"Hey! Shouldn't you be gettin' back to work or somethin'? Greetings once again from The Spark. We don't know about you, but last week's epic nearly killed us in the writing, so this week's will be shorter, and, we hope, sweeter. Monday: Let's begin by noting that it's Ask a Stupid Question Day, created by teachers to let their students ask away without fear of mockery. We agree that the idea is a good one, for those questions may well lead to good answers, though probably not as good as the one Albert Einstein asked in 1905, when the physics journal "Annalen der Physik" published his paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" and got the answered "E=mc²." We’re not claiming to understand either the question or the answer, but physicists sure did. That wasn't the only question answered on this day, though. In 1822, French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion announced that he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone. For those unwilling to ask, it’s an engraved slab that had been discovered in 1799 in Rashid (or Rosetta), Egypt, and combined ancient hieroglyphics with Egyptian and Greek letters. Champollion’s deciphering of the text gave archaeologists their first real means to interpret ancient pictographs. It’s been on display in the British Museum since 1802, and is the most-visited object in that institution to this day. If you're still interested in trivia, we point you to the small town of Lancaster, PA. In 1777, it was the capital of the United States -- but for only one day. Speaking of the capital reminds us of politics, which reminds us of cartoonist Thomas Nast, born on this day in 1840. Nast was, among other things, the man who gave us the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, Uncle Sam, and the modern depiction of Santa Claus. Not so jolly was Henry Ford. In 1908, Ford’s first Model T rolled off the assembly line. The automobile went on sale Oct. 1 for $825 (just under $20,000 in modern currency), but soon became a national sensation, opening up personal transportation for the masses. By 1925, Ford's assembly line technique had become so efficient, that the price of the car had dropped to $265 -- or just over $3,000 today). Turning to television, we see that today is not only the 56th anniversary of "Tonight!" -- which soon became "The Tonight Show" hosted by Steve Allen (and today is the 90th birthday of Steve's widow, Jayne Meadows), we also see that coming up on the October 1st is the 48th anniversary of Johnny Carson taking over the "Tonight" host's chair he'd occupy for the next 29 years. Unfortunately, NBC, not sensing any historical value in the show, erased most of the tapes of the show's early years. In fact, it's only in the last couple of weeks that the audio track of the first three minutes of Carson's first show surfaced after decades of being lost. (Unfortunately, the video is still missing.) "Tonight" was a real gamble on the part of NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver (father of Sigourney Weaver, by the way), in that no one knew if anyone would stay up into the wee hours to watch TV. I think we know the answer to that particular question nowadays ... (For those who need help, though, it is National Coffee Day.) We see that the new season of "Sesame Street" begins today, but we assume we won't be seeing any sign of Katy Perry. Tuesday: In 1901, Ed Sullivan was born. Sullivan came to fame in the 1920s and '30s covering Broadway and Hollywood gossip (not to mention his bitter feuds with rival columnist Walter Winchell). From 1948 to 1971, though, he became in integral part of American culture by hosting a weekly variety show that featured singers, plate spinners, ventriloquists, comedians, and everything in between in an attempt to entertain every part of the audience. Variety shows like Sullivan's have all but disappeared from the airwaves, but there's one that began decades before his program and continues to the present day -- this day especially, as, following the tragic floods in Tennessee this spring, the Grand Ole Opry will return to its home to continue its 85-year tradition of broadcasting the finest in country music. That's not the only show tonight, though. On PBS, Ken Burns's "The Tenth Inning" premieres, continuing his 1994 series on the history of baseball. Ironically, the show airs on the 90th anniversary of one of the game's greatest scandals: the indictment of eight members of the Chicago White Sox, who were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Gambling itself may be a disease, but it’s not one that can be cured with antibiotics, like penicillin, which Alexander Fleming discovered on this day in 1928. Dr. Fleming noticed that one of the molds in his lab was killing bacteria. Within months, he had released it to the world, giving doctors an irreplaceable tool in the treating of disease. (Speaking of gambling, we’d like to think we could win a bet that the transition into that paragraph was one of the most awkward ever.) Wednesday: On the docket today: the 110th