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Today is October 17 2016

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   I.
Today's Holidays and Historical Events (updated daily)
Today's Food Holiday
  • National Pasta Day: More
    - From Wikipedia (Pasta): 'Pasta (Italian pronunciation: ) is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, with the first reference dating to 1154 in Sicily. It is also commonly used to refer to the variety of pasta dishes. Typically, pasta is a noodle made from an unleavened dough of a durum wheat flour mixed with water or eggs and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. It can also be made with flour from other cereals or grains. Pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca).

    Most dried pasta is commercially produced via an extrusion process. Fresh pasta was traditionally produced by hand, sometimes with the aid of simple machines, but today many varieties of fresh pasta are also commercially produced by large-scale machines, and the products are widely available in supermarkets.

    Both dried and fresh pasta come in a number of shapes and varieties, with 310 specific forms known variably by over 1300 names having been documented. In Italy the names of specific pasta shapes or types often vary with locale. For example, the form cavatelli is known by 28 different names depending on region and town. Common forms of pasta include long shapes, short shapes, tubes, flat shapes and sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed, and specialty or decorative shapes.

    As a category in Italian cuisine, both fresh and dried pastas are classically used in one of three kinds of prepared dishes. As pasta asciutta (or pastasciutta) cooked pasta is plated and served with a complementary sauce or condiment. A second classification of pasta dishes is pasta in brodo in which the pasta is part of a soup-type dish. A third category is pasta al forno in which the pasta incorporated into a dish that is subsequently baked.

    Pasta is generally a simple dish, but comes in many varieties due to its versatility. Some pasta dishes are served as a first course in Italy because the portion sizes are small and simple. Pasta is also prepared in light lunches, such as salads or large portion sizes for dinner. It can be prepared by hand or food processor and served hot or cold. Pasta sauces vary in taste, color and texture. When choosing which type of pasta and sauce to serve together, there is a general rule regarding compatibility. Simple sauces like pesto are ideal for long and thin strands of pasta while tomato sauce combines well with thicker pastas. Thicker and chunkier sauces have the better ability to cling onto the holes and cuts of short, tubular, twisted pastas. The extra sauce left on the plate after all of the pasta is eaten is often mopped up with a piece of bread'.
Other celebrations/observances today:
  • National Mulligan Day: More
    - From Wikipedia (Mulligan (games)): 'A mulligan is a second chance to perform an action, usually after the first chance went wrong through bad luck or a blunder. Its best-known meaning is in golf, whereby a player is informally allowed to replay a stroke, even though this is against the formal rules of golf. The term has also been applied to other sports and games, and to other fields generally. The origin of the term is unclear.

    There are many theories about the origin of the term. The United States Golf Association (USGA) cites three stories explaining that the term derived from the name of a Canadian golfer, David Mulligan, one time manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, who played at the Country Club of Montreal golf course, in Saint-Lambert near Montreal during the 1920s. One version has it that one day after hitting a poor tee shot, Mulligan re-teed and shot again. He called it a "correction shot," but his friends thought it more fitting to name the practice after him. David Mulligan then brought the concept from Canada to the famous U.S. golf club Winged Foot. A second version has the extra shot given to Mulligan due to his being jumpy and shaky after a difficult drive over the Victoria Bridge to the course. The final version of the David Mulligan story gives him an extra shot after having overslept, rushing to get ready to make the tee time.

    An alternative, later, etymology credits a different man named Mulligan – John A. "Buddy" Mulligan, a locker room attendant at Essex Fells Country Club in New Jersey. In the 1930s, he would finish cleaning the locker room and, if no other members appeared, play a round with the assistant pro, Dave O'Connell, and a reporter and member, Des Sullivan, who was later golf editor for the Newark Evening News. One day his first shot was bad and he beseeched O'Connell and Sullivan to allow another shot since they "had been practicing all morning" and he had not. Once they agreed and the round finished, Mulligan proudly exclaimed to the members in his locker room for months how he had gotten an extra shot from the duo. The members loved it and soon began giving themselves "Mulligans" in his honor. Sullivan began using the term in his golf articles in the Newark Evening News. The Today Show TV program ran this story around 2005 and have it in their archives. Mulligan was located in the 1970s at the Lyons, New Jersey VA Hospital, helping with their golf facility. Des Sullivan, now semi-retired, wrote of this find in his July 22, 1970 column, in the Myrtle Beach Sun News'.Black Poetry Day
  • Black Poetry Day: More
    Celebrating the 1711 birth date of Jupiter Hammon, the first African-American poet to publish his own verse.
    - From Wikipedia (Jupiter Hammon): 'Jupiter Hammon (October 17, 1711 – before 1806) was a black poet who in 1761 became the first African-American writer to be published in the present-day United States. Additional poems and sermons were also published. Born into slavery, Hammon was never emancipated. He was living in 1790 at the age of 79, and died by 1806. A devout Christian, he is considered one of the founders of African-American literature'.
  • National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day: More
    Third Monday in October. By The Personal Computer Museum,Brantford, Ontario Canada. A reminder to take time to clean up all those unneeded icons, files and such.
  • Wear Something Gaudy Day : More
    Created as a salute to the 70's TV show character Larry Dallas on Three's Company.
  • Spreadsheet Day: More
    Birthday of the first computer spreadsheet VisiCalc created in 1979.
    - From Wikipedia (VisiCalc): 'VisiCalc (for "visible calculator") was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later. VisiCalc is considered the Apple II's killer app. It sold over 700,000 copies in six years, and as many as 1 million copies over its history'.
  • Boss's Day: More
    October 16 uless on a weekend day. In the United States and Canada.
    - From Wikipedia (Boss's Day): 'Patricia Bays Haroski registered "National Boss' Day" with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1958. She was working as a secretary for State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois, at the time and chose October 16, which was her father's birthday. She was working for her father at the time. The purpose of designating a special day in the workplace is to show the appreciation for her bosses she thought they deserved. This was also a strategy to attempt to improve intra-office relationships between managers and their employees. Haroski believed that young employees sometimes did not understand the hard work and dedication that their supervisors put into their work and the challenges they faced. Four years later, in 1962, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner backed Haroski's registration and officially proclaimed the day.

