Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 2016
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October 1
"A Streetcar Named Marge" is the second episode of The Simpsons' fourth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 1, 1992. In the episode, Marge wins the role of Blanche DuBois in a musical version of Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire. Homer offers little support for his wife's acting pursuits, and Marge begins to see parallels between him and Stanley Kowalski, the play's boorish lead male character. The episode contains a subplot in which Maggie attempts to retrieve her pacifier from a strict daycare owner. Jeff Martin wrote the episode, and Rich Moore served as director. Jon Lovitz made his fourth guest appearance on The Simpsons, this time as musical director Llewellyn Sinclair, as well as Llewellyn's sister, who runs the daycare. The episode generated controversy with an unflattering original song about New Orleans; one newspaper published the lyrics before the episode aired, and the president of Fox Broadcasting issued a public apology. The episode was well received by many fans, and show creator Matt Groening has named it one of his favorite episodes. (Full article...)
October 2
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen (pictured) and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. The successor to the 2008 Flash game Meat Boy, Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010 and on Microsoft Windows in November 2010. It was ported to OS X and Linux in 2011, to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2015, and to the Wii U in 2016. In the game the player controls Meat Boy, a red, cube-shaped character, as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the game's antagonist Dr. Fetus. The platform gameplay is characterized by fine control and split-second timing as the player runs and jumps through over 300 hazardous levels while avoiding obstacles. The game sold over 1,000,000 copies by January 2012, and was critically acclaimed. In 2010, it received awards for Most Challenging Game from IGN and for Best Downloadable Game from GameSpot and GameTrailers, as well as a nomination for the Grand Prize at the 2010 Independent Games Festival. Critics lauded the game's difficulty, precise control, retro artwork, and soundtrack. (Full article...)
October 3
Eremoryzomys, also known as the gray rice rat, is a genus of rodent consisting of a single species, E. polius. Discovered in 1912 and first described in 1913 by Wilfred Osgood, it was originally named Oryzomys polius. In 2006, a cladistic analysis found that it was not closely related to Oryzomys or to any other known member of its tribe, Oryzomyini. The Brazilian genus Drymoreomys, named in 2011, is probably its closest relative. Eremoryzomys has a limited distribution in the dry upper valley of the Marañón River in central Peru. A large, long-tailed rice rat, with a head and body length of 138 to 164 mm (5.4 to 6.5 in), it has gray fur, short ears, and well-developed ungual tufts of hair on the hindfeet. Females have eight mammae. The rostrum (front part of the skull) is long and robust and the braincase is rounded. The bony palate is relatively short. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has found insufficient data to assess the conservation status; the species may be threatened by destruction of its habitat for cattle farming. (Full article...)
October 4
Hurricane Iris of 2001 was the most destructive tropical cyclone in Belize since Hurricane Hattie in 1961. Iris was the second-strongest storm of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season, behind Hurricane Michelle. While passing south of the Dominican Republic, Iris dropped heavy rainfall that caused landslides, killing eight people. Later, the hurricane passed south of Jamaica, where it destroyed two houses. On reaching the western Caribbean Sea, it rapidly intensified to Category 4 on the Saffir–Simpson scale. A small hurricane with an eye of only 7 miles (11 km) in diameter, it reached peak winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) before making landfall in Belize. The storm killed 24 people there, including 20 who died when a scuba diving boat capsized near Big Creek. It also killed eight people and damaged about 2,500 homes in neighboring Guatemala, and later dropped heavy rainfall in southern Mexico, where two people died. Destruction in Belize totaled US$250 million. Because Iris was compact, the damage was confined to 72% of the houses in the Toledo district and 50% of the houses in the Stann Creek district. (Full article...)
