Thursday, October 31, 2013

On this Day in History - October 31 Martin Luther's 95 Theses Published

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Oct 31, 1517: Martin Luther posts 95 theses    

On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.  

In his theses, Luther condemned the excesses and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the papal practice of asking payment—called "indulgences"—for the forgiveness of sins. At the time, a Dominican priest named Johann Tetzel, commissioned by the Archbishop of Mainz and Pope Leo X, was in the midst of a major fundraising campaign in Germany to finance the renovation of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Though Prince Frederick III the Wise had banned the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg, many church members traveled to purchase them. When they returned, they showed the pardons they had bought to Luther, claiming they no longer had to repent for their sins.  

Luther's frustration with this practice led him to write the 95 Theses, which were quickly snapped up, translated from Latin into German and distributed widely. A copy made its way to Rome, and efforts began to convince Luther to change his tune. He refused to keep silent, however, and in 1521 Pope Leo X formally excommunicated Luther from the Catholic Church. That same year, Luther again refused to recant his writings before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Germany, who issued the famous Edict of Worms declaring Luther an outlaw and a heretic and giving permission for anyone to kill him without consequence. Protected by Prince Frederick, Luther began working on a German translation of the Bible, a task that took 10 years to complete.  

The term "Protestant" first appeared in 1529, when Charles V revoked a provision that allowed the ruler of each German state to choose whether they would enforce the Edict of Worms. A number of princes and other supporters of Luther issued a protest, declaring that their allegiance to God trumped their allegiance to the emperor. They became known to their opponents as Protestants; gradually this name came to apply to all who believed the Church should be reformed, even those outside Germany. By the time Luther died, of natural causes, in 1546, his revolutionary beliefs had formed the basis for the Protestant Reformation, which would over the next three centuries revolutionize Western civilization.     








Oct 31, 1963: Ed Sullivan witnesses Beatlemania firsthand, paving the way for the British Invasion

In the autumn of 1963, Beatlemania was a raging epidemic in Britain, and it was rapidly spreading across the European continent. But in the United States, where the likes of Bobby Vinton and Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs sat atop the pop charts, John, Paul, George and Ringo could have walked through Grand Central Terminal completely unnoticed. It wasn't Grand Central that the Beatles were trying to walk through on this day in 1963, however—it was Heathrow Airport, London, where they'd just returned from a hugely successful tour of Sweden. Also at Heathrow that particular day, after a talent-scouting tour of Europe, was the American television impresario Ed Sullivan. The pandemonium that Sullivan witnessed as he attempted to catch his flight to New York would play a pivotal role in making the British Invasion possible.  

It wasn't for lack of trying that the Beatles were still unknown in the United States. Their manager Brian Epstein had tried and failed repeatedly to convince Capitol Records, the American arm of their British label EMI, to release the singles that had already taken Europe by storm. Convinced that the Merseybeat sound wouldn't translate across the Atlantic, Capitol declined to release "Please Please Me," "From Me to You" and "She Loves You," allowing all three to be released on the minor American labels Vee-Jay and Swan and to languish on the pop charts without any promotion. Desperate to crack the American market, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote a song explicitly tailored to the American market and recorded it just two weeks before their fateful indirect encounter with Ed Sullivan. That song was "I Want to Hold Your Hand."  

Ed Sullivan had his staff make inquiries about the Beatles following his return to the United States, and Brian Epstein arranged to travel to New York to open negotiations. And in what surely must rank as one of the greatest one-two punches in the history of professional talent-management, Epstein convinced The Ed Sullivan Show to have the Beatles as headliners for three appearances rather than as a one-time, mid-show novelty act, and he then leveraged that contract into an agreement by Capitol Records to release "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in the United States and back it with a $40,000 promotional campaign.  

As a result of the chance encounter at Heathrow on this day in 1963, and of Brian Epstein's subsequent coup in New York, the Beatles would arrive in the United States on February 7, 1964, with a #1 record already to their credit. The historic Ed Sullivan appearances that followed would lead to five more in the next 12 months.









Oct 31, 1776: King speaks for first time since independence declared

On this day in 1776, in his first speech before British Parliament since the leaders of the American Revolution came together to sign of the Declaration of Independence that summer, King George III acknowledges that all was not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.  

In his address, the king spoke about the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the revolutionary leaders who signed it, saying, "for daring and desperate is the spirit of those leaders, whose object has always been dominion and power, that they have now openly renounced all allegiance to the crown, and all political connection with this country." The king went on to inform Parliament of the successful British victory over General George Washington and the Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, but warned them that, "notwithstanding the fair prospect, it was necessary to prepare for another campaign."  

Despite George III's harsh words, General William Howe and his brother, Admiral Richard Howe, still hoped to convince the Americans to rejoin the British empire in the wake of the colonists' humiliating defeat at the Battle of Long Island. The British could easily have prevented Washington's retreat from Long Island and captured most of the Patriot officer corps, including the commander in chief. However, instead of forcing the former colonies into submission by executing Washington and his officers as traitors, the Howe brothers let them go with the hope of swaying Patriot opinion towards a return to the mother country.  

The Howe brothers' attempts at negotiation failed, and the War for Independence dragged on for another four years, until the formal surrender of the British to the Americans on October 19, 1781, after the Battle of Yorktown.







Oct 31, 1887: Chiang Kai-Shek is born

On this day in 1887, in Chekiang province, China, Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the Nationalist government of China from 1928 to 1949, is born. As a young man training in the Japanese military, Chiang was converted to the ideals of republicanism. Upon returning to China, Chiang fought against the dying Manchu imperial dynasty. He eventually joined forces with Sun Yat-sen's Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang. Both Sun and Chiang became enamored of Soviet communism and even reorganized the Nationalist Party based on a Soviet model. Upon Sun's death, Chinese communists, who had been admitted into the party, came into conflict with strict republicans. It was at this point that Chiang's political shrewdness came to the fore, as he stemmed the influence of the communists in his party while keeping Moscow as an ally—that is, until Chiang led a coup that expelled the communists, feeling that they were too strong a challenge to his own control of the party. Chiang then lead the Nationalists in a march on Peking, eventually forming a new government under his control.  

Unifying the country and keeping it from communist control were now most important to Chiang, even more important than his supposedly treasured social reforms or the invasion of Manchuria by Japan, which he did little to resist. But when full-blown war with Japan broke out in 1937, he was compelled to join forces with his communist enemies in order to repel further Japanese encroachments. China fought alone against the Japanese for four years, until the Allies declared war in 1941. Although the Allies hailed Chiang as the salvation of his nation, depicting him as a David against the Japanese Goliath, he was in fact a shortsighted tyrant who was more interested in maintaining his power base and privileges than fighting Imperial Japan. He resisted the attempts by U.S. Gen. Joseph Stilwell to create a modern Chinese army that would fight under joint Allied-Chinese control. He was more interested in getting hold of Lend-Lease money for his own purposes.  

Upon the Allied defeat of Japan, Chiang returned to his battle against Mao Tse-tung and the communists. In 1949, he lost his nation to communism. Chiang removed himself to Taiwan, where he set up a relatively benign dictatorship—an alternate China. 




Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:


445 BC - Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 9:1, NLTse).
802 - Empress Irene of Byzantium driven out
834 - 1st All Hallows Eve (Halloween) observed to honor the saints
1517 - Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church - Protestant Reformation
1541 - Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican
1552 - Emperor Karel & Markgraaf Albecht strike siege for Metz
1587 - Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575.
1596 - English/French/Dutch delegates sign anti-Spanish "Drievoudig Covenant"
1617 - Laurens Reael resigns as governor-general of East-Indies
1759 - Earthquake in Safed Palestine kills hundred
1793 - Execution of Girondins at Paris, during Reign of Terror
1794 - John Dalton 1st lecture to Manchester Literary/Philosophical Society
1808 - Holland Brigade battle at Durango, Spain
1815 - Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp
1837 - Collision of river boat Monmouth & Trement on Miss; 300 die
1846 - Donner party, unable to cross the Donner Pass, construct a winter camp
1863 - The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato.
1864 - Nevada admitted as 36th state of the Union
1868 - Standard uniform approved for US postal carriers
Painter MichelangeloPainter Michelangelo 1871 - Founding of Netherland Protestant Union in Dokkum
1876 - Cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die
1876 - A monster cyclone ravages India, resulting in over 200,000 human deaths.
1881 - Metropolitan club plays its last game of its non-league season They win 80 of 151 games (18-43 versus NL teams)
1887 - Rimski-Korsakov's "Capricio Espagñol," premieres in St Petersburg
1888 - John Boyd Dunlop patents pneumatic bicycle tyre
1892 - Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
1900 - AL pres Ban Johnson writes to NL pres Nick Young seeking peace
1905 - Great revolutionary demonstration for amnesty in St Petersburg
1906 - George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar & Cleopatra," premieres in NYC
1907 - Calgary City Rugby Foot-ball Club's 1st game defeating Strathcona Rugby Foot-ball Club 15-0 at Calgary
1908 - 4th Olympic games ends in London
1913 - 1st US paved coast-to-coast highway, the Lincoln Highway is dedicated
1914 - Great Britain & France declare war on Turkey
1916 - Clare Kummer's "Good Gracious Annabelle," premieres in NYC
Playwright George Bernard ShawPlaywright George Bernard Shaw 1917 - Eugene O'Neill's "In the Zone," premieres in NYC
1917 - World War I: Battle of Beersheba - "last successful cavalry charge in history"
1918 - Spanish flu-virus kills 21,000 in US in 1 week
1918 - Banat Republic founded
1920 - Romania annexes Bessarabia
1921 - Federation Sportive Feminine Intl forms (1st woman track & field association)
1922 - Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy
1922 - Karel & Josef Capék's "World We Live In," premieres in NYC
1923 - 160 consecutive days of 100 degrees at Marble Bar, Australia begins
1924 - World Savings Day was announced in Milano/Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks).
1925 - Cossack officer Reza Chan replaces sultan Ahmad Shah in Persia
1932 - Greek government of Venizelos falls
1936 - The Boy Scouts of the Philippines was formed.
1937 - Spanish government moves from Valencia to Barcelona
1938 - Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
Italian Dictator Benito MussoliniItalian Dictator Benito Mussolini 1939 - 27 U boats sunk this month (135,000 ton)
1940 - 63 U boats sunk this month (325,000 ton)
1940 - Battle of Britain, fought between the RAF and Luftwaffe over the English Channel and southern England, ends
1940 - Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into Warsaw Ghetto
1941 - 13 U boats sunk this month (62,000 ton)
1941 - Mount Rushmore Monument is completed
1941 - Prior to US in WW II, Germany torpedoes US destroyer Reuben James
1941 - Clothing factory fire in Huddersfield, England kills 49
1942 - 94 U boats sunk this month (619,000 ton)
1942 - 9th day of the Battle of El Alamein
1943 - Wash Redskin Sammy Baugh passes for 6 touchdowns vs Bkln (48-10)
1943 - World War II: F4U Corsair accomplishes the first successful radar-guided interception.
1944 - Chief of staff Kruls names De Quay chairman of Universal Commission
1949 - "Regina" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 86 performances
1949 - Amsterdam Telegraph-director/SS'er Henri Holdert sentenced to 12 years
1949 - WOC (now KWQC) TV channel 6 in Davenport, IA (NBC) 1st broadcast
1950 - Collazo & Torresola attempt to kill Harry Truman in Washington, DC
1951 - Second Chamber accept plan-Schuman
1952 - 1st thermonuclear bomb detonated at Marshall Islands
1953 - TV broadcasting begins in Belgium
1954 - Algerian Revolution against French begins
1954 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Texas Golf Open
1954 - KREM TV channel 2 in Spokane, WA (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Mgr Alfrink appointed archbishop of Utrecht
1956 - Rear Adm GJ Dufek becomes 1st American to land an airplane at South Pole
1956 - Britain & France begin to bomb Egypt to reopen Suez Canal
1956 - Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service
1957 - "Jamaica" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 558 performances
Ex-soldier, drifter Lee Harvey OswaldEx-soldier, drifter Lee Harvey Oswald 1959 - Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he will never return to US
1959 - USSR & Egypt sign contracts for building Aswan Dam
1960 - Cyclone hits coast of Gulf of Bengal; about 10,000 die
1961 - Hurricane Hattie, kills 400 in British Honduras
1961 - Federal judge rules that Birmingham, Alabama, laws against integrated playing fields are illegal
1963 - Ed Sullivan witnesses Beatles & their fans at London Airport
1963 - J. Edgar Hoover's last meeting with president John F Kennedy
1963 - Leaking propane gas explodes kills 64 at "Holiday on Ice" (Indiana)
1964 - Barbra Streisand's "People," album goes #1 for 5 weeks
1967 - KIMO TV channel 13 in Anchorage, AK (ABC) begins broadcasting
1967 - Nguyen Van Thieu took oath of office as 1st President of South Vietnam 2nd Rep
1967 - SF's Mike McCormick wins NL Cy Young Award
1968 - Linda Eastman moves to UK permanently
1968 - Milwaukee Bucks win their 1st game beating Detroit 138-118 (6th game)
1968 - President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam
Vietnamese Politican Nguyen Van ThieuVietnamese Politican Nguyen Van Thieu 1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 - George Harrison's "Something" is released in UK
1969 - Race riot in Jacksonville Florida
1971 - "On the Town" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 65 performances
1972 - Gaylord Perry wins AL Cy Young award
1973 - Tom Seaver wins NL Cy Young Award
1974 - Ted Bundy victim Laura Aime disappears in Utah
1974 - Durch Marines end hostage crisis in Scheveningen prison
1975 - Bob Geldof's 1st appearance with Boomtown Rats
1976 - Javed Miandad, 206 v NZ, age 19 yrs 141 days (29 fours 1 six)
1978 - Iranian oil workers go on strike
1978 - People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South) adopts constitution
1979 - Mike Flanagan, wins AL Cy Young Award
1979 - US DC-10 crashes at Mexico-City, 74 killed
1980 - Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 m)
1980 - Polish government recognizes Solidarity trade union
1980 - Senegal routes troops to Gambia due to Libyan threat
1981 - 1st live radio drama in 25 years (Halloween Story on NBC)
1982 - "Rock 'n Roll!: The 1st..." closes at St James NYC after 9 perfs
264th Pope John Paul II264th Pope John Paul II 1982 - Pope John Paul II becomes 1st pontiff to visit Spain
1983 - Paul McCartney releases "Pipes of Peace" album
1983 - Ron Grant completes a 217 day, 8,316 mile run around Australia
1984 - Howard Goodall/Melvyn Bragg's musical "Hired Man," premieres in London
1984 - Puerto Rican tanker, San Francisco explodes spilling 2 million gallons of oil as ship caught fire
1984 - Indian PM Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh at her home in New Delhi
1985 - Last day in Test cricket for Zaheer Abbas
1987 - 1st jockey to win 9 races in 1 day (Chris Antley at Belmont)
1987 - A pair in Coventry, England ties world record for longest singles tennis match at 80 hrs 21 minutes
1988 - 19°F lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in Oct
1988 - 1st Monday Night NFL game in Indianapolis, Colts beat Denver 55-23
1988 - Journalists demand greater press freedom in Yugoslavia
1989 - AR Gurney's "Love Letters," premieres in NYC
1989 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1989 - Turgat Ozal elected president of Turkey
Musician & member of the Beatles Paul McCartneyMusician & member of the Beatles Paul McCartney 1989 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1990 - Pakistan make 3-0 drubbing of NZ, Waqar Younis 29 series wkts
1991 - Palestinians attend US mideast peace talks in Madrid
1992 - Don Keller makes his 18,000th sky diver
1992 - Roman Catholic church reinstates Galileo Galilei after 359 years
1992 - Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: A P Indy, Fraise, Gilded Time, Liza, Lure, Paseana, Thirty Slews at Gulfstream Park
1993 - "Wonderful Tennessee" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 9 perfs
1993 - 25 people killed during Ghana-Ivory Coast soccer match
1993 - Germany unemployment hits country record of 3.5 million
1993 - Rapper Tupac Shakur charged with aggravated assault
1993 - US wins Nichirei International LPGA Golf Tournament
1994 - American Eagle ATR-72 crash down at Gary, Indiana: 68 killed
1995 - NHL NJ Devils agree to stay in NJ
1996 - The Fokker F100 on TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 crashes into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including 2 on the ground.
1997 - British au pair Louise Woodward, 19, sentenced to life in death of Matthew Eappen 8½ months (judge changes to time served)
Rapper Tupac ShakurRapper Tupac Shakur 1998 - Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999 - Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
1999 - Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.
1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board.
2000 - The last Multics machine was shut down.
2000 - A chartered Antonov An-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50
2000 - A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members
2002 - A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas formally indicted former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
2003 - A bankruptcy court approves MCI's reorganization plans, essentially clearing the telecommunications company to exit bankruptcy.
2003 - Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking an end to Mahathir's 22 years in power.
2011 - The world population reaches 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nations

