Elementary, my dear Watson

Harry Houdini. 

It was on Oct. 31, 1892, that The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is published.

Celebrating a Lady

Jeff tried to get me to watch Beavis and Butt-Head last night. MTV has brought back Mike Judge;s cartoon about two heavy-metal banger high school students.

A New York minute

A subway opens in New York City on Oct. 27, 1904.

More than 100,000 people paid a nickel to ride under Manhattan on that first night. The rout was 9.1 miles long and went from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal in midtown.

Did I remember to flush the litter box?

CAT FACT (catsinfo.com)

Sir Isaac Newton is not only credited with the laws of gravity but is also credited with inventing the cat flap.

WEATHER STUFF

Do you believe in ghost lights?

A wonder of the world

On Oct. 26, 1825, New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton boarded the Seneca Chief in Buffalo and traveled to New York City on waterway nicknamed "Clinton's Big Ditch."

This opened the Erie Canal, which led to westward expansion into the Great Lakes area.

LET IT SNOW

If you like snow, the place to be is northern Colorado and southern Wyoming.

Interstate 80 between Laramie and Cheyenne in Wyoming were closed.

Pablo the painter

"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

World-famous author Pablo Picasso was born Oct. 25, 1881.

Along with French painter Georges Braque, Piccaso created Cubism, which Merriam Webster defines as "a style of art that stresses abstract structure at the expense of other pictorial elements especially by displaying several aspects of the same object simultaneously and by fragmenting the form of depicted objects."

Two of his most famous works among his 50,000 paintings are Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and Guernica (1937).

I think I could do some cubism as well as paint by numbers.

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Many places in thew world, including the good old U.S.A. experienced Northern Lights last night.

Check out some of the pics taken by people and shared on Spaceweather.com.

Enjoy the day.

Under consideration

Do you want history? Do you want weather? Do you want attitude? I'm getting ready to revamp the darn blog. Hang tight.

Oct. 21, 2011: Old Ironside

Oct. 21, 1797, USS Constitution is launched.


Here's the AccuWeather forecast:

Antofagasta, Chile

Brax, France

Buxton, Derbyshire, England

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

China Grove, NC

Erie, PA

Fort Wayne, IN

Glendale, AZ

Grosse Pointe, MI

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hurricane, UT

Indianapolis

Kankakee, IL

Lafayette, IN

Rochester, MN

Wooster, OH

Some place exotic:

Road Town, British Virgin Islands

Honolulu, HI

Oct. 20, 2011: Commies in Hollywood

How you got in the World Serious: Cardinals or Rangers? I prefer the guys with the guns over the Redbirds. But remember, I'm a cat.

Love my herbs and enjoy them year round.

Oct. 20, 1947, The Red Scare comes to Hollywood.



Thanks to History.com.

Here's the AccuWeather forecast:

Antofagasta, Chile

Brax, France

Buxton, Derbyshire, England

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

China Grove, NC

Erie, PA

Fort Wayne, IN

Glendale, AZ

Grosse Pointe, MI

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hurricane, UT

Indianapolis

Kankakee, IL

Lafayette, IN

Rochester, MN

Wooster, OH

Some place exotic:

Road Town, British Virgin Islands

Honolulu, HI

Oct. 19, 2011: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

A high school in Illinois is allowing students only three restroom breaks during class per semester. Better teach them kids bladder and bowel control. And does that apply to staff and faculty?

Oct. 18, 2011: North to Alaska

I turned the furnace on this morning. Even with a nice fur coat, us cats need a little more heat.

Oct. 18, 1867, U.S. takes possession of Alaska.



Thanks to History.com.

Here's the AccuWeather forecast:

Antofagasta, Chile

Brax, France

Buxton, Derbyshire, England

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

China Grove, NC

Erie, PA

Fort Wayne, IN

Glendale, AZ

Grosse Pointe, MI

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hurricane, UT

Indianapolis

Kankakee, IL

Lafayette, IN

Rochester, MN

Wooster, OH

Some place exotic:

Road Town, British Virgin Islands

Honolulu, HI

Oct. 17, 2011: No oil for you!