October 5
The Jarrow March (5–31 October 1936) was a protest against the unemployment and poverty suffered in the Tyneside town of Jarrow, England, during the 1930s. Around 200 men marched from Jarrow to London to petition the British government, requesting the re-establishment of industry in the town following the closure in 1934 of Palmer's shipyard. Palmer's had seen the launching of more than 1,000 ships since 1852. In the 1920s, a combination of mismanagement and changed world trade conditions brought a decline which led to the yard's closure. When plans for its replacement by a modern steelworks plant were thwarted, the lack of any prospect of large-scale employment in the town led the borough council to organise the march on London to present their case to the government. The petition was received by the House of Commons but not debated, and the march produced few immediate results. The Jarrovians went home believing that they had failed. Nevertheless, in subsequent years the Jarrow March became recognised by historians as a defining event of the 1930s and helped to prepare the way for widespread social reform after the Second World War. (Full article...)
October 6
Æthelwulf was King of Wessex from 839 to 858. He was defeated in 843 in battle against the Vikings at Carhampton in Somerset, but achieved a major victory at the Battle of Aclea in 851. He went on pilgrimage to Rome in 855, leaving his eldest surviving son Æthelbald to act as King of Wessex in his absence. Æthelwulf stayed a year in Rome; on his way back he married Judith, the daughter of the West Frankish King Charles the Bald. When Æthelwulf returned to England, Æthelbald refused to surrender the throne, and Æthelwulf agreed to divide the kingdom, taking the east and leaving the west in Æthelbald's hands. Before the twenty-first century Æthelwulf's reputation among historians was poor: he was seen as excessively pious and impractical, and his pilgrimage was viewed as a desertion of his duties. Now historians see him as a king who consolidated and extended the power of his dynasty, and dealt more effectively than most of his contemporaries with Viking attacks. He is regarded as one of the most successful West Saxon kings, who laid the foundations for the success of his son, Alfred the Great. (Full article...)
October 7
"Angel of Death" is the opening track on thrash metal band Slayer's album Reign in Blood, released on October 7, 1986. Written by guitarist Jeff Hanneman (pictured) and produced by Rick Rubin, it is by far the longest track on the album at 4 minutes and 51 seconds, and features prominent verses and choruses, unlike the other tracks. The lyrics describe sadistic abuse by the Nazi physician Josef Mengele, who conducted human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Despite accusations that the lyrics reflect Nazi sympathizing and racism, which the band vigorously denied, the song has been highly influential in the development of both thrash and speed metal. Although it did not chart, it has been praised by critics, and appears on all of Slayer's live albums. AllMusic's Steve Huey described it as a classic and the album as "the pinnacle of speed metal". One of its riffs was sampled by Public Enemy in their 1988 song "She Watch Channel Zero?!" (Full article...)
October 8
The 2006 UAW-Ford 500 was an American stock car racing competition. Held on October 8 at Talladega Superspeedway, the 188-lap race was the 30th in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the fourth in the ten-race, season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. Brian Vickers (pictured) of Hendrick Motorsports won the first race of his career; Kasey Kahne finished second, and Kurt Busch came in third. David Gilliland, who had the pole position, was passed immediately by teammate Dale Jarrett. The race lead changed 63 times, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading for the most laps (37). On the final lap, Jimmie Johnson and Vickers made a move to pass Earnhardt, but Vickers clipped Johnson. Then Johnson clipped Earnhardt, and both were knocked into the infield. The race was halted, giving Vickers the win, although the crowd booed, and he was later criticized for hurting his teammate Johnson in the points standings. After the race Jeff Burton maintained his Drivers' Championship points lead, while Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, 51 points ahead of Dodge and 52 ahead of Ford with six races remaining in the season. (Full article...)
October 9
The Russian battleship Potemkin was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet and launched 9 October 1900. The crew's rebellion against the officers in June 1905 (during that year's revolution) is now viewed as a first step towards the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the mutineers sought asylum in Constanța, Romania, and the Russians recovered the ship, her name was changed to Panteleimon. She accidentally sank a Russian submarine in 1909 and was badly damaged when she ran aground in 1911. During World War I, Panteleimon participated in the Battle of Cape Sarych in late 1914 and covered several bombardments of the Ottoman Bosphorus fortifications in early 1915. The ship was relegated to secondary roles after the first Russian dreadnought battleship entered service in late 1915. Panteleimon was captured when the Germans took Sevastopol in May 1918 and was handed over to the Allies after the Armistice in November 1918. She was abandoned when the White Russians evacuated the Crimea in 1920 and was finally scrapped by the Soviets in 1923. The 1905 mutiny inspired Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent propaganda film The Battleship Potemkin. (Full article...)
