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Sept 30, 2014 tues.
September 30th, 2014

Question: What are these people otherwise known as? Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinhem, Bella Abzug, Isabelle Allende, Germaine Greer.

Yesterday’s Question answered below: What does it mean to be speaking extemporaneously?
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History for 9/30/2014
Birthdays: William Wrigley the Chewing Gum king 1868, Truman Capote, Eli Weisel, Lester Maddox, Buddy Rich, David Oistrach, Deborah Kerr, Angie Dickinson is 84, Marylin McCoo, Len Cariou, Johnny Mathis, Rula Lenska, Eric Stolz, Monica Bellucci is 50, Jenna Elfman is 43, Marion Cotillard is 39, Al Leong (Al KaBong) is 61

331BC- On the night before the Battle of Gaugamela. Alexander the Great made preparations. The Persian Great King had assembled and enormous army of peoples from throughout his vast empire-150,000 Lydians, Scythians, Bactrians, Phoenicians, Ionians, Egyptians, Medes, all to face the Macedonian Greek army of 30,000. Alexander’s ordered soothsayer Aristander offer sacrifices to the God of Fear.

420AD- Today is the feast of Saint Jerome, who first translated all of the Old and New Testaments from Hebrew, Chaledean, Aramaic and Greek into commonly spoken Latin. This is referred to as the Vulgate Edition.

1187- SALADIN CAPTURED JERUSALEM- After destroying the Crusader army at The Horns of Hattin in July, the Sultan of Egypt laid siege to the Holy City. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and Baron Baylin of Ibelin threatened to destroy the Al Acqsa mosque, Dome of the Rock and other Moslem Holy Places if Saladin didn't agree to mild treatment of the Christian citizens of the city. Saladin didn't want his name to go down in history with such an infamy, so he agreed. Still, he consoled himself with beheading 3,000 captured Knights Templar (you gotta have some fun). Remember Richard Lionheart had 5000 Arab people chopped up just to piss Saladin off. The Queen of Jerusalem, Yolanda DeCourtenay, sister of Baldwin IV 'the Leper King '(deceased), went into exile looking for Western support for more Crusades.

1399- King Richard II abdicated the throne of England for Henry IV Bollingbroke.
He was Henry IV part one, if you're a Shakespeare fan) .Henry was the eldest surviving son of John of Gaunt and Richard the son of his brother Edward the Black Prince. The cousins would wage the War of the Roses a generation later. Richard was later murdered at Pontefract Castle. Richard II is remembered for is the invention of the pocket-handkerchief.

1630- Pilgrim John Billington became the first American hanged for murder. Known as the “Wickedest Pilgrim Father” criminologists call him the first American crook.

1681- Louis XIV of France seized the city of Strasbourg, a city half-German and half-French. The German Emperor considered Strasbourg one of his imperial cities and the stage was set for future Franco-German rivalry. The city would change hands again and again over the centuries until becoming finally French in 1945.

1789- After adopting the Constitution, setting up the Supreme Court and working with the first President, the First Congress of the United States adjourned.

1791- Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflotte, The Magic Flute" premiered at Emanuel Schiknader's theater in Vienna. One of the theories about Mozart's death was that he put too much FreeMason's secret ritual into the story, so that the Masons did him in for violating their secrecy. The Papageno-Papagena duet when they meet at the end was Schiknader's idea. Mozart gave pyrotechnical trills to the coloratura aria of the Queen of the Night, but privately he laughed at such singing as “Cut Up Noodles”.

1791- The French Assembly Nationale, which had been in session since King Louis XVI chased them into a tennis court and tried to disband them two years earlier, dissolved themselves to make way for a new Legislative Assembly to complete the work of converting France from a feudal kingdom to a democratic republic.

1846- Dr. William Morton first pulled a tooth using ether as an anesthetic.

1868- Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women first published in installments.

1888- Jack the Ripper killed two more prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes

1896-Explorer Robert Peary returned to New York from the Polar ice bringing the Museum of Natural History a large iron meteorite, and two families of Eskimos (Inuit). Peary had tempted the Eskimos with promises of gifts and promised to return them in a year. The Museum housed them in the basement. All but one young boy named Minik died of disease. Minik had been told his father Oiesuk was buried, but in reality the Museum made his skeleton into an exhibit. In 1909 the boy was finally allowed to go home. By then he had wised up. ” I want to leave before you put my brains in a jar too!”