birthday of singing cowboy Gene Autry. Autry had worked as a ranch hand in his youth, but realized his future lay in entertainment. By 1928, he was singing on the radio; by 1929, he was making records; and by 1934, he was making movies. The pictures were cheaply made, but from 1936 to 1954 (with time out for service in World War II), he was one of the top-grossing stars in Hollywood. He was able to parlay his screen fame into a broadcasting empire and ownership of the (then) California Angels. When he died in 1998 (a mere three days after turning 91), he was one of the wealthiest men in America and remains the only person with five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Thursday: You ever played with a Frisbee? Of course you have -- well, either a Frisbee or a generic flying plastic disc. In 1958, the Wham-O company patented the toy. It, which was originally named the "Pluto Platter," but got its present name with Wham-O executive heard that Boston college kids (who were used to sailing pie plates from the local Frisbie Pie Company) were calling the platters "frisbies," and the rest is marketing history. We don't believe they had Frisbees in Bedrock (after all, everything in that town is made of rock, which doesn’t tend to sail real well), but if they did, we would have found out about them starting 50 years ago tonight, when "The Flintstones" premiered in prime time on ABC. While the Frisbee and "The Flintstones" were good ideas, tonight is the chance to celebrate not-so-good ideas, as the annual Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced." In other words, they're the gold standard for bad ideas. In 1954, singer and actress Julie Andrews made her Broadway debut, starring in the musical "The Boy Friend," the day before she turned 19. (She, of course, turns 75 tomorrow.) On a sadder note, it was on this day in 1955, that actor James Dean was killed in a car crash. Dean had made only a few films (though he'd made numerous appearances on live television dramas), but his personality and acting style influenced and impacted a generation of Americans and actors. Friday: Beginnings and endings today: In 1890, both Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone National Park were established by the U.S. Congress. In 1957, the words "In God We Trust" made their first appearance on U.S. paper currency. (Frankly, we were surprised it was so late in American history.) In 1968, George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" opened, beginning a cycle that has subjected audiences to an endless series of zombie and vampire movies. Talk about not dying! For those who can't get enough Disney (in which number we do not include ourselves), in 1971, Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL, followed in 1982 by the EPCOT Center. EPCOT, which is an acronym for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” was intended by Uncle Walt to be a testing ground for new and innovative domestic theories and products, soon turned into just another tourist trap. Oh, well; the best-laid plans of mice ... On the same day that EPCOT opened, Sony introduced their first compact disc player (the CDP-101, which looks about as big as a Buick). While nowadays, the CD is just about as dead as vinyl, it was, in its time, beyond ultra-modern. The farewell is from Babe Ruth. Ruth's name has come to be synonymous with baseball, and while his hitting prowess speaks for itself, he’d be a Hall of Famer for his pitching alone. He was one of the greatest left-handers of all time, winning almost 100 games in his career. In 1933, he made his final appearance on the mound, beating his former team, the Boston Red Sox, 6-5. He pitched all nine innings, giving up twelve hits (no strikeouts), and hitting a homer. Finally, today is International Raccoon Appreciation Day. If only it were Weasel Appreciation Day, we could feel sorry for Tony Hayward, who's stepping down as the head of BP. Saturday: Today's birthdays include three of the greatest comedians in showbiz history. First is Groucho Marx (1890), the most verbose of the Marx Brothers, who turned insults and wisecracks into an art form. Second is Bud Abbott (1895), who partnered for years with Lou Costello, and who is generally considered the greatest straight man of all time. Last is George "Spanky" McFarland, the child actor who became the leader of the kid group known as either "Our Gang" and "The Little Rascals." Two other birthdays are of men who couldn't be more different. 