| Tuesday, October 27, 2009 |
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| Catching the Train |
Answer of the DayHow many people ride NY's subway every day? The New York City subway system is one of the few to run nonstop, day and night, 365 days a year. More than five million commuters ride the subway every weekday, nearly three million on Saturdays and almost two-and-a-half million on Sundays. The first underground line of New York's rapid transit subway system opened one hundred and five years ago today. Its first route ran from City Hall to W. 145th Street. Some of the ceramic tile art work which decorated the station at the subway's opening still exists today. Paintings, sculptures, mosaics and murals continue to decorate the subway lines and stations. Musicians and street entertainers provide entertainment at the stations. Competing for high-traffic locations for their performances, they audition through the Music Under New York program.
Quote"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenements halls and whispered in the sounds of silence"
Word of the dayquidnunc
A nosy person; a busybody.
This week: words you wouldn't want to be called.
Today's History
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| Philadelphia |
- Philadelphia: the City of Brotherly Love was founded (1682)
- Federalist Papers: the first of a series of essays was published, calling for the ratification of the US Constitution; the essays were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (1787)
- nylon: chemical company DuPont announced the name of its new synthetic fiber (1938)
- Wall Street crash: trading was halted for a cooling-off period after the Dow fell more than 500 points (1997)
Today's Birthdays
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| Theodore Roosevelt |
- Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919): 26th POTUS; he and first wife, Alice Lee, were married on this date in 1880
- Dylan Thomas (1914-1953): playwright and poet; plus, writers Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), Maxine Hong Kingston (69) and Fran Lebowitz (59)
- John Cleese (70): actor who played Basil Fawlty, Nearly Headless Nick and Q; also, actors Nanette Fabray (89), Ruby Dee (85) and Peter Firth and Robert Picardo (both 56)
- Ivan Reitman (63): director/producer, Ghostbusters; plus, director/producer Roberto Benigni (57)
- Scott Weiland (42): rock singer and songwriter, Velvet Revolver; also, musicians Niccoló Paganini (1782-1840), Lee Greenwood (67), Garry Tallent (60), K.K. Downing (58), Simon LeBon (51) and Kelly Osbourne (25)
