All Saints Day

Happy All Saints Day...or All Hallows' Day -- hence the origin of All Hallows Eve or Halloween. It was believed that evil spirits weren't allowed to come out on this day, so they made their presence known the night before. But Halloween is past (and I ate way to much candy). Let's talk about November 1st!

Besides being All Saint's Day and the first day of National Novel Writing Month (if you're a writer or ever wanted to be one, NaNoWriMo is when you write -- or try to -- 50,000 words in one month!), a lot of  things have happened on this day. Here are the ones most interesting to me:

• In 1512, Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were first exhibited to the public. 

• "Othello," by William Shakespeare, was first presented in London in 1604. Followed seven years later by "The Tempest." 

• U.S. President John Adams became the first president to live in the White House in 1800. 

• In 1848 the first medical school for women opened in Boston, MA.

• The U.S. Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations using 24 locations that provided reports via telegraph in 1870. 

• In 1879, Thomas Edison executed his first patent application for a high-resistance carbon filament (U.S. Pat. 223,898). 

• In 1936 Benito Mussolini made a speech in Milan, Italy, in which he described the alliance between Italy and Nazi Germany as an "axis" running between Berlin and Rome. 

• The famous racehorse Man o' War died in 1947.

• In 1952 the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. 

• Very importantly, in 1968 the movie rating system of G, M, R, X, followed by PG-13 and NC-17 went into effect.

• And for all you Amazon fans, in 1994 the Amazon.com domain name was registered. they have come a long ways in the last 22 years!
  

• And last to make it on our list, but not least, one year ago today, I was busy trying to finish the first draft of my novella, Mail-Order Revenge so I could start my NaNoWriMo project. :) Leave a comment for the chance to win a copy!

Have a happy November first!