1452 saw the birth of England's King Richard III. Shakespeare painted Richard as a manipulator who lied and murdered his way to the throne, but recent reappraisals have called him either benevolent or, at worst, benign. The other is Mohandas Gandhi (1869), better known as Mahatma Gandhi, whose nonviolent policies led to the independence of India from the British Empire. In that period of history (the late 19th century), that empire spanned the globe, so that it was the perfect atmosphere for the fictional Phileas Fogg to make his 1872 wager that he could travel around the world in eighty days. Fogg used almost every means of transportation available to him in those less-advanced times, except a hot-air balloon, which makes this week's International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM, slightly ironic. Three anniversaries that we've tried to link, but just can't: In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke, which left him partially paralyzed and unable to fulfill his duties, so until his recovery, the country was basically run by his wife Edith. Charles M. Schulz's comic strip "Peanuts" began running. Schulz ended the strip in 2000, and in an odd twist of fate, died the day before the last Sunday page ran. Finally in 1959, "The Twilight Zone" premiered. Even though it ran only five seasons, it's still the gold standard for creepy television, and its guitar-riff theme song, which signifies something odd happening, is known to even those who never saw the show. Sunday: Let's begin the end of the week by wishing Barack and Michelle Obama a happy 18th wedding anniversary. (And just to remind you, Mr. President, porcelain is the traditional gift.) Like the "Odd Couple" juxtaposition of Gandhi and Richard above, today's pairing is just as jarring. In 1873, Emily Post was born. She devoted her life to the gospels of etiquette and good manners. On the other hand, we have Harvey Kurtzman, born in 1902. Kurtzman gave us, among other things, Mad Magazine (the original, funny version), and his sense of humor has influenced pretty much everyone from the Pythons to the writers of the National Lampoon (again, the original, funny version), who went on to create or inspire everything from "Animal House" to "Saturday Night Live," and even David Letterman. By extension, Kurtzman influenced almost every American comedian and comedy movie of the second half of the Twentieth Century. There are exceptions, though, such as "The Andy Griffith Show," which premiered in 1960, or "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961). The contrast of the two shows, with their respective rural and urban perspectives, set the standards for television comedies for the next ten years, even if they were neither particularly satirical nor Kurtzmanesque. We'll close the week by mentioning that it’s the 15th anniversary of O.J. Simpson being acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, and then pausing while you say, "That's fifteen years ago? Wow." See you next time! Suggested Sites... E = mc2 Explained - yeah. Right. We still don't get it. The British Museum - home to the Rosetta Stone and so much more. PBS: The Tenth Inning - it ain't over till it goes into extra innings. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce - home of the Walk of Fame. Improbable Research - awarding the annual Ig Nobel Prizes.

Directory categories: Physics, Automobiles, Talk Shows, Toys, Animated TV Shows

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Alex had a vocabulary of 150 words. That's more than some people we know. Welcome once again to The Spark, your guide to the week's events, anniversaries, and commemorations. We'll be frank about this week in particular, though; it's always tough to find events around September 11. It's not easy to maintain our (hopefully) snarky tone around such an anniversary, but we'll do our best. Monday: Well, obviously, it's Labor Day, which leads us to ask just where in the world the summer went. Wasn't it Memorial Day about ten minutes ago? We also look at a couple of deaths today. In 1901, anarchist Leon Czolgosz went to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, and shot President William McKinley. McKinley didn't die right away; he lingered for a couple of days before passing. Czolgosz never expressed remorse for the murder and was electrocuted on October 29, 1901. So outraged were people by the murder, though, that his family was refused the right to take the body for interment, and it was buried in the prison grounds, where it was dissolved with a combination of quicklime and acid. In 2007, Alex, the African Grey parrot who was trained by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, died of sudden and unexplained causes. Alex had a vocabulary of about 150 words, and his intelligence was rated at about the level of a five-year-old human. He could distinguish between shapes, colors, and numbers; had an understanding of the concepts of "zero," and personal pronouns; and could lie and joke. Two TV premieres tonight. One is "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That" on PBS. It's another one of those public television shows that teaches things to kids, but we have to ask when the Cat, who's nothing but a disruptive anarchist in his books by Dr. Seuss, became an authority figure to be listened to. The other premiere is a show on Cartoon Network based on "Mad" Magazine. Guess there's just not enough content out there for adolescents with undeveloped senses of humor. What hath Judd Apatow wrought? Tuesday: In 1921, 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Golden Mermaid pageant