October 10
Wendell Willkie (1892–1944) was an American corporate executive and the 1940 Republican candidate for president. In 1933 he became president of Commonwealth & Southern Corporation (C&S), a utility holding company. He fought against President Franklin Roosevelt's Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a publicly owned competitor of C&S; though unsuccessful, he sold C&S's property to the TVA for a good price, and gained public esteem. A longtime Democratic activist, Willkie changed his party registration to Republican in late 1939. He did not run in the 1940 presidential primaries, but positioned himself as an acceptable choice for a deadlocked convention. As German forces under Hitler rampaged through Western Europe in the spring of 1940, many Republicans did not wish to nominate an isolationist like Thomas E. Dewey, and turned to Willkie, who was nominated on the sixth ballot. His support for aid to Britain paralleled Roosevelt's, defying Republican opposition. Roosevelt won a third term, taking 38 of the 48 states and 55 percent of the vote. Willkie made two wartime foreign trips as Roosevelt's informal envoy. (Full article...)
October 11
The Zapata rail (Cyanolimnas cerverai) is a medium-sized, dark-coloured rail. It has brown upperparts, greyish-blue underparts, a red-based yellow bill, white undertail coverts, and red eyes and legs. Its short wings render it almost flightless. It is endemic to the wetlands of the Zapata Peninsula in southern Cuba, where its only known nest was found in sawgrass tussocks. Little is known of its diet or reproductive behaviour, and its described calls may belong to a different species. The Zapata rail was discovered by Spanish zoologist Fermín Zanón Cervera in March 1927 in the Zapata Swamp near Santo Tomás, in the southern Matanzas Province of Cuba. The swamp holds one other bird found nowhere else, the Zapata wren, and also gives its name to the Zapata sparrow. Due to ongoing habitat loss in its limited range, its small population size, and predation by introduced mammals and catfish, the Zapata rail is evaluated as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species. The swamp is listed as an internationally important wetland by the Convention on Wetlands. (Full article...)
October 12
The gold dollar is a gold coin that was struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. It had three types over its lifetime, all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre. The Type 1 issue had the smallest diameter of any United States coin ever minted. A gold dollar had been proposed several times in the 1830s and 1840s, but was not initially adopted. Congress was finally galvanized into action by the increased supply of bullion from the California gold rush, and in 1849 authorized a gold dollar. In its early years, silver coins were being hoarded or exported, and the gold dollar found a ready place in commerce. Silver again circulated after Congress required in 1853 that new coins of that metal be made lighter, and the gold dollar became a rarity in commerce even before federal coins vanished from circulation amid the economic disruption of the American Civil War. Gold did not circulate again in most of the nation until 1879, and even then, the gold dollar did not regain its place in commerce. In its final years, struck in small numbers, it was hoarded by speculators and mounted in jewelry. (Full article...)
October 13
The Earth-grazing meteoroid of 13 October 1990 entered the atmosphere above Czechoslovakia and Poland and, after 9.8 seconds, returned to space. Named EN131090, the 44-kilogram (97 lb) meteoroid was observed travelling 409 kilometres (254 mi) at a speed of 42 km/s (26 mi/s) by cameras of the European Fireball Network. Its apparent magnitude peaked at −6.3, several times brighter than Venus's peak magnitude. Observations of such events are quite rare; this was the second recorded by scientific astronomical instruments (after the 1972 Great Daylight Fireball) and the first recorded from two distant positions, which enabled the calculation of several of its orbital characteristics. The encounter with Earth significantly changed its orbit and, to a smaller extent, some of its physical properties, including its mass and the structure of its upper layer. If the meteoroid had reached the lower atmosphere, it would have overheated and exploded high above the ground, leaving at most a few small meteorites that posed no danger to the Earth's surface. (Full article...)