2012 - The New York stock exchange opens after being closed for two days after Hurricane Sandy





1517 - Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace Church. The event marked the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.   1860 - Juliette Low, the founder off the Girl Scouts, was born.   1864 - Nevada became the 36th state to join the U.S.   1868 - Postmaster General Alexander Williams Randall approved a standard uniform for postal carriers.   1914 - The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) joined the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria).   1922 - Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy.   1926 - Magician Harry Houdini died of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. His appendix had been damaged twelve days earlier when he had been punched in the stomach by a student unexpectedly. During a lecture Houdini had commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows.   1940 - The British air victory in the Battle of Britain prevented Germany from invading Britain.   1941 - Mount Rushmore was declared complete after 14 years of work. At the time the 60-foot busts of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were finished.   1941 - The U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James was torpedoed by a German submarine near Iceland. The U.S. had not yet entered World War II. More than 100 men were killed.   1952 - The U.S. detonated its first hydrogen bomb.   1954 - The Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) began a revolt against French rule.   1955 - Britain's Princess Margaret announced she would not marry Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend.   1956 - Rear Admiral G.J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole. Dufek also became the first person to set foot on the South Pole.   1959 - Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine from Fort Worth, TX, announced that he would never return to the U.S. At the time he was in Moscow, Russia.   1961 - In the Soviet Union, the body of Joseph Stalin was removed from Lenin's Tomb where it was on public display.   1968 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.   1969 - Wal-Mart Discount City stores were incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.   1981 - Antiqua and Barbuda became independent of Great Britain.   1983 - The U.S. Defense Department acknowledged that during the U.S. led invasion of Grenada, that a U.S. Navy plane had mistakenly bombed a civilian hospital.   1984 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated near her residence by two Sikh security guards. Her son, Rajiv, was sworn in as prime minister.   1992 - In Liberia, it was announced that five American nuns had been killed near Monrovia. Rebels loyal to Charles Taylor were blamed for the murders.   1993 - River Phoenix died at the age of 23 after collapsing outside The Viper Room in Hollywood.   1993 - The play "Wonderful Tennessee" closed after only 9 performances.   1994 - 68 people were killed when an American Eagle ATR-72, plunged into a northern Indiana farm.   1997 - Louise Woodward, British au pair, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. She was released after her sentence was reduced to manslaughter.   1998 - Iraq announced that it was halting all dealings with U.N. arms inspectors. The inspectors were investigating the country's weapons of mass destruction stemming from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.   1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed off the coast of Nantucket, MA, killing all 217 people aboard.   1999 - Leaders from the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The event ended a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.   2001 - Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department reached a tentative agreement to settle the antitrust case against the software company.



1517 Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. 1846 A heavy snowfall trapped the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada mountains. 1864 Nevada became the 36th state. 1941 Work on the Mount Rushmore monument was completed. 1956 Rear Admiral G. J. Dufek became the first person to land an airplane at the South Pole. 1984 Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. 1992 Pope John Paul II admitted that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in convicting Galileo of heresy 350 years earlier.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/oct31.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

A History of Halloween

Two years ago, this corner of the Northeast got hit with a freak snowstorm. It measured maybe a foot and half, which would normally be quite a substantial storm in it's own right. But since most of the leaves were still on the trees, they got weighted down more than usual, and many of them simply could not stand up to the storm. There were downed trees everywhere, which meant downed telephone poles and wires, as well. The roads were a mess, and many people lost quite a bit of power. I saw it, and unfortunately, had to drive through it, too. It was one of the worst storms that I've seen and had to endure, as a result. That came two days before Halloween, which was surprisingly early for such a snow storm.

But it was nothing compared to what happened last year, also two days before Halloween. That was when Hurricane Sandy hit. Tragedy was everywhere. People died, others lost everything. Life seemed to come to a stop for a short while. And almost nobody noticed when Halloween was officially cancelled. Hardly anyone was surprised, for that matter.

As the date neared on this year's calendar, people were half expecting something else. Some other disaster. But this year, we were spared.

So, I will take my son trick or treating later today. But it seems that this is a dying tradition.

When I was young, kids used to look forward to this holiday for a very long time! We talked about what we wanted to be this Halloween, and we loved getting all dressed up. We looked forward to trick or treating, and feeling the weight of our bags begin to increase. It was well earned, we felt!

For whatever the reason, this tradition of trick or treating for Halloween seems to be going out the window. It used to be a strong tradition that all the kids engaged in, and it would go on to the late hours. There were tons of kids, and running out of candy was a serious worry.

Now, we are lucky if we have more kids than fingers on both hands. It has grown scarce, and it seems to be the case everywhere you go, with everyone you ask.

Apparently, trick or treating is on it's way out, even though getting costumes and dressing up is hotter than ever, and a more profitable business than ever before! I heard somewhere that Halloween is only behind Christmas as the holiday that people tend to spend the most money on.

So, I thought it would be appropriate to do a blog on the history of this holiday, since I did not get a chance to do it (although I planned to) last year.

Here's a little something about the night before Halloween. In my area, we used to call it "Goosey Night", although I understand it is more often referred to as "Devil's Night" or "Mischief Night". This is when local punks throw eggs at cars and homes, or do their best to coat cars, homes, and trees with toilet paper, among other practical jokes. This, like trick or treating, seems to be dying off in recent years. Either that, or I am really not noticing these things anymore.

"It's a Jersey thing: N.J. may be the only state to call tonight 'mischief night'" by Alex Napoliello/NJ.com, published on October 30, 2013:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/its_a_jersey_thing_nj_only_state_to_call_tonight_mischief_night.html?fb_action_ids=10201500253725888&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=s%3DshowShareBarUI%3Ap%3Dfacebook-like&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210201500253725888%22%3A165797540294225%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210201500253725888%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%7B%2210201500253725888%22%3A%22s%3DshowShareBarUI%3Ap%3Dfacebook-like%22%7D

A PBS link to the history of specific, Halloween-themed foods can be found by clicking on this link:

http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/halloween-a-foodie-history/


One page that I found fascinating, with specifics on the background history of certain popular Halloween traditions, can be found by clicking on the following link:

 http://www.halloweenishere.com/history.html



The following page, "Halloween History", can be viewed at: http://www.halloweenhistory.org/

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31.  The word Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows' Evening also known as Hallowe'en or All Hallows' Eve.

Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses" and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as of Australia and New Zealand.
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win").
The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.

