Tidbits of History

October 20 is:

World Osteoporosis Day

World Statistics Day

National Brandied Fruit Day
Foodimentary.com says:

Brandy is distilled from fruits such as grape, apple, blackberry, apricot and so on.
Based on the region and the fruit, brandy can be divided into several categories: Cognac, Armagnac, American Brandies, and fruit brandies.
The word brandy originally comes from the Dutch word brandewijn, which means burnt wine.
Long before the 16th century, wine was a popular product for trading in European region. In the early 16th century, a Dutchman trader invented the way to ship more wine in the limited cargo space by removing water from the wine. Then he could add the water back to the concentrated wine at the destination port in Holland.
Most brandy is 80 proof (40% alcohol/volume) and has been enjoyed for centuries as a cocktail and cooking ingredient.

Birthday of Sir Christopher Wren (October 20, 1632), English architect.

His greatest public building was Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Its construction, completed in Wren’s lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding program in the City after the Great Fire of London. It serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London for the Anglican Church. Services held at St Paul’s have included the funerals of Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher; jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer; the launch of the Festival of Britain; and the thanksgiving services for the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees and the 80th and 90th birthdays of Queen Elizabeth II.

1803 – The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase with a vote of twenty-four to seven The Louisiana Territory was vast, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Rupert’s Land in the north, and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. Acquiring the territory doubled the size of the United States, at a sum of less than 3 cents per acre.

The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada – United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.

Birthday of John Dewey (October 20, 1859), American educator and philosopher whose watchword was “learn by doing”. He self-identified as a “democratic socialist”.

1882-Birthday of Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in 1931.

1944 – American general Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines when he commanded an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War.

Death of Herbert Clark Hoover in 1964, thirty-first President of the United States. He died at New York City at age 90. He died of massive gastrointestinal bleeding believed to be from a malignant tumor.

Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968.

Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, was officially opened in 1973.

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October 18 is:

National Chocolate Cupcake Day
Per Foodimentary.com

Cupcake liners do more than make it easy to remove them from the pan. Traditionally, sides of tins are greased for easy removal, but also floured because the batter needs to have something to cling to. A cupcake liner takes care of both.
On August 15, 2009 GourmetGiftBaskets.com broke the world record for largest cupcake ever made. The cupcake was 1,224 pounds, 4 foot tall by 10 foot wide, and had 2 million calories.
The first mention of a cupcake recipe goes as far back as 1796. Amelia Simms wrote a recipe in “American Cookery” which referenced, “a cake to be baked in small cups”.
However, it wasn’t until 1828 that the actual word cupcake was used by Eliza Leslie in her cookbook “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats”.

“Persons Day” in Canada.
From Status of Women in Canada

In Canada, the British North America Act (BNA Act) of 1867 set out the powers and responsibilities of the provinces and of the federal government. The Act used the word “persons” when referring to more than one person and “he” when referring to one person. Many argued the Act implicitly stated that only a man could be a person, which prevented women from participating fully in politics or affairs of state.

Governments also used the “persons” argument to keep women out of important positions. If the word “person” applied only to men, then the stipulation that only “qualified persons” could be appointed to the Senate of Canada meant that only men could be appointed.

In 1927, five women – who have since become known as the Famous Five – launched a legal challenge that would mark a turning point for equality rights in Canada. Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards were journalists, politicians, reformers and activists from Alberta who asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the following question: Does the word “person” in Section 24 of the BNA Act include female persons? After five weeks of debate, the Supreme Court decided that the word “person” did not include women.

Although shocked by the Court’s decision, the Famous Five did not give up the fight and took their case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain in London, which was then Canada’s highest court of appeal.

On October 18, 1929, Lord Sankey, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, announced the decision:

“The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word ‘person’ should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?”

With this milestone victory, the Famous Five not only won the right for women to serve in the Senate, but also helped pave the way for women to participate equally in all aspects of life in Canada.

International Newspaper Carrier Day

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, lies in the northwest quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, reputed to have been built on the site of the crucifixion of Jesus. Constantine the Great first built a church on the site. It was dedicated about 336 CE, burned by the Persians in 614, restored by Modestus (the abbot of the monastery of Theodosius, 616–626), destroyed by the caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh about October 18, 1009, and restored by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus. In the 12th century the Crusaders carried out a general rebuilding of the church. Since that time, frequent repair, restoration, and remodeling have been necessary. The present church dates mainly from 1810.

