Strange Today Online Radio Show - Podcast

 

 8-26-08 [2:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m Mike Dell and this is Strange Today for August 26th 2008

Today is national Dog day!

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1818 - The first Illinois Constitution is signed in Kaskaskia, Illinois, the first state capital of Illinois. Kaskaska now sports a population of 9. Salute!

1873 - The first public school kindergarten in the U.S. was authorized by the school board of St. Louis, MO.

1920 - The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was certified by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The amendment prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the voting booth. In other words, it gave women in the United States the right to vote. In 1973, Congresswoman Bella Abzug presented a bill to Congress designating this day as Women’s Equality Day. The President issued a proclamation and in 1974 it became Public Law.

1957 - The Ford Motor Company rolled out the first Edsel automobile. 110,847 of the cars were built before Ford pulled the plug due to lack of sales. It was an UGLY car although today they are quite prized. The car was named Edsel for Henry Ford’s son, Edsel Bryant Ford.

1974 - Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh died at age 72.

1978 - Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and took the name John Paul I. He died 33 days later resulting in the shortest reign as pope in history.

1987 - The Fuller Brush Company announced plans to open two retail stores in Dallas, TX. This was a first for the company that had sold its products door to door for 81 years.

1987 - President Ronald Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.

Please visit our website at www.strangetoday.com

I’m Mike Dell Have a great Day!

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 8-25-08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today for August 25th 2008

Today is Second Hand wardrobe day.

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1875 - Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel. He made the swim from Dover to Calais , France in 21 hours, 45 minutes. He didn’t finish the swim until the 26th.

1910 - Yellow Cab is founded. The original Yellow Cab Company based in Chicago, Illinois is one of the largest taxicab companies in the world. 100’s of independent cab companies worldwide us the name “Yellow”.

1916 - The United States National Park Service is created.

1940 - Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward were married while suspended in parachutes at the World’s Fair in New York City. The minister, best man, maid of honor and four musicians were also hanging from parachutes.

1984 - The Cabbage Patch Kids and Trivial Pursuit were replaced by the latest fad toys: robotic action figures that fought galactic battles. They were called Transformers.

1991 - The Russian Communist party issued a declaration of full independence for Belarus, the Soviet state that had declared its independence on July 27, 1991. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine formed the Commonwealth of Independent States to coordinate economic activities, defense and foreign relations.

Quote of the day: “I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true” That was from Author, Truman Copote who died on this day in 1984.

Strange Fact of the day: At any particular time, there are approximately 1,800 thunderstorms occurring in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Please visit our website at www.strangetoday.com

I’m Mike Dell Have a great Day!

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 Strange Today 8-24-08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today, the Weekend Edition, for Sunday August 24th, 2008.

Today is National Waffle Day. To waffle or not to waffle, that is the question.

79AD - Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash.

1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed. It wasn’t actually the first book printed using the Gutenburg movable type system, but it did usher in the Age of the Printed Book.

1891 - Thomas Edison patented the motion picture camera.

1912 - Alaska became a United States territory. It is the largest of the United States in area, at over 660,000 square miles, and has a population density of just 1.2 people per square mile on average.

1954 - The Communist Control Act went into effect, outlawing the Communist Party of the United States and criminalizing membership in it.

1967 - A group of hippies led by Abbie Hoffman disrupted trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing money from the viewing gallery, causing trading to stop as the brokers scrambled to pick it up.

1989 - Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

1992 - Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida as a Category 5 Hurricane.

2006 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefined the term “planet” such that Pluto is considered a Dwarf Planet, prompting the touching Jonathan Coulton song, I’m Your Moon.

2008 - The Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, ended today after two weeks of sporting events with participants from hundreds of countries around the world. The spectacular Opening Ceremony of these games will likely be remembered for a long time to come.

For a transcript of this podcast or to leave a comment, visit our website at www.strangetoday.com.

For Mike Dell and Strange Today, I’m Russ Woodman. Have a great week.

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 Strange Today 8-23-08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today, the Weekend Edition, for Saturday August 23rd, 2008.