    Hallmark Cards did not offer a Boss's Day card for sale until 1979. It increased the size of its National Boss's Day line by 28 percent in 2007. ????celebration in recent years and now is observed in countries such as Australia, India, Ireland, and Egypt. Note that Egypt celebrates an equivalent holiday on 10 December every year.

    There has been increasing pushback on the "celebration" of Boss's Day. The general consensus of those opposing is that employees should not feel obligated to purchase gifts for their employers who have more power and generally make more money, and that any gift-giving in the workplace should flow downward.

    A counter-movement has been evidenced by the date being unofficially re-christened "National Toast Day", with employees being encouraged to bring personal toasters, pop-tarts, bagels, wheat-bread or anything else that can be toasted 'potluck-style' into the office to share and enjoy'.
Awareness / Observance Days on: October 17
  • Health
    • National Health Education Week: More
      October 17-21 in Australia.
    • National Infection Control Week: More
      October 17-21 in Canada.
    • Sock it to Suicide: More
      October 17-23 in Australia.
  • Other
    • International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: More
      A U.N. observance day.
      - From Wikipedia (International Day for the Eradication of Poverty): 'The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated every year on October 17 throughout the world. It was officially recognised by the United Nations, but the first commemoration of the event took place in Paris, France, in 1987 when 100,000 people gathered on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza at the Trocadéro to honour victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear. This call was made by Joseph Wresinski (1917–1988) founder of the International Movement ATD Fourth World'.
    • National School Safety Week: More
      October 17-23 in Canada.
Events in the past on: October 17
  • In 1835, At the Provisional Government of Texas, a proposed resolution was made to establish the law enforcement body known as the Texas Rangers.
    From Wikipedia: 'The historical roots of today's Texas Ranger Division trace back to the first days of Anglo-American settlement of what is today the State of Texas, when it was part of the Province of Coahuila y Tejas belonging to the newly independent country of Mexico. The unique characteristics that the Rangers adopted during the force's formative years and that give the division its heritage today—characteristics for which the Texas Rangers would become world-renowned—have been accounted for by the nature of the Rangers' duties, which was to protect a thinly populated frontier against protracted hostilities, first with Plains Indian tribes, and after the Texas Revolution, hostilities with Mexico.

    Texas historian T.R. Fehrenbach explains the Rangers' uniqueness:

    The Rangers were to be described many times, at first as state troops, later as a police force or constabulary. During most of the 19th century they were neither. They were apart from the regular army, the militia or national guard, and were never a true police force. They were instead one of the most colorful, efficient, and deadly band of irregular partisans on the side of law and order the world has seen. They were called into being by the needs of a war frontier, by a society that could not afford a regular army. Texans passed in and out of the Rangers regularly; in the early years a very high proportion of all west Texans served from time to time. If they bore certain similarities to Mamelukes and Cossacks, they were never quite the same. By the early 1820s, the Mexican War of Independence had subsided, and some 600 to 700 families had settled in Texas—most of them from the United States. Because there was no regular army to protect the citizens against attacks by native tribes and bandits, in 1823, Stephen F. Austin organized small, informal armed groups whose duties required them to range over the countryside, and who thus came to be known as "rangers". Around August 4, 1823, Austin wrote that he would "... employ ten men ... to act as rangers for the common defense ... the wages I will give said ten men is fifteen dollars a month payable in property ..." John Jackson Tumlinson Sr., the first alcalde of the Colorado district, is considered by many historians of the Texas Rangers to be the first killed in the line of duty. While there is some discussion as to when Austin actually employed men as "rangers", Texas Ranger lore dates the anniversary year of their organization to this event.