United States took possession of Alaska in 1867 after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

The US took control of Puerto Rico on this date in 1898.
Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, while the capital city was named Ciudad de Puerto Rico (“Rich Port City”). The island’s name was changed to Porto Rico by the United States after the Treaty of Paris of 1898. The anglicized name was used by the U.S. government and private enterprises. The name was changed back to Puerto Rico by a joint resolution in Congress in 1931.
During the Spanish–American War, the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico with a landing at Guánica. After the U.S. victory in the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with the Philippines and Guam, then under Spanish sovereignty, to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris.

1919 Birthday of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Liberal Prime Minister of Canada 1968-1979, 1980-1984 and father of current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.

1939 Birthday of Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F Kennedy in 1963.

1961: The acclaimed musical film West Side Story, an adaptation of a Broadway play, was released in American theaters; it won 10 Academy Awards, including that for best picture. It starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris. The music was composed by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

In 1982, former First Lady Bess Truman died in October 1982 of congestive heart failure at the age of 97 and is the longest-lived First Lady in U.S. history. Elizabeth Virginia Wallace was born on February 13, 1885 in Independence, MO. She first met Harry S. Truman in Sunday School when she was 5 and he was 6.

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October 15 is:

White Cane Safety Day, a national observance in the United States, celebrated on October 15 of each year since 1964. The date is set aside to celebrate the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired and the important symbol of blindness and tool of independence, the white cane.

Red Wine Day One bottle of wine contains the juice of about 3 pounds of grapes
Per Foodimentary.com
The top three imported wines sold in the U.S. are Yellowtail (Australia), Cavit (Italy), and Concha y Toro (Chile).
The term bouquet refers to the total scent of the wine. Aroma is the scent of the grapes. When wine tasters want to describe the bouquet and the aroma together, they use the term nose.
In 2008, the top five wine-producing states in the U.S. were California (3.4 million tons of grapes crushed for wine), Washington (145,000 tons), New York (45,000 tons), Oregon (40,000 tons), and Pennsylvania (13,200 tons).
According to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, there are 100 calories in a 5-ounce glass of wine (compared to 150 calories in a 12-ounce beer).
The ancient Greeks had a wine glass to ensure the drinker’s moderation. If wine was poured above a certain level, the cup spilled its entire contents out of the bottom.

Birthday of Virgil; (October 15, 70 BC), Roman poet, author of “The Aeneid”, the national epic of Rome.

From Today in Science.com:
In 1783, Frenchman Jean Pilâtre de Rozier (1754-1785) made a tethered balloon ascent, in the gardens of La Muette. The Montgolfier-made balloon, Aerostat Reveillon, carrying Pilâtre, first man to leave the earth, rose to the end of its 250- ft tether. It stayed aloft for 15 minutes, then landed safely nearby.

1793 – Queen Marie-Antoinette of France was tried and convicted in a swift, pre-determined trial in the Palais de Justice, Paris, and condemned to death the following day.

Napoleon I of France began his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean in 1815.

Birthday of Friedrich Nietzsche (October 15, 1844), German philosopher, quoted as having said “God is dead.”
Other quotes include:

“The doctrine of equality! There exists no more poisonous poison: for it seems to be preached by justice itself, while it is the end of justice.”; and

“Everything in woman hath a solution. It is called pregnancy.”

Birthday of John Lawrence Sullivan (October 15, 1858 – February 2, 1918), known simply as John L. among his admirers, and dubbed the “Boston Strong Boy” by the press, was an American boxer recognized as the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing, de facto reigning from February 7, 1882, to September 7, 1892. He is also generally recognized as the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle boxing under the London Prize Ring Rules, being a cultural icon of the late 19th century America, arguably the first boxing superstar and one of the world’s highest-paid athletes of his era. Newspapers’ coverage of his career, with the latest accounts of his championship fights often appearing in the headlines, and as cover stories, gave birth to sports journalism in the United States and set the pattern internationally for covering boxing events in media, and photodocumenting the prizefights.

Birthday of Edith Bolling Galt Wilson (October 15, 1872), second wife of Woodrow Wilson; first lady 1915-1921. Following Wilson’s stroke in 1919, Edith Wilson took over many routine duties and details of the Executive branch of the government.