in Atlantic City, NJ. The pageant was a publicity stunt designed to keep tourists in the city after Labor Day, and officials, no slouches when it came to hyperbole, named Gorman "Miss America." The pageant, which morphed from a beauty contest to a scholarship event, used to be a major part of American pop culture, but in recent years has faded to become a failed reality show followed by yet another Vegas spectacle. Sic transit gloria mundi. (Though we don't know if she ever won the crown.) On this day in 1930, the "Blondie" comic strip debuted. We've all run across "Blondie" in our time, but we'll wager you didn't know that Blondie's maiden name was Boopadoop, that she started out life as a gold-digging flapper, or that Dagwood was the son of a millionaire, who disowned him for marrying Blondie. Regardless, the Bumsteads have been married since 1933. That’s a heckuva lot of sandwiches. Wednesday: So, Monday, we were talking about Leon Czolgosz, and today we'll mention the 169th birthday of Charles J. Guiteau, who shot President James Garfield in 1881. Guiteau was probably the craziest of all Presidential assassins, shooting Garfield because he had never been appointed consul to France, despite his lack of any qualification. Speaking of unusal political figures, Lyndon LaRouche turns 88 today. LaRouche, is a perennial Presidential candidate who holds, shal we say, "unique" views, including his belief that Queen Elizabeth is the head of an international drug cartel. While it’s easy to laugh at LaRouche for the wrong reasons, it's also the birthdays of two men at whom it's easy to laugh for the right reasons: Sid Caesar (1922) and Peter Sellers (1925). Caesar was a television superstar in the 1950s, headlining two comedy programs that, thanks to writing staffs that included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, and Larry Gelbart, turned out 90 minutes of classic live comedy every week -- just like "Saturday Night Live," only funny! Sellers came to fame as a writer and actor on the legendary "Goon Show," whose crazy comedy paved the way for "Monty Python’s Flying Circus," among others. He soon moved on to films, playing multiple roles in such classics as "The Mouse That Roared" and "Dr. Strangelove," before finding film immortality as the blithely incompetent Inspector Clouseau in the "Pink Panther" films. A couple of musical anniversaries today. In 1932, Patsy Cline was born. Her soulful singing style made her one of the first country singers to cross over to the pop charts. Unfortunately, she was killed in a plane crash at the age of 30. In 1935, a 19-year-old Frank Sinatra made his radio debut as part of the "Hoboken Four" on "Major Bowes' Amateur Hour." The Amateur Hour was a fixture of American entertainment for nearly 40 years and was the "American Idol" of its day; the only difference being that Major Bowes’s contestants were usually talented. Speaking of talent, it was on this day in 1504 that Michelangelo's "David" was unveiled in Florence. The 17-foot-tall statue on a naked male soon became iconic, and has probably been as mocked and imitated as any work of art since. While the David was quite an invention, it's not quite as useful as Scotch tape, which made its debut in 1930, when Richard Drew was trying to come up with a product that would allow the painting of sharp lines on automobiles. In 1892, an early version of the Pledge of Allegiance appeared in "The Youth's Companion" magazine. Suffice it to say, the original did not include the phrase, "One nation under God," which was added by Congress in 1954 at the height of the Red Scare, in order to distinguish America from the Godless Communists of the Soviet Union. Those very Communists were provided with some kind of help -- divine or not -- starting in 1941, when the Siege of Leningrad began. For 872 days, the second-largest city in the Soviet Union was held under siege by the German army. No supplies got in or out, and Leningrad's citizens were forced to scavenge everything they could in order to survive harsh winters and constant bombardment. There are stories that they even had to resort to cannibalism. Regardless, their withstanding of the Nazis is one of the great stories of perseverance in world history. Not as heroic, but certainly persistent and hard to avoid is "Star Trek," which premiered in 1966. Trekkies may be nerdish and obsessed (for example, we're sure there are those of them who would object to not being called "Trekkers"), but they're certainly literate. And they may well be celebrating International Literacy Day today. Finally, we note that it's Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of the Jewish high holidays. Thursday: A number of birthdays today, including two that run from the sublime to the ridiculous -- which man fits into which category, we leave to you. Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken was born in 1890, and Mario Batali, the chef who revolutionized American cooking, by, for nothing else, his use of offal and internal organs in his recipes. To our uncultivated palates, such a diet would lead to a mutiny, which is ironic in that it's also the 256th birthday of William Bligh, whose harsh treatment of his crew led to the mutiny on HMS Bounty. On the other hand, such victuals may well have appealed to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the diminutive French artist who died in 1901. (We can’t speak as to whether such a diet led to either his diminished stature or his death. We just report 'em.) In more baffling events, the NFL season begins tonight with the Minnesota Vikings taking on the New Orleans Saints. (It's baffling because football is a sport for the fall and winter months, and we're still a couple of weeks from the Autumnal Equinox). Also, the new season of "The Vampire Diaries" begins tonight, and we have to wonder just what we have to do to stop this mania for vampires and zombies! Enough already! (Although, maybe Viking quarterback Brett Favre's eerie longevity is due to his being either a vampire or a zombie. Just sayin'.) Friday: It's a day for things we like and admire. For example, it's Raymond Scott's 102nd birthday. Scott was a composer and bandleader in the 1930s and '40s who wrote avant-garde songs, many of which (most notably "Powerhouse") were used by composer Carl Stalling when writing the scores for Warner Bros. cartoons. We're also glad to celebrate the big 5-0 with actor Colin Firth, who always turns in good work, but who especially endeared himself to many a Janeite with he portrayal of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 1995 version of "Pride and Prejudice." Musician Jerry Lee Lewis will perform on Broadway tonight with the cast of "Million Dollar Quartet."And we like the "Stand Up to Cancer" telethon, which will take over the television airwaves tonight in order to raise funds to beat cancer. Of course, not everything today is likeable. For example, you may recall that last week we mentioned the anniversary of the shooting of Louisiana politician Huey Long. Well, after a couple of days of being hospitalized, Long died-- though whether the fatal bullet came from the alleged assassin or his own bodyguards, no one knows. Saturday: As we alluded to earlier, it's hard to be snarky this week, and this day, especially, but we'll try. First of all, we note the coincidence of ground being broken on this day in 1941 for the construction of the Pentagon, when 60 years later, it would be attacked along with the World Trade Center. When we were kids, we all knew the words to "Oh, Susanna." (You know, "I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee ...") Well, it was first performed by its composer, Stephen Foster, in 1847 at the Eagle Saloon in Pittsburgh, PA. And how was Foster paid for the song? With a bottle of whiskey, which is an ending appropriate for the work of O. Henry, the writer who specialized in twist endings, and who was born in 1862. Sunday: We have a mixed bag to end the week. First, the birthdays of two groundbreaking men. In 1880, H.L. Mencken was born. Mencken, "the Sage of Baltimore," was a reporter, critic, and etymologist, who acid coverage of politics and the Scopes "Monkey Trial" alone would have assured him immortality, but who crowned those accomplishments with his investigations into the roots of American English and by coining such maxims as "No one in this world, so far as I know -- and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me -- has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." -- usually misquoted as "No one ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American public." The other is Jesse Owens, born in 1913, Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, forever destroying Hitler's dream of using the games to establish his myth of Aryan superiority. As groundbreaking as those men were, though, their accomplishments fade in contrast to the French artisans who, 17,000 years ago created a series of cave paintings in Lascaux, France, that were discovered in 1940. The paintings, which depict thousands of human and animals, give paleontologists irreplacable insights into the lives and psychology of paleolithic humans. Speaking human psychology, we’ll note that today in Russia is the Day of Conception. The Russian government is encouraging citizens of the Motherland to propagate today in hopes that there will be a baby boom on Russia Day, which is nine months from now on June 12. We'll close this somewhat somber week by noting the 1995 death of actor Jeremy Brett. Brett labored in relative obscurity until in 1985, when he was cast as Sherlock Holmes. Almost overnight, he became the definitive Holmes for many of us, as his strong and quirky characterization matched the downright oddness of the literary Holmes. See you next time. Suggested Sites... The Alex Foundation - Polly want a donation. Seussville - would you click upon this link? Would you do it with a drink? Miss America Organization - combining brains and beauty. The Mencken Society - honoring the Sage. Sherlock Holmes.com - the world's greatest detective. Makes Batman look like a bumbler.