Today is the Day of Remembrance for the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

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1775 - King George III declared that the American colonies existed in a state of open and avowed rebellion.

1784 - Western North Carolina, now eastern Tennessee, declared itself an independent state under the name of Franklin. It wasn’t accepted into the United States, and only lasted for four years.

1889 - The first wireless message from a ship to the shore was received.

1952 - The Arab League was formed. It includes most of the Middle East and Northern Africa, and was designed to promote the independence, sovereignty and interests of Arab countries.

1966 - Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

1977 - The Gossamer Condor won the Kremer prize for human powered flight. Made mostly of plastic with a gondola underneath for the pilot, the Condor weighed in at just 70 pounds. It now hangs in the Smithsonian.

1996 - Osama bin Laden issued a message entitled “A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.”

We’ll end today with a taste of some new music by Rick Springfield, famous rock performer from the 80’s who had hits like Jessie’s Girl and Love Somebody. He was born on this day in 1949.

For a transcript of this podcast or to leave a comment, visit our website at www.strangetoday.com.

For Mike Dell and Strange Today, I’m Russ Woodman. Have a great weekend!

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 8-20-08 [2:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today for August 20th 2008

This is the middle of National Aviation week – So, go fly somewhere!

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1741 - Alaska was discovered by Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering. The Bering Sea was named after him.

1866 - The National Labor Union advocated an eight-hour workday. At that time Workers commonly worked 10 or 12 hour days — or more.

1939 - The National Bowling Association was founded in Detroit, MI. It was the first bowling association in the U.S. for African-Americans.

1955 - Col. Horace A. Hanes, a U.S. Air Force pilot, flew to an altitude of 40,000 feet. Hanes reached a speed of 822.135 miles per hour in a Super Sabrejet.

1977 - The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

1985 - The machine that revolutionized the world’s offices, the original Xerox 914 copier, took its place among the honored machines of other eras at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The document copier had been formally introduced to the world in March of 1960. In just twenty-five years, the machine, invented by Chester Carlson, a patent lawyer, had become obsolete enough to make it into the museum. I had a job in 1982 that used one of those machines. I’m glad they are gone now!

2000 - Tiger Woods won the 82nd PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky. Woods birdied the last two holes in regulation and won the championship in a playoff over Bob May, becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open) in one year. He was the first player to win back-to-back PGA championships since Denny Shute in 1936 and 1937.

Quote of the day: “My vocal style I haven’t tried to copy from anyone. It just developed until it became the girlish whine it is today.” That was from Robert Plant who turns 60 today

Please visit our website at www.strangetoday.com

I’m Mike Dell Have a great Day!

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 8-19-08 [2:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today for August 18th 2008

Today is Aviation Day and also Sand Castle and Sculpture day!

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1848 - The first report of the California gold strike was published in the “New York Herald” newspaper. And so begins the California gold rush!

1909 - The first race was run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana. It wasn’t a brick track yet. It started as a crushed stone and tar track.

1940 - The new Civil Aeronautics Administration awarded honorary license #1 to Orville Wright.

1987 - It was on this day that consumer reporter David Horowitz was held at gunpoint on camera. During a KNBC-TV newscast in Burbank, CA, Horowitz was forced to read the assailant’s rambling note. The news director took the program off the air until police could get the gunman off the set. Horowitz was unharmed.

1989 - Authorities from four European countries (on the Dutch vessel “Volans” and the British launch “Landward”) boarded the offshore rock station Radio Caroline (on the ship “Ross Revenge”) in international waters in the North Sea and forced it to shut down. Disc jockeys relayed a blow-by-blow account of events to the astonished listeners right up to the end.

Quote of the day: “A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.” This, from
Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek who was born on this day in 1921

Please Visit our website at www.strangetoday.com

I’m Mike Dell, Have a great day!

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 8-18-08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today for August 18th 2008

Strange Today is back after a week of travel. I was at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. To those who I met in Las Vegas last week, I’m glad you’re here and happy to meet you!

Lets get on with Today’s history.

Today is Bad Poetry day. Roses are red, violets are blue… You fill in the rest.

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1587 - Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island, N.C.

