November 8 – It Happened on this Day

1980 – Voyager 1 space probe discovers 15^th moon of Saturn.

1966 – Actor Ronald Reagan elected governor of California. During this time Reagan came up with the philosophy of ‘Trickle Down Economics’. Some residents in California are still waiting for the trickle.

1932 - New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt defeated incumbent President Herbert Hoover to become the 32nd President of the United States. Roosevelt captured 22,821,857 votes to incumbent President Hoover’s 15,761,841 and 472 Electoral College votes to 59.

1923 – Adolf Hitler stages unsuccessful “Beer Hall Putsch” in Munich. Unfortunately, political agendas and beer drinking don’t mix. Just think about it --- whenever comes along with a ‘great idea’ in a bar, who actually takes them seriously?

1910 - William H. Frost of Spokane, Washington patented the insect exterminator (zzzzk! zzzzk!) As you can see (zzzzzk!) by the purple light and snapping (zzzzk!) sound, the unit here (zzzk!) is working (zzzzk!) just swell. Someday, we’ll get rid of (zzzk!) all these bugs.

1895 - Scientist Wilhelm Roentgen (Röntgen) took the first X-ray pictures on this day. He had been experimenting with electricity but failed to turn off the machine. The device he was working with overheated and emitted rays. After a number of hours of head-scratching, writing equations and much hypothesis, Roentgen came upon the scientific principle that would allow him to take X-ray pictures. Other X-rays had been observed before this; but Roentgen was the only one to have performed repeated experiments -- proving that his machine worked. Roentgen may have been a clever scientist; but he had no business savvy. He never patented his X-ray machine and never received any money for it. Tell that to your dentist or doctor when you get the bill for your X-rays.

1880 – Sarah Bernhard, French actress, made U.S. debut at New York’s Booth Theatre. She was labeled as a ‘hottie’ with an accent.

1805 – Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean. Lewis: “It looks the same as the Atlantic”. Clark: “Look! There’s a Starbucks!”

1519 – 1^st meeting of Montezuma and Hernando Cortes in Medico. It was reported that Montezuma had prepared a massive feast as part of the reception. Honestly, Montezuma just thought that Cortes would eat and leave.