November 8th History, Trivia, and Fun Facts |
November 8th History Highlights |
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November 8th is… |
National Cappucino Day First Folio Day National Harvey Wallbanger Day |
First Folio Day |
The first folio, considered one of the most influential books in the world, contained 36 Shakespeare plays, 18 of which had never been published or printed before. Of the 36 pieces in it, 36 have been newly published and 18 have never been printed before. The first leaf, printed in 1623, was the first published collection of Shakespeare’s plays, written seven years after his death. The title is an abbreviation of the initials of his first name William Shakespeare, and the plays were divided into the categories comedy, history, and tragedy for the first time. There were three editions of this first folio: the second, in 1632, the third, which appeared in 1664 and was later re-published in 1685 as an edition in 1664; the fourth and final folio, both published after 1685, was the most popular of them. |
November 8th Birthday Quotes |
“Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.” “Nothing is too small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We learn from failure, not from success!” “Chefs are nutters. They’re all self-obsessed, delicate, dainty, insecure little souls, and absolute psychopaths. Every last one of them.” “We can live in fear or act out of hope.” “Every problem has two handles. You can grab it by the handle of fear or the handle of hope.” “I sat on the bed. I looked at the Rorschach blot. I tried to make it look like a spreading tree, shadows pooled beneath it, but it didn’t. It looked more like a dead cat I once found, the fat, glistening grubs writhing blindly, squirming over each other, frantically tunneling away from the light. But even that isn’t the real horror. The horror is this: in the end, it is simply a picture of empty meaningless blackness.” |
November 8th Birthdays |
1656 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (died in 1742) 1836 – Milton Bradley, American businessman (founded the Milton Bradley Company, died in 1911) 1847 – Bram Stoker, Irish novelist, and critic (created Count Dracula, died in 1912) 1884 – Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst (died in 1922) 1898 – Marie Prevost, Canadian-American actress, and singer (died in 1937) 1900 – Margaret Mitchell, American journalist and author (died in 1949) 1920 – Esther Rolle, American actress (died in 1998) 1922 – Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon and academic (died in 2001) 1924 – Joe Flynn, American actor (died in 1974) 1931 – Morley Safer, Canadian-American journalist and author (died in 2016) 1947 – Minnie Riperton, American Singer/Songwriter (died in 1979) 1949 – Wayne LaPierre, American businessman, author, and activist 1949 – Bonnie Raitt, American Singer/Songwriter, and guitarist 1950 – Mary Hart, American journalist, and actress 1954 – Rickie Lee Jones, American Singer/Songwriter, and producer 1961 – Leif Garrett, American singer, actor, and television personality 1966 – Gordon Ramsay, British chef, restaurateur, and TV host /personality 1967 – Courtney Thorne-Smith, American actress 1968 – Parker Posey, American actress 1970 – Tom Anderson, American businessman (co-founded Myspace) 1971 – Tech N9ne, American musician, record producer, and actor 1972 – Gretchen Mol, American model, and actress 1974 – Masashi Kishimoto, Japanese author, and illustrator (created Naruto) 1975 – Tara Reid, American actress |
November 8th History |
392 – Roman Emperor Theodosius declared the Christian religion the official state religion. He also dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, which had been in place for almost 400 years. 1519 – First meeting of Moctezuma II & Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico. #bigmistake Little is known about him, except that was the leader of the Aztecs and was killed in the Spanish conquest of Mexico. “Montezuma’s Revenge’ is named after him. 1601 -The Bodleian Library was established in Oxford, England. 1623 – Shakespeare’s First Folio was published. On November 8, 1731 – In Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin opened the first US library. It was an idea he had with his Junto Club, which was basically a Philly Businessman’s Association. This was a subscription Library, which means it was only for paying members. Today it has almost a million rare books, pamphlets, and manuscripts and it is open to the public, but it is mainly for Research purposes. 1789 – Bourbon Whiskey was first distilled from corn (by Elijah Craig, Bourbon Ky). That’s what his namesake’s website says. 1837 – Mount Holyoke College was founded. 1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen observed X-rays for the first time during an experiment at Würzburg University, Germany. It earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901, and element 111, roentgenium, was named after him. 1904 – U.S. patent (#774,250) for a separable electric attachment plug was issued to inventor and manufacturer Harvey Hubbell of Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is essentially the plug we use today. 1910 – The first US patent (#974,785) for an “electric insect destroyer” (Bug Zapper) was issued to William H. Frost of Spokane, Washington. 1939 – Broadway Show – Life With Father (Play) November 8, 1939 November 8, 19** (fiction) Billy Batson became Captain Marvel, Fawcett/DC Comics 1960 – John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon to become the 35th president of the United States. 1965 – Days of our Lives premiered on NBC. The original title sequence voiced by MacDonald Carey is still used. 1966 – Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California. His career path also included lifeguard, actor, cheerleader, and US President. 1969 – #1 Hit November 8, 1969 – November 28, 1969: The 5th Dimension – Wedding Bell Blues 1972 – Home Box Office (HBO) was launched, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The first broadcast was a 1971 film, Sometimes a Great Notion, starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. 1979 – Nightline premiered on ABC. Frank Reynolds was the original presenter, Ted Koppel too over shortly after the program began. 1980 – Voyager 1 space probe discovered the 15th moon of Saturn. We’ve counted 62 moons and dozens of moonlets around the planet to date. 1986 – #1 Hit November 8, 1986 – November 21, 1986: Boston – Amanda 1995 – General Hospital character Stone Cates died of AIDS on the show, right after he was informed that he had infected his lover Robin Scorpio with HIV. 1999 – Bruce Miller was killed near Flint, Michigan. His wife, Sharee Miller, convinced her online lover Jerry Cassaday to kill him, was convicted of the crime, in what became the world’s first Internet murder. 2001 – The Tick premiered on FOX. Creator Ben Edlund published his first Tick comic book in 1988. 2010 – Conan debuted on TBS |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
The US election day is always held on a Tuesday because in 1845 farmers often needed a full day to travel by horse-drawn vehicles to the county seat to vote. Farmers would leave Monday, vote on Tuesday, and be back in time for market day, which was on Wednesday. The latest possible date is November 8, and the earliest possible date is November 2. Cash is a gift certificate to everywhere. Sailors considered black cats good luck and would use them as “ship’s cats” in hopes of a safe voyage. Wives of fishermen would also keep a black cat at home as it was believed that the cat would allow their husbands to return safely. Redbad, the last pagan King of Frisia (northern Netherlands), refused to convert to Christianity because he “preferred spending eternity in Hell with his pagan ancestors than in Heaven with his enemies.” The Capital of Fiji is Suva “May the Force be with you.” – Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in Star Wars, 1977 Felix Mendelssohn – Real Name: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Greece’s most famous ruin, the Parthenon, survived from Ancient times until the near-modern age completely intact. It was blown to pieces in 1687 after the Ottoman Turks used the Temple to store explosives “ET phone home.” – Gertie (Drew Barrymore) #moviequotes Colonel Thomas Blood, known as the ‘Man who stole the Crown Jewels’. He was caught, however, King Charles II was so impressed that he was pardoned and rewarded with a large annuity. A group of Bass is called a Shoal. |
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