The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.
Masks and costumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.
Trick-or-treating, is an activity for children on or around Halloween in which they proceed from house to house in costumes, asking for treats such as confectionery with the question, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" part of "trick or treat" is a threat to play a trick on the homeowner or his property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters.
The history of Halloween has evolved.  The activity is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and due to increased American cultural influence in recent years, imported through exposure to US television and other media, trick-or-treating has started to occur among children in many parts of Europe, and in the Saudi Aramco camps of Dhahran, Akaria compounds and Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia. The most significant growth and resistance is in the United Kingdom, where the police have threatened to prosecute parents who allow their children to carry out the "trick" element. In continental Europe, where the commerce-driven importation of Halloween is seen with more skepticism, numerous destructive or illegal "tricks" and police warnings have further raised suspicion about this game and Halloween in general.
In Ohio, Iowa, and Massachusetts, the night designated for Trick-or-treating is often referred to as Beggars Night.
Part of the history of Halloween  is Halloween costumes. The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages, and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of "souling," when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering, whining], like a beggar at Hallowmas."
Yet there is no evidence that souling was ever practiced in America, and trick-or-treating may have developed in America independent of any Irish or British antecedent. There is little primary Halloween history documentation of masking or costuming on Halloween in Ireland, the UK, or America before 1900. The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, near the border of upstate New York, reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street guising (see below) on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs. Another isolated reference appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating. Ruth Edna Kelley, in her 1919 history of the holiday, The Book of Hallowe'en, makes no mention of such a custom in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America." It does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the earliest known uses in print of the term "trick or treat" appearing in 1934, and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939. Thus, although a quarter million Scots-Irish immigrated to America between 1717 and 1770, the Irish Potato Famine brought almost a million immigrants in 1845-1849, and British and Irish immigration to America peaked in the 1880s, ritualized begging on Halloween was virtually unknown in America until generations later.
Trick-or-treating spread from the western United States eastward, stalled by sugar rationing that began in April 1942 during World War II and did not end until June 1947.
Early national attention to trick-or-treating was given in October 1947 issues of the children's magazines Jack and Jill and Children's Activities, and by Halloween episodes of the network radio programs The Baby Snooks Show in 1946 and The Jack Benny Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 1948. The custom had become firmly established in popular culture by 1952, when Walt Disney portrayed it in the cartoon Trick or Treat, Ozzie and Harriet were besieged by trick-or-treaters on an episode of their television show, and UNICEF first conducted a national campaign for children to raise funds for the charity while trick-or-treating.
Jack O'Lantern
Trick-or-treating on the prairie. Although some popular histories of Halloween have characterized trick-or-treating as an adult invention to re-channel Halloween activities away from vandalism, nothing in the historical record supports this theory. To the contrary, adults, as reported in newspapers from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, typically saw it as a form of extortion, with reactions ranging from bemused indulgence to anger. Likewise, as portrayed on radio shows, children would have to explain what trick-or-treating was to puzzled adults, and not the other way around. Sometimes even the children protested: for Halloween 1948, members of the Madison Square Boys Club in New York City carried a parade banner that read "American Boys Don't Beg."

Bosox Win Third World Series in Ten Years!

Now, I am not that huge of a baseball fan, but the cursed history of the Boston Red Sox was fascinating. Being a big Stephen King fan, I read his pained testament as a devoted fan here and there. I knew some fans, and heard some of the legends. And began pulling for the team. They, and the Toronto Blue Jays, are the teams that I pull for in baseball (yes, I am aware that they are hated division rivals with one another). Mostly, I was just tired of the arrogant Yankees fans, with their sense of entitlement to winning the most championships and enjoying the most success.

No, I was not a baseball fan, but I began pulling for the Boston Red Sox, as much as I began to hope for the demise of the New York Yankees.

It had been a long 86 years in New England, during the infamous "Curse of the Bambino" that allegedly prevented the beloved Boston Red Sox from winning the World Series. Perhaps the end of the streak never felt so far away, ironically, as the year before it ended. The Red Sox were up on the hated Yankees, seemed destined to win.

And then, somehow, they didn't. They watched the Yankees celebrate at their expense, once again. They returned home, disappointed, once again. Another year added to the long list of years since the franchise had last won the championship, once again.

That ghost of failures of the past came back to haunt them the next season, as well. Once again, it was the New York Yankees that they faced. Once again, the Red Sox quickly began to lose. Game One was a loss. Game Two, another loss. The series went to Boston, but the Red Sox lost Game Three, as well.

They would do well just to avoid the sweep. Another embarrassing failure, another triumph for the Yankees at the expense of the humiliated Red Sox and their fans.

Something happened, though. Something weird. The Bosox, by then known better as "The Idiots", came back to win Game Four, to at least avoid the sweep. The home crowd celebrated. Finally had cause for celebration.

But surely that was going to be it, right? A win, to avoid the disaster, the humiliation of a sweep. When the Boston Red Soz won Game Five in a similar, last minute way, the series began to look more respectable. Sure, they were down 3 games to 2, and the series would go back to the Bronx. But at least it was more respectable, right? At least they could say they made the Yankees fight for it.

We all know what happened next, though. The Red Sox began to play their best ball in Game 6, to force a Game 7. And in Game 7, they jumped out early, and took a sizable lead. The Yankees began to threaten to come back, but the Red Sox, like the champions they would finally become in no more than a week or two, shut the door, and sealed the fate of the Bronx Bombers. The most storied franchise in baseball, and the long tormentors of the Red Sox in particular, suddenly found the roles reversed. They were handed a humiliating defeat, an epic failure oh historical proportions. Nobody in baseball before (or since) had ever given up a 3 games to none lead, only to lose. Until now.

The World Series itself was anticlimactic. Boston won every game, and swept the St. Louis Cardinals, to clinch their first championship since 1918, the year that World War I ended. Red Sox fans rejoiced, finally able to celebrate their teams ultimate success. A championship like no other championship. A storybook ending in reality.

Three years later, the Red Sox were at it again. This after Johnny Damon had skipped town, and his father had warned baseball fans that the bad karma the Red Sox had shown in dealing away one of their best and most iconic players would come back to haunt them, as it had when they had traded away Babe Ruth. He predicted a new curse.

If so, this curse went only three years, because the Bosox won the 2007 World Series as well, also in a sweep. Suddenly, people were comparing them with the Yanks, and claiming that they were the new empire.

A longer duration this time between World Series wins. Some epic failures and heartbreaks again had people thinking, "Same old Bosox".

No, these are not the same old Boston Red Sox that had ultimately tasted the bitterness of falling short of high expectations, as they had for those long 86 years.

Only one year after the Red Sox suffered a seemingly epic collapse to miss the playoffs (once again, allowing the Yankees to celebrate at their expense), the Bosox had an incredibly successful year, that culminated in tremendous success in the postseason. This time, it was the Yankees who failed to even qualify, and watched from home as the Red Sox, once again, powered their way to the World Series.

No one was talking anymore about the curse, or anything like that. Now, the Red Sox were aiming to win their third title in a ten year span. Their third title in the new millennium, which would place them atop the league for the most so far in this young millennium. But they had, once again, the St. Louis Cardinals to take down first. The same team that they had faced in 2004. The same team that had themselves won two World Series in this new millennium.

It was not a sweep this time. Boston won the first game, true. But then, an epic mistake led to a loss in Game 2. Things began to look dire after they lost Game 3 in St. Louis, and were suddenly trailing the series.

But the Bosox were not to be denied. They took Game 4, assuring the series would return, and end, in Boston, for better or for worse. When the Red Sox won on the road again in Game 5, the fans could almost taste it.

Because the one streak still remaining for this franchise, the one significant record that still had not been broken since 1918, was this: that the Boston Red Sox had not yet won a World Series before their home fans since 1918. 95 years, the Bosox fans had waited.

Last night, the Red Sox were determined to end the suspense early. They went up early, and took a commanding lead. And like the seasoned veterans that they have now become, they did not allow any chance of an epic collapse. They kept the boots on the neck of the fading Cardinals, choking the life out of them. The crowd went nuts, as the Red Sox did their thing. Did what they now have come to do better than anyone else in the 21st century: win the World Series.

In the end, the Bosox won another championship. It was their first since 2007. A six year wait, during which time the hated Yankees had managed to win another World Series. That hardly matters now, though. Those Yankees are gone. These Boston Red Sox are the newly crowned champions, once again.

For the third time in ten years, the Red Sox celebrated. This time, they had the home crowd enthusiastically supporting them when they did it. Any talk of a streak is long over by now. The talk these days might just be about a dynasty, if the Red Sox can continue this level of success.

So, I find myself happy for the Red Sox and their fans. Fans like Stephen King, and numerous other fans that I know, who are, once again, celebrating a championship. Another banner will rise at Fenway. I am glad, yes. But it is growing more subdued, admittedly. It is now already just another championship, in a collection of championships, if they keep going at this rate. That drought of winning a World Series at home, the last truly long drought for this franchise, is now history.

I was also pulling for either Chicago team to win a World Series, and then the White Sox finally did, ending their own long streak at 86 years.

But there is one team left with an even more epic history of failure. The Chicago Cubs have not won the World Series in over 100 years now. In fact, they haven't even been to the World Series since 1945 - the year that Nazi Germany, by then reduced to rubble, surrendered. The year that the Japanese also surrendered, following the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And that was when they last made it to the World Series. The last time they won the World Series would have been back in 1908. Since then, the Titanic sank. Two world wars were fought, and the Great Depression came and went. They made it to the World Series no more recently than 1945, and a lot of time has passed.