October 15, 1917 – Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was executed for espionage in France.

In 1951, the first episode of I Love Lucy, an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley, aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The series ran until 1957.

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October 14 is:

Be Bald and Free Day
national lowercase day

Columbus Day: Celebrated on October 14 in 2024.

On October 12, 1492 – Christopher Columbus reached the Caribbean. It has been reported that from the monarch’s investment of $6000 in Columbus’ first voyage, Spain had a return of $1,750,000 in gold after only one century.

…from Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts. New York, Bell Publishing, 1981

Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Thanksgiving has its roots in the European Harvest Festivals where people celebrated an abundant harvest and shared their food within their community.

National Dessert Day
The five most popular desserts in the U.S. are:

• Fudge
• Chocolate cake
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Brownies
• Ice cream

October 14, 1066 – The Battle of Hastings resulted in William the Conqueror taking over England.

Birthday of William Penn (October 14, 1644), Founder of Pennsylvania and famed leader of the Society of Friends (Quakers). William Penn and his wife, Hannah, are two of only eight people who have been made honorary citizens of the U.S.

Massachusetts Bay Colony enacted the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1656. The marriage of church-and-state in Puritanism makes them regard the Quakers as spiritually apostate and politically subversive. In all, from 1656 to 1661, at least forty Quakers came to New England to protest Puritan religious domination and persecution. During those five years, the Puritan persecution of Quakers continued, with beatings, fines, whippings, imprisonment, and mutilation.

American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom’s East India Company tea ships’ cargo were burned at Annapolis, Maryland on this date in 1773.

Birthday of David Dwight Eisenhower (October 14, 1890), thirty-fourth president of the United States. Since his father was named David, the future president had always been called “Dwight”. He changed his name officially – some sources say in high school, some say at West Point.

The loblolly pine tree on the left side of the fairway at the 17th hole at Augusta National Golf Club is known as the Eisenhower Tree. He put his ball in the tree so many times he campaigned to have it removed. It stands to this day. The membership built a cabin for Eisenhower, one of 12 on the course. The cabin, built to Secret Service specifications, still stands on the course and is adorned with an eagle on the front porch.

1912 – While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carried out his scheduled public speech.

The children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, was first published in 1926.

1947: American test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began in 1962: A U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot flew over the island of Cuba and took photographs of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed and erected in Cuba.

1964: Baptist minister and social activist Martin Luther King, Jr., was named the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, cited for his work involving civil rights and social justice.

October 13 is:

International Skeptics Day
National M&M Day
National Peanut Festival

• Nuts are healthier in their raw form. The reason is that over 15% of the healthy oils are lost in the roasting process.
• Studies show that people who eat nuts regularly live 2-3 years longer than those who don’t.
• The nut allergy is among the most common food allergies.
• Roasted nutshells were used as a coffee substitute during the civil war.
• Half of the world’s nuts are inedible or poisonous to humans.

The many peanut classes grown around the United States are Spanish, Runner, Virginia, and Valencia. Peanut production is divided into three major areas: the southeastern United States region which includes Alabama, Georgia, and Florida; the southwestern United States region which includes New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas; and the third region in the general eastern United States which includes Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Jimmy Carter, the 39th U. S. President (from 1977 to 1981), had a family peanut-growing business in his home state of Georgia.

54 – Roman Emperor Claudius was poisoned to death under mysterious circumstances. His 17-year-old stepson Nero succeeded him to the Roman throne.

1775 – The United States Continental Congress ordered the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy).

1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) was laid.

From Today in Science
Greenwich prime meridian
In 1884, Greenwich was adopted as the universal meridian. At the behest of the U.S. President Chester Arthur, 41 delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, DC, for the International Meridian Conference. At the Conference several important principles were established: a single world meridian passing through the principal Transit Instrument at the Observatory at Greenwich; that all longitude would be calculated both east and west from this meridian up to 180°; a universal day; and studies of the decimal system to the division of time and space. Resolution 2, fixing the Meridian at Greenwich was passed 22-1 (San Domingo voted against, France & Brazil abstained). Greenwich lies on the River Thames, a few miles from central London.

1925 Birthday of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain 1979-1990.

Paddington Bear, a classic character from English children’s literature, made his debut October 13, 1958.