1919- The Fleischer Brother's first Out of the Inkwell cartoon featuring Koko the Clown. Koko was rotoscoped- meaning traced from live action like Motion Capture does today. Dave Fleischer put on the clown suit and was filmed by his brother Max.

1928- Walt Disney and his crew recorded the soundtrack and music for the first Mickey Mouse short, Steamboat Willie.

1930- Death Valley Days show premiered on radio, sponsored by Twenty Mule Team Borax powder. When it moved to television in the 50’s the host was Ronald Reagan.

1935- George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess premiered at the Colonial Theater in Boston. It flopped originally but after some rewrites it became a major hit.

1942-THE STAR OF AFRICA- Just prior to the Battle of El Alamein the top German fighter ace Hans Joachim Marseilles The Star of Africa died when his ME 109F caught fire and his parachute didn’t open. Marseilles had shot down 158 aircraft in one and a half years. He was just 22. His marksmanship over the Sahara desert was so good that his wingman was nicknamed “The Adding Machine” for his only job seemed to be to watch and tally up the enemy planes, that Marseilles shot down. Because of the desert heat this air ace fought his battles in shorts and white tennis shoes.

1947- The first World Series Game on Television- New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-3. Gillette and Ford paid $65,000 to sponsor the entire series.

1952- This Is Cinerama, showcasing the widescreen film process, opened in theaters.

1955-James Dean (24) was killed when his Porsche 550 Spyder crashed head on into a pickup truck driven by college student Donald Turnipseed on Highway 41 outside of Paso Robles, California. Dean was driving 85 mph at dusk without his headlights on, and two hours earlier had been given a ticket for speeding. Until now the American public had only seen him in one movie- "East of Eden" and some TV work. Giant and Rebel Without a Cause had yet to be released, yet the legend endures to this day. In an errie coincidence, Dean filmed a public service announcement promoting automobile safety. His last lines were:” Remember, the life you save may be mine!”

1960-Hanna Barbera's "The Flintstones" debuts. For six seasons in prime time the inhabitants of 301 Cobblestone Lane, Bedrock, was one of the most successful TV series ever. Originally going to be named the Flagstones, then Gladstones, before Flintstones. Ed Benedicts' designs with Alan Reed as the voice of Fred, Jean Van Der Pyl the voice of Wilma, Mel Blanc doing Barney and Bea Benaderet doing Betty.

1962- Three days of bitter rioting climaxed the BATTLE OF OXFORD MISSISSIPPI. James Meredith wanted to be the first black man to enroll in the segregated University of Miss. Governor Ross Barnett, who Time Magazine called “The Worst Racist in the Nation” vowed to keep him out. President John Kennedy pondered the constitutional ramifications of arresting the sitting governor of a state. When Barnett refused to deploy the states’ National Guard Washington sent in Federal marshals and troops to ensure Mr. Meredith could attend classes. This night for14 hours huge crowds of segregationist and Klansmen from around the state waving Confederate flags battled authorities with rocks, bottles, guns and tear gas. Two were killed and scores wounded. One federal marshal said: “ I was more scared there than I was at Pearl Harbor!” One of the marshals that night was the son of writer William Faulkner. Next day James Meredith walked to his classes at Old Miss. In later years Meredith became an aide to former segregationist Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

1966- British Bechuanaland becomes the Republic of Botswana.

1971- The Baseball Washington Senators played their last game in RFK Stadium. Their fans rioted and threw so much trash on to the field that the game was declared a forfeit. The Senators moved to Texas and became the Texas Rangers.

1982- The TV comedy Cheers premiered. The Beacon Street Bar in Boston where everybody knows your name. It made stars of Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Kirsty Alley and Kelsey Grammar.

1990- READ MY LIPS! President George Bush Sr made the cornerstone of his policy the fact that he’d never raise taxes- He declared “Read my lips, no new taxes!” Well today he went back on his word and announced a hefty tax increase of $134 billion. When a spokesman was called on this obvious flip-flop he responded:” The Presidents position has Evolved.” So did the American public’s view of Bush, they voted him out of office.

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Yesterday’s Question: What does it mean to be speaking extemporaneously?

Answer: Speaking without prior preparation, or speaking off the cuff.


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