Is there really a middle ground? I prefer that things go my way. Maybe that is why my owner ignores me more and more.

Oct. 17, 1973, OPEC states declare oil embargo.



Thanks to History.com.

Here's the AccuWeather forecast:

Antofagasta, Chile

Brax, France

Buxton, Derbyshire, England

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

China Grove, NC

Erie, PA

Fort Wayne, IN

Glendale, AZ

Grosse Pointe, MI

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hurricane, UT

Indianapolis

Kankakee, IL

Lafayette, IN

Rochester, MN

Wooster, OH

Some place exotic:

Road Town, British Virgin Islands

Honolulu, HI

Oct. 15, 2011: Double crosser

I'm trying to count leafs on one of the trees and have to start over. The darned things keep falling off.

Oct. 14, 2011: Faster than sound

The winds of October have blown in to northeastern Illinois. I need some Captain Black tobacco and my pipe.

Remember, too. Friends stand by you.



Oct. 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier.

Astronomy lesson: Seven Sisters

This is Oct.12, 2011

 Chynna Phillips and Tony Dovolani perform Monday. Phillips' momentary gaffe proved costly as the couple was eliminated from the competition Tuesday.  (ABC/ADAM TAYLOR)

"Dancing with the Stars" is entertaining.

The moments of high drama are tarnished by so many commercials (10) between segments.

They do have to pay the bills, but we need more dancing and less shilling.

Oct. 12, 1492, Columbus reaches America. He is greeted by Amerigo Vespucci.

Can you tell that I am a big Amerigo Vespucci fan?

This is Oct. 11, 2011

Could the producers of Dancing with the Stars have a couple dance to "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)"
sung by Leo Sayer?

This is Oct. 10, 2011

The man: Amerigo Vespucci

Nancy Pelosi is a whiner.

Less flapping the yap and more work

It is hard to write these posts this week due to the great weather.

Our generation has lost its Thomas Edison, ... Rest In Peace, Steve Jobs.

As for the United States malaise, no wonder we do not get things done in government. They love playing the blame game. Shut up. Get over it. Do the job.

Oct. 7, 1871, a massive fire ignites in Wisconsin. It becomes known as the Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871. This fire, which killed 1,200 people, is obscured by the smaller Great Chicago Fire, which happened the same time.



Accuweather.com can give you the forecast.

They're coming to America!

On Oct. 6, 1683, the first Mennonites arrived in America aboard the Concord. They came to practice their religion and because William Penn offered them 5,000 acres of land in the colony of Pennsylvania.

Also, Oct. 6, 1866, the Reno gang robs a train in Jackson County, Ind., a first in this country.

You got to hold on to what you got ... Bon Jovi.

Hope is eternal. Defeat is only temporary.

And this comes via Farmers Alamanc's twitter:  Thought for the week: If you can’t see the bright side, polish the dull side.

Work things out; War of 1812, housefly

Ben Bernanke told Congress the U.S. economy is teetering on going in the crapper again.

What in the world is it going to take for us to get our act together?

Partnering between government and business is needed. Stop thinking that penalizing some and making the rest of us feel good is what is going to take to get things going.

We don't need more blue ribbon commissions or panels and czars and pointing fingers.

Grow up! Listen. And then craft bills that are not pie in the sky.

Oct. 5, 1813, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh is defeated by William Henry Harrison at the Battle of the Thames near Ontario, Canada.

This comes via almanac.com: What is the normal life expectancy of the common housefly?

Sputnik I

It amazes me that a satellite the size of a volleyball would get a country like the United States fired up to explore our universe.

When the Russians launched Sputnik I on Oct. 4, 1957, that is exactly what got America into a space race.



During the summer months, the leafs on trees not only provide us shade but produce sugar that the tree will use during the winter months.

Moon talk ...

I was looking at my behind in the mirror and got to thinking about the moon.