Oct 12-Charity Weir, Gumbo, 1st Oktoberfest, Pavarotti, The Smithereens, Hugh Jackman, Kirk Cameron, Josh Hutcherson

0:19 Hello everyone, I am Jeff and welcome to History and Factoids About Today. Today's October the 12th. Now I have a really cool co-host today. She got knocked down pretty good in life, but she's on her way back up. She's really tough and smart, resilient. So I'd like you to help me help her out and just get her back on her feet again. So first off, thanks for co-hosting with me, Charity. And why don't you say hi to everybody, introduce yourself. Hello, everybody. Thank you, Jeff, for having me on the show. I'm Charity. I'm living here in Texas, just picking myself back up. I only hit rock bottom and got to bounce back up. And you got yourself an AI job.

1:01 Yes. I mean, it was hard at first, but I taught myself how to detect issues with AI programming and got a job reporting back to companies on the issues that AI has given people. That's good. So is all this hysteria about AI, is it worth it? Or is it just out of control? Or is there any justification? It's, I mean, some of it's out of control, but I do see points on it. I mean, people are turning to AI where they. Like writers. I mean, I'm a writer as well. I published a book years ago and I've got five more that are ready to be published, but writers are turning to AI to write their books and it takes a creativeness out of it.

1:58 Yeah, exactly. But it does help with editing resumes and it helps with. Other issues you're having. I mean, if you want to edit your book, yeah, I use AI, but Don't have AI write your stuff for you. You've got to personalize it. Right. I think since it is fairly new, I think people are just like anything. I think people are just going overboard. Oh, my Lord. All the science fiction movies are going to come through. They're going to take over the world and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. I think a lot of the science fiction has gotten to people on the new AI programs. I was watching the debate here and they were talking about AI, whether they needed a passive bill or something like that. They were talking about the safeguards they need to put in and all this kind of stuff. And there was this old farmer from Eastern Colorado. He goes, I don't know anything about what you guys are talking about.

2:48 Can't you just unplug the damn thing? I think it has more control than just a plug anymore. Okay. Today is October the 12th. So, oh, I guess we're going to go here. Oh, Columbus sailed the ocean in 1492 with the Niña and the Pinta and the Santa Maria too. Yes, today is Columbus Day. Now, Columbus, he wanted to chart a western sea route to the Spice Islands, China, India, that whole area. Thought he was going straight west would be a lot easier than just sailing around Africa. Well, instead of landing in the Far East, of course, he landed in the Bahamas. Now, he thought he had landed in the East Indies off of the coast of Asia, but yeah, that didn't work out. Now, he didn't even know there was a continent. Nobody did, really. I guess some of the Vikings did. Now, he wasn't the first in North America, though. No, they know the Vikings were here at least 500 years before Columbus. Now, although Columbus sailed for Spain, he's actually Italian. So today is less about Columbus nowadays and more about kind of an Italian pride kind of day. It's kind of fun. It became a federal holiday in 1937. It's always the second Monday in October. Now, Columbus, he's always been a really controversial guy.

4:10 Everybody pretty much agrees. Yeah, he was an ass, but, you know. He did open the door for Europeans coming to the Americas. And so some people are kind of counter-protesting. And also since the 70s, they've been celebrating. It's called Indigenous People's Day. You can do that today if you want, if you don't want to celebrate Columbus. Do you have any thoughts on Columbus or just go out and have some fun? I mean. We'll talk about it. He wasn't the first one to actually discover America. And a lot of people get that misconstrued. I know. Never even set foot on it. So you're a Texas girl.

4:50 So you're a Southerner. You like your gumbo? I'm not that quite Far East. A little too far east and south, huh? Yeah. Today is National Gumbo Day. Now, gumbo, it is West African. It means okra. Now, traditionally, gumbo, it has a strong flavored stock, and it has beef, chicken, sausage, vegetables. Veggies are usually celery, bell peppers, and onions. Now, they thicken it up with okra and sassafras and serve it over rice. I think it's pretty good eating.