    However, the Texas Rangers were not formally constituted until 1835. Austin returned to Texas after having been imprisoned in Mexico City and helped organize a council to govern the group. On October 17, at a consultation of the Provisional Government of Texas, Daniel Parker proposed a resolution to establish the Texas Rangers. He proposed creating three companies that would total some 60 men and would be known by "uniforms" consisting of a light duster (clothing) and an identification badge made from a Mexican Peso. They were instituted by Texan lawmakers on November 24. On November 28, 1835 Robert McAlpin Williamson was chosen to be the first Major of the Texas Rangers. Within two years the Rangers grew to more than 300 men.

    In their early days, Rangers performed tasks of protecting the Texas Frontier against Indian attacks on the settlers. During the Texas Revolution, they served mainly as scouts, spies, couriers, and guides for the settlers fleeing before the Mexican Army and performed rear guard during the Runaway Scrape and general support duties. These minor roles continued after independence, when the region became the Republic of Texas under President Sam Houston. Houston, who had lived with the Cherokee for many years (and who had taken a Cherokee wife), favored peaceful coexistence with Indians, a policy that left little space for a force with the Rangers' characteristics.

    This situation changed radically when Mirabeau B. Lamar became president of the Republic of Texas in December 1838. Lamar had participated in skirmishes with the Cherokee in his home state of Georgia; like most Texians, he had not forgotten the support the Cherokee had given the Mexicans at the Cordova Rebellion against the Republic. He favored the eradication of Indians in Texas—a view that he shared with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Thomas Rusk. Lamar saw in the Rangers the perfect tool for the task, and he obtained permission from the Texas Legislature to raise a force of 56 Rangers, along with other volunteer companies. During the following three years, he engaged the Rangers in a war against the Cherokee and the Comanche and succeeded in weakening their territorial control'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
    From Wikipedia: 'At the turn of the 20th century, Marconi began investigating the means to signal completely across the Atlantic in order to compete with the transatlantic telegraph cables. Marconi established a wireless transmitting station at Marconi House,

    Rosslare Strand, Co. Wexford in 1901 to act as a link between Poldhu in Cornwall, England and Clifden in Co. Galway, Ireland. He soon made the announcement that the message was received at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland (now part of Canada) on 12 December 1901, using a 500-foot (150 m) kite-supported antenna for reception—signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at Poldhu, Cornwall. The distance between the two points was about 2,200 miles (3,500 km). It was heralded as a great scientific advance, yet there also was—and continues to be—considerable skepticism about this claim. The exact wavelength used is not known, but it is fairly reliably determined to have been in the neighborhood of 350 meters (frequency ˜850 kHz). The tests took place at a time of day during which the entire transatlantic path was in daylight. We now know (although Marconi did not know then) that this was the worst possible choice. At this medium wavelength, long distance transmission in the daytime is not possible because of heavy absorption of the skywave in the ionosphere. It was not a blind test; Marconi knew in advance to listen for a repetitive signal of three clicks, signifying the Morse code letter S. The clicks were reported to have been heard faintly and sporadically. There was no independent confirmation of the reported reception, and the transmissions were difficult to distinguish from atmospheric noise. (A detailed technical review of Marconi's early transatlantic work appears in John S. Belrose's work of 1995.) The Poldhu transmitter was a two-stage circuit.

    Marconi began to build high-powered stations on both sides of the Atlantic to communicate with ships at sea, in competition with other inventors. In 1904, a commercial service was established to transmit nightly news summaries to subscribing ships, which could incorporate them into their on-board newspapers. A regular transatlantic radio-telegraph service was finally begun on 17 October 1907 between Clifden Ireland and Glace Bay, but even after this the company struggled for many years to provide reliable communication to others'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1919, RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.
    From Wikipedia: 'The incorporation of the assets of Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (including David Sarnoff), the Pan-American Telegraph Company, and those already controlled by the United States Navy led to a new publicly held company formed by General Electric (which owned a controlling interest) on October 17, 1919. The following cooperation among RCA, General Electric, the United Fruit Company, the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) brought about innovations in high-power radio technology, and also the founding of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the US. The Army and the Navy granted RCA the former American Marconi radio terminals that had been confiscated during the War. Admiral Bullard received a seat on the Board of Directors of RCA for his efforts in establishing RCA. The result was federally-created monopolies in radio for GE and the Westinghouse Corporation and in telephone systems for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1939, The movie 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur, is released.
    From Wikipedia: 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film, starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur, about a newly appointed United States Senator who fights against a corrupt political system. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was controversial when it was released, but also successful at the box office, and made Stewart a major movie star. The film features a bevy of well-known supporting actors and actresses, among them Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell and Beulah Bondi.

    Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning for Best Original Story. Considered one of the greatest films of all time, in 1989, the Library of Congress added the movie to the United States National Film Registry, for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1956, The movie 'Around the World in 80 Days', based on the book by Jules Verne, starring David Nivon and Cantinflas premieres in New York.
    From Wikipedia: 'Around the World in 80 Days (sometimes spelled as Around the World in Eighty Days) is a 1956 American epic science fiction-adventure film starring David Niven and Cantinflas, produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists.

