October 1 is the 275th day of the year. There are 91 days remaining until the end of the year.
331BCE Alexander the Great beats off the armies of Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. A very sticky situation, indeed, but if you ever wondered why Alexander was called “great”...
1867 Karl Marx' "Das Kapital" posits "If you give ‘em enough rope..."
1888 National Geographic magazine publishes for 1st time, but doesn’t really take off until it includes pictures of naked people
1908 Henry Ford introduces Model T car at a price of US$825 [$21,741 in 2009 dollars].
1936 Generalissimo Francisco Franco establishes the republic of Spain
1937 Pullman Co formally recognizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters but still only hires men named "George"
1961 Roger Maris sets record of 61 home runs (off of Tracy Stallard) in a season until a certain red-headed Cardinal (who wasn't even born) crushes it 37 years later.
1962 First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Here are the first 3 minutes of audio from the first show. BONUS TRIVIA QUESTION: Can you identify the celebrity who introduces Johnny and chats him up?
1964 The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of University of California, Berkeley. The next thing you know is they’ll be calling for Free Love. F-in’ hippies.
1964 San Francisco cable cars are declared a national landmark so you can't complain if they don't work
1968 "Night of the Living Dead" premieres, fittingly, in Pittsburgh
1989 Denmark introduces the world's first legal modern same-sex civil union called "registered partnership."
2009 The House of Lords stops in the name of love and passes judicial functions to The Supremes Court of the United Kingdom
1760 William Thomas Beckford, bisexual English writer, profligate, art collector, patron of teenaged boys, politician -- Think 18th century Mark Foley