5:39 Yeah, it's pretty good. My aunt makes mean gumbo. Yeah, it's just a hodgepodge. Well, it started in the 1700s down in Louisiana. Of course, you can pretty much imagine that. I think they have some pretty good deals down south, but yeah, probably not anywhere else in the country, though. So, are you more of a steak kind of girl? Oh, yeah. Yeah, Marilla, that's kind of the prime steak country, isn't it? Oh, yeah, we do. We got a lot of steak around here. So, are you a big football fan? I used to be. Yeah. I used to be big into football. I actually played football for junior high and high school. I was on the boys' tackle football team for our high school.

6:28 Were you guys any good? We did all right. We were just a small farm school. They needed everybody they could get, huh? Huh? They needed everybody they could get, huh? Oh, yeah. I was the first female on the football team there for years. So did the boys treat you okay, or did they get a little embarrassed when they got knocked down by a girl? I don't know. They were mean. My coach wasn't any nicer, though. He made me go up against the three. I was a little bitty thing. He made me go up against the three biggest guys on the team just to make sure I could handle it.

7:13 And they took me down. Yeah, but now that prepared you for later on in life when you got knocked down, you knew how to get right back up, didn't you? I sure did. I've survived my whole life from one issue to another. So surviving is the only thing I know how to do. And AI. And AI, yeah. And write. Writing. I was a head chef there for a while. And I was a manager. I mean, leading's my thing and surviving. All right. This is going on on October 12th. Let's go back to 1992. Number one album was The Chase by Garth Brooks.

7:54 Boyz II Men had their number one song with End of the Road. Oh, yeah. It's unnatural You've been on to me I've been. On to you Wynonna had the number one country song with Nowhere Else on Earth. How did you get to me? No one else on earth Could ever hurt me Break my heart away You No one else on earth Was.

8:38 Ever That number one book was The Star Shined Down by Sidney Sheldon. Top movie was Under Siege, a former Navy SEAL. He's the only person who can stop terrorists who took over a U.S. Navy battleship to steal its nuclear weapons. Stars Steven Seagal, Gary Busey, and Tommy Lee Jones. Big names in that one. I didn't realize that. What kind of movies do you like? I'm Suspense. I really love suspense movies. War movies, I do enjoy those.

9:18 Me and my son, we sit and watch anything about World War II and World War I. My son's a history buff. He can sit there and have a six-hour conversation with you about both world wars. That's cool. You have a favorite actor? Not exactly. I mean, I just. Like those old World War One and World War Two movies like Jason Robards and Henry Fond and all them. Yeah. So it doesn't have to be like Tom Hanks and Saving Private Ryan. You'll watch them all the way from. Yeah, I like any of the older ones. I like any of the new ones.

10:00 I grew up also watching the oldies, Gunsmoke and stuff like that with my grandparents. So suspense. So suspense isn't horror. Suspense is kind of like mind games and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. A couple of my favorites are the Jane Patterson movies, Along Came a Spider and Kissing the Girls. Those are really good ones. All right. Listen. Oh, go ahead. Oh, no. My other one is Seven Deadly Sins. I like that one. I've seen it. Let's see what happened on October the 12th. As a writer, you have a son and a daughter, so you probably know nursery rhymes, right?

10:48 Oh, yeah. Well, in 1609, over in London, England, the children's nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice was published. Now, it is said as a children's nursery rhyme, but it is written with nothing but hidden meaning. It's actually about three Protestants who were accused of plotting against Queen Mary, and she had them burned at the stake. Three blind mice. Three blind mice. See how they run. See how they run. They all ran after the farmer's wife who cut off their tails with a carving knife. Did you ever see such a sight in your life as three blind mice? So now you know that farmer's wife was actually the queen.

11:29 Kind of interesting, huh? So what do you like writing about? Uh, I do, uh, suspense, uh, erotic with an erotic twist to it. So. So fun books. Oh yeah. 1792, New York city. They held the first Columbus day parade. It was the first celebration for Columbus in the United States. It was for his 300th anniversary of him landing over in the Bahamas. So do you know why, since Columbus never actually set foot in the United States, Um, why he's actually a big deal over here. I don't know why. Okay.

