Monday Open Thread: October 15 is the 288th day of the year

October 15 is also Pungenday, Bureaucracy 69, 3184 YOLD (discordian) So, in the earlier history of this OT series I beat the numerical significance of 15 and 15 related items and phenomenon to death. I've never addressed 288 before, however. Perhaps that's because 288 is too two gross. Heh. It's also 32x9 = 25 x 32. Beyond that, I really got nuthin', but, the Mathologer gets some interesting mileage out of 288

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Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift, look out kid, ... On this day in: 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon made its first piloted test flight. It was tethered to an 80 feet tether and piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier. It is believed that Étienne Montgolfier actually took the first ride in the brothers' back yard, but the official honors go to Rozier. 1928 – The Graf Zeppelin made its first trans-Atlantic flight. It became the first commercial transatlantic passenger aircraft line in the world. 1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducted the very last step of the first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be used in one of the first three oral contraceptives. Now we know why the forced birther dipshit in chief wants to wall Mexico off. 1956 – Fortran was released into the wild, being shared with the coders for the first time. 1965 – The first bust for burning one's draft card took place at an anti-war ralley in Manhattan, relying upon a new amendment to the SS act making it illegal. 1966 – Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. All hell broke lose. To quote da wiki:

At its inception on October 15, 1966,[5] the Black Panther Party's core practice was its armed citizens' patrols to monitor the behavior of officers of the Oakland Police Department and challenge police brutality in Oakland, California. In 1969, community social programs became a core activity of party members.[6] The Black Panther Party instituted a variety of community social programs, most extensively the Free Breakfast for Children Programs, and community health clinics to address issues like food injustice. The party enrolled the largest number of members and made the greatest impact in the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Philadelphia. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover called the party "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country", and he supervised an extensive counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) of surveillance, infiltration, perjury, police harassment, and many other tactics designed to undermine Panther leadership, incriminate party members, discredit and criminalize the Party, and drain the organization of resources and manpower. The program was also accused of assassinating Black Panther members.

Lessee now, was murdering Fred Hampton while he slept in his own bed an assassination or not? You be the judge. 1969 – Over 2 million people participated in the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, a combinatin teach-in and demonstration at numerous sites across the US. Naturally the war continued unabated, because wars are good business, no matter how many die. 1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up the USSR. This soon resulted in a situation where the US could claim no exitential threat to justify its obscene war machine and warfare budget. After a period of trying to find a replacement it decided to just rekindle the cold war with the possible added side benefit of re-establishing gangster capitalism with more US oligarchs in the mix. 1991 – The "Oh-My-God particle" was spotted. This was a cosmic ray of extraordinarily high energy particle vastly in excess of anything our accelerators could generate. 2011 – The October 15, 2011 Global Protests "United for #GlobalChange" took place in more than 950 cities and 82 countries. Serious change was, oddly enough, not forthcoming.

Born this day in: 1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, physicist and mathematician 1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, composer, poet and philosopher 1858 – John L. Sullivan, boxer. I dunno, seems like they should've been buds. 1905 – C. P. Snow, a very divisive author 1906 – Victoria Spivey, singer, songwriter, and pianist 1912 – Nellie Lutcher, singer and pianist 1916 – Al Killian, trumpet player and bandleader 1917 – Paul Tanner, trombonist 1920 – Mario Puzo, writer of business management texts and manuals 1925 – Mickey Baker, guitarist 1934 – Alan Elsdon, trumpet and flugelhorn player 1935 – Barry McGuire, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1938 – Marv Johnson, singer, songwriter, and pianist 1942 – Don Stevenson, singer, songwriter, and drummer 1946 – Richard Carpenter, singer, songwriter, pianist, carpenter

Died this day in: 1976 – Carlo Gambino, businessman 2013 – Donald Bailey, drummer

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: Breast Health Day (Europe) Oh my god, you can't do that here! What's with you? Global Handwashing Day (In honor of Lady Macbeth) World Students' Day National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States)

Victoria Spivey

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Nellie Lutcher

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Al Killian

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Paul Tanner

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Mickey Baker (Mickey & Sylvia)

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Alan Elsdon (Ledbetter, heh)

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