Directory categories: Holidays and Observances, Beauty Pageants, Comic Strips, Star Trek, Journalists

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We celebrate the return of The Spark -- and the anniversary of the invention of champagne (Photo by geishaboy500) Welcome back! As the little girl said in "Poltergeist 2," "Wee’rrrrreee baaaa-aack!" Our new mission here at The Spark is to point you to the Yahoo! Directory, America's favorite source of aggregated and categorized Internet information for more than a tenth of a century. Look, we know you're busy, we're busy, everyone's busy. But there are times when you want to know a bit (or a lot) more about an event or topic, and that's where we come in. Since 1995, we've searched the web to find the best sites and information in order to present them to you. The beauty part of it is, every week, we'll give you an overview of what's happening and what's coming up. If you simply want to know what's going on, we're one-stop shopping. But if you see something that piques your interest, well, there's plenty more lurking behind the links. So, here we go! Monday: Today is the 241st anniversary of the founding of Los Angeles. In fact, it's a good fortnight for civic anniversaries, as August 12th marks the 177th birthday of Chicago. The London Tube turns 140 today. It was the world's first subway, and is ridden by around three million people daily. As long as we've already mentioned Los Angeles and Chicago, we should note that they have subways, too. Chicago's El (which isn't a "subway," but you know what we mean ...) came along in 1892, so Chicagoans had to wait only 60 years to hitch a ride, but Angelenos weren't able to ride underground until 1990. (We won't mention the old Southern Electric Red Cars that were replaced by the freeway system.) We note the birthdays of some of our favorite actors today. Myrna Loy (1905) was voted "Queen of the Movies" in the 1930s (in the same poll that named Clark Gable "The King"). Ann Dvorak (1912) had a shorter career, but remains indelible for what performances she did give. She was once described as being able to do everything Bette Davis could -- plus being able to sing and dance -- but she never got the right roles and faded. Peter O'Toole celebrates his 78th birthday. He's been nominated for eight Oscars (the most ever without a win) for movies like "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Stunt Man," and "My Favorite Year." And if you should feel a need to celebrate any of those birthdays, you might break out your favorite board game and head for Amish country, since this whole week will see the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, PA. Tuesday: Even a multi-gazillion dollar business like college sports got a start somewhere, and today's the anniversary of that beginning: in 1852, Harvard and Yale competed in a boat race that was the first intercollegiate athletic event in the U.S. More birthdays today: Mystery novelist P.D. James hits 90, singer Tony Bennett is 84, homemaker extraordinaire Martha Stewart turns 69, and both film director John Landis and actor Martin Sheen hit the big 6-0. And while it’s not a "birthday," per se, the National Basketball Association was founded on this day in 1949. Wednesday: More birthdays: jazz legend Louis Armstrong would have been 109 today if he could only have laid off the reefer and laxatives, and, in an odd juxtaposition, both President Barack Obama (49) and recently-retired journalist Helen Thomas (90) are celebrating today. If only they could have talked things over with a glass of champagne (which was invented by Dom Perignon on this date in 1693), maybe Helen wouldn't have had to retire. Thursday: We note some travelers today. In 1620, the Mayflower left Southampton, England, with its passenger list of sour Puritans who were eager to see that no one in the New World had a good time. Neil Armstrong, who was the first man on the moon in 1969, is 80 today. Movie director John Huston, who traveled from Hollywood to Ireland to Africa making films would have been 104 today. And actress Marilyn Monroe shuffled off this mortal coil -- whether by her own hand or a conspiracy -- on this day in 1962. Friday: A mixed bag today. We begin by noting the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which kind of throws all the other events into perspective. In happier anniversaries, in 1889, London’s Savoy Hotel opened. At the time, it was one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, run by César Ritz (yes, that Ritz, as in "Puttin' on the ...") and featuring chef Auguste Escoffier in the kitchen. The Savoy is currently undergoing a three year, $150 million renovation, and will reopen in October. It's also pioneering television comedienne Lucille Ball's 99th birthday and the 50th anniversary of Chubby