The White Sox had a similar streak, and ended it. The Boston Red Sox not only ended it, but enjoyed an incredible amount of success since.

And I find myself still not very much a baseball fan, but still rejoicing for the reversal of fortune in New England, still hopeful that the Blue Jays might get good enough to get back there and win as well. And, of course, hoping now that another cursed franchise might finally end their dreadful streak, and not only go to the World Series, but win it, too. The Chicago Cubs could learn something from the example of their cross town rivals, the Chicago White Sox. And with this most recent championship, the Boston Red Sox have shown them something even stronger: a formula for continued success, the ultimate way to kill an alleged curse. The only streak that people are talking about now in relation to the Boston Red Sox would be about how long they can keep this level of success up!

It should be noted, also, that this year, of all years, the Red Sox and their fans have every right to celebrate, following the tragic bombing and the ensuing craziness that was seen in the city afterward. Congratulations to Bosox Nation!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

2013-14 NBA Season Preview

The new NBA season started last night, with the Miami Heat defeating the Chicago Bulls, who had a healthy and effective Rose back in their lineup. Also, the Los Angeles Lakers, that most tiresome of sports franchises, knocked off their cross town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers.

So, how will the season shape up? Who are the teams to watch?

Here is a brief summary of both conferences:



East



The Miami Heat opened their season last night not only by beating the Chicago Bulls, but getting their rings, as well as the championship banner raised. So the question: can they now three-peat?

I have some serious questions about that. Winning a title is difficult. Winning back-to-back titles is obviously even more so. But winning three in a row is truly a rare accomplishment in team sports, particularly in North America. Think of the teams that managed to do it in the last three or so decades. You have the Chicago Bulls of the nineties, who managed to do it twice. But that was with Michael Jordan, and a very talented team around him. The New York Yankees did it in baseball, from 1998 to 2000. They also happened to have a lot of money to buy a lot of talent that got them to the top. And the Los Angeles Lakers, from 2000 until 2002. Going back even further, you could say the New York Islanders of the early eighties, as well, who actually won four titles in a row.

But that's it. You can count the amount of times it has been done in the last three decades on one hand. It has not been done in American football during that time (the last team to do it in the NFL was Lombardi's Packers in the latter half of the sixties).  It's just that it is incredibly difficult to win that many championships, as the pressure increases year after year.

So now, with the Miami Heat having won two titles in a row (and having made it all the way to the NBA Finals three years in a row, although they lost that first time to the Dallas Mavericks), the question remains: are the Heat good enough to win a third title in a row?

The short answer is yes. They have talent, obviously. Enough to win it again, sure. But the pressure will continue to mount, and they have more serious opposition this time than they had in the past. And let us not forget that, for all intents and purposes, the San Antonio Spurs actually outplayed them and, somehow, against all odds, managed not to win what would have been a championship-clinching Game 6, when they held a sizeable lead with 25 seconds left to play, and time running out on Miami's chances.

Like everyone else, I am intrigued by the Brooklyn Nets. Upon making the move to Brooklyn, the owner pretty much promised a championship within a few years, and he now seems serious on delivering that promise. They obviously made a lot of moves, and seem to have almost everything covered.

But one concern I have with them is their age. How much will they rely on Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, when those guys are hardly spring chickens these days. Remember, they won the championship with the Boston Celtics back in 2008, and returned to the NBA Finals in 2010. But that was already a long time ago. How much do they have left in the tank? Nobody denies that they can be effective, but can they last all the way to the end of the season and, presumably, the postseason?

One saving grace for the Nets is that they are a talented team already without those two guys. They have some serious talent, and let's remember that they were seen as a young, up and coming before acquiring Pierce and Garnett. If they play those guys right, meaning if they do not overuse them and tax them too heavily, and allow them to be relatively fresh and effective towards the end of the season, and particularly for the playoffs, then there would be no reason for them not to succeed to the fullest. Even if those guys are overused, and perhaps injuries slow them down, the team should benefit from their veteran leadership.

Another team that is seen as a rising power in the East would be the Indiana Pacers. They also retooled, and that came on the heels of a strong run through the playoffs that, unfortunately, ended against Miami in the Eastern Conference Championship. But they played well, and should be seen as a strong contender in the East. Can they get by Miami if they face them again? Can they knock off other elite teams, like they did the Knicks last season? Time will tell.

Finally, another Eastern team that should prove to be perhaps vastly improved from last season would be the Chicago Bulls, with Jalen Rose back in the lineup. If he can stay healthy for the entire season - a big if, I know - then the Bulls should, once again, rise to the upper echelon in the East, Like with the Pacers (and with everybody else in the East and in the league, actually), they have yet to prove that they could actually beat a loaded Miami Heat squad in a best of seven. But Rose's presence should definitely help tremendously, and brings credibility to their title aspirations this season.

The New York Knicks are also talented, although they hardly made the offseason moves that have made people stand up and take notice, like the Nets and, to a lesser degree, the Pacers. Nor are they getting their marquee player back from a long absence, like the Bulls with Rose. I know, coming from the New York area, that there is always a lot of hype surrounding this team. Like certain teams in other sports (the Philadelphia Eagles would be one team that always immediately come to mind), there is always this buzz around them that they are closing in on a championship, that this time, it will really happen in the near future). Then, nothing. Flat line.

And as much talk as many Knick fans are generating, I don't think this team will match it with results down the stretch, particularly against elite teams in the East, let alone the West, once the playoffs roll around. This is a playoff team, to be sure. But not a championship team, or even an NBA Finals team. I don't even think this is an Eastern Conference Finals team. Just a team that will qualify for the playoffs, and maybe win a series. Two if they are extremely lucky. But no more than that. Same old Knicks.





West

Like the Nets in the East, the team that likely will draw the most notice, just out of sheer curiosity as to how they will do with their new lineup, would be the Houston Rockets. They now have a very strong center, and if Dwight Howard looks happy (and early indications suggest he does), then he should be a nice compliment for a team that suddenly looks loaded with talent. This might be the most serious title contender the Rockets have had since they actually won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. But Howard needs to play better, obviously, than he did last year with the Lakers. Of course, he won't have the same pressure on him in Houston that he did in Los Angeles, and that will likely help.

The San Antonio Spurs should have been the ones raising their banner and getting their rings last night, not the Miami Heat. They had the Heat beaten in Game 6, with less than half a minute to play while nursing a seemingly insurmountable lead for such a short amount left to play, in a game that could have clinched the title for them. Somehow, they lost through a series of dumb mistakes, and they just did not get the job done in the decisive Game 7.

So what can we expect of them? This is a team that most people assumed was well past it's prime years ago. Remember, their last title was in 2007, when they replaced the Miami Heat of 2006 as the NBA Champions. Now, a new Miami Heat team handed them one of the most painful and embarrassing losses in recent NBA Finals history, and there is a question of how they can recover emotionally. Also, there is yet another question of just how much they can have left in the tank. True, Duncan looked like the Duncan of old, and Ginobli and Parker are still there. But that center of the team has been together for over a decade now, and you wonder just how much longer they can continue to play at such a high level for?

A few seasons ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder were the hot young team, absolutely loaded with talent, and with expectations of championship glory. But Hardin left for Houston, and the pressure kept building, and the result was a season decidedly less than the expectations had them placed. They did not even come close to the NBA Finals last season.

Yes, they are still a talented team. But they are also a team that needs to do something very soon, because the window of opportunity for this team, with this lineup, could close fast, if they do not get it done in the very near future. They should have championship expectations, and even a swagger about them. Translating that to postseason success, on the other hand, is another matter entirely. They are good, and even good enough to get it done to at least reach another NBA Finals. But it will not be easy ad, I think it's fair to say, anything less than an NBA Championship would be disappointing for them.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been a team on the rise now for a few seasons, and some people think that it's just about time that they start playing like a championship team, as well. They are undeniably good, and have a talented roster. And new coach Doc Rivers clearly thinks that this team should be given respect, having asked that the Lakers banners be covered during Clippers home games.