October 14
The Norman conquest of England was the invasion and occupation of England by an army of Norman, Breton, and French soldiers, led by Duke William II of Normandy, later styled as William the Conqueror. The invasion culminated in the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. William's claim to the English throne derived from his familial relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor, who died in January 1066 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson. After the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada invaded northern England in September, Harold defeated and killed him at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Within days, William landed in southern England. Harold marched south to confront him, but left a significant portion of his army in the north, and was defeated and killed by William's force at Hastings. William faced rebellions for years, and was not secure on his throne until after 1072. He confiscated the lands of the resisting English elite, some of whom fled into exile. To control his new kingdom, William gave lands to his followers and built castles commanding military strongpoints. (Full article...)
October 15
H-58 is a county-designated highway in the US state of Michigan that runs east–west 69 miles (111 km) between the communities of Munising and Deer Park in the Upper Peninsula. The western section is routed through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, a national park on Lake Superior that was created on October 15, 1966, and through the adjacent Lake Superior State Forest in Alger County. A roadway was present along parts of today's H-58 by the late 1920s; initially, this gravel and earth county road between Munising and Kingston Corners connected with other roads to Grand Marais. In the 1930s, another segment was built to connect to Deer Park and to fill in the gap between Kingston Corners and Grand Marais. The H-58 designation was created after the county-designated highway system itself was formed in 1970. Federal legislation from the 1990s allowed the National Park Service to fund improvements to H-58 as the main access road to the park. Paving projects were completed between 2006 and 2010 along the entire length of H-58 in Alger County; the segment in Luce County is still a gravel road. (Full article...)
October 16
Ipswich Town F.C. has a long history as an English association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Founded on 16 October 1878, they have played at Portman Road, their home stadium, since 1884. They won their first trophy in the 1886–87 season over Ipswich School in the Suffolk Challenge Cup. The team played amateur football until 1936 when they turned professional and were elected into the Southern League. On 30 May 1938 they were elected into Division Three of the Football League in place of Gillingham F.C. They won the Football League Championship in 1961–62, one season after winning promotion from the Second Division. A decade later, under the guidance of Bobby Robson (pictured), they achieved success both in the FA Cup and in European competition, winning the UEFA Cup in 1981. Both Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey moved on from Ipswich to manage the England national football team, presiding over the team's best results in the World Cup: fourth place in 1990 and world champions in 1966. (Full article...)
Part of the Ipswich Town F.C. featured topic.
October 17
Melford Stevenson (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987) was an English High Court judge. He was Judge Advocate at the 1945 war crimes trial of submariners from the U-852 for the Peleus affair. In 1954 Stevenson represented the UK Government during Jomo Kenyatta's unsuccessful appeal against his conviction for his part in the Mau Mau Uprising. He represented the litigants in the Crichel Down affair, which led to changes in the law on compulsory purchase. In 1955 he defended Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the UK, and in 1957 took part in the unsuccessful prosecution of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. As a High Court judge he gave life sentences in 1969 to the Kray twins for murder, and in 1971 gave Jake Prescott of the Angry Brigade fifteen years for conspiracy to cause explosions. When another judge, Sir Robin Dunn, described him as "the worst judge since the war", Lord Roskill pointed out that Stevenson could be merciful to those he saw as victims. He retired in 1979, and died in 1987. (Full article...)
October 18
Freida Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, she decided to become an actress at a young age. She was educated at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, where she took part in amateur plays. After graduation, she briefly worked as a model and then as a television presenter. Pinto made her cinematic debut with the British drama Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which she received several nominations at the British Academy Film Awards, the MTV Movie Awards and the Teen Choice Awards. Her biggest commercial success came with the 2011 science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The same year, she portrayed the title character in Michael Winterbottom's Trishna. Her performance in the biographical film Desert Dancer (2014) received critical acclaim. Although the Indian media has credited Pinto with breaking stereotypes of Indian women in foreign films, she has been a lesser-known figure in Indian cinema. She is a vocal advocate for underprivileged children and women. (Full article...)
