• Basketball (also MLB player and TV Star) Chuck Connors became the first NBA player to shatter a backboard at Boston Garden in 1946.
• The Nat King Cole Show premiered in 1956 on NBC.
• In 2007, the Android mobile operating system was unveiled by Google.
• Susan B. Anthony voted (illegally) for the first time, and was fined $100 in 1872.
• November 5, 1955 (fictional) Doc Brown fell and bumped his head, which gave him the idea for the Flux Capacitor, Back to the Future, Film
• November 5, 1997 (fictional) V rescued Evey from the fingermen, killing them, V for Vendetta, Comics/Film
• If you were born on November 5th,
  You were likely conceived the week of… February 12th (same year)

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgotten.
– regarding Guy Fawkes

Philosophy is harmonized knowledge making a harmonious life; it is the self-discipline which lifts us to serenity and freedom. Knowledge is power, but only wisdom is liberty.
– Will Durant

“Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason…”

In 1605, five men conspired to blow up the English government. One of them – Guy Fawkes- was an explosives expert who had fought for decades against Protestants in the Netherlands and whose revenge on Edward VI’s succession brought him into conflict with Catesby (the leader). Their scheme became known as the “Gunpowder Plot.”

The plotters were Catholics who hoped to kill King James I, the House of Lords, and all of the Members of Parliament in a single attack. They would then install a Catholic monarch on the throne. Fawkes was tasked with planting explosives beneath the House of Lords.

The plot was foiled when one of the conspirators, Thomas Wintour, revealed the details to an English friend living in Spain. The authorities were tipped off and Fawkes was arrested before he could carry out his plan. He was executed in 1606, along with several of his co-conspirators.

The Gunpowder Plot failed, but it did spark a wave of anti-Catholic sentiment in England. James, I issued a proclamation outlawing Catholic worship, and several prominent Catholics were persecuted. The plot also served as a rallying point for Protestant groups, who used it to warn of the dangers of Catholicism.

In recent years, some historians have argued that the Gunpowder Plot was not really about religion at all. They say that it was a political plot, motivated by anger at James I’s policies toward Catholics. Whatever the true motivations of the conspirators, the Gunpowder Plot has come to be seen as one of the most important events in British history.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded.
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
– Ella Wheeler Wilcox

1605 – Gunpowder Plot – an attempt to blow up the English Parliament. The plot discovered and leader Guy Fawkes was tortured and later executed. He was caught with 36 barrels of gunpowder at the House of Lords.

1639 – First post office in the colonies was set up in Massachusetts, with permission from King William and Queen Mary. The United States Post Office (USPO) was created on July 26, 1775, by decree of the Second Continental Congress.

1781 – John Hanson was elected first “President of US in Congress assembled.” The other short-term presidents before George Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, were Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Nathaniel Gorham, Arthur St. Clair, and Cyrus Griffin.

1852 – American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects was founded.

1895 – Patent attorney George B. Selden of Rochester, New York, received the first US patent (#549,160) for a gasoline-driven automobile.

1917 – Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) struck down Lousiville, Kentucky, ordinance requiring blacks & whites to live in separate areas. The USSC held that a Louisville, Kentucky, city ordinance prohibiting the sale of real property to blacks violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

1917 – Lenin announced the October Revolution.

1935 – Parker Brothers launched the board game of Monopoly. Marvin Gardens is actually a misspelling of ‘Marven Gardens’, an actual locale in Atlantic City.

1955 – (fictional) There were four Delorean time machine automobiles in Hill Valley, California on Saturday, November 5, 1955.

1956 – The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC. It was the first variety program to be hosted by an African-American. The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show aired on December 17, 1957.

1959 – American Football League (AFL) was announced, with 8 teams – The New York Titans, Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, and Dallas Texans.

1966 – #1 Hit November 5, 1966 – November 11, 1966: The Monkees – Last Train to Clarksville

1966 – Patrick Troughton appeared as The Doctor in The Power of the Daleks as the Second Doctor. He had a fleeting appearance in the prior week’s episode – which, as of today, no known copies exist, although there is a full-length animated reconstruction of its missing episode.

1988 – #1 Hit November 5, 1988 – November 11, 1988: The Beach Boys – Kokomo

2007 – The Android mobile phone operating system was unveiled by Google.

2009 – US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan (US Army Medical Corps) killed 13 and wounded 43 at Fort Hood, Texas in the largest mass shooting ever at a US military installation. Although it has been officially labeled as workplace violence, many people consider it an act of terrorism.

2013 – India launched the Mars Orbiter Mission, its first interplanetary probe.

#1 Hit  November 5, 2022 – December 16, 2022 – Anti-Hero – Taylor Swift

Do mammals have to breathe? Like if NASA found a hairy, lactating monster in outer space, where there is no oxygen, would it be classified as a mammal?

Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, David Niven, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig all played James Bond.

In the near future, most grandparents will be way better at video games than their grandchildren due to sheer experience.

The Capital of The Gambia is Banjul

TV Quotes… “Tastes great! Less filling!” (Miller Lite beer ad)

A group of Horses is called a Team or Harras or Stable or Troop or Stud.

The concept of drinking 8 glasses of water daily comes from a 1945 NRC Food & Nutrition Board recommendation, but it also explains we get that much water just from eating food.

Franki Valli – Real Name: Frank Castellucio

When Joseph Heller was asked why he hadn’t ever written anything as good as Catch-22 since his reply was that “neither has anyone else.”

“An old man’s advice is not an opinion” – Nathanael Kanyinga

It’s pretty dumb that I get a new driver’s license every four years and it’s made out of hard plastic and I’m supposed to have my social security card for life and it’s made out of paper.

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