12:10 It's actually all political and it's all propaganda. So you remember back in, during that was 1792, that was their celebration. See, remember the United States, we didn't not like Britain. And the first, well, the first ones over here were, um, leaf Erickson and the Vikings, you know, up in Canada and all that. They think the first people who are actually in the, what would become the United States were all British. like the guy named John Cabot and some stuff like that. Well, they didn't want to give the British any kind of credit, so that's why they came up and started celebrating Columbus in Washington, D.C., District of Columbus and all that kind of stuff, just to do anything, not give British any kind of publicity about being here in the United States. So that's why Columbus is celebrated here in the U.S., even though he'd never been here.

12:57 Do you like your beer? Um. No, I don't really drink beer. Well, if you did, you'd be pretty happy about this day. In 1810, over in Munich, Germany, the first Oktoberfest began. That's right. It was held to celebrate future King Ludwig. He was the Prince of Bavaria. Well, Ludwig, he went and got himself married. He married Princess Therese. She was a Saxon. Now, that party went on for a week. So there were lots and lots of drinking, lots and lots of food, lots of dancing. They did some horse racing. Everyone had so much fun, they decided they were going to just make it an annual event. But they decided to move it up to September. It was a little warmer and the days were a little bit longer. You ever celebrate the Octoberfest down there in Amarillo?

13:46 We did. We ended up with a lot of my ex-husband's military buddies over and we would do a big Oktoberfest party. Me being part German and him being part... Quarter German, we just kind of integrated it and did a lot of German cuisines, little side dishes, and he had the beer flowing. Yeah, those days like Oktoberfest for the Germans, well, Columbus Day for the Italians today. You got Cinco de Mayo. You got St. Patrick's Day. Those days are always fun because that day everybody's German, everybody's Irish, everybody's Mexican. I mean, those days are actually fun.

14:31 Yeah. Over in Scotland in 1823, Charles Macintosh, he started selling Macs. They were the world's first raincoats. Not what you think. The Macintosh computer won't come out for about 150 more years after that. You know why the Macintosh computer is called the Macintosh? No. It's actually named after the Macintosh Apple. That's why the company is called Apple. In 1853, do you like boxing? Um, never really got into it. Yeah, it's not, it's not near as popular now as it used to be now with MMA and all that kind of stuff. But it used to be really big.

15:12 In 1853, John Morrissey, he won boxing's world championship. See, after the 36th round, the guy he was fighting, Yankee Sullivan, Yankee, he left the ring to go beat up some of Morrissey's fans who were taunting him in the stands. Since he left the ring, yeah, Morrissey won the title. Ha ha ha. In 1892, the Pledge of Allegiance was first set in public schools. They scheduled it on Columbus Day. 1900, the first modern submarine went into service. It was called the USS Holland. United States Navy launched it. It was for John Holland. He's the guy who actually designed it. 1901, President Teddy Roosevelt, he officially renamed the Executive Mansion. That's what it was called. But slangly, they had called it the White House from the beginning. So he just said, hey, we're just changing the name now. It is officially the White House. And the Oval Office, it won't be built in the White House until 1909. You ever gone to Washington, D.C.? No.

16:08 I haven't really done much traveling. I went to Colorado about four or five months ago. Were we nice to you? Oh, yeah. It was, I mean, I loved it. Now, I have never been to Brazil. No. But I have seen the pictures of the Christ the Redeemer statue. It stands on top of the mountain overlooking Rio de Janeiro. That statue, it opened up today in 1931. It's 98 feet tall, and with its arms outstretched, they're 92 feet long. Now, Catholic missionaries, they paid for that. Now, get this. Every year, that statue is struck by lightning between three and six times, and it never does any damage.