But what really grants a team respect are the results, and the results still have not quite been there for this team. True, they are not perennial losers, like they once used to be, year after year after year (how they actually did not get relocated to some other city that wants a basketball market, but does not have a team, is still a puzzle to me). But if they want to talk the talk, and have that championship swagger, then they need to walk the walk. Now. not next season. This season. Otherwise, they will begin to look a bit ridiculous, full of talk that they cannot back up. This is a flashy team, and for now, the best team in Los Angeles, most likely. Still, if they really want to even begin to emerge out of the long shadow of the Lakers, it takes more than talk. It takes winning, particularly championships. And the question still remains: can they actually do it?

Frankly, I have my doubts. They have enough talent, true. But Doc Rivers, having been a member of the New York Knicks, should know from experienced that brash talk does not always help, and can often even hinder, a team from accomplishing what they could achieve, if they did not assume a level of greatness beforehand. The time for talk is over. Not, it is time for the Clippers to play that better brand of basketball that they essentially promised. Let's see if they can.

There are other teams in the West that are quite talented, and could be contenders. The Golden State Warriors are clearly a team going in the right direction. But are they ready to deliver this season? I'm not sure that they are, yet. The Denver Nuggets are a solid team as well. I always liked George Karl as a coach, and think he is one of the most overlooked coaches. But he has this team rolling in the right direction, and if they are to make an NBA Finals appearance, or perhaps even take a title, he is the man who could get them there. That said, that obviously would not be easy, and I'm not sure they can quite get there, or even close, admittedly.

As for some of the other teams that have been relatively consistent winners in the West, the Dallas Mavericks just seem to be struggling, ever since their surprise NBA title a couple of years ago. And as for the Lakers, with all of the injuries and the loss of Howard's presence as a big man, I don't even see them as a playoff team this year.


Funny, I was going to do a team-by-team breakdown, but instead got so wrapped up in writing about the upcoming season, that I did not give myself much opportunity to do that. I will try to follow this post up with an actual team-by-team breakdown in the near future.

On this Day in History - October 30 Quebec Separatists Narrowly Lose Vote

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Oct 30, 1918: Ottoman Empire signs treaty with Allies

On October 30, 1918, aboard the British battleship Agamemnon, anchored in the port of Mudros on the Aegean island of Lemnos, representatives of Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire sign an armistice treaty marking the end of Ottoman participation in the First World War.  

Though the Ottoman Empire—in a period of relative decline since the late 16th century—had initially aimed to stay neutral in World War I, it soon concluded an alliance with Germany and entered the war on the side of the Central Powers in October 1914. The Turks fought fiercely and successfully defended the Gallipoli Peninsula against a massive Allied invasion in 1915-1916, but by 1918 defeat by invading British and Russian forces and an Arab revolt had combined to destroy the Ottoman economy and devastate its land, leaving some six million people dead and millions more starving.  

As early as the first week of October 1918, both the Ottoman government and several individual Turkish leaders contacted the Allies to feel out peace possibilities. Britain, whose forces then occupied much of the Ottoman territories, was loath to step aside for its allies, particularly France, which according to an agreement concluded in 1916 would take control of the Syrian coast and much of modern-day Lebanon. In a move that enraged his French counterpart, Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister David Lloyd George and his cabinet authorized Admiral Arthur Calthorpe, Britain’s naval commander in the Aegean Sea, to negotiate an immediate armistice with Turkey without consulting France. Though Britain alone would engineer the Ottoman exit from the war, the two powerful Allies would continue to grapple over control in the region at the Paris Peace Conference, and for years beyond.  

Negotiations between Calthorpe’s team and the delegation from Constantinople, led by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey, began at 9:30 on the morning of October 30, 1918, aboard the Agamemnon. The Treaty of Mudros, signed that evening, stated that hostilities would end at noon the following day. By its terms, Turkey had to open the Dardanelle and Bosporus straits to Allied warships and its forts to military occupation; it was also to demobilize its army, release all prisoners of war and evacuate its Arab provinces, the majority of which were already under Allied control. Bey and his fellow delegates refused to paint the treaty as an act of surrender for Turkey—later causing disillusionment and anger in Constantinople—but in fact that is what it was. The Treaty of Mudros ended Ottoman participation in World War I and effectively—if not legally—marked the dissolution of a once mighty empire. From its ruins, the victors of the First World War attempted to use the post-war peace negotiations to create a new, more unpredictable entity: the modern Middle East.









Oct 30, 1995: Quebec separatists narrowly defeated

By a bare majority of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, citizens of the province of Quebec vote to remain within the federation of Canada. The referendum asked Quebec's citizens, the majority of whom are French-speakers, to vote whether their province should begin the process that could make it independent of Canada. 

The French were the first settlers of Canada, but in 1763 their dominions in eastern Canada fell under the control of the British. In 1867, Quebec joined Canada's English-speaking provinces in forming the autonomous Dominion of Canada. Over the next century, the English language and Anglo-America culture made steady inroads into Quebec, leading many French Canadians to fear that they were losing their language and unique culture. The Quebec independence movement was born out of this fear, gaining ground in the 1960s and leading to the establishment of a powerful separatist party—the Parti Québécois—in 1967. In 1980, an independence referendum was defeated by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin.  

Far narrower than the 1980 margin, the 1995 referendum was the most serious threat to Canadian unity in the country's 128-year existence, carrying with it the possibility of losing nearly one-third of Canada's population if the Oui vote won. Quebec separatists refrained from any significant violence after their narrow defeat, but former Québécois leader Jacques Parizeau raised the specter of racial tension by declaring that his campaign had been beaten by "money and the ethnic vote."









Oct 30, 1938: Welles scares nation

Orson Welles causes a nationwide panic with his broadcast of "War of the Worlds"—a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth.  

Orson Welles was only 23 years old when his Mercury Theater company decided to update H.G. Wells' 19th-century science fiction novel War of the Worlds for national radio. Despite his age, Welles had been in radio for several years, most notably as the voice of "The Shadow" in the hit mystery program of the same name. "War of the Worlds" was not planned as a radio hoax, and Welles had little idea of the havoc it would cause.  

The show began on Sunday, October 30, at 8 p.m. A voice announced: "The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air in 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells."  

Sunday evening in 1938 was prime-time in the golden age of radio, and millions of Americans had their radios turned on. But most of these Americans were listening to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy "Charlie McCarthy" on NBC and only turned to CBS at 8:12 p.m. after the comedy sketch ended and a little-known singer went on. By then, the story of the Martian invasion was well underway.  

Welles introduced his radio play with a spoken introduction, followed by an announcer reading a weather report. Then, seemingly abandoning the storyline, the announcer took listeners to "the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained by the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra." Putrid dance music played for some time, and then the scare began. An announcer broke in to report that "Professor Farrell of the Mount Jenning Observatory" had detected explosions on the planet Mars. Then the dance music came back on, followed by another interruption in which listeners were informed that a large meteor had crashed into a farmer's field in Grovers Mills, New Jersey.  

Soon, an announcer was at the crash site describing a Martian emerging from a large metallic cylinder. "Good heavens," he declared, "something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now here's another and another one and another one. They look like tentacles to me ... I can see the thing's body now. It's large, large as a bear. It glistens like wet leather. But that face, it... it ... ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it's so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate."  

The Martians mounted walking war machines and fired "heat-ray" weapons at the puny humans gathered around the crash site. They annihilated a force of 7,000 National Guardsman, and after being attacked by artillery and bombers the Martians released a poisonous gas into the air. Soon "Martian cylinders" landed in Chicago and St. Louis. The radio play was extremely realistic, with Welles employing sophisticated sound effects and his actors doing an excellent job portraying terrified announcers and other characters. An announcer reported that widespread panic had broken out in the vicinity of the landing sites, with thousands desperately trying to flee. In fact, that was not far from the truth.  

Perhaps as many as a million radio listeners believed that a real Martian invasion was underway. Panic broke out across the country. In New Jersey, terrified civilians jammed highways seeking to escape the alien marauders. People begged police for gas masks to save them from the toxic gas and asked electric companies to turn off the power so that the Martians wouldn't see their lights. One woman ran into an Indianapolis church where evening services were being held and yelled, "New York has been destroyed! It's the end of the world! Go home and prepare to die!"  

