Today's Trivia and What Happened on October 8

Solve: 230 - 220 * 0.5 Surprisingly the answer is 5!

Solve: 230 - 220 * 0.5 Surprisingly the answer is 5! Close Large View

Apply PEMDAS and
230 - 220 * 0.5 = 230 - (220 * 0.5) = 230 - 110 = 120
The key is "5!" where the "!" is the factorial operator = 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 120
Therefore 5! = 120

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Quote: A speaker of truth has no friends - African Proverb

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Holidays

Feast Day of St. Bridget

Patron saint of Sweden and founder of the Order of the Most Holy Savior.

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What Happened On

The Burning Bed

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The Burning Bed

October 8, 1984

The critically-acclaimed made for TV movie The Burning Bed, starring Farrah Fawcett, airs on NBC. It was based on the non-fiction book by Faith McNulty about battered housewife Francine Hughes. After thirteen years of physical domestic abuse, Hughes killed her husband in 1977 by setting fire to the bed he was sleeping in at their home. Francine Hughes was tried for first degree murder and found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

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Sgt. York in Battle - by Frank Schoonover Sgt. York in Battle - by Frank Schoonover

Sgt. York in Battle - by Frank Schoonover Sgt. York in Battle - by Frank Schoonover
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Sgt. York

October 8, 1918

The legendary U.S. World War I hero, Alvin York (later known as Sgt. York), kills 25 members of a German machine-gun battalion and captures 132 others during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. During the assault, York, using a semi-automatic pistol, shot and killed six German soldiers who were charging at him with fixed bayonets. Seeing the carnage York was inflicting on his men, the German commander ordered his unit to surrender.

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Great Chicago Fire - Not Started by a Cow

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Great Chicago Fire - Not Started by a Cow

October 8, 1871

3.3 square miles (9 km2) of Chicago is destroyed, more than 250 people are killed, and 100,000 of the 300,000 residents were left homeless. Adding to the problem, Chicago had been in a drought, having received only 1 inch (2.5 cm) of rain since July 4.
It was not Mrs. O'Leary's cow that started the fire, even though this was reported in the Chicago Tribune's first post-fire issue. Twenty-two years later, the author of the story retracted it, stating it was fabricated. The fire started at about 9:00 p.m. near a barn belonging to the O'Leary family. The O'Learys claim they were already asleep and not milking the cow as the article claimed. City officials never determined the exact cause of the fire, but it's possible that a group of men who were gambling inside the barn knocked over a lantern.

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Ted Danson Honors Whoopi in Blackface

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Ted Danson Honors Whoopi in Blackface

October 8, 1993

Actor Ted Danson appears at a Friar's Club comedy roast honoring his then girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg wearing blackface. He was also criticized for his use of racial stereotypes during the roast. Goldberg said she was in on the stunt and helped write much of his material.

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First Perfect No-Hitter World Series Baseball Game

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First Perfect No-Hitter World Series Baseball Game

October 8, 1956

Don Larsen pitching for the New York Yankees and beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0.

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First Vanderbilt Cup Auto Race

October 8, 1904

The winner was George Heath driving a Panhard.

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Birthdays

Frank (right) and Charles Duryea Frank (right) and Charles Duryea

Frank (right) and Charles Duryea Frank (right) and Charles Duryea
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This is a birthday

James Frank Duryea

Born October 8, 1869 d. 1967

American inventor. Built the first successful gas-powered car in the U.S. and won the first U.S. automobile race (1895). He and his brother Charles Duryea formed the first U.S. automobile company, Duryea Motor Wagon Co. (1895), selling their first car in 1896.

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This is a birthday

Stephanie Zimbalist

Born October 8, 1956

American actress. TV: Remington Steele(Laura Holt).

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This is a birthday

Kool (Robert Bell)

Born October 8, 1950

American singer, with Kool and the Gang. Music: Ladies Night (1979, #1) and Celebration (1980, #1).

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This is a birthday

Sigourney Weaver (Susan Weaver)

Born October 8, 1949

American actress. Film: Alien (1979), Ghostbusters (1984), and Gorillas in the Mist (1988).

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This is a birthday

Sarah Purcell

Born October 8, 1948

American TV personality. TV: Real People (host).

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This is a birthday

Chevy Chase (Cornelius Crane Chase)

Born October 8, 1943

American Emmy-winning actor, comedian, short-lived talk show host. TV: Saturday Night Live.

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This is a birthday

Jesse Jackson

Born October 8, 1941

American civil rights leader.

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Rona Barrett (Rona Burnstein)

Born October 8, 1936

American gossip columnist and TV personality.