    The epic picture was directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Mike Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James Poe, John Farrow, and S. J. Perelman based on the classic novel of the same name by Jules Verne. The music score was composed by Victor Young, and the Todd-AO 70 mm cinematography (shot in Technicolor) was by Lionel Lindon. The film's seven-minute-long animated title sequence, shown at the end of the film, was created by award-winning designer Saul Bass.

    The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1961, The New York Museum of Modern Art hangs Henri Matisse's 'Le Bateau' upside-down It wasn't corrected until December 3rd.
    From Wikipedia: 'Le Bateau ("The Boat") is a paper-cut from 1953 by Henri Matisse. The picture is composed from pieces of paper cut out of sheets painted with gouache, and was created during the last years of Matisse's life.

    Le Bateau caused a minor stir when the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which housed it, hung the work upside-down for 47 days in 1961 until Genevieve Habert, a stockbroker, noticed the mistake and notified a guard. Habert later informed the New York Times who in turn notified Monroe Wheeler, the Museum's art director. As a result, the artwork was rehung properly.

    The museum currently houses the piece in the "Final Works of Henri Matisse" exhibition'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
  • In 1988, The song 'Handle With Care' the, Traveling Wilbury's is their first release. The group starred Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 2006, The United States population reaches 300 million.
    From Wikipedia: 'For the first time since 1940, the 2010 Census is a short-form-only census, as the decennial long form has been replaced by the American Community Survey. This was the first census that recorded a population exceeding 300 million. Because of the 72-year rule, this census will be available for public inspection on April 1, 2082'.
    From Wikipedia: '"Handle with Care" is the first track from the Traveling Wilburys 1988 album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, and the group's most successful single. Writing credits are shared by all five band members, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan.

    The single reached #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, #21 on the UK singles chart and #3 on the ARIA Chart.

    The song received a highly positive retrospective review from Allmusic journalist Matthew Greenwald, who described the song as "one of the most memorable records of the 1980s." Greenwald wrote: "Musically, the song is built around a descending, folk-rock chord pattern and some fine major-key chorus movements. George Harrison handles the verses, and there are also two excellent bridges featuring Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. Orbison's section capitalizes on his awesome, operatic vocal pipes, and the effect is wonderful." The opening chords are reminiscent of Jeff Lynne's "10538 Overture", the ELO single from 1972'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
  II.
Henry's Heads Up! - previous days social media post (updated daily)

<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):


* 'National Pasta Day'. - From Wikipedia (Pasta): 'Pasta (Italian pronunciation: ) is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, with the first reference dating to 1154 in Sicily. It is also commonly used to refer to the variety of pasta dishes. Typically, pasta is a noodle made from an unleavened dough of a durum wheat flour mixed with water or eggs and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. It can also be made with flour from other cereals or grains. Pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca).

Most dried pasta is commercially produced via an extrusion process. Fresh pasta was traditionally produced by hand, sometimes with the aid of simple machines, but today many varieties of fresh pasta are also commercially produced by large-scale machines, and the products are widely available in supermarkets.

Both dried and fresh pasta come in a number of shapes and varieties, with 310 specific forms known variably by over 1300 names having been documented. In Italy the names of specific pasta shapes or types often vary with locale. For example, the form cavatelli is known by 28 different names depending on region and town. Common forms of pasta include long shapes, short shapes, tubes, flat shapes and sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed, and specialty or decorative shapes.

As a category in Italian cuisine, both fresh and dried pastas are classically used in one of three kinds of prepared dishes. As pasta asciutta (or pastasciutta) cooked pasta is plated and served with a complementary sauce or condiment. A second classification of pasta dishes is pasta in brodo in which the pasta is part of a soup-type dish. A third category is pasta al forno in which the pasta incorporated into a dish that is subsequently baked.

Pasta is generally a simple dish, but comes in many varieties due to its versatility. Some pasta dishes are served as a first course in Italy because the portion sizes are small and simple. Pasta is also prepared in light lunches, such as salads or large portion sizes for dinner. It can be prepared by hand or food processor and served hot or cold. Pasta sauces vary in taste, color and texture. When choosing which type of pasta and sauce to serve together, there is a general rule regarding compatibility. Simple sauces like pesto are ideal for long and thin strands of pasta while tomato sauce combines well with thicker pastas. Thicker and chunkier sauces have the better ability to cling onto the holes and cuts of short, tubular, twisted pastas. The extra sauce left on the plate after all of the pasta is eaten is often mopped up with a piece of bread'.
[The Hankster says] Yes, once again I will need to have some of each kind, as not to show favoritism. An easy job and I love to do it.