October 19
Komm, du süße Todesstunde (Come, you sweet hour of death), BWV 161, is a church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar for the 16th Sunday after Trinity Sunday, and probably first performed in 1716. The text, provided by the court poet Salomon Franck, was based on the prescribed gospel reading about the young man from Nain, and reflected on longing for death, seen as a transition to a life united with Jesus. The cantata in six movements opens with alternating arias and recitatives, leading to a chorus and a concluding chorale, a stanza of the hymn "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" by Christoph Knoll. The chorale tune appears in the first movement, played by the organ, providing a unity to the composition. Bach scored the work for alto and tenor soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque chamber ensemble of recorders, strings and continuo. In one recitative, he creates the images of sleep, of waking up, and of funeral bells. Although the libretto was published in a collection in 1715, Bach probably did not perform it until September 1716, due to a long period of public mourning in the duchy for the brother of Duke Ernst August. (Full article...)
October 20
No. 91 (Composite) Wing was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) wing active during the Korean War and its immediate aftermath. It was formed on 20 October 1950 to administer No. 77 (Fighter) Squadron, No. 30 Communications Flight, No. 391 (Base) Squadron, and No. 491 (Maintenance) Squadron. The wing and its units were headquartered at Iwakuni, Japan, except for No. 77 Squadron, which was based in Korea and tasked by the US Fifth Air Force. No. 30 Flight was re-designated No. 30 Communications Unit in November 1950, No. 30 Transport Unit a year later, and No. 36 (Transport) Squadron in March 1953. Operating mainly C-47 Dakotas, it undertook medical evacuation, cargo and troop transport, and courier flights. No. 77 Squadron converted from P-51 Mustangs to Gloster Meteors (pictured) between April and July 1951, and operated primarily in the ground attack role. It remained in Korea on garrison duty following the July 1953 armistice, and returned to Australia in November 1954; No. 491 Squadron disbanded the same month. No. 36 Squadron returned to Australia in March 1955; the following month, No. 391 Squadron and No. 91 Wing headquarters disbanded. (Full article...)
October 21
Stephen Owen Davies (died 25 February 1972) was a Welsh coal miner and Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil from 1934 to 1972. In 1918 he became miners' agent for the Dowlais district of the South Wales Miners' Federation, and in 1924 was appointed its chief organiser, legal adviser, and vice-president. Elected to parliament in 1934, Davies consistently defied official Labour policy by championing causes such as Welsh nationalism and resistance to defence expenditures, with a persistence that brought him several suspensions and ensured that he was never offered ministerial office. After a spoil heap at a coal mine collapsed in the village of Aberfan on 21 October 1966 killing 116 schoolchildren and 28 adults, Davies controversially said that he had long thought that it was unsafe. He had not reported his suspicions for fear that an enquiry would cause the closures of local pits. In 1970 he was deselected as parliamentary candidate by his local party association on account of his age, but won the seat in the general election as an Independent, a rare example in British politics of an independent candidate defeating a major party's organisation. (Full article...)
October 22
The 2003–04 season was the 109th in the history of Arsenal Football Club, with competitive matches played between August and May. Managed by Arsène Wenger (pictured) and nicknamed "The Invincibles", the club ended the Premier League campaign as champions with a record of 26 wins, 12 draws and no defeats. Arsenal fared less well in the other competitions, eliminated in the FA Cup by Manchester United and in the UEFA Champions League by Chelsea in the space of a week. Over five competitions, 34 players represented the club, including 15 goalscorers. Arsenal's top goalscorer was Thierry Henry, who scored 39 goals in 51 games. The Frenchman was given the accolades of PFA Players' Player of the Year by his peers and the FWA Footballer of the Year by football writers. Awarded a golden replica trophy by the Premier League once the season concluded, Arsenal later set a new league record of 49 matches unbeaten. In 2012, the team of 2003–04 won the "Best Team" category in the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards. (Full article...)