1899 - The Chicago Anti-Cigarette League was formed by Lucy Payne Gaston.

1920 - The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right of women to vote, was ratified when Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.

1937 - The first FM radio construction permit was issued. It went to W1XOJ, Boston, MA. The station went on the air as WGTR (General Tire & Rubber) in 1941.

1969: Woodstock music festival ends
Three days and nights of sex, drugs and rock and roll come to a peaceful end as the Woodstock music festival winds down.

1988 - Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle was nominated as George H.W. Bush’s running mate during the Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

1991 Soviet hard-liners launched a coup aimed at toppling President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who was vacationing in the Crimea

Quote of the day:
I feel sorry for the person who can’t get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile.
Walter P. Chrysler , Fonder of the Chrysler Corporation who died today in 1940

Please visit our website at www.strangetoday.com

I’m Mike Dell Have a great Day!

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We will be gone till Monday 18th for the Podcast Expo.

Have a good week!

-Mike

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 Strange Today 8-10-08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today, the Weekend Edition, for Sunday August 10th, 2008.

Today is the start of National Resurrect Romance Week. It’s also National Duran Duran Appreciation Day. Some GenX’ers may find those to be related.

1519 - Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan did not complete the voyage as he was killed in a battle on the island of Mactan in 1521. The remains of his crew returned to Spain after finishing the journey in 1525.

1628 - The Swedish warship Vasa sank in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes on her maiden voyage. The salvaged ship is now one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attactions.

1821 - Missouri was admitted as the 24th U.S. state. On the same day in 1861, The Civil War entered Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeated Union forces in the southwestern part of the state at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek.

1846 - The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the U.S. Congress after $500,000 was given for such a purpose by scientist James Smithson, a British chemist and mineralogist.

1932 - Missouri finds itself popular yet again on this day as a 5.1kg chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County.

1948 - Candid Camera made its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.

2000 - The Earth’s population reached 6 billion according to the www.ibiblio.org world population tracker.

2003 - The highest temperature ever in the UK is recorded, 38.5°C (101.3°F), which occured in Kent. It was the first time the UK had recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

2006 - Scotland Yard disrupted a major terrorist plot to destroy aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States. All toiletries were subsequently banned from commercial airplanes.

Here’s a number from a popular song by the Ronettes, headed up by Ronnie Spector, who was born on this day in 1943 as Veronica Yvette Bennett.

Please visit our website at www.strangetoday.com.

For Mike Dell and Strange Today, I’m Russ Woodman. Have a fantastic week!

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 Strange Today 8-9-08: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to Strange Today, the Weekend Edition for Saturday, August 9th, 2008.

This is, sadly, the last day of National Clown Week. It’s also National Garage Sale Day.

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1173 - Construction of the Tower of Pisa began. It ultimately took two centuries to be completed. Must have been a union job.

1483 - The Sistine Chapel opened in Vatican City. It is world renowned due to its evocative architecture and famous frescoes by Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli.

1810 - Napoleon annexed Westphalia as part of the First French Empire. No exact definition of “Westphalia” exists, however, because it was applied to several different land areas through history.

1892 - Thomas Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph. Edison filed for the patent on September 1st, 1874. Isn’t government bureaucracy wonderful?

1942 - Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi was arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement.

1944 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council released posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time. Since the campaign began, forest area lost annually to fires has gone from from 22 million down to 4 million acres.

1945 - The Japanese town of Nagasaki was devastated when the atomic bomb nicknamed “Fat Man” was dropped by the United States B-29 bomber Bockscar.

1974 - As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, assumed the office.

1988 - The first official night game was played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, the last Major League ballpark to install lights, some 40 years after the second-to-last team, the Detroit Tigers.

Here’s a quote from Australian tennis player Rod Laver, who was born on this day in 1938. He is the only player in the history of the open era of tennis to win a Grand Slam during a calendar year. He is also widely regarded as the best male tennis player of all time. He said, “The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead; never let up.”

Please visit our website at www.strangetoday.com.

For Mike Dell and Strange Today, I’m Russ Woodman. Have a great weekend.

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