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Today is October 30 2014

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   I.
Today's Holidays and Historical Events (updated daily)
Today's Food Holiday

National Candy Corn Day: More

Other celebrations/observances today:
  • Speak Up For Service Day: More
  • Create A Great Funeral Day: More
  • Haunted Refrigerator Night: More
Events in the past on: October 30
  • In 1938, The radio presentation of 'The War of the Worlds', produced by Orson Welles, causes anxiety and in some cases hysteria among it's listeners.
    From Wikipedia: '"The War of the Worlds" is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on Sunday, October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It became famous for allegedly causing mass panic, although the reality of the panic is disputed as the program had relatively few listeners.

    The first two-thirds of the one-hour broadcast was presented as a series of simulated news bulletins, which suggested an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. The illusion of realism was furthered because the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a sustaining show without commercial interruptions, and the first break in the program came almost 30 minutes into the broadcast. Popular legend holds that some of the radio audience may have been listening to Edgar Bergen and tuned in to "The War of the Worlds" during a musical interlude, thereby missing the clear introduction that the show was a drama, but recent research suggests this only happened in rare instances.:67–69

    In the days following the adaptation, widespread outrage was expressed in the media. The program's news-bulletin format was described as deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast and calls for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission. The episode secured Welles's fame as a dramatist'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1960, The first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, by Michael Woodruff, is performed.
    From Wikipedia: 'Sir Michael Francis Addison Woodruff, FRS, FRCS (3 April 1911 – 10 March 2001) was an English surgeon and scientist principally remembered for his research into organ transplantation. Though born in London, Woodruff spent his youth in Australia, where he earned degrees in electrical engineering and medicine. Having completed his studies shortly after the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps, but was soon captured by Japanese forces and imprisoned in the Changi Prison Camp. While there, he devised an ingenious method of extracting nutrients from agricultural wastes to prevent malnutrition among his fellow POWs.

    At the conclusion of the war, Woodruff returned to England and began a long career as an academic surgeon, mixing clinical work and research. Woodruff principally studied transplant rejection and immunosuppression. His work in these areas of transplantation biology, led Woodruff to perform the first kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, on 30 October 1960. For this and his other scientific contributions, Woodruff was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1969. Although retiring from surgical work in 1976, he remained an active figure in the scientific community, researching cancer and serving on the boards of various medical and scientific organizations. He died on 10 March 2001, at the age of 89'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
  • In 1961, The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 50 megatons of yield, it remains the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.
    From Wikipedia: 'Tsar Bomba (Russian "Tsar-bomb") was the Western nickname for the Soviet RDS-220 hydrogen bomb (code name Vanya), the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. Its test on October 30, 1961, remains the most powerful human-made explosion in history. It was also referred to as Kuzkina mat (Russian: "Kuzma's mother"), possibly referring to Nikita Khrushchev's promise to show the United States a Kuzkina mat (an idiom roughly translating to "We'll show you!") at a 1960 session of United Nations General Assembly. Developed by the Soviet Union, the bomb had a yield of 50 megaton TNT (210 PJ). In theory, the bomb had a maximum yield of 100 megatons if it were to have included a U-238 tamper, but because only one bomb was built, this theory was never demonstrated. The single bomb was detonated at the Sukhoy Nos cape of Severny Island, part of Novaya Zemlya.

    The remaining bomb casings are located at the Russian Atomic Weapon Museum in Sarov and the Museum of Nuclear Weapons, All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics, at Snezhinsk. Neither of these casings has the same antenna configuration as the device that was tested'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1964, The song 'Pretty Woman' by Roy Orbison, reaches gold, selling 500,000 copies.
    From Wikipedia: '"Oh, Pretty Woman" is a song recorded by Roy Orbison, written by Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 26, 1964 - the second single by Orbison to top the US charts. It was also Orbison's third single to top the UK Singles Chart (for a total of three weeks). The record ultimately sold seven million copies and marked the high point in Orbison's career. Within months of its release, in October 1964, the single was certified gold by the RIAA. At the year's end, Billboard ranked it the number four song of 1964.

