Crabs and Beer!

On this day in 1962, President John Kennedy announced, in a nationwide broadcast, that the Soviet Union had placed missiles in Cuba that were capable of attacking the United States with nuclear weapons. In response, Kennedy ordered a naval ‘quarantine’ (a ‘blockade’ would be considered an act of war) on all offensive weapons headed to Cuba. During the speech, a directive went out to all US forces worldwide, placing them on DEFCON 3. The heavy cruiser USS Newport News was the designated flagship for the blockade, with USS Leary as Newport News‘s destroyer escort.

The crisis continued unabated, and on the evening of 24 October 1962, the Soviet TASS news agency broadcast a telegram from Khrushchev to Kennedy in which Khrushchev warned that the United States’ “outright piracy” would lead to war. The US requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on 25 October and Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, confronted Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin and challenged him to admit the existence of the missiles. Ambassador Zorin refused to answer. At 10:00 pm EDT the next day, the US raised the readiness level of Strategic Air Command (SAC) forces to DEFCON 2. For the only confirmed time in US history, B-52 bombers were put on continuous airborne alert. B-47 medium bombers were dispersed to military and civilian airfields and made ready to take off, fully equipped, at 15 minutes’ notice. Twenty-three nuclear-armed B-52 bombers were sent to orbit points within striking distance of the Soviet Union to demonstrate that the US was serious.

The implicit threat of air strikes on Cuba followed by an invasion allowed the United States to exert pressure in future talks, and the prospect of military action helped to accelerate Khrushchev’s proposal for a compromise. At 9:00 am EDT on 27 October, Radio Moscow began broadcasting a message from Khrushchev. Contrary to the letter of the night before, the message offered a new trade: the missiles on Cuba would be removed in exchange for the removal of the US Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey.

Emissaries sent by both Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to meet at the Yenching Palace Chinese restaurant in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, DC, on Saturday evening, 27 October. Kennedy secretly agreed to remove all missiles in Turkey, on the border of the Soviet Union, and possibly those in southern Italy, in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba.

President Kennedy signing the Proclamation for Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba at the Oval Office on 23 October 1962.

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Thanks, Debra!

Question Mark and the Mysterians were children of Mexican migrant farmers who settled in Michigan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7uC5m-IRns&list=PL60043D0B9C86F5CF&index=50

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It was a naval battle between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French and Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Napoleon’s planned invasion of the United Kingdom, the French and Spanish navies planned to take control of the English Channel and provide the French invasion army with safe passage to Britain.

The allied fleet was under the command of French Vice-admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, while the British fleet was under the command of Vice-Admiral of the White Horatio Nelson. Nelson’s fleet was outnumbered, having only 27 ships of the line to the 33 of Villeneuve’s fleet, which included the largest warship in either fleet, the Spanish ship of the line Santísima Trinidad. To address this imbalance, Nelson sailed his fleet directly at the allied battle line’s flank in two columns, hoping to break the line into pieces.

The British plan worked almost perfectly; Nelson’s columns split the Franco-Spanish fleet in three, isolating the rear from the rest of the fleet. In the battle that followed, 18 allied ships were captured or destroyed, while the British lost none. Nelson’s own HMS Victory led the front column and was almost knocked out of action. Nelson was shot by a French musketeer during the battle, and died shortly before it ended.

Nelson’s victory against the odds and death during battle secured his place as a British national hero. His signal to the fleet shortly before the battle, “England expects that every man will do his duty”, is regularly quoted and paraphrased.

The Battle of Trafalgar by William Clarkson Stanfield

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Myself?

It’s getting to be that season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q54HMKWxwpk

Today is the anniversary of the Saturday Night Massacre in 1973, the climactic series of events during the Watergate scandal. It involved a series of resignations within the United States Department of Justice in protest of President Richard Nixon’s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was investigating Nixon’s involvement in Watergate.

During a single evening on Saturday, October 20, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox; Richardson refused in protest and resigned effective immediately. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; Ruckelshaus also refused, and resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered the third-most-senior official at the Justice Department, Solicitor General Robert Bork, to fire Cox. Bork carried out the dismissal as Nixon asked. Bork stated that he had intended to resign afterward, but was persuaded by Richardson and Ruckelshaus to stay on for the good of the Justice Department. The impeachment process against Nixon began ten days later, on October 30, 1973.

The political and public reactions to Nixon’s actions were negative and highly damaging to the president. Public opinion, which had previously been dormant, quickly turned against Nixon, and the president’s approval ratings fell to an abysmal 27 percent. Nixon would resign the presidency 9 months and 20 days later, on August 9, 1974.

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Not sure about this…

BADA BING!!!

AT MY FUNERAL PLEASE TAKE THE BOUQUET OFF MY COFFIN AND THROW IT INTO THE CROWD TO SEE WHO IS NEXT.

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE FIRST PERSON TO DISCOVER MILK? WHAT WERE THEY EVEN DOING?

REMEMBER WHEN YOU COULD STRANGLE PEOPLE WITH YOUR PHONE? THOSE WERE THE DAYS.

ONE MINUTE YOU’RE YOUNG AND CAREFREE, AND THE NEXT MINUTE YOU’RE CLEANING YOUR HOME TO THE MUSIC YOU USED TO DRINK TO.

THE OLDER I GET, THE MORE I UNDERSTAND WHY ROOSTERS SCREAM TO START THEIR DAY.

