October 13^th is

World Sight Day *

National M&M Day

U.S. Yorkshire Pudding Day

U.N. International Day for
Disaster Reduction *

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MORE! Emperor Claudius,  B’nai B’rith and the Ford Edsel, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Fiji – Cession Day
(1874 – Fiji ceded to U.K./1970 – Independence)

Burundi – Prince Rwagasore Day
(assassination memorial)

India – Tripura: Puja
(day of prayer)

Mexico – Día de la Acta de Independencia *
(Mexico’s Declaration of Independence)

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On This Day in HISTORY

54 – Roman Emperor Claudius dies, probably of poisoning – his wife Agrippina is suspected, possibly in collusion with Nero, who succeeded his uncle

1307 – Phillip the Fair, who owed large sums to the Knights Templar in France, has hundreds of them arrested, and tortured into ‘confession’ of heresy

1773 – The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier, who designates it M51 in his catalogue

1775 – U.S. Continental Congress orders establishment of the Continental Navy

1792 – Executive Mansion cornerstone laid in Washington DC. Nicknamed ‘White House’ in 1818 – name officially changed by President Theodore Roosevelt

1821 – Mexico declares its independence * from the Spanish Empire

1843 – B’nai B’rith, the oldest Jewish service organization in the world, is founded by 12 recent German Jewish immigrants in New York City

1845 – Nine years after its inception, the majority of Republic of Texas voters approve becoming a U.S. state instead,  effective in 1846

1881 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, “reviver of the Hebrew language,”  holds the first know conversation in modern Hebrew with friends

1884 – The International Meridian Conference votes on a resolution to establish the meridian passing through the Observatory of Greenwich, in London, England, as the initial meridian for longitude

1885 – The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta GA

1892 – Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1, the first comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13–14

1903 – Babes in Toyland premieres on Broadway

1923 – Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey

1924 – The Guardsman opens on Broadway

1953 – Samuel Bagno patents an ultrasonic burglar alarm

1957 – The Ford Edsel is introduced on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby

1962 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Debuts on Broadway

1978 – The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) holds its first General Assembly in Oxford UK – 44 nations send representatives. IAPB is the sponsor of World Sight Day, * held annually on the 2nd Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment

1983 – Ameritech Mobile Communications (now AT&T) launched first U.S. cellular network in Chicago

1988 – Naguib Mahfouz wins the Nobel Prize in Literature

1989 – U.N. General Assembly designates International Day for Disaster Reduction, * to promote risk-awareness, disaster preparedness/mitigation – October 13 annually

2009 – Bob Dylan releases album Christmas in the Heart

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Vision

• Eye Chart through glasses lens
• International flags
• The Whirlpool Galaxy
• Georgia Tech original buildings circa 1888
• Babes in Toyland 1903 Broadway production
• 1962 Playbill for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• International Day for Disaster Reduction header

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