16:54 Hmm. New York City in 1944. The Columbus Day riot happened. Well, it had nothing to do with Columbus Day, and it really wasn't a riot. It was kind of a media. There was nothing else going on, so the media made it a big deal. What it was was Frank Sinatra. He was scheduled to sing at the Paradise Theater. Over 3,500 seats are in the theater. Well, 30,000 mostly teenage girls showed up to go to the show. Well, the New York media, they just made a great big deal out of it. Oh, man, these girls are out there screaming and all that kind of stuff. Police showed up and they just kind of like kept an eye on the girl so they didn't do anything. But all that attention that they gave him, it's what's credited for making Frank Sinatra the world's first pop star. Japan in 1960. Inahira Asanama.

17:42 He was the leader of the Japan Socialist Party. He was a big supporter of the Chinese Party. In fact, he wanted Japan to be modeled after China. Well, during a live debate on Japanese TV as he was speaking... 17-year-old Atoya Yamaguchi walked on stage and killed him with a samurai sword. Yep, ran him right through. Right on live TV. He said he wasn't going to put up with any of that commie talk. Now, although no one liked Asanama, they still had to arrest the kid. I mean, he did it on live TV. That kid, he hung himself in jail three weeks later. Now, over here, oh man, what was the significance of using the samurai sword and all that kind of stuff? What did that mean? Well, nothing really. See, since the end of World War II, Japanese citizens weren't allowed to hold guns, so that's all they had in order to kill them. This is kind of a little more irony. 1980 in Los Angeles, seven people, they were stabbed at a Blood, Sweat, and Tears concert.

18:36 It's funny if you're not one of the seven. Okay. So why we have you here is basically you got yourself a GoFundMe account. You had a really good job. Things went to the pot. So then bills piled up on you. Now you got another job, a really good job doing the AI stuff. And now we want everybody just to kind of chip in and help you out and get back on your feet again and get out of that hole, right? Yes. So it's a pretty simple way here. And thank you for being here too. Well, thank you for having me. Sure. You want to do some birthdays? Sure. All right. Let's see who was born on October the 12th.

19:56 I know I started out with an easy one. Charity's over there rolling her eyes about how easy it was. Everybody knows that was Della Caruso by Luciano Pavarotti. Pavarotti, he was born in Medina, Italy in 1935. Most famous tenor of all time. Now, as a kid, he wanted to be a soccer player. But see, the thing is, he really sucked. So his parents, they sent him to school to do vocal training. Yeah, and did it for seven years. Well, it worked. Well, singing-wise-wise, I mean, he wouldn't have gotten so fat if he had kept playing soccer, but he hit really big with the opera crowd after that. Then he went mainstream when he formed the Three Tenors. Pavarotti sold over 100 million records. He was married to his first wife for 40 years. They divorced, and then they had three kids together. Married a second wife in 2003, and they had one kid. Pavarotti died from pancreatic cancer in 2007 at 71 years old. You ever get into opera at all?

20:50 I mean, not too much. I mean, I absolutely love watching Phantom of the Opera. That counts. Yeah, I guess it does count, kind of stuff like that. Yeah. What's your favorite kind of music? Country. Country. Well, cool, because that's how we end. The Sam in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo Sam and Dave was Sam Moore. He was born in Miami, Florida in 1935. Sam and Dave Prater, they got together in 1961. Sam, he sang the high notes. Dave sang the low notes. Some of their big hits are Soul Man, Hold On, I'm Coming, When Something Is Wrong With My Baby, I Thank You. Broke up in 1981, but Sam had a success touring solo with other artists and doing the oldie circuit and that kind of stuff. Sam, he actually performed right up until the end. When he was 89 years old, he actually had a website out there, and it said if you paid for him, he'd come sing at your house. He just died two years ago in January.

22:09 He had Mary Joyce in 1982. You ever hear of Soul Man? I have. I'll sing everything you. Want to hear. I'll see everything through. I'll do everything. That was Pat D'Anesio singing Late for the Smithereens. Pat, he was born in Plainville, New Jersey in 1955. He helped form the Smithereens in 1980. Now, they got the name the Smithereens from Yosemite Sam cartoons. You watch those growing up?