SO … ABOUT THESE MURDER HORNETS. DO I SEND THEM MY LIST OF NAMES OR WHAT? HOW DOES THIS WORK?

IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL ANY BETTER, I KNOW PEOPLE OLDER THAN YOU WHO ARE STILL ALIVE.

THANK YOU FOR BEING MY FRIEND. QUESTIONABLE LIFE CHOICE, BUT I APPRECIATE IT.

‘ve been to a lot of places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently you can’t go alone, you have to be in Cahoots with someone. I’ve also never been in Cognito, either. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport, you have to be driven there. I have made several trips.

I couldn’t get a reservation at the library.  They were completely booked.

I told my wife she should embrace her mistakes. She gave me a hug.

I asked the librarian if they had books about paranoia. She whispered, ‘They’re right behind you.’

I don’t suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

A mechanic asked me if I’d ever rotated my tires. How does he think I got there?

The first ballot question should be “do you think schools are performing secret sex changes” and if you answer yes your entire ballot is invalidated based on incapacity.

Let’s have a moment of silence for all the guys who lost their girlfriends in the Russian data center attack.

Voting is like driving. To go forward, select D. To go backward, select R.

My wife said, “Come at me like a purse snatcher. I want to try something.” What she should have said was, “I bought a Taser … “

I’m not lazy – I’m in power saving mode.

I have a fear of speed bumps. I’m slowly getting over it.

Today is the birthday, in 1951, of Alan Greenwood, keyboards, with English-American rock band Foreigner, who scored the 1985 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’. They are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySb1f9zWJkQ

On this day in 1781, the Siege of Yorktown, the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War, came to an end with a decisive victory for the American Continental Army. The Americans, with substantial support from he Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops, led by Comte de Rochambeau, and a French Navy force commanded by the Comte de Grasse, defeating the British Army commanded by British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.

The Comte de Grasse had defeated the British fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, blocking any reinforcements to Cornwallis. The French and American armies moved their artillery close and began a continual bombardment of the British positions. Cornwallis asked for capitulation terms on October 17. After two days of negotiation, the surrender ceremony occurred on October 19; Cornwallis was absent from the ceremony. With the capture of more than 7,000 British soldiers, negotiations between the United States and Great Britain began, resulting in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.

A 1931 US postage stamp depicting Rochambeau, Washington, and de Grasse, issued in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the victory at Yorktown in 1781

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THE NEW BRIDE

The banker saw his old friend Tom, an eighty-year-old rancher, in town. Tom had lost his wife a year or so before and rumor had it that he was marrying a ‘mail order’ bride.

Being a good friend, the banker asked Tom if the rumor was true. Tom assured him that it was. The banker then asked Tom the age of his new bride to be. Tom proudly said, ‘She’ll be twenty-one in November.’

Now the banker, being the wise man that he was, could see that the sexual appetite of a young woman could not be satisfied by an eighty-year-old man. Wanting his old friend’s remaining years to be happy the banker tactfully suggested that Tom should consider getting a hired hand to help him out on the ranch, knowing nature would take its own course.

Tom thought this was a good idea and said he would look for one that afternoon. About four months later, the banker ran into Tom in town again .. ‘How’s the new wife?’, asked the banker. Tom proudly said, ‘Good – she’s pregnant.’

The banker, happy that his sage advice had worked out, continued, ‘And how’s the hired hand?’ Without hesitating, Tom said, ‘She’s pregnant too!’

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Cooking Adventures!

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Today is the birthday, in 1946. of English lyricist and songwriter Keith Reid. He co-founded Procol Harum with Gary Brooker. They had the 1967 UK No.1 & US No.5 single ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ (one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies) and scored the hits ‘Homburg’, ‘Conquistador’. He wrote the lyrics of every original song released by Procol Harum, but was not a performing member. Reid died from colon cancer on 23 March 2023 age 76. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0vCwGUZe1I

On this day in 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first family planning and birth control clinic in the United States. At the time, contraceptives, abortion, and birth control literature were illegal in much of the U.S. Working as a nurse in the slums of New York City, Sanger often treated mothers desperate to avoid conceiving additional children, many of whom had resorted to back-alley abortions.

To promote birth control, Sanger gave speeches, wrote books, and published periodicals. Sanger deliberately flouted laws that prohibited distribution of information about contraceptives, and was arrested eight times. Her activism led to court rulings that legalized birth control, including one that enabled physicians to dispense contraceptives; and another – Griswold v. Connecticut – which legalized contraception without a prescription for couples nationwide.

She discouraged abortion, and her clinics never offered abortion services during her lifetime. She founded several organizations dedicated to family planning, including Planned Parenthood. In the early 1950s, Sanger persuaded philanthropists to provide funding for biologist Gregory Pincus to develop the first birth control pill. She died in Arizona in 1966.

Sanger in 1936

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Today is the birthday, in 1947, of American musician and songwriter Bob Weir, best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. The group released more than 140 albums during their career, the majority of them recorded live in concert. Weir also founded and played in several other bands during and after his career with the Grateful Dead, and Weir, along with former Grateful Dead members, joined John Mayer to form the band Dead & Company. In the summer of 2025, Weir was diagnosed with cancer. Despite beating the cancer, he died from underlying lung issues on January 10, 2026, at the age of 78. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuyaK0hGxWk