Happy Abet and Aid Punsters Day! If you've never met a physics you didn't like, today is a good day for you — it's also a day when everyone around you is legally required to actively help you in any way they physically can. Don't believe us? Take it up with the internet.
This is The Reset Button from Classic Nerd, resetting your day.
Here are five things that happened on November 8th for those of us who are still holding on to that one blank VHS tape just in case.
Birthdays of honor: Gordon Ramsay (1966), Parker Posey (1968), Bram Stoker (1847), Bonnie Raitt (1949), Tara Reid (1975), Edmond Halley (1656), Tom Anderson (Tom from Myspace - 1970), Hermann Rorschach (1884).
Anytime I do anything vaguely sports-ish, the first thing I do is start chanting: "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!"
And that's all thanks to the real-life Rudy, whose football career at Notre Dame was put to film in 1993. Today in 1975 Rudy Ruettiger took the field for the first and only time, playing as a defensive end against Georgia Tech.
Ruettiger has said that the movie is "92% true." Of the few differences, coach Dan Devine was actually the one who had the idea for Rudy to dress for the final game of his senior year (in the movie he's more antagonistic about it). And while he did indeed make a sack on the final play of the game, Rudy was also on the field for the two previous plays (a kickoff and an incomplete pass).
He was the first player in Notre Dame history to be carried off the field, a feat only accomplished one other time by fullback Marc Edwards in 1995.
Today in 1972 the first true premium TV channel launched when Home Box Office (HBO) launched. Conceptually, it was the first time a channel could be served up individually and the first to try out a system where subscribers paid directly — meaning the content could include whatever the hell it wanted to... in other words, naked people.
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But also, comedy specials with lots of swearing, and of course theatrically released movies that you could watch right at home.
HBO was also the first channel to be broadcast via satellite and remains the oldest subscription TV service still in operation. All told it's estimated some 140 million people around the world carry an HBO subscription of some kind. That's a lot of Curb Your Enthusiasm fans.
Today in 1971, Led Zeppelin released their seminal fourth album, which is actually untitled but generally referred to as Led Zeppelin IV.
Instead of a title, the band wanted to use four symbols, each representing one of the members. The record label was vehemently against it, but they refused to hand over the master tapes unless they agreed to this admittedly insane notion — a pretty damn punk rock move from Zeppelin.
I guess it worked, because it was their best-selling album and one of the best-selling albums in history, with over 37 million units shipped. And yes, it's the one with "Stairway to Heaven."
“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”
Today in 1965, one of the most indelible soap operas ever created premiered — Days of Our Lives.
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One of the longest-running scripted programs in history (now aired exclusively on NBC's streaming service, Peacock), Days has always had a knack for putting together compelling storylines, beginning with the basic premise of a family of doctors.
But we really appreciated it when the show delved into the paranormal in the '90s, with characters coming back from the dead (multiple times), people getting buried alive, and demonic possession.