Checker's first appearance on national TV doing his (one and only) hit, "The Twist." Oh, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival opens today. It's the world's largest convocation of performing artists and writers from around the planet. The whole town will be one giant stage for the next three to four weeks, so consider that either an invitation or a warning. Saturday: It's really something for everyone today. For those who like football, well, this weekend, the 2010-2011 season begins, with the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, followed by Sunday's pre-season opener featuring Cincinnati and Dallas (boy, that ought to be a real barn-burner). For those who like a more violent pastime, may be present UFC 117 in Oakland? For those who like intrigue and sex, well, you can commemorate the 134th birthday of World War I's superspy Mata Hari. And for those of you who are skeptical of all of the above, you can celebrate the 82nd birthday of James (The Amazing) Randi, professional skeptic and debunker of any number of hoaxes and scams. Sunday: To finish the week, may we offer the suggestion of having a breakfast of waffles (since it is National Waffle Day) and taking the time to watch an "Little Rascals" comedy featuring birthday boy Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer? Well, that's all for this week. See you again next time with the random events and facts that you've gradually come to love over the course of the last five years. Suggested Sites... The Red Cars of Los Angeles - the largest urban transportation network in the world -- and then it vanished. World Boardgaming Championships - I wanna be the top hat. How Champagne is Made - the bubbles tickle my nose. Edinburgh Fringe Festival - from genius to hooey, it's all here. The Life and Death of "Our Gang's" Alfalfa - a short, and (unfortunately) unhappy one.

Directory categories: Classic Hollywood, Mystery Authors, Jazz, Apollo Project, Conspiracies

Archived under: 1930s, Actors, Alcohol, American History, Anniversaries, Astronauts, Athletes, Authors, Barack Obama, Birthdays, Board Games, Books, Celebrations, Celebrities, Champagne, Chicago, College Sports, College and Universities, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, Dead Celebrities, Death, Directors, Disasters, England, Entertainment, Events, Exploration, Explorers, Festivals, Fiction, Filmmaking, Food and Drink, France, Gamers, Games, History, Jazz, Journalism, Journalists, London, Los Angeles, Louis Armstrong, Marilyn Monroe, Movies, Music, Music History, Mysteries, NFL, Nostalgia, Nuclear Weapons, Our Gang, Pennsylvania, Performing Arts, Reporters, Scotland, Spies, Sports, Suicide, The Spark, United Kingdom, United States, Unsolved Crimes, Vintage, WWI, WWII, War, Weapons, Yahoo! Directory

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The Automat in 1936 (Photo from Bob Bobster) Once upon a time, five cents went a long way. You could make a phone call, ride the subway, or buy a newspaper (though you couldn't get a "good cigar," apparently…) This was especially true in Manhattan, when New Yorkers with a fistful of nickels could eat, if not the best food in town, certainly the fastest, by going to the Automat. Automats in America were an invention of the Horn & Hardart Company. While there were never more than a handful in New York and Philadelphia, they made a quick and indelible mark on American society, beginning on July 7, 1912. The idea behind the restaurant was simple and democratic. Anyone with a nickel -- from socialite to panhandler -- could enter the restaurant, sit at one of the immaculate tables, and enjoy hot meals, sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, pies, and what was reputed to be the best coffee in town, served hot from a chrome dolphin’s head. Horn & Hardart pioneered drip-brewed coffee and the java served was never more than twenty minutes old. In the 1950s, they served more than 90 million cups annually. (By comparison, in 2006, Starbucks sold nearly 1.5 billion cups of joe -- but since they had more than 12,000 locations; that's only 125,000 per store.) While the bill of fare at the Automat was never more than what you’d find at a really good cafeteria, it was the uniqueness of the method of payment that brought folks back. Patrons could enter with bills or coins, go to the central change booths (staffed by "nickel throwers"), and get as many nickels as they needed. Once they had their change, diners would proceed to a wall of small glass doors (behind which waited cold and hot foods), and drop as many nickels into the slot as were needed to pay. They’d then slide the door open, remove the food (which was instantly replenished from the huge kitchens on the other side of the wall), and sit down (or stand at the post office-like counters for a "perpendicular meal"). Of course, for some, not even nickels were necessary; many Depression-era diners were able to enjoy hot meals by making "Automat Tomato Soup," which combined the restaurant’s free hot water and ketchup. As with most good things, the Automat couldn't last. The combination of rising prices and the proliferation of fast-food restaurants (not to mention real estate values) made the Automats museum pieces, fit only for nostalgists. The spaces were converted to Burger Kings, and in 1991, the last Automat closed. (And even that space has since been turned into a Gap.) In 2006, a trio of entrepreneurs opened an updated version of the concept in New York's Greenwich Village, but it, too, shuttered earlier this year, a victim of costs (and mediocre reviews). That may seem like the end of the road, but a 35-foot section of the Philadelphia automat lives on at (where else?) the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Unfortunately, there's no pie behind those windows any more. Suggested Sites... The Automat - the history, recipes, and allure of Horn & Hardart's masterpiece. Meet Me at the Automat - history of the restaurants from Smithsonian Magazine. Bamn! - the recent attempt at recreating the Automat format. Automat Recipes - recreate the mac and cheese, baked beans, and creamed spinach. Last Day at the Automat - listen to an audio report on the closing of the last Automat.

Directory categories: Restaurants, Fast Food, New York Restaurants, Manhattan History, Food and Drink History

Archived under: 1910s, 1930s, American History, Anniversaries, Disappearances, Eating, Fast Food, Food and Drink, New York, Pennsylvania, Restaurants, Tourist Attractions, United States

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Groundhog Day 2005 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania We have to admit that we don't get it. Why take a helpless rodent out of the warmth of his burrow and subject him to freezing cold, just to come up with some kind of prediction about how much longer winter will last? (A prediction that's apparently correct only about a third of the time.) But today is Groundhog Day, so 30,000-40,000 people will find their way to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania -- a town of about 6,500 the rest of the year -- to watch a bunch of guys haul Punxsutawney Phil from a fake log and give us all a supposed sneak preview of the next six weeks. The good burghers of Punxsutawney are not alone, though. All over North America, in towns as small as Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia (home of Shubenacadie Sam), and as large as New York City (where Staten Island Chuck resides), groundhogs will earn their yearly keep by playing weather woodchuck for the day. No one really knows how the whole thing started. It's apparently a combination of the Christian holiday of Candlemas and the Julian Calendar's placing of the Vernal Equinox six weeks after February 2nd, but there’s no clear origin. Not only that, but there's tremendous variety in the ways February 2nd is commemorated around the world. The day is known in France as La Chandeleur, when the French celebrate by eating crepes, and in Mexico, Día de la Candelaria is a time to eat tamales. And it’s not like predicting the weather is exclusive to bucktoothed rodents. If it rains in Germany on June 27 (Siebenschlaefertag), the rest of the summer will be rainy. Same with England's St. Swithin’s Day (July 15). Depending on the weather that day, the next forty days and nights will be rainy or sunny. (Given that it's England, our money's on rainy.) We're writing this in sunny California, where the climate over the next six weeks is likely to be the same as it was the last six. It might seem as though we're in a never-ending loop of nice weather, so if we wake up tomorrow to the strains of "I Got You Babe," it may be time to worry and start rethinking our lives. Suggested Sites... Greetings From Punxsutawney! - official site for the big Groundhog Day doings, with news, schedule, and travel guide. Groundhog.org - media, fan club, predictions, and more than you want to know about Groundhog Day. The Groundhog Fraud - Slate.com exposes the shenanigans in Punxsutawney. Holiday Spot: Groundhog Day - you know; for kids. History of the holiday, quiz, greeting cards, and more. Wikipedia: Groundhog Day The Movie - background, fun facts, and more about the classic 1993 comedy.

Directory categories: Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Weather, Groundhogs, Groundhog Day - The Movie

Archived under: Animals, Calendars, Celebrations, Events, France, Germany, Holidays, Mythology and Folklore, Nature, Pennsylvania, Religion, Small Towns, Tourist Attractions, United Kingdom, United States, Weather, Winter

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