October 28 is:
Plush Animal Lover’s Day
National Chocolate Day
Foodimentary.com says:
Switzerland is one of the top countries for chocolate consumption. The Swiss consume about 22 lbs of chocolate, per person, per year.
Allowing chocolate to melt in your mouth produces the same or even stronger reactions as passionately kissing.
Cocoa beans were used as currency by the Mayan and Aztec cultures.
1704 Death of John Locke, an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism”. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, Locke is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American Revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Internationally, Locke’s political-legal principles continue to have a profound influence on the theory and practice of limited representative government and the protection of basic rights and freedoms under the rule of law.
Former First Lady, Abigail Adams died of typhoid fever on this day in 1818; wife of John Adams, mother of John Quincy Adams.
Statue of Liberty Dedication Day, (1886). Originally known as Liberty Enlightening the World, it was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States. The statue’s completion was marked by New York’s first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland. It was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Its framework of gigantic steel supports was designed by Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the latter famous for designing the Eiffel Tower.
The U.S. Congress passed the Volstead Act of 1919 over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, paving the way for Prohibition (18th Amendment) to begin the following January17th.
1955: American computer programmer and entrepreneur Bill Gates—who cofounded Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company—was born.
From Today in Science
On October 28, 1965, the Gateway Arch (630′ (190m) high) was completed in St. Louis, Missouri. This graceful sweeping tapered curve of stainless steel is the tallest memorial in the U.S. The architect of the catenary curve arch was Eero Saarinen who won the design competition in 1947. It was constructed 1961-66 in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Park, established on the banks of the Mississippi River, on 21 Dec 1935, to commemorate the westward growth of the United States between 1803 and 1890. Cost for the $30 million national monument was shared by the federal government and the City of St. Louis. The memorial arch has an observation room at the top for visitors reached by trams running inside the legs of the arch.
1967: American actress Julia Roberts, whose deft performances in varied roles helped make her one of the highest-paid and most-influential actresses in the 1990s and early 2000s, was born.