<> Other holidays / celebrations


* 'National Mulligan Day'. - From Wikipedia (Mulligan (games)): 'A mulligan is a second chance to perform an action, usually after the first chance went wrong through bad luck or a blunder. Its best-known meaning is in golf, whereby a player is informally allowed to replay a stroke, even though this is against the formal rules of golf. The term has also been applied to other sports and games, and to other fields generally. The origin of the term is unclear.

There are many theories about the origin of the term. The United States Golf Association (USGA) cites three stories explaining that the term derived from the name of a Canadian golfer, David Mulligan, one time manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, who played at the Country Club of Montreal golf course, in Saint-Lambert near Montreal during the 1920s. One version has it that one day after hitting a poor tee shot, Mulligan re-teed and shot again. He called it a correction shot, but his friends thought it more fitting to name the practice after him. David Mulligan then brought the concept from Canada to the famous U.S. golf club Winged Foot. A second version has the extra shot given to Mulligan due to his being jumpy and shaky after a difficult drive over the Victoria Bridge to the course. The final version of the David Mulligan story gives him an extra shot after having overslept, rushing to get ready to make the tee time.

An alternative, later, etymology credits a different man named Mulligan – John A. Buddy Mulligan, a locker room attendant at Essex Fells Country Club in New Jersey. In the 1930s, he would finish cleaning the locker room and, if no other members appeared, play a round with the assistant pro, Dave O'Connell, and a reporter and member, Des Sullivan, who was later golf editor for the Newark Evening News. One day his first shot was bad and he beseeched O'Connell and Sullivan to allow another shot since they had been practicing all morning and he had not. Once they agreed and the round finished, Mulligan proudly exclaimed to the members in his locker room for months how he had gotten an extra shot from the duo. The members loved it and soon began giving themselves Mulligans in his honor. Sullivan began using the term in his golf articles in the Newark Evening News. The Today Show TV program ran this story around 2005 and have it in their archives. Mulligan was located in the 1970s at the Lyons, New Jersey VA Hospital, helping with their golf facility. Des Sullivan, now semi-retired, wrote of this find in his July 22, 1970 column, in the Myrtle Beach Sun News'.
[The Hankster says] If anyone notices a spilling error anywhere, I declare a Mulligan.


* 'Black Poetry Day'. Celebrating the 1711 birth date of Jupiter Hammon, the first African-American poet to publish his own verse. - From Wikipedia (Jupiter Hammon): 'Jupiter Hammon (October 17, 1711 – before 1806) was a black poet who in 1761 became the first African-American writer to be published in the present-day United States. Additional poems and sermons were also published. Born into slavery, Hammon was never emancipated. He was living in 1790 at the age of 79, and died by 1806. A devout Christian, he is considered one of the founders of African-American literature'.


* 'National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day'. Third Monday in October. By The Personal Computer Museum,Brantford, Ontario Canada. A reminder to take time to clean up all those unneeded icons, files and such.
[The Hankster says] I will do it virtually from my easy chair.


* 'Wear Something Gaudy Day'. Created as a salute to the 70's TV show character Larry Dallas on Three's Company.
[The Hankster says] Cool, this is my kind of a Get Out of Fashion Free day.


* 'Spreadsheet Day'. Birthday of the first computer spreadsheet VisiCalc, created in 1979. - From Wikipedia (VisiCalc): 'VisiCalc (for visible calculator) was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later. VisiCalc is considered the Apple II's killer app. It sold over 700,000 copies in six years, and as many as 1 million copies over its history'.


* 'Boss's Day'. October 16 uless on a weekend day. In the United States and Canada. - From Wikipedia (Boss's Day): 'Patricia Bays Haroski registered National Boss' Day with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1958. She was working as a secretary for State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois, at the time and chose October 16, which was her father's birthday. She was working for her father at the time. The purpose of designating a special day in the workplace is to show the appreciation for her bosses she thought they deserved. This was also a strategy to attempt to improve intra-office relationships between managers and their employees. Haroski believed that young employees sometimes did not understand the hard work and dedication that their supervisors put into their work and the challenges they faced. Four years later, in 1962, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner backed Haroski's registration and officially proclaimed the day.

Hallmark Cards did not offer a Boss's Day card for sale until 1979. It increased the size of its National Boss's Day line by 28 percent in 2007. ????celebration in recent years and now is observed in countries such as Australia, India, Ireland, and Egypt. Note that Egypt celebrates an equivalent holiday on 10 December every year.

There has been increasing pushback on the celebration of Boss's Day. The general consensus of those opposing is that employees should not feel obligated to purchase gifts for their employers who have more power and generally make more money, and that any gift-giving in the workplace should flow downward.

A counter-movement has been evidenced by the date being unofficially re-christened National Toast Day, with employees being encouraged to bring personal toasters, pop-tarts, bagels, wheat-bread or anything else that can be toasted 'potluck-style' into the office to share and enjoy'.
[The Hankster says] Yes, thank you for noticing. I did have this posted incorrectly yesterday.