    The lyrics tell the story of a man who sees a pretty woman walking by. He yearns for her and wonders if, as beautiful as she is, she might be lonely like he is. At the last minute, she turns back and joins him. The title was inspired by Orbison's wife, Claudette, interrupting a conversation to announce she was going out. When Orbison asked if she had enough cash, his co-writer Bill Dees interjected, "A pretty woman never needs any money." Orbison's recording of the song, which used four guitars, was produced by Fred Foster.

    Orbison posthumously won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his live recording of "Pretty Woman" on his HBO television special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. In 1999, the song was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and was named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #222 on their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." On May 14, 2008, The Library of Congress selected the song for preservation in the National Recording Registry and in 2012, Texas Music magazine ranked the song No. 7 on its list of "The Top 50 Classic Texas Songs"'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1990, Britain and France connect the 'Chunnel' under the English Channel via a 2 inch pilot hole.
    From Wikipedia: 'The Channel Tunnel (French: Le tunnel sous la Manche; also nicknamed and shortened to Chunnel) is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 ft) deep. At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi) and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph).

    The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles—the largest such transport in the world—and international freight trains. The tunnel connects end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines.

    Ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel. An early attempt at building a Channel Tunnel was made in the late 19th century, on the English side "in the hope of forcing the hand of the English Government". The eventual successful project, organised by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. At £4.65 billion, the project came in 80% over its predicted budget. Since its construction, the tunnel has faced several problems. Both fires and cold weather have disrupted its operation. Illegal immigrants have attempted to use the tunnel to enter the UK, causing a minor diplomatic disagreement over the siting of the refugee camp at Sangatte, which was eventually closed in 2002.

    A two-inch (50-mm) diameter pilot hole allowed the service tunnel to break through without ceremony on 30 October 1990. On 1 December 1990, Englishman Graham Fagg and Frenchman Phillippe Cozette broke through the service tunnel with the media watching. Eurotunnel completed the tunnel on time, and it was officially opened, one year later than originally planned, by Queen Elizabeth II and the French president, François Mitterrand, in a ceremony held in Calais on 6 May 1994. The Queen travelled through the tunnel to Calais on a Eurostar train, which stopped nose to nose with the train that carried President Mitterrand from Paris. Following the ceremony President Mitterrand and the Queen travelled on Le Shuttle to a similar ceremony in Folkestone. A full public service did not start for several months.

    The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), now called High Speed 1, runs 69 miles (111 km) from St Pancras railway station in London to the tunnel portal at Folkestone in Kent. It cost £5.8 billion. On 16 September 2003 the prime minister, Tony Blair, opened the first section of High Speed 1, from Folkestone to north Kent. On 6 November 2007 the Queen officially opened High Speed 1 and St Pancras International station, replacing the original slower link to Waterloo International railway station. High Speed 1 trains travel at up to 300 km/h (186 mph), the journey from London to Paris taking 2 hours 15 minutes, to Brussels 1 hour 51 minutes.

    In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers elected the tunnel as one of the seven modern Wonders of the World. In 1995, the American magazine Popular Mechanics published the results'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More \
  II.
Henry's Heads Up! - previous days social media post (updated daily)

Tomorrow's food holiday will be ' National Candy Corn Day'. It's been around, with no change in look or ingredients, since 1880. One of my favorites.

Tomorrow is 'Speak Up For Service Day'. It's emphasis is to get youth involved in community service.

Another day tomorrow, may sound a little strange. It will be 'Create A Great Funeral Day'. The idea is to let your loved ones know of any special arrangements that you might want at your funeral. You won't know about it, but it may take some of the overwhelming grief away from them, knowing that they have fulfilled your wishes.