When news of the real-life panic leaked into the CBS studio, Welles went on the air as himself to remind listeners that it was just fiction. There were rumors that the show caused suicides, but none were ever confirmed.  

The Federal Communications Commission investigated the program but found no law was broken. Networks did agree to be more cautious in their programming in the future. Orson Welles feared that the controversy generated by "War of the Worlds" would ruin his career. In fact, the publicity helped land him a contract with a Hollywood studio, and in 1941 he directed, wrote, produced, and starred in Citizen Kane—a movie that many have called the greatest American film ever made.










Oct 30, 1893: The World's Columbian Exposition closes in Chicago

October 30, 1893 is the last day of Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition, a great fair that celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the New World and offered fairgoers a chance to see the first gas-powered motorcar in the United States: the Daimler quadricycle. The exposition introduced Americans to all kinds of technological wonders—for instance, an alternating-current power plant, a 46-foot-long cannon, a 1,500-pound Venus de Milo made of chocolate, and Juicy Fruit gum—along with replicas of exotic places and carnival-style rides and games.  

Four years earlier, the Universal Exposition in Paris had featured an elaborate display of steam- and gas-powered vehicles, including the Serpollet-Peugeot steam tricar, named for its three wheels and powered by a coke-burning boiler and a lightweight, petrol-fueled four-wheeled car built by the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler. The Chicago fair promised an even more impressive spectacle. Its Transportation Building, designed by Louis Sullivan, was crammed full: Pack mules and horse-drawn carts crowded next to bicycles and boats. Most exciting of all were the rows of massive American-built steam locomotives that towered over everything else in the hall. Trains, the Exposition's organizers seemed to say, were the transportation of the future.  

Only one internal-combustion vehicle was on display at the fair, tucked away in the corner of the Transportation Building: another of the wire-wheeled, tiller-steered, one-cylinder platform quadricycles that Daimler had introduced to Parisian fairgoers in 1889. It was like nothing most Americans had ever seen and yet almost no one paid any attention to it. Reporters barely mentioned the Daimler car and it didn't even appear in the exhibition catalog.  

But a few very important people did notice it and studied it closely. One was the bicycle mechanic Charles Duryea, who used the Daimler car as the inspiration for the four-wheeled, one-cylinder Motor Wagon that he built with his brother Frank. In 1896, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company became the first company to mass-produce gas-powered vehicles in the United States.  

Another admirer of the Daimler car was Henry Ford, who returned to Dearborn after the fair and built an internal-combustion quadricycle of his own. (He called it his "gasoline buggy.")  Ford drove his little car for the first time on July 4, 1896 and sold it later that year for $200. Just a few years later, he incorporated the Ford Motor Company and the automobile age had begun.  



Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:


637 - Antioch surrenders to the Muslim forces under Rashidun Caliphate after the Battle of Iron bridge.
701 - John VI of Greece begins his reign as Catholic Pope
942 - Alberic nominates Pope Marinus II (Martinus III)
1077 - German king Henry IV gives away bisdom Utrecht county Staveren
1137 - Battle of Rignano between Ranulf of Apulia and Roger II of Sicily.
1270 - The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis ends by agreement between Charles I of Sicily (brother to King Louis IX of France, who had died months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.
1340 - Battle of Rio Salado.
1389 - French king Charles VI visits pope Clemens VII
1468 - Charles the Stout occupies & plunders Luik
1470 - Henry VI of England returns to the English throne after Earl of Warwick defeats Yorkists in battle.
1485 - Henry VII of England crowned at Westminster Abbey, London
1489 - Peace of Tours, between emperor Maximilian I & Flemings
1502 - Vasco da Gama returns to Calicut for the second time.
1503 - Queen Isabella of Spain bans violence against indians
1534 - English Parliament passes Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the English church - a role formerly held by the Pope
1611 - Gustaaf II Adolf (17) becomes king of Sweden
1629 - King Charles I gives Bahamas to Sir Robert Heath
1697 - Germany signs French/English/Spanish/Neth/Brandenburgs peace treaty ending 9 year War
1739 - England declares war on Spain: War of Jenkin's Ear [NS=Oct 19]
King of England King Charles IKing of England King Charles I 1768 - 1st Methodist church in US initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC)
1772 - Capt Cook arrives with ship Resolution in Capetown
1775 - 1st navy in US forms
1851 - Alfred de Mussets "Bettine," premieres in Paris
1864 - Helena, Montana's capital, founded
1866 - Jesse James gang robs bank in Lexington Missouri ($2000)
1868 - John Menard of Louisiana is 1st black elected to Congress
1871 - Phila Athletics beat Chicago for 1st Natl Association baseball pennant
1873 - P T Barnum's circus, "Greatest Show on Earth," debuts (NYC)
1883 - Austria-Hungary/Germany/Romania signs military treaty
1886 - Great-Britain/Germany divide boundaries in East Africa
1888 - John J Loud patents ballpoint pen
1888 - Ndebele-king Lobengula grants Cecil Rhodes, Mashonaland £100 per month
1893 - Senate approves repealing Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890
1894 - Daniel Cooper patents time clock
Outlaw Jesse JamesOutlaw Jesse James 1894 - Domenico Melegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially.
1896 - Martha Hughes Cannon of Utah becomes 1st female senator
1899 - Battle at Ladysmith Natal: Boers beat lt-general Whites army
1899 - British Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill reaches Capetown
1900 - 1st-ever US auto show opens in Madison Square Garden in NYC
1901 - Battle at Bakenlaagte: lt-col Bensons unit vs Boers
1905 - "October Manifesto" Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties
1905 - GB Shaw's "Mrs Warren's Profession," premieres in NYC
1905 - Tsar of Russia accepts 1st Duma (Parliament)
1911 - Clark Griffith is named manager of Wash Senators
1914 - Allied offensive at Ypres (Belgium) begins
1917 - British government gives final approval to Balfour Declaration
1918 - Slovakia asks for creation of Czechoslovakian state
1919 - Baseball league presidents call for abolishment of spitball
1920 - The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.
Absolute monarch Nicholas IIAbsolute monarch Nicholas II 1922 - Anxious to compete with the Yankees, the NY Giants pay $65,000 & 3 players for Jack Bentley (hits .349 & is 13-1 as pitcher in 1922)
1922 - Benito Mussolini forms government in Italy
1925 - KUT-AM in Austin TX begins radio transmissions
1929 - The Stuttgart Cable Car is constructed in Stuttgart, Germany.
1930 - Turkey & Greece sign a treaty of friendship
1931 - W2XB TV channel 1 in NYC, NY (NBC) begins broadcasting
1938 - Orson Welles panics a nation with broadcast of "War of the Worlds"
1939 - USSR & Germany agree on partitioning Poland, Hitler deports Jews
1939 - German U boat fails on attack of English battleship Nelson with Winston Churchill, Dudley Pound & Charles Forbes aboard
1940 - Cole Porters musical "Panama hattie," premieres in NYC
1941 - USS Reuben James torpedoed by Germans, even though US is not in war
1942 - 8th day of battle at El Alamein: new Australian assault
1942 - US aircraft carrier Enterprise reaches Noumea
1943 - Molotov-Eden-Cordell Hull accord over operations at UN
1943 - Soviet forces under Tolbuchin stick Sivash-bay about
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1944 - Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring," premieres in Wash DC
1944 - Anne Frank (of Diary fame) is deported from Auschwitz to Belsen
1944 - Last transport for Auschwitz arrives in Birkenau
1944 - Scottish Highlanders liberate Waalwijk
1944 - Sweden announces intention to stay neutral & refuse sanctuary in WW II
1944 - Tholen Island freed
1945 - Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson to a Montreal Royals
1945 - US government announces end of shoe rationing
1947 - 23 countries sign GATT agreement in Geneva
1947 - Darius Milhauds 3rd Symphony "Hymnus Ambrosianus," premieres in Paris
1948 - 20 die & 6,000 made ill by smog in Donora Pennsylvania
1948 - Operation Hiram: Israelis take control of Galilee
1949 - "Lost in the Stars" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 281 perfs
1949 - Kurt Weill & Maxwell Anderson's musical premieres in NYC
1950 - David Diamond's 3rd Symphony, premieres
Baseball Player Jackie RobinsonBaseball Player Jackie Robinson 1950 - Pope Pius XII witnesses "The Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican.
1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1952 - Clarence Birdseye sells 1st frozen peas
1953 - Dr Albert Schweitzer & Gen George C Marshall win Nobel Peace Prize
1954 - Defense Department announces elimination of all segregated regiments
1954 - US Armed Forces end segregation of races
1954 - 1st use of 24-sec shot clock in pro basketball (Rochester vs Boston)
1955 - Imtiaz Ahmed scores 209 v NZ, the record for a no 8 batsman
1956 - Israel captures Egyptian militay post at El-Thamad
1956 - Dodgers sell Ebbets Field to a real estate group They agree to stay until 1959, with an option to stay until 1961
1957 - Dmitri Sjostakovitch's 11th Symphony premieres in Moscow
1957 - Soviet Union launches, Sputnik II, carrying a dog named Laika
1957 - WLWI (now WTHR) TV channel 13 in Indianapolis, IN (ABC) 1st broadcast
1957 - WYTV TV channel 33 in Youngstown, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
1960 - Guatemala's "La Hora" reports plan for invasion on Cuba
1960 - Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
1961 - Soviet Union tests a 58 megaton hydrogen bomb
1961 - UN unanimously elects U Thant acting secretary general of the UN
Soviet Union Premier Joseph StalinSoviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin 1961 - Soviet Party Congress unanimously approves a resolution removing Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb in Red Square
1962 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
1963 - Morocco & Algeria signs cease fire
1963 - Sandy Koufax wins NL MVP award
1964 - Tran Van Huong appointed premier of South Vietnam
1965 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Las Cruces Golf Open
1965 - Fireworks explosions kill 50 in Cartagena, Colombia
1966 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Las Cruces Ladies Golf Open
1967 - Arthur Allyn says White Sox will play 9 games in Milwaukee in 1968
1967 - Ferdinand Bracke bicycles world record time (48,093 km)
1967 - USSR Kosmos 186 & 188 make 1st automatic docking & Venmera 13 launch
1968 - Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Lars Onsager (thermodynamics)
1968 - Nobel prize for physics awarded to Luis Alvarez (bubble chamber)
1968 - Queen Juliana opens IJ tunnel in Amsterdam
1969 - WXPO (now WNDS) TV channel 50 in Manchester, NH (IND) 1st broadcast
1970 - KVEW TV channel 42 in Kennewick, WA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1972 - 45 die in a train crash in Chicago Ill
1972 - Worst US rail accident in 14 years; 45 die in Chicago
1973 - Tom Seaver becomes 1st non-20-game winner to win Cy Young award
1973 - The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time.
1974 - California Angel Nolan Ryan throws fastest recorded pitch (100.9 MPH)
1974 - Catfish Hunter is named AL Cy Young Award
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad AliHeavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali 1974 - Muhammad Ali KOs George Foreman in 8th round in Kinshasa Zaire ('The Rumble in the Jungle')
1975 - Giants pitcher John "the Count of" Montefusco wins NL Rookie of Year
1975 - John Bucyk, Boston, became 7th NHLer to score 500 goals
1975 - Juan Carlos assumes power in Spain
1975 - NY Daily News runs headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead"
1976 - "Going Up" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 49 performances
1976 - Jane Pauley becomes news co-anchor of Today Show
1976 - Rev Joseph Evans elected president of United Church of Christ
1977 - Panama 747SP lands after polar flight around Earth in record 54:07
1978 - Laura Nickel & Curt Noll find 25th Mersenne prime, 2 ^ 21701-1
1978 - Uganda troops attack Tanzania
1979 - NASA launches space vehicle S-203
1979 - Richard Arrington elected mayor of Birmingham
1980 - Honduras & El Salvador settle their boundary dispute
1980 - NASA launches Flt Satcom-4
1982 - Portugal revises constitution
1983 - The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.
1984 - Tigers reliever Willie Hernandez wins AL Cy Young Award
1985 - 22nd Space Shuttle Mission (61-A)-Challenger 9-launched
1986 - Discovery moves to OPF where more than 200 modification are made
1987 - In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.
1988 - 2 gambling clubs & 1 player share 61.38 M California lotto jackpot
1988 - Beth Daniel wins Nichirei Ladies Cup US-Japan Team Golf Championship
1988 - Jim Elliott (US) completes 24-hr paced outdoor race for 548.9 mi
1988 - NY Jets finally beat Pittsburgh Steelers for 1st time
1989 - August A Busch III becomes CEO of St Louis Cards
1989 - Smith Dairy at Orrville Ohio, makes largest milk shake (1,575.2 gal)
1990 - England-France complete "Chunnel"
1991 - Colombian government negotiate with M-19-guerrilla
1991 - Mark Sauer becomes CEO of Pittsburgh Pirates
1991 - Mid East peace conference begins in Madrid Spain
1992 - MTA begins installing automated fare collection turnstiles
1993 - Toronto Maple Leafs lose 1st game of season after going 10-0-0
1994 - Leftist coalition wins Marcedonia parliamentary election
1994 - Thomas Nicely reports bug in Intel's Pentium-processor on Internet
1994 - US wins Nichirei LPGA Golf International
1995 - Quebec Referendum votes to remain part of Canada
1997 - "Cherry Orchard," opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC
1997 - Shirley Allen, 51, held Illinois police off for 39 days captured
2002 - British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview begins transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.
2005 - The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.

