Daily Almanac for Saturday, October 21, 2023

By Zola Elder

On this date in 1908, Columbia ran an advertisement in The Saturday Evening Post for the first two-sided record (logo courtesy Sony Music Entertainment)

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1991, its recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI‘s Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music’s four flagship record labels: Epic Records, and former longtime rivals, RCA Records and Arista Records as the latter two were originally owned by BMG before its 2008 relaunch after Sony’s acquisition alongside other BMG labels.

In 1908 Columbia commenced successful mass production of what they called their “Double-Faced” discs, the 10-inch variety initially selling for 65 cents apiece.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

I have a strange fungus appearing in numerous spots around my mulched flower beds. It first appears as a thick, bright yellow, bubbly liquid (almost paintlike). As it dries, it forms a tan crust across the top. If it is sprayed with water, it produces small clouds of dark brown dust. What can I do to eliminate it?

It sounds as if you have slime mold, a fungus that lives on mulch. Although it doesn’t decay the mulch, it is quite unsightly. To control the problem use corn meal as that will kill off the disease, or even diluted milk. These two treatments will not harm soil organisms. This is also an excellent way to control brown patch, a fungus that gets into Saint Augustine grass in the late summer.

Advice of the Day

Sprinkle pumpkin pie spice in your jack-o’-lantern to give it a pleasant, seasonal scent.

Home Hint of the Day

To prevent erosion, a driveway generally needs a ditch along the uphill side to keep water from collecting in the driveway. If there’s no easy way to run water away from your driveway, consider having one or more culverts installed.

Word of the Day

Morning star

A planet that is above the eastern horizon at sunrise and less than 180° west of the Sun in right ascension.

Puzzle of the Day

How many hard-boiled eggs can a man eat on an empty stomach?

One, because after he has eaten it, his stomach will not be empty.

Born

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet) – 1772
Alfred Bernhard Nobel (inventor) – 1833
Dizzy Gillespie (musician) – 1917
Edward “Whitey” Ford (baseball player) – 1928
Ursula K. Le Guin (author) – 1929
Manfred Mann (musician) – 1940
Dr. Ronald McNair (astronaut) – 1950
Carrie Fisher (actress) – 1956
Douglas G. Hurley (astronaut) – 1966

Died

Lord Nelson (British admiral) – 1805
Jack Kerouac (poet) – 1969
Fred Berry (actor) – 2003

Events

U.S.S. Constitution launched, Boston, Massachusetts– 1797
Lord Horatio Nelson of Great Britain and his men destroyed a combined French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar– 1805
Thomas Edison successfully tested for the first time a carbon-filament incandescent light bulb– 1879
Columbia ran an advertisement in The Saturday Evening Post for the first two-sided record– 1908
Margaret Owen set a typing speed record on a manual typewriter of 170 words per minute– 1918
The Guggenheim Museum of Art, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City– 1959
Trimline phone was first placed in service, in Michigan– 1963
Movie My Fair Lady premiered– 1964
Native American saint Kateri Tekakwitha canonized– 2012

Weather

The temperature in Boston, Massachusetts, was 80 degrees F– 1979

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