Tomorrow, one night before Halloween, you can prepare your nerves for the unexpected evils of the night, by doing a sort of walk thru. This one is easy, but may be just as frightening. Tomorrow is ''Haunted Refrigerator Night'. You must brave-up, and look deep, deep into the bowels of the beast. If it was white once and is now green, throw it away. If it was bald once and is now fuzzy, throw it away. If it talks, run like heck.

Ambrose Bierce once said 'Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent.'. We may yet misspend today or tomorrow,. Let us see if we can get a heads-up from October 30 in the past, so we might better prevent mishaps in the now or the future. Someone else once said 'Forewarned is forearmed.'

In 1938, The radio presentation of 'The War of the Worlds', produced by Orson Welles, caused anxiety and in some cases hysteria among it's listeners. You can find the original broadcast all over the Internet. BTW, if you saw the 2005 movie of the same name, you did not see War of the Worlds. The 'closest' movie, to the book, is the 1953 version. Even it, throws in a love interest, that is not in the book. Better yet read the book. It is available at several web sites and it is free, since it is in the public domain, for US residents. (www.Gutenberg.org, www.manybooks.net, and an audio version at www.libribix.org)

In 1960, The first successful kidney transplant, by Michael Woodruff, is performed.

In 1964, The song 'Pretty Woman' by Roy Orbison, reaches gold, selling 500,000 copies. The current figure is about 7 million.

In 1990, - Britain and France connect the 'Chunnel' under the English Channel via a 2 inch pilot hole. On December 1, the hole is big enough for a man from each side to meet and shake hands. It was officially opened on May 6 1994.

 III.
Top Song & Movie 50 years ago today

No. 1 song

  • Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann: More
    'Oh, Pretty Woman' has been displaced by 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy', which will hold the no. 1 spot until October 31 2014, when 'We'll Sing in the Sunshine', takes over.

Top movie

  • Mary Poppins (regains the box office) More
    Having displaced 'Send Me No Flowers', it will be there until the weekend box office of November 1 1964 when, 'The Naked Kiss', takes over.
  IV.
Today in the Past (reference sites): October 30
   V.
This month October 2014 (updated once a month - last updated - October 1 2014)

Food: Apple Month, Rhubarb Month, Sausage Month, Spinach Lovers Month, National Chili Month, National Popcorn Poppin' Month, National Seafood Month Pear and Pineapple Month, , Vegetarian Month
Other
AIDS Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Bullying Prevention Month, Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Class Reunion Month, Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Dyslexia Awareness Month, National Book Month, National Dental Hygiene Month, National Down Syndrome Month, National Spina Bifida Awareness Month, National Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Awareness Month


October is:

October origin (from Wikipedia): October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old Roman calendar, October retained its name (from the Greek meaning 'eight') after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally been created by the Romans. "
October is commonly associated with the season of autumn in the Northern hemisphere and spring in the Southern hemisphere, where it is the seasonal equivalent to April in the Northern hemisphere and vice versa.

October at Wikipedia: More

  VI.
TV fifty years ago 1964 (updated yearly - last updated Jan. 1 2014)

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

 VII.
Best selling books fifty years ago (updated yearly - last updated Jan. 1 2014)

Best selling books of 1964 More

VIII.
Fun (Last link added October 1 2014, but content on each site may change daily)
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
  • NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
  • Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
  • NASA TV: (video feed) More
    NASA TV schedule: More
  • Public Domain eBook Links

    Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

  • Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
    Home page: More
    RSS: More
  • Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
    Home page: More
    RSS: More
  • Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
    Home page: More
    RSS: More
  • Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
    Home page: More
    RSS: More
  • Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
    Home page: More
    RSS: More
  IX.
Other Holiday Sites (Last link added October 1 2014. Link content changes yearly)

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.


US Government Holidays

  • 2014 Postal Holidays More
  • 2014 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

  • List of holidays by country More
  • Holidays and Observances around the World More
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