<> Awareness / Observances:

o Health
* 'National Health Education Week'. October 17-21 in Australia.


* 'National Infection Control Week'. October 17-21 in Canada.


* 'Sock it to Suicide'. October 17-23 in Australia.

o Other:
* 'International Day for the Eradication of Poverty'. A U.N. observance day. - From Wikipedia (International Day for the Eradication of Poverty): 'The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated every year on October 17 throughout the world. It was officially recognised by the United Nations, but the first commemoration of the event took place in Paris, France, in 1987 when 100,000 people gathered on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza at the Trocadéro to honour victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear. This call was made by Joseph Wresinski (1917–1988) founder of the International Movement ATD Fourth World'.


* 'National School Safety Week'. October 17-23 in Canada.


<> Historical events on October 17


* 'In 1835, At the Provisional Government of Texas, a proposed resolution was made to establish the law enforcement body known as the Texas Rangers. .- From Wikipedia: 'The historical roots of today's Texas Ranger Division trace back to the first days of Anglo-American settlement of what is today the State of Texas, when it was part of the Province of Coahuila y Tejas belonging to the newly independent country of Mexico. The unique characteristics that the Rangers adopted during the force's formative years and that give the division its heritage today—characteristics for which the Texas Rangers would become world-renowned—have been accounted for by the nature of the Rangers' duties, which was to protect a thinly populated frontier against protracted hostilities, first with Plains Indian tribes, and after the Texas Revolution, hostilities with Mexico.

Texas historian T.R. Fehrenbach explains the Rangers' uniqueness:

The Rangers were to be described many times, at first as state troops, later as a police force or constabulary. During most of the 19th century they were neither. They were apart from the regular army, the militia or national guard, and were never a true police force. They were instead one of the most colorful, efficient, and deadly band of irregular partisans on the side of law and order the world has seen. They were called into being by the needs of a war frontier, by a society that could not afford a regular army. Texans passed in and out of the Rangers regularly in the early years a very high proportion of all west Texans served from time to time. If they bore certain similarities to Mamelukes and Cossacks, they were never quite the same. By the early 1820s, the Mexican War of Independence had subsided, and some 600 to 700 families had settled in Texas—most of them from the United States. Because there was no regular army to protect the citizens against attacks by native tribes and bandits, in 1823, Stephen F. Austin organized small, informal armed groups whose duties required them to range over the countryside, and who thus came to be known as rangers Around August 4, 1823, Austin wrote that he would .. employ ten men ... to act as rangers for the common defense ... the wages I will give said ten men is fifteen dollars a month payable in property ... John Jackson Tumlinson Sr., the first alcalde of the Colorado district, is considered by many historians of the Texas Rangers to be the first killed in the line of duty. While there is some discussion as to when Austin actually employed men as rangers, Texas Ranger lore dates the anniversary year of their organization to this event.

However, the Texas Rangers were not formally constituted until 1835. Austin returned to Texas after having been imprisoned in Mexico City and helped organize a council to govern the group. On October 17, at a consultation of the Provisional Government of Texas, Daniel Parker proposed a resolution to establish the Texas Rangers. He proposed creating three companies that would total some 60 men and would be known by uniforms consisting of a light duster (clothing) and an identification badge made from a Mexican Peso. They were instituted by Texan lawmakers on November 24. On November 28, 1835 Robert McAlpin Williamson was chosen to be the first Major of the Texas Rangers. Within two years the Rangers grew to more than 300 men.

In their early days, Rangers performed tasks of protecting the Texas Frontier against Indian attacks on the settlers. During the Texas Revolution, they served mainly as scouts, spies, couriers, and guides for the settlers fleeing before the Mexican Army and performed rear guard during the Runaway Scrape and general support duties. These minor roles continued after independence, when the region became the Republic of Texas under President Sam Houston. Houston, who had lived with the Cherokee for many years (and who had taken a Cherokee wife), favored peaceful coexistence with Indians, a policy that left little space for a force with the Rangers' characteristics.

This situation changed radically when Mirabeau B. Lamar became president of the Republic of Texas in December 1838. Lamar had participated in skirmishes with the Cherokee in his home state of Georgia like most Texians, he had not forgotten the support the Cherokee had given the Mexicans at the Cordova Rebellion against the Republic. He favored the eradication of Indians in Texas—a view that he shared with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Thomas Rusk. Lamar saw in the Rangers the perfect tool for the task, and he obtained permission from the Texas Legislature to raise a force of 56 Rangers, along with other volunteer companies. During the following three years, he engaged the Rangers in a war against the Cherokee and the Comanche and succeeded in weakening their territorial control'.