22:54 Off of Looney Tunes. Right. Well, you know how Yosemite Sam would walk around telling everybody he was going to blow them to smithereens? That's how they took their name. Of course. Their hits were Only Meaning, Girl Like You, Blues After and Before. Now, Pat, he was with the band until he died in 2017 at 62 years old. He had all kinds of health issues. He was one time divorced and he had a son from it. Then find somebody who... Do you like Broadway? I've never really watched any Broadway. Well, this guy's pretty famous and you might be able to figure... Let's see if you can guess who this is. I'm sure I made the same mistakes, but I could make it through the pain and joys and aches. I knew back.

23:44 Then I would do it all. I'd do it all again before I go. Any idea? No, no idea. Hugh Jackman. That was Hugh on Broadway in Boy From Oz. He's 58 today. He was born in Sydney, Australia. He has won an Emmy, a Grammy, and two Tony Awards. He is an Oscar away from winning the EGOT. Now, he was nominated for an Oscar for Les Miserables, but he lost to Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln. Now, he's probably best known. He played Wolverine in nine movies. I bet Daniel Day-Lewis couldn't pull that one off. Huey got married in 1996, and they had two children. They just divorced about a year ago. Did you watch Family Ties growing up?

24:29 I did. What about Growing Pains? Yes. Well, actor Kirk Cameron, he's 56. He was born in Panama City, California. That's a suburb of Los Angeles. Now, as an actor, Kirk, he's most known for playing Mike Seaver on Growing Pains. Now, he grew up an atheist, his whole family was, but when he was 17 years old, he became a born-again Christian. So after Growing Pains ended, he left mainstream Hollywood and went and started a ministry. And he's been making Christian movies, and he's really a big guy on Christian TV ever since. His younger sister is actress Candace Cameron Burr. And the only thing that cracks me up about that is Candace, you know who she is, right? Yeah. Well, her husband, that's why her last name is Burr now. It makes me laugh because her husband was a professional hockey player. A hockey player and his last name is Burr. I find that kind of humorous. Now, Kirk, he married actress Chelsea Noble in 1991 and they have six kids. You a fan of the Hunger Games franchise?

25:30 A little bit. A little bit. Well, actor Josh Hutcherson is 34. He was born in Union, Kentucky. He was in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Journey to the Mysterious Island. But he really hit huge in the Hunger Games. He was PETA. I think I saw the first two. I don't think I saw any after that one. Okay, this is kind of a good way to live your life. Our quote of the day. It comes from Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He died today in 1870 at 63 years old. Robert says, never do a wrong to make a friend or keep one. It's kind of profound, don't you think? Yeah. Okay. So anything else you want anybody else to know? Well, at the end, if you go on the show notes today, you'll see her go friend me now. We're just going to give her some money to get out of the hole that she got when she didn't work for four months.

26:22 But now you've got that good job and just need a little boost up, don't you? Yes. I mean, it's been difficult. I mean, I lost my home, staying in my car, my son staying at his dad's, but. I'm getting there. It's a slow walk, but I'm getting there. Yeah. Well, you got a good attitude and you're fighting hard. And so that's good stuff. Well, I've always fought for my kids. So, and I always will. So, yeah, if you can, go ahead and down the show notes, just click that GoFundMe and just give her a little bit of help up there. We sure appreciate it today. Well, thank you for being here, though. You've been fun.

27:05 Well, thank you, and this has been fun. All righty. We end every show with we have somebody who makes a request for the Internet radio station, Country Underground Radio. This one, it comes from Clayton in New Mexico. He wants to hear Highway 95 and their song, Love Like Me. You guys all have an awesome day and we'll talk tomorrow.

28:04 Like a sin that tastes so sweet With no wasted miles of memories Like a mountain that peaks so high Like the fires on the 4th of July With all the beautiful things you love. To see. Have you ever found a love like me?

28:49 But you're just afraid to say. Like a river that runs so deep. Like a sin that tastes so sweet. With no wasted miles of memories. Like a mountain that peaks so high. Like the fires. On the 4th of July. Thank you.