October 23
The Left Hand of Darkness is a science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin (pictured), published in 1969. It became immensely popular, winning both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and establishing Le Guin as a major author of science fiction. The novel tells the story of Genly Ai, an Earthman sent to the planet of Gethen as an envoy of the Ekumen. He is stymied by the cultural barrier created by the Gethenians' lack of a fixed gender identity. The novel is part of the Hainish Cycle, a series of novels and short stories by Le Guin set in the fictional Hainish universe, which she introduced in 1964. The book was among the first published in the feminist science fiction genre. The effect of sex and gender on culture and society, a major theme throughout the novel, touched off a feminist debate when it was first published. Left Hand has been reprinted more than 30 times, and has received a highly positive response from reviewers. It has been widely influential in the genre of science fiction. In 1987 the literary critic Harold Bloom said, "Le Guin, more than Tolkien, has raised fantasy into high literature, for our time". (Full article...)
October 24
"Subway" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American police television drama Homicide: Life on the Street, and the 84th episode overall. It first aired on NBC in the United States on December 5, 1997. In the episode, John Lange (Vincent D'Onofrio) becomes pinned between a subway train and the station platform. The Baltimore homicide department is informed that Lange will be dead within an hour, and Pembleton tries to determine if the case is a homicide while comforting Lange in his final minutes. "Subway" received overwhelmingly positive reviews but ranked number three in its time-slot during its original broadcast, capturing 10.3 million viewers but falling behind ABC's 20/20 and CBS's Nash Bridges. The episode won a Peabody Award for excellence in television broadcasting and was nominated for two Emmy Awards, one for Yoshimura's script and one for D'Onofrio's guest performance. Vince Gilligan, an X-Files screenwriter, said that "Subway" directly influenced an episode he wrote that featured Bryan Cranston, and Cranston's performance led to his casting in Gilligan's series Breaking Bad. (Full article...)
October 25
Operation Barras was a British Army operation in Sierra Leone in 2000 that rescued five soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment and 21 Sierra Leonean civilians being held by the West Side Boys militia group. The soldiers were part of a patrol returning from a visit to Jordanian peacekeepers attached to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) at Masiaka. The ground operation was conducted by D Squadron, 22 Regiment Special Air Service, with a diversionary assault by elements of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment. At least 25 West Side Boys and one soldier in the rescue party were killed, and 18 West Side Boys—including the gang's leader, Foday Kallay—were taken prisoner and later transferred to the custody of the Sierra Leone Police. Many West Side Boys fled the area during the assault, and over 300 surrendered to UNAMSIL forces within a fortnight. After the operation, the British government increased its support of UNAMSIL and its efforts to bring the Sierra Leone Civil War to an end, both politically, through the United Nations Security Council, and through the provision of staff officers to support UNAMSIL. (Full article...)
October 26
Bud Dunn (1918–2001) was an American horse trainer who specialized in training and showing Tennessee Walking Horses. Born in 1918 on a farm in Scott County, Kentucky, he later moved to Florence, Alabama, where he owned and operated Bud Stables, a show horse training stable that produced winners of twenty World Championships. He additionally trained and rode two horses who won the World Grand Championship at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, a national-level horse show held annually in or near Shelbyville, Tennessee. Dunn's first World Grand Championship came in 1992 with the bay stallion Dark Spirit's Rebel, and the second in 1999 with a son of that stallion, RPM. At the time of RPM's win, Dunn was 81 years old, making him the oldest winning rider on record. For his contributions, he was twice named Trainer of the Year, and was inducted into the Tennessee Walking Horse Hall of Fame and the Lauderdale County Sports Hall of Fame. Dunn's son Steve also became a successful horse trainer, winning two World Grand Championships. (Full article...)