2012 - Walt Disney purchases Lucasfilm Ltd and its rights for Star Wars and Indiana Jones for $4.05 billion




1735 - John Adams, the second President of the United States, was born in Braintree, MA. His son became the sixth President of the U.S.   1817 - The independent government of Venezuela was established by Simon Bolivar.   1831 - Escaped slave Nat Turner was apprehended in Southampton County, VA, several weeks after leading the bloodiest slave uprising in American history.   1875 - The constitution of Missouri was ratified by popular vote.   1893 - The U.S. Senate gave final approval to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.   1894 - The time clock was patented by Daniel M. Cooper of Rochester, NY.   1938 - Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" aired on CBS radio. The belief that the realistic radio dramatization was a live news event about a Martian invasion caused panic among listeners.   1943 - In Moscow, a declaration was signed by the Governments of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and China called for an early establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security. The goal was supported on December 1, 1943, at a meeting in Teheran.   1944 - Martha Graham's ballet "Appalachian Spring" premiered at the Library of Congress.   1945 - The U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing.   1953 - General George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.   1961 - The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb with a force of approximately 58 megatons.   1961 - The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved an order to remove Joseph Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.   1972 - U.S. President Richard Nixon approved legislation to increase Social Security spending by $5.3 billion.   1972 - In Illinois, 45 people were killed when two trains collided on Chicago's south side.   1975 - Prince Juan Carlos assumed power in Spain as dictator Francisco Franco was near death.   1975 - The New York Daily News ran the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead." The headline came a day after U.S. President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.   1982 - Portugal's constitution was revised for the first time since it was ratified on April 25, 1976.   1984 - In Poland, police found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerry Popieluszko. His death was blamed on four security officers.   1989 - Mitsubishi Estate Company announced it would buy 51 percent of Rockefeller Group Inc. of New York.   1993 - Martin Fettman, America's first veterinarian in space, performed the world's first animal dissections in space, while aboard the space shuttle Columbia.   1993 - The United Nations deadline concerning ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide passed with country's military still in control.   1995 - Federalist prevailed over separatists in Quebec in a referendum concerning secession from the federation of Canada.   1997 - The play revival "The Cherry Orchard" opened.   1998 - The terrorist who hijacked a Turkish Airlines plane and the 39 people on board was killed when anti-terrorist squads raided the plane.   2001 - In New York City, U.S. President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch at Game 3 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks.   2001 - Michael Jordan returned to the NBA with the Washington Wizards after a 3 1/2 year retirement. The Wizards lost 93-91 to the New York Knicks.



1534 The English parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the English church. 1938 Radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, starring Orson Welles, caused nationwide panic among listeners. 1944 Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring, with music by Aaron Copland, premiered. 1953 Gen. George C. Marshall won the Nobel Peace Prize for originating the Marshall Plan. 1974 Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire ("rumble in the jungle") to regain his world heavyweight title.




The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/oct30.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory