TODAY ON HISTORY...

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September 25 is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 97 days remaining until the end of the year.

# 1911 - Ground is broken for Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

Fenway Park is the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club. Located near busy Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts, it is the oldest of all current Major League Baseball stadiums. The Red Sox moved to Fenway Park from the old Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds. In 1911, owner John I. Taylor, who had changed the team's name from Americans to Red Sox four years earlier, sold the team at the same time he developed land bordered by Brookline Avenue, Jersey Street, Van Ness Street and Lansdowne Street into a larger baseball stadium.[1] The name Fenway Park comes from its location in the Fenway district of Boston which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or “fens".

The location of Fenway Park in the heavily commercial Kenmore Square area includes many buildings of similar height and architecture, causing it to blend in well with its surroundings. This results in the park appearing smaller and less imposing than other major outdoor sports venues in the country. When pitcher Roger Clemens arrived in Boston for the first time in 1984, he took a taxi from Logan Airport and was sure the driver had misunderstood his directions when he announced their arrival at the park. Clemens recalled telling the driver “No, Fenway Park, it's a baseball stadium ... this is a warehouse.� Only when the driver told Clemens to look up and he saw the light towers did he realize he was in the right place.[2] Because of its age and constrained location in an urban neighborhood, the park has some unique features that are local landmarks in their own right, including “the Triangle�, “Pesky's Pole� and most notably the famous Green Monster in left field.

John Updike poetically described Fenway Park as a “lyric little bandbox� in a 1960 New Yorker essay about Ted Williams' last game entitled “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu�.[3] Attendance at the park has not always been great, and reached its low point late in the 1965 season with two games having paid attendance under 500 spectators.[4] Its fortunes have risen since the Red Sox' 1967 “Impossible Dream� season, and on September 8, 2008 with a game versus the Tampa Bay Rays, Fenway Park broke the all-time Major League record with its 456th consecutive sellout, surpassing the previous record held by Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland, Ohio.[5] Former pitcher Bill Lee has called Fenway Park “a shrine�.[6]

Fenway hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 1946, 1961, and 1999, and has played host to nine World Series. Fenway has also been the location of many other sporting and cultural events. Professional football teams the Boston Redskins and the Boston Patriots both spent several seasons playing home games at the park. Musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett have performed at Fenway Park, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his last campaign speech there in 1944.

The triangle


The Lone Red Seat

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September 26 is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 96 days remaining until the end of the year.

# 1973 - Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time.

The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a supersonic passenger airliner or supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and British Aircraft Corporation. With only 20 aircraft ultimately built, the costly development phase represented a substantial economic loss. Additionally, Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy the aircraft. Concorde was the more successful of the only two supersonic airliners to have ever operated commercially, the Tupolev Tu-144 being the other. The Tu-144 had a higher maximum speed, but required more fuel and had less range than Concorde.

First flown in 1969, Concorde service commenced in 1976 and continued for 27 years. It flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles, flying these routes at record speeds, in under half the time of other airliners. Concorde also set many other records, including the official FAI "Westbound Around The World" and "Eastbound Around the World" world air speed records.

As a result of the type's only crash, on 25 July 2000, world economic effects arising from the 9/11 attacks, and other factors, operations ceased on 24 October 2003. The last "retirement" flight occurred on 26 November that year.[2]

Concorde remains an icon of aviation history, and has acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as "Concorde" rather than "the Concorde" or "a Concorde".

Concorde's final flight, G-BOAF from Heathrow to Bristol, on 26 November 2003. The extremely high fineness ratio of the fuselage is evident


The flight deck


Concorde's ramp system schematics


Concorde G-BOAF. The final flight of Concorde landing at Filton Airfield, near Bristol, on 26 November 2003.


Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum


Parade flight at Queen's Golden Jubilee

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September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 93 days remaining until the end of the year.

1990 - Washington National Cathedral finished.

Washington National Cathedral, whose official name is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of The Episcopal Church.

Located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, it is the sixth largest Gothic cathedral in the world, the second largest in the United States[1], and the fourth tallest structure in Washington, D.C..

Washington National Cathedral is officially dedicated as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.


The East End of the cathedral, with the Ter Sanctus reredos, featuring 110 carved figures surrounding the central figure of Jesus.


The west rose window was dedicated in 1977 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and President Jimmy Carter.

The Cathedral is the official seat of both the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA and its Diocese of Washington, composed of the District of Columbia and the Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's, and St. Mary's Counties in Maryland.

The Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, under the leadership of the nine Bishops of Washington, erected the Cathedral under a charter passed by the United States Congress on January 6, 1893. Construction began on September 29, 1907 when the foundation stone was laid in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt and a crowd of more than 20,000. Construction lasted eighty-three years. The last finial was placed in the presence of President George H. W. Bush in 1990. The foundation operates and funds the cathedral, which does not receive government funding.

The Cathedral is located at Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues in the northwest quadrant of Washington. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2007, it was ranked third on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects[2].

Recently, the cathedral has hit financial difficulties and has been forced to lay off 33 people, as well as closing the greenhouse.

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October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 84 days remaining until the end of the year.

# 2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), commonly known in the United States as "Homeland Security", is a Cabinet department of the U.S. federal government with the responsibility of protecting the territory of the U.S. from terrorist attacks and responding to natural disasters.

Whereas the Department of Defense is charged with military actions abroad, the Department of Homeland Security works in the civilian sphere to protect the United States within, at, and outside its borders. Its goal is to prepare for, prevent, and respond to domestic emergencies, particularly terrorism. On March 1, 2003, DHS absorbed the now defunct United States Immigration and Naturalization Service and assumed its duties. In doing so, it divided the enforcement and services functions into two separate and new agencies – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Additionally, the border enforcement functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Customs Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) were consolidated into a new agency under DHS: U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The United States Federal Protective Service falls under Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

With over 200,000 employees, DHS is the third largest Cabinet department in the U.S. federal government, after the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs. Homeland security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council. Other agencies with significant homeland security responsibilities include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Energy.

The creation of DHS constitutes the biggest reorganization of U.S. government in American history and the most substantial reorganization of federal government agencies since the National Security Act of 1947, which placed the different military departments under a secretary of defense and created the National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency. DHS also constitutes the most diverse merger of federal functions and responsibilities, incorporating 22 government agencies into a single organization.

The Homeland Security Advisory System scale


A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent addresses Dick Cheney (center), Vice President of the United States, Saxby Chambliss (center right), a U.S. senator from Georgia and Michael Chertoff (far right), United States Secretary of Homeland Security in 2005


President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2004.

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October 17 is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining until the end of the year.

Birthdays...

Kimi-Matias Räikkönen born October 17, 1979 in Espoo,is a Finnish Formula One race car driver, currently driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He is the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Champion.

Räikkönen entered Formula One as a regular driver for Sauber-Petronas in 2001. Having previously only raced in very junior open-wheel categories, he was given his Super Licence from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after a performance delivery promise from his team boss, Peter Sauber.[1] He joined McLaren Mercedes in 2002, and became a title contender by finishing runner-up in the 2003 and 2005 championships to Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, respectively.

Switching to Ferrari in 2007, Räikkönen became the highest paid driver in motor sport with an estimated wage of $51 million per year,[2] in part due to the fact that the previous highest paid driver Michael Schumacher had retired. In turn his move to Ferrari saw him secure his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship, beating McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point.

Räikkönen is known to be very calm, cool, and calculating in his race strategy�prompting the nickname "Iceman", which is subtly written on the side of his current helmet design. His other nicknames include Kimppa, Räikkä, Räkä (booger in English) and Kimster (used by his mechanics).

In 2008, Räikkönen is one among the two Formula One drivers who made it into the Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list, the other being Fernando Alonso. He is 36th on Forbes magazine's The Celebrity 100 list of 2008, and 41st on the previous year. [3] On the same list, as of 2008, he is listed as the 26th highest paid celebrity overall and the 5th highest paid sportsman behind Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Phil Mickelson.

Wyclef Jean born Nelust Wyclef Jean on October 17, 1972 is a Haitian American musician, actor, producer and former-member of the hip hop trio The Fugees.


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October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 72 days remaining until the end of the year.

1984 - The Monterey Bay Aquarium opens in Monterey Bay, California.

Kelp Forest Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is located on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row in Monterey, California, is one of the largest aquariums in the world. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million and holds 35,000 plants and animals representing 623 species.

Among the aquarium's numerous exhibits, two are of particular note. The centerpiece of the Ocean's Edge wing is a 33-foot (10-m) high tank for viewing California coastal marine life. In this tank, the aquarium was the first in the world to grow live California Giant Kelp using a wave machine at the top of the tank (water movement is a necessary precondition for keeping Giant Kelp, which absorbs nutrients from surrounding water and requires turbidity), allowing sunlight in through the open tank top, and pumping in raw seawater. The second exhibit of note is a one million gallon tank in the Outer Bay Wing which features one of the world's largest single-paned windows (crafted by a Japanese company, the window is actually four panes seamlessly glued together through a proprietary process).