October 27
The Norse-American medal was struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1925, pursuant to an act of the United States Congress. It was issued for the 100th anniversary of the voyage that brought early Norwegian immigrants to the United States on the ship Restauration. Minnesota Congressman Ole Juulson Kvale, a Norse-American, wanted a commemorative for the centennial celebrations. Rebuffed by the Treasury Department when he sought the issuance of a special coin, he instead settled for a medal. Sculpted by Buffalo nickel designer James Earle Fraser, the medals recognize those immigrants' Viking heritage, depicting a warrior on the obverse and a vessel on the reverse. They also recall the early Viking explorations of North America. Once they were authorized by Congress, they were produced in various metals and sizes, for the most part prior to the celebrations near Minneapolis in June 1925. Only 53 were issued in gold, and these are rare and valuable today; those struck in silver or bronze trade for much less. The medals are sometimes collected as part of the commemorative coin series. (Full article...)
October 28
St. Elmo is a 1914 American silent drama film produced by the Balboa Amusement Producing Company and distributed by William Fox's Box Office Attractions Company. It was the first feature-length film adaptation of Augusta Jane Evans's 1866 novel of the same name. The story follows the life of the title character (played by William Jossey), who kills his cousin (Francis McDonald) over the love of Agnes (Madeline Pardee), falls from grace, and eventually finds redemption and love with Edna (Gypsy Abbott). It is disputed who directed the film; many sources credit Bertram Bracken, while others list St. Elmo as J. Gordon Edwards's directorial debut. Some reviewers praised the scenery and overall production quality, considering the film an improvement over stage adaptations of the novel. Others found the scenery irrelevant and the story confusing. Despite mixed reviews, the film was financially successful, reportedly setting box office records. The following year, a film adaptation of an unrelated Evans novel, Beulah, was marketed as a sequel. As with most Balboa films, St. Elmo is now believed lost. (Full article...)
October 29
Baron Munchausen is a fictional nobleman created by German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia. The character is loosely based on a real baron, Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen (1720–1797). Born in Bodenwerder, Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the real-life Münchhausen fought for the Russian Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739. After retiring in 1760, he became a minor celebrity within German aristocratic circles for telling outrageous tall tales based on his military career. After hearing some of Münchhausen's stories, Raspe adapted them anonymously into literary form, first in German as magazine pieces, and then in English. The fictional Baron's exploits, narrated in the first person, focus on his impossible achievements as a sportsman, soldier, and traveller, for instance riding on a cannonball, fighting a forty-foot crocodile, and travelling to the Moon. The real-life Münchhausen was deeply upset at the development of a fictional character bearing his name, and threatened legal proceedings against the book's publisher. Several concepts and medical conditions have been named after the character, including Munchausen syndrome, the Münchhausen trilemma, and Munchausen numbers. (Full article...)
October 30
Jack Parsons (1914–1952) was an American rocket engineer and rocket propulsion researcher, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable composite rocket propellant, and helped develop both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets. Inspired by science fiction literature, he developed an interest in rocketry in his childhood and in 1928 began amateur rocket experiments with school friend Ed Forman. In 1934 he united with Forman and graduate student Frank Malina to form the Caltech-affiliated GALCIT Rocket Research Group, supported by Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory chairman Theodore von Kármán. After working on jet-assisted takeoff for the U.S. military, the GALCIT Group became JPL in 1943. For his contributions to rocket engineering, his advocacy of space exploration and human spaceflight, and his role in the founding of JPL and Aerojet, Parsons is regarded as one of the most important early figures of the U.S. space program. (Full article...)
October 31
Drowned God is a science fiction adventure game developed by Epic Multimedia Group, published by Inscape and released on October 31, 1996. The game advances the conspiracy theory that all of accepted human history is false and the human race's development and evolution have been aided by extra-terrestrials. The player attempts to uncover the truth within the game by traveling to different worlds, interacting with historical and fictional characters, and solving puzzles. The game is based on a forged manuscript written by Harry Horse in 1983. After facing legal trouble and fines when he attempted to sell the text, Horse shelved it for more than a decade before deciding a first person adventure game would be the best way to tell its story. Producer Algy Williams hired a team of multimedia artists and programmers to help Horse develop the game. Upon its release, it sold well, but faded in popularity due to software bugs. Its concept and visuals were widely praised, but its gameplay, audio, and puzzles received a mixed reception. A planned sequel never came to fruition. (Full article...)