* 'In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland. . - From Wikipedia: 'At the turn of the 20th century, Marconi began investigating the means to signal completely across the Atlantic in order to compete with the transatlantic telegraph cables. Marconi established a wireless transmitting station at Marconi House,

Rosslare Strand, Co. Wexford in 1901 to act as a link between Poldhu in Cornwall, England and Clifden in Co. Galway, Ireland. He soon made the announcement that the message was received at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland (now part of Canada) on 12 December 1901, using a 500-foot (150 m) kite-supported antenna for reception—signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at Poldhu, Cornwall. The distance between the two points was about 2,200 miles (3,500 km). It was heralded as a great scientific advance, yet there also was—and continues to be—considerable skepticism about this claim. The exact wavelength used is not known, but it is fairly reliably determined to have been in the neighborhood of 350 meters (frequency ˜850 kHz). The tests took place at a time of day during which the entire transatlantic path was in daylight. We now know (although Marconi did not know then) that this was the worst possible choice. At this medium wavelength, long distance transmission in the daytime is not possible because of heavy absorption of the skywave in the ionosphere. It was not a blind test Marconi knew in advance to listen for a repetitive signal of three clicks, signifying the Morse code letter S. The clicks were reported to have been heard faintly and sporadically. There was no independent confirmation of the reported reception, and the transmissions were difficult to distinguish from atmospheric noise. (A detailed technical review of Marconi's early transatlantic work appears in John S. Belrose's work of 1995.) The Poldhu transmitter was a two-stage circuit.

Marconi began to build high-powered stations on both sides of the Atlantic to communicate with ships at sea, in competition with other inventors. In 1904, a commercial service was established to transmit nightly news summaries to subscribing ships, which could incorporate them into their on-board newspapers. A regular transatlantic radio-telegraph service was finally begun on 17 October 1907 between Clifden Ireland and Glace Bay, but even after this the company struggled for many years to provide reliable communication to others'.


* 'In 1919, RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America. . - From Wikipedia: 'The incorporation of the assets of Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (including David Sarnoff), the Pan-American Telegraph Company, and those already controlled by the United States Navy led to a new publicly held company formed by General Electric (which owned a controlling interest) on October 17, 1919. The following cooperation among RCA, General Electric, the United Fruit Company, the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) brought about innovations in high-power radio technology, and also the founding of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the US. The Army and the Navy granted RCA the former American Marconi radio terminals that had been confiscated during the War. Admiral Bullard received a seat on the Board of Directors of RCA for his efforts in establishing RCA. The result was federally-created monopolies in radio for GE and the Westinghouse Corporation and in telephone systems for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company'.


* 'In 1939, The movie 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur, is released. . - From Wikipedia: 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film, starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur, about a newly appointed United States Senator who fights against a corrupt political system. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was controversial when it was released, but also successful at the box office, and made Stewart a major movie star. The film features a bevy of well-known supporting actors and actresses, among them Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell and Beulah Bondi.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning for Best Original Story. Considered one of the greatest films of all time, in 1989, the Library of Congress added the movie to the United States National Film Registry, for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.


* 'In 1956, The movie 'Around the World in 80 Days', based on the book by Jules Verne, starring David Nivon and Cantinflas premieres in New York. . - From Wikipedia: 'Around the World in 80 Days (sometimes spelled as Around the World in Eighty Days) is a 1956 American epic science fiction-adventure film starring David Niven and Cantinflas, produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists.

The epic picture was directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Mike Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James Poe, John Farrow, and S. J. Perelman based on the classic novel of the same name by Jules Verne. The music score was composed by Victor Young, and the Todd-AO 70 mm cinematography (shot in Technicolor) was by Lionel Lindon. The film's seven-minute-long animated title sequence, shown at the end of the film, was created by award-winning designer Saul Bass.

The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture'.


* 'In 1961, The New York Museum of Modern Art hangs Henri Matisse's 'Le Bateau' upside-down It wasn't corrected until December 3rd. . - From Wikipedia: 'Le Bateau (The Boat) is a paper-cut from 1953 by Henri Matisse. The picture is composed from pieces of paper cut out of sheets painted with gouache, and was created during the last years of Matisse's life.

Le Bateau caused a minor stir when the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which housed it, hung the work upside-down for 47 days in 1961 until Genevieve Habert, a stockbroker, noticed the mistake and notified a guard. Habert later informed the New York Times who in turn notified Monroe Wheeler, the Museum's art director. As a result, the artwork was rehung properly.

The museum currently houses the piece in the Final Works of Henri Matisse exhibition'.


* 'In 1988, The song 'Handle With Care' the, Traveling Wilbury's is their first release. The group starred Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. .


* 'In 2006, The United States population reaches 300 million. . - From Wikipedia: 'For the first time since 1940, the 2010 Census is a short-form-only census, as the decennial long form has been replaced by the American Community Survey. This was the first census that recorded a population exceeding 300 million. Because of the 72-year rule, this census will be available for public inspection on April 1, 2082'. - From Wikipedia: 'Handle with Care is the first track from the Traveling Wilburys 1988 album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, and the group's most successful single. Writing credits are shared by all five band members, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan.

The single reached #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, #21 on the UK singles chart and #3 on the ARIA Chart.

