Sunday, November 7, 2010

Keith, Leon, Marie, Steve, Art, Craig, Jeannette and Thomas

Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day


Celebrate these Birthdays...
1959 - Keith Lockhart, the 20th conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, studied at Brevard Music Festival (15 miles from me!) and has conducted orchestras across the country, and now, internationally with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
1943 – Joni Mitchell, singer/songwriter known for songs such as Both Sides Now and Woodstock.
1938 – Barry Newman, actor, from Pretty Boy Floyd (1960) to The Edge of Night (1964-1965) to his breakout roll as Kowalski in the 1971 film Vanishing Point to his most recent appearance on The Ghost Whisperer (in 2009).
1922 – Al Hirt, jazz musician with 38 albums featuring his genius performances on the trumpet.
1918 – Billy Graham, evangelist, who has spread his message from his Southern Baptist pulpit in Charlotte,NC.
1913 – Albert Camus, novelist of such titles The Stranger, The Plague and The Myth of Sisyphus. He was killed in a car accident at the age of 46.
1879 - Leon Trotsky, a leader of Russia during the October Revolution
1867 – Marie Curie, chemist/physicist known for her work in radioactivity. She was the first person hw was honored with two Nobel Prizes, one in Chemistry and the other in Physics.

Notice these historical events...
1980 – Steve McQueen, start of many films including Bullitt and The Towering Inferno,died in Mexico while undergoing cancer (mesothelioma) treatment.
1965 – Art Arfons set the land-speed record of 576.553 miles per hour. He held the record for 8 days when Craig Breedlove set the land-speed record with 600.601 mph.  For the next year, the two men passed the record between them. It is now held by Andy Green, set in 1997 at 760.343mph.
1944 – For the third time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected President of the United States of America. He served only three months before dying from a stroke.
1940 – The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the third longest bridge in the world (at the time) at 5,959 feet, collapsed due to high winds. One death was reported-an anonymous  dog.
1916 – Jeannette Rankin became the first woman to be elected to serve in the US House Of Representatives.
1885 – Craigellachie, Canada hosts a “party” when the last spike of Canada’s first transcontinental railway was driven 5 years after the project began. The 4,600 kilometer line traverses bogs and mountains 6 years ahead of schedule.
1874 – The Republican Party welcomed (maybe not with open arms at the time) their new mascot. Thomas Nast drew an elephant to represent the group for a cartoon in Harper’s Weekly.