Sealife on exhibit includes stingrays, jellyfish, sea otters, and numerous other native marine species, which can be viewed above and below the waterline. For displaying jellyfish, the MBA uses an aquarium called a Kreisel tank which creates a circular flow to support and suspend the jellies. Visitors are able to inspect the creatures of the kelp forest at several levels in the building.

A surface supplied diver interacts with viewers while feeding the fish


Schooling fish in the Outer Bay exhibit.


Exhibit allowing visitors to handle intertidal animals

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October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 71 days remaining until the end of the year.

BIRTHDAY...

1980 - Kim Kardashian, American socialite

Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American celebutante/socialite, model, apparel retailer[1] and television personality. She is perhaps best known for her social life, stolen sex tape, and her role on the E! reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

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October 22 is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 70 days remaining until the end of the year.

1981 - The TGV railway service Paris-Lyon is inaugurated.

The logo of the TGV.


TGV Duplex in Paris, Gare de Lyon.

The TGV (train à grande vitesse, French for "high-speed train") is France's high-speed rail service developed by GEC-Alsthom (now Alstom) and SNCF, the French national rail operator, and operated primarily by SNCF. Following the inaugural TGV service between Paris and Lyon in 1981, the TGV network, centred on Paris, has expanded to connect cities across France and in adjacent countries. It holds the record for the fastest wheeled train, having reached 574.8 km/h (357 mph) on 3 April 2007,[1][2] and also holds the world's highest average speed for a regular passenger service. TGV is a registered trademark of SNCF.

The success of the first line led to an expansion of the network, with new lines built in the south, west, north and east of the country. Eager to emulate the success of the French network, neighbouring countries such as Belgium, Italy, Spain and Germany built their own high-speed lines. TGVs link with Switzerland through the French network, with Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands through the Thalys network, and the Eurostar network links France and Belgium with the United Kingdom. Several lines are planned, including extensions within France and to surrounding countries. Towns such as Tours have become a part of a "TGV commuter belt".

TGV trainsets travel at up to 320 km/h (200 mph) in commercial use. A specially modified 2 engine car trainset (coaches removed) reached 574.8 km/h (357 mph) on a test run. The double decker TGV narrowly missed beating the overall world train speed record of 581km/h (360.8mph), which was reached in 2003 by a Japanese maglev train[1]. The method used to achieve record-breaking speed, however, is impractical for commercial applications because of motor overcharging, empty train weight, rail and engine wear issues, elimination of all but two coaches, excessive vibration and noise and lack of emergency stopping methods.

The high speed of the TGV is made possible through the use of specially-designed LGVs (lignes à grande vitesse, high-speed lines) without sharp curves and with high-powered electric motors, enlarged wheels, low axle weight, articulated carriages and in-cab signalling (eliminating the need for drivers to view lineside signals at high speed). TGV trainsets are manufactured primarily by Alstom, now often with the involvement of a subcontractor, such as Bombardier. Except for a small series of TGVs used for postal freight between Paris, Lyon and Provence, the TGV is primarily a passenger service. Trains derived from TGV designs operate in South Korea (KTX), Spain (AVE) and USA (ACELA Express).

Travel by TGV has largely replaced air travel between connected cities, due to shorter travel times (especially for trips taking less than three hours), reduced check-in, security and boarding formalities, and the convenient location of stations in the hearts of cities. The TGV is generally a safe mode of transport, but there have been accidents; there have been train passenger fatalities twice from collisions and once due to terrorism, but nothing like the Eschede train disaster.

TGV, Record runs


The trainshed at Paris Gare de Lyon.


Avignon TGV station.

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1968 - Apollo program: Apollo 7 safely splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean after orbiting the Earth 163 times.

Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. It was an eleven-day Earth-orbital mission, the first manned launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, and the first three-man American space mission.

Left to right: Eisele, Schirra, Cunningham


Walter Schirra looks out the rendezvous window in front of the commander's station on the ninth day of the mission.


The Apollo 7 CM as exhibited at The Frontiers of Flight Museum


Apollo 7 SIV-B rocket stage (NASA)


Apollo 7 launch (NASA)

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October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 69 days remaining until the end of the year.

1958 - The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series appear for the first time, in the story Le flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo which is serialized in the weekly comics magazine Spirou

The Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs) are a fictional group of small sky blue creatures who live in Smurf Village somewhere in the woods. The Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced Smurfs to the world in a series of comic strips, making their first appearance in the Belgian comics magazine Le Journal de Spirou on October 23, 1958. The English-speaking world perhaps knows them best through the popular 1980s animated television series from Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Smurfs.