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Jim Elliot

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Jim Elliot

Born October 8, 1927 d. 1956

American missionary to Ecuador's Quechua Indians. His was killed by the Aucas while trying to minister to them. Quote: "It is dangerous to get the cart before the horse, but essential in God's program to get the heart before the course." His death was the basis for the book/movie End of the Spear.

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This is a birthday

Frank Patrick Herbert

Born October 8, 1920 d. 1986

American science-fiction author. Writings: Dune (1965).

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This is a birthday

Billy Conn

Born October 8, 1917 d. 1993

American Hall of Fame boxer. In 1941, while leading Joe Louis 8 rounds to 4, instead of playing it safe and taking the decision, he decided to slug it out with the heavyweight champ. Louis quickly knocked him out.

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This is a birthday

Kirk Alyn (John Feggo, Jr.)

Born October 8, 1910 d. 1999

American actor. He played Superman in the 1948 movie serial and in its sequel Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950). He also played young Lois Lane's father in the 1978 Superman movie.

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This is a birthday

Juan Domingo Perón

Born October 8, 1895 d. 1974

President of Argentina (1946-55, 73-74). His opposition to the Church led to his excommunication by Pope Pius XII. He was forced to resign in 1955 after a revolt, but was welcomed back in 1973 by an unstable country.

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This is a birthday

The Ace of Aces

Eddie Rickenbacker

Born October 8, 1890 d. 1973

American aviator and race car driver, called "The Ace of Aces". He was the most decorated pilot of World War I.

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This is a birthday

Ma Barker (Arizona Donnie Clark)

Born October 8, 1873 d. 1935

American outlaw. Supposedly headed a gang which included her four sons. She and her youngest son were gunned down by FBI agents.

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James Wilson Marshall

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James Wilson Marshall

Born October 8, 1810 d. 1885

American pioneer. He started the California Gold Rush when he discovered gold at Sutter's Mill (1848).

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This is a birthday

Father of Rhode Island

John Clarke

Born October 8, 1609 d. 1676

Baptist minister. Father of Rhode Island. He was a co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in the Americas. He was imprisoned in Boston for performing baptisms (1651), as the Baptist religion was illegal in Boston.

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Deaths

George Taliaferro

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First African-American Drafted by the NFL

George Taliaferro

Died October 8, 2018 b. 1927

American football player. He was the first African-American drafted by the NFL. He was picked by the Chicago Bears in the thirteenth round of the 1949 NFL Draft, but had already signed with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference one week earlier. He played with the Dons one year, then joined the NFL's New York Yanks.
Playing college ball in 1945, he rushed for 719 yards and led the Indiana Hoosiers to an undefeated season and its only undisputed championship of the Big Ten Conference (then known as the Western Conference). He was voted Indiana's most valuable player in 1948. Even though he was a star player, because he was black he could not live in a dorm, eat in the cafeteria, or swim in the pool.
Taliaferro was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

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Franklin Pierce

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This is a death

Franklin Pierce

Died October 8, 1869 b. 1804

American politician. 14th U.S. President (1853-57).

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John Hancock

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John Hancock

Died October 8, 1793 b. 1737

4th and 13th president of the Continental Congress (1775-77, 1785-86). First signer of the Declaration of Independence and first governor of Massachusetts (1780-85).

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This is a death

Sentenced to be Chopped Up and Dissolved in Acid

Javed Iqbal (Javed Iqbal Mughal)

Died October 8, 2001 b. 1956

Pakistani serial killer. He was found guilty of the sexual abuse and murder of 100 boys over a six-month period. In December 1999, Iqbal sent a letter to police and the newspaper confessing to the murders of 100 boys, all aged between 6 and 16, claiming to have strangled them with a chain, dismembered their bodies, and disposed of them using vats of hydrochloric acid. The police found photographs of many of his victims and two vats of acid with partially dissolved human body parts in his house. Four teenage boys who lived with Iqbal were arrested as accomplices. A month later Iqbal turned himself in. He was sentenced to be executed in a manner similar to how he killed his victims: He would be hanged with the same chain he used to strangle his victims and his body would be cut into 100 pieces and dissolved in acid. He died in prison before his execution could be carried out.

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This is a death

Fernando Lamas

Died October 8, 1982 b. 1915

Argentine actor, the Latin Lover of U.S. films during the 1950s.

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Edith S. Sampson

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Edith S. Sampson (Edith Spurlock Sampson)

Died October 8, 1979 b. 1898

African-American judge. She was the first black delegate appointed to the United Nations (1950) and the first black woman elected judge in the state of Illinois (1962, Chicago Municipal Court).

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World's Heaviest Woman

Percy Pearl Washington

Died October 8, 1972 b. 1926

American heavyweight, the world's heaviest woman (880 pounds).

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