The song received a highly positive retrospective review from Allmusic journalist Matthew Greenwald, who described the song as one of the most memorable records of the 1980s. Greenwald wrote: Musically, the song is built around a descending, folk-rock chord pattern and some fine major-key chorus movements. George Harrison handles the verses, and there are also two excellent bridges featuring Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. Orbison's section capitalizes on his awesome, operatic vocal pipes, and the effect is wonderful. The opening chords are reminiscent of Jeff Lynne's 10538 Overture, the ELO single from 1972'.

 III.
Top Song & Movie 50 years ago today (last updated Oct 16 2016 next Oct 22 2016

No. 1 song

  • Reach Out I'll Be There - The Four Tops
    - On YouTube: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    'Cherish' has been displaced by 'Reach Out I'll Be There', which will hold the no. 1 spot until Oct 22 1966, when '96 Tears - Question Mark and the Mysterians', takes over.- From Wikipedia: '"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a 1966 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s and is today considered The Tops' signature song. It was the number one song on the Rhythm and Blues charts for two weeks, and on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from October 15–22, 1966. It replaced "Cherish" by The Association, and was itself replaced by "96 Tears" by Question Mark and the Mysterians. Billboard ranked the record as the no. 4 song for 1966.

    Rolling Stone later ranked this version #206 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". This version is also currently ranked as the 56th best song of all time, as well as the #4 song of 1966, in an aggregation of critics' lists at Acclaimed Music.

    The track also reached no. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming Motown's second UK chart-topper after The Supremes hit no. 1 with "Baby Love" in late 1964. It had replaced Jim Reeves' "Distant Drums" at number one in October 1966 and stayed there for three weeks before being replaced by The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" in November'.

Top movie

  • Hawaii
    - At Wikipedia:  More
    - On IMDb: More
    - On YouTube (trailer): More
    Having displaced 'The Bible: In the Beginning', it will be there until the weekend box office of Oct 23 1966 when, 'Spinout', takes over.- From Wikipedia: 'Hawaii is a 1966 American drama film directed by George Roy Hill and based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student (Max von Sydow) who, accompanied by his new bride (Julie Andrews), becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands. It was filmed at Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and on the islands of Kauai and Oahu in Hawaii'.
  IV.
Today in the Past (reference sites): October 17
   V.
This month October 2016 (updated once a month - last updated - Oct 17 2016)

Monthly holiday / awareness days in October

Food
American Cheese Month
Apple Month
Corn Month
Go Hog Wild - Eat Country Ham
National Bake and Decorate Month
National Caramel Month
National Cookbook Month
National Popcorn Poppin' Month
National Pork Month
Pizza Month
Sausage Month
Spinach Lovers Month
Vegetarian Month

Health
AIDS Awareness Month
American Pharmacists Month
Antidepressant Death Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Bullying Prevention Month
World Blindness Awareness Month
Caffeine Addiction Recovery Month
Celiac Disease Awareness Month
Christmas Seal Campaign
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Down Syndrome Awareness Month
Dyslexia Awareness Month
Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month
Emotional Wellness Month
Eye Injury Prevention Month
Global ADHD Awareness Month
Global Diversity Awareness Month
Health Literacy Month
Home Eye Safety Month
Long Term Care Planning Month
National AIDS Awareness Month
National Audiology/Protect Your Hearing Month
National Critical Illness Awareness Month
National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month
National Dental Hygiene Month
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
National Depression Education and Awareness Month
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month
National Down Syndrome Month
National Liver Awareness Month
National Medical Librarian Month
National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month
National Orthodontic Health Month
National Physical Therapy Month
National Protect Your Hearing Month
National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
National Spina Bifida Awareness Month
National Stop Bullying Month
National Substance Abuse Prevention Month
Rett Syndrome Awareness Month
Organize Your Medical Information Month
Talk About Prescriptions Month
World Menopause Month

Animal and Pet
Adopt A Dog Month
Adopt A Shelter Dog Month
Bat Appreciation Month
National Animal Safety and Protection Month
Wishbones for Pets Month

Other
Celebrating The Bilingual Child Month
Children's Magazine Month
Class Reunion Month
Country Music Month
Employee Ownership Month
Energy Management is a Family Affair
Fair Trade Month
Financial Planning Month
German-American Heritage Month
Halloween Safety Month
Head Start Awareness Month
Italian-American Heritage Month
International Strategic Planning Month
International Walk To School Month
Intergeneration Month
Learn To Bowl Month
National Arts and Humanities Month
National Chili Month
National Crime Prevention Month
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
National Ergonomics Month
National Field Trip Month
National Kitchen and Bath Month
National Reading Group Month
National Roller Skating Month
National Stamp Collecting Month
National Work and Family Month
Photographer Appreciation Month
Polish American Heritage Month
Self-Promotion 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 1966 (updated yearly - last updated Jan. 1 2016)

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 2016)

Best selling books of 1966 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

  • 2016 Postal Holidays More
  • 2016 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

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