History of the Day: 11/1

On this day in 1520, Ferdinand Magellan found the Strait of Magellan connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Modern day scholars wonder how the S. American tribes knew to name it after the famous navigator. It's a mystery. To celebrate, you can listen to The Ballad of Magellan by the Animaniacs.

In 1896, National Geographic published pictures of bare-chested women, probably from the same area. In related history, Larry Flint is 66 today.

Ansel Adams took his famous Moonrise photo at Hernandez, NM on this day in 1941. It seems like a small thing, but it's a really nice picture! Speaking of exercises in the desert, on this day in 1911, the first bomb was dropped from a plane during the Italo-Turkish War. To commemorate this event, the U.S. government exposed our own soldiers to an atomic explosion for training purposes in Desert Rock, NV. Participation was mandatory. Health care was not.

Keeping with the theme of really moronic government, in 1916 Paul Miliukov of Russia delivered a speech in the Duma which precipitated the downfall of the Boris Sturmer government. In the speech, he cited a list of abuses by the government, each time ending with the phrase:

Is this stupidity or is it treason?

The question still rings true today.

Happy Infallibility Day! In 1950 Pope Pius XII, in the process of defining the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, declared himself (and all other popes) infallible. I can't wait for the day when some later pope overturns this decision. Can an infallible pope declare himself fallible? The logical paradox might just end the world.

Finally, today is both All Saints Day and the first day of Dios de los Muertos. One celebrates Christians of special holiness. The other, apparently, celebrates supermodels.