Worthy of printing