Calendar of Ideas

Oct 17, 1966. Hollywood Squares Debut on Television. On this game show, nine celebrities sat in a giant grid. Two contestants played tic-tac-toe by determining if an answer given by a celebrity was correct. Peter Marshall hosted the show for many years with panelists Paul Lynde, Rose Marie, Cliff Arquette, Wally Cox, John Davidson and George Gobel, amongothers. John Davidson took over as host in 1986 for a new version of the game show with Joan Rivers and, later, Shadoe Stevens at center square. In1998 Hollywood Squares appeared again with Tom Bergeron as host and Whoopi Goldberg as the center square.

Oct 17, 1989. The San Francisco Bay area was rocked by an earthquake registering 7.1 on the Richter scale at 5: 04 PM, PDT, just as thenations baseball fans settled in to watch the 1989 World Series at Candlestick Park. A large audience was tuned in to the pregame coverage when the quake hit and knocked the broadcast off the air. The quake caused damage estimated at $ 10 billion and killed 67 people, many of whom were caught in the collapse of the double-decked Interstate 80, at Oakland, CA.

Take advantage of National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day and remove those icons you don’t use or reduce your computer screen clutter!

Oct 18, 1988. This comedy showed the blue-collar Conner familytrying to make ends meet. Rosanne played wisecracking Roseanne Conner, John Goodman played her husband, Dan, and Laurie Metcalf played her sister, Jackie. The Conner children were played by Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Alicia Goranson and Sarah Chalke (Becky) and Michael Fishman (D.J.). The last episode aired Nov 14, 1997.

Oct 18. Anniversary of transfer of Alaska on Oct 18, 1867, from Russia to the US. The transfer became official on Sitkas Castle Hill. This is a holiday in Alaska; when it falls on a weekend it is observed on the following Monday.

Oct 18, 1896. Although cartoons had appeared in newspapers formany years, the comic stripa narrative told in cartoons over several panels took its main form with the appearance of The Yellow Kid Takes a Handat Golf in the New York Journals weekly supplement, American Humorist. The creator was Richard Fenton Outcault. In March 1897 the Yellow Kid Magazine gathered the strips and became the first published collection of a comic strip setting the stage for the first comic books in the late 1920s.

Oct 18. A day to commemorate the anniversary of the 1929 rulingthat declared women to be persons in Canada. Prior to this ruling English common law prevailed ( Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges). The celebrated cause, popularly known as the Persons Case, was brought by five womenof Alberta, Canada; leader of the courageous Famous Five was Emily Murphy (1868 1933). This ruling by the Judicial Committee of Englands Privy Council, Oct 18, 1929, overturned a 1928 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Oct 19. Celebrate the beauty of ugly with Hagfish Day. This special day is a fun, somewhat tongue-in-cheek event with an important and serious goal: to raise awareness and understanding of the uniqueness and significance of all sea creatures even the ugly, slimy, misunderstood or unusual (like the hagfish).

Information Overload Day is the third Wednesday in October and seeks solutions to increase productivity through better management of information.

Oct 19, 1781. More than 7,000 English and Hessian troops, led by British general Lord Charles Cornwallis, surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown, VA, effectively ending the war between Britain and its American colonies. There were no more major battles, but the provisional treaty of peace was not signed until Nov 30, 1782, and the final Treaty of Paris, Sept 3, 1783.

Oct 20, 1973. One of the most iconic and dramatic man-made structures of the 20th century, the Sydney Opera House, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II at Sydney, Australia, on this date. Designed by Danish architect Jrn Utzon, the theater is perched on Sydney Harbor and appears to bea ship in full sail. It took 14 years to build, and its roof is covered with more than one million tiles.

Oct 21, 1805. This famous naval action between the British Royal Navy and the combined French and Spanish fleets removed the threat of Napoleons invasion of England. The British victory, off Trafalgar on the coast of Spain, guaranteed the fame of Viscount Horatio Nelson, who died in the battle.

Image: Painting by by Nicholas Pocock, Public Domain

Oct 21, 1797. The USS Constitution was launched and christened by Captain James Sever on this date at Boston, MA, making this frigate the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. Congress had commissioned the Constitution and five other ships in 1794. The Constitution earned its nickname, Old Ironsides, and place in Americas heart through valiant service in the War of 1812. In a fight with Britain’s HMS Guerriere on Aug 19, 1812, sailors reported a British shot repelled by the side of the ship and declared that its sides were made of iron. No enemy ever boarded the ship in its days of active service. It now rests at Boston Harbor.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com user “skeeze” CC0

Oct 22, 1942. Americas Sweetheart was born at Utica, NY. Her first big break was as a Mouseketeer on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Show, arole she successfully transitioned into a career as a pop singer, scoring a string of hits in the 1950s. Funicello hit it big again in the early 60s with a series of beach party movies (Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo), most alongside costar Frankie Avalon. Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987, and died from complications due to her condition Apr 8, 2013, at Bakersfield, CA.

Image: Publicity photo of American entertainers Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, Public Domain.

Oct 22, 1962. President John F. Kennedy, in a nationwide television address on this date, demanded the removal from Cuba of Soviet missiles, launched equipment and bombers and imposed a naval quarantine to prevent further weaponry from reaching Cuba. On Oct 28, the USSR announced it would remove the weapons in question. In return, the US removed missiles from Turkey that were aimed at the USSR.

Image: US Central Intelligence Agency, Public Domain

On 22 October, celebrate International Caps Lock day by toning down the online conversations and turning off the Caps Lock key!  Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/international-caps-lock-day.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com user “itkannan4u”, CC0.

On 22 October 1844, the world was supposed to end according to religious leader William Miller, the proponent of Millerism. Stories abound of his many followers disposing of earthly goods and climbing to high places awaiting the end of the world. More information available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment.

Replica of the Hungarian Revolution Flag by Guilherme Paula, CC3.0.

Also called Uprising Day of Remembrance or Republic Day, 23 October is a national holiday in Hungary and commemorates the uprising against the Soviets which was crushed on 4 November 1956. Hungary later declared independence from the Soviet Union on 23 October 1989.

Oct 23, 1752. Also known as Canning Day, this is the anniversary of the birth of French chef, chemist, confectioner, inventor and author Nicolas Appert, at Chalons-sur-Marne, France. Appert, who also invented the bouillon tablet, is best remembered for devising a system of heating foods and sealing them in airtight containers. Known as the father of canning, Appert won a prize of 12,000 francs from the French government in 1809 and the title Benefactor of Humanity in 1812, for his inventions, which revolutionized our previously seasonal diet. Appert died at Massy, France, June 3, 1841.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay user jarmoluk, CC0.

Oct 23, 2001. The Apple company unveiled its portable MP3 music player to the press on this date. The iPod officially went on sale on Nov10, 2001, for $ 399. Critics at the time complained about the cost, but the iPod became incredibly popular. In January 2010, Apple announced that it had sold 250 million iPods.

Image: Wikimedia Images, CC0