October 31, 1991- the Perfect Storm Halloween blizzard was a nor'easter that absorbed Hurricane Grace, and ultimately evolved into a small unnamed hurricane itself late in its life cycle. The initial area of low pressure developed off the coast of Atlantic Canada on October 29th.  This blizzard brought up to 37 inches of snow and also impacted Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. October 28th & 29th 2011- nor’easter. This month was dubbed “Snowtober”.  The storm arrived just two months after Hurricane Irene caused extensive power outages and property damage in the Northeast and with the 2011 New England tornado outbreak also causing damage in Western Massachusetts.  It dumped up to 32” of snow. 

I took these pictures at an air show held at Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, Massachusetts (I do not remember the date).

This is a Lockheed C121A, the military version of the L-749A.  As indicated by its livery, it was used as a military transport.

This exact plane was purchased by United Technologies (Pratt and Whitney Division) in 2005, and donated to Korean Air for static display at their training facility on Jeju Island (Source: commons.wikimedia.com).

Dave, KC1MVB

The Constellation line of planes were nicknamed "Connie's" and were called "The Queen of the Sky."

It was the star of the day at this air show, as far as I was concerned.

Dwight D. Eisenhower had used two, I believe both to have been named Columbine, the second one, Columbine II was, I believe, the first to be called Air Force 1. 

Dave, KC1MVB

I got a ride on this C-5 Galaxy back in 2002. It was an awesome experience I'll never forget. (I'm the good-looking guy in the front row.)

Link to USAF C-5 Galaxy Specs

Kevin, K1KL

October 24, 1901 Annie Edson Taylor (October 24, 1838 - April 29, 1921) was an American schoolteacher who, on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel.  It took 18 minutes.  Her motives were financial but she never made much money from her adventure.

In November of 1925 the Army Signal Corps and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) joined to activate the Army Amateur Radio System (AARS) providing communications during national disasters. When the Air Force and Navy joined later, AARS was renamed to MARS. MARS is over 90 years old now. Today MARS Members are civilian volunteers who assist with DoD or Civilian authorities in response to any major disruption of communications. The US communication network of today is the internet (cyberspace). The threat to cyberspace is from everywhere, nature, individuals, terrorist organizations and from the cyberspace technology itself.   One of  MARS strategic missions is providing communications backup. Effective Sept 30, 2015 Navy/Marine MARS no longer operates. 

July 2020, in FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZ.,

 The U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) held a High Frequency (HF) communications exercise as 700 Army and Air Force MARS volunteers from across the United States worked to hone and refine their HF operator skills.

Frederick Valentich was an Australian pilot who disappeared while on a 125-nautical-mile training flight in a Cessna 182L light aircraft over Bass Strait on the evening of Saturday, October 21, 1978. Described as a "flying saucer enthusiast", twenty-year-old Valentich informed Melbourne air traffic control he was being accompanied by an aircraft about 1,000 feet above him and that his engine had begun running roughly, before finally reporting, "It's not an aircraft."

There were belated reports of a UFO sighting in Australia on the night of the disappearance; however, the Associated Press reported that the Department of Transport was skeptical that a UFO was behind Valentich's disappearance, and that some of their officials speculated that "Valentich became disorientated and saw his own lights reflected in the water, or lights from a nearby island, while flying upside down.

I have a friend in Oregon who told me about two women she knew who decided to try out truck driving across country for a living.  They got their training and off they went.  One quiet night on a long stretch of lonely road they suddenly were confronted by an extremely bright light making it impossible for them to see.  They thought “OMG, it couldn’t be … a UFO!” Thoughts of abduction and alien probing ran thru their heads.  They pulled over and got out and slowly nervously looked around the truck. Not aliens after all, the cab’s outside overhead lights had come loose and swung down facing them!

Bennu got TAGGED by OSIRIS-Rex yesterday (10/20) right on time.  It will take some time to determine if the spacecraft was successful in collecting at least 60 grams of Bennu material. If necessary, Bennu could be TAGGED again. We'll have to wait for the results. PBS will be airing a show about this at 9:00PM on 10/21/2020.

The St. Albans Raid was the northernmost land action of the American Civil War. It was a raid from Canada  by 21 Confederate soldiers. They had evaded capture by the Union army in the US. The mission was to rob banks to raise money, and to trick the Union Army into diverting troops to defend their northern border against further raids. It took place in St. Albans, Vermont, on October 19, 1864. They got the money, killed a local, and escaped back to Canada. 

NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft is set to land on asteroid Bennu tomorrow Tuesday October 20th at 3:12 PM PT.  It will collect samples then at the end of 2020 will make its 2 year return trip back to earth.  Bennu is thought to be a window into the solar system's past: a pristine, carbon-rich body carrying the building blocks of both planets and life. 

Apparently, the food in the afterlife isn't so great, because the ghost of Orion Welles  has been spotted enjoying a snifter of brandy seated alone at the one indoor table at Sweet Lady Jane bakery on Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood a place he use to frequent.

On October 16, 1956 Pan Am Flight 6 on the last leg of an around the world flight leaving Honolulu and heading for San Francisco ditched in the Pacific Ocean after two of its four engines failed.  The rear section of the plane broke off when it landed but all passengers and crew survived.  The entire event was photographed from US Coast Guard Cutter Pontchartrain.  

Built in Sweden in 1914 and used to trade provisions for pelts in Inuit settlements in Canada the steel-hulled 1,322 ton cargo steamer SS Baychimo is a real life ghost ship that in 1931 became trapped in the pack-ice near Alaska and was abandoned by the Hudson Bay Company.  However, amazingly it remained adrift for the next 38 years and was frequently sighted floating aimlessly in the waters off Alaska.  Weather condition had always made it impossible to salvage, but since 1969, it has disappeared completely.  In 2006, the Alaskan government began work on a project to solve the mystery of "the Ghost Ship of the Arctic" and locate Baychimo, whether still afloat or on the ocean floor. She has not been found.

Many countries and 11 US states so far are testing Mobile Driver’s License (mDL) aka Digital Drivers License (DDL) which may be introduced as soon as 2021.  It would run on an app and be protected by biometrics or PIN.  It will start out as a backup for the hard copy license.

On October 13, 1860 James Wallace Black captured a picture of Boston from a balloon.  It was the first aerial photograph taken in America and was dubbed “Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Geese See It.” 

The April’s Fools Day Blizzard (1997)

At first, many thought the weather reports were an April Fool’s Day joke.  It was so late in the season that stores weren’t selling shovels and the cities had put away their snow plows.  However, after two feet of snow accumulated, these essentials were brought back out. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power and Massachusetts Governor, William Weld, declared a state of emergency. 

Mayor Thomas Menino popular former 5 term mayor of Boston died just after 9:00 a.m. on October 30, 2014.  It is rumored that his spirit roams the corridors of City Hall on quiet evenings when the moon is full. Custodians in the building report that his honor’s ghost is friendly and enthusiastic, waving to longtime employees and even trying to talk to them. Some think he’s imploring them to help him cross over from this mortal realm but they can’t be sure because, as in his life, it’s impossible to tell what he’s saying. 

MARKET BASKET GHOST:  in March 2019 Christiana Bush was working in the bakery department of the Market Basket grocery store in Wilmington, MA when she turned and saw an older woman in Victorian-era nightgown and hair cap standing in the frozen food aisle.  She looked melancholy and a little angry.  Bush looked down for a second and when she looked back up, she said the woman had disappeared.  She looked for the old woman in all of the aisles and she was no where to be found.

On October 3rd 1950 AT&T Bell Laboratories researchers John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley were issued a US patent for their invention of the transistor. The three researchers had successfully tested the first of these transistors two years earlier. From then on the transistor completely revolutionized the development of electronic and computerized technology, paving the way for other remarkable inventions such as microprocessors, semiconductors and integrated circuits commonly found in modern computers.  

On October 5, 1892, the famous Dalton Gang attempted the daring daylight robbery of two Coffeyville, Kansas, banks at the same time. Unfortunately for the Daltons, someone recognized one of the gang members and began quietly spreading the word that the town banks were being robbed. The townspeople ran for their guns and quickly surrounded the two banks. When the Dalton brothers ran out of the banks they were greeted by a hail of bullets.  Four townspeople and all but one of the gang, Emmet Dalton, were killed. 

On snowy winter days, with the wind whipping off the waterfront, Southie residents swear they can hear the anguished cries of a woman emanating from a freshly shoveled parking spot. Locals refer to the eerie sound as “Weeping Wanda” (pronounced WE-pin WAN-der), although her true identity remains unknown. According to lore, Wanda takes several shapes, most commonly appearing as a pajama-clad woman holding a shovel. Other times the ghastly moans seem to emanate from a flickering image of a chair or traffic cone occupying the space between two parked cars. Regardless of the form she takes, her pained refrain is unwavering: “I shoveled out this spot, and if you don’t move yah cah, I’m gonna slash yah tiyahs.”

On October 3, 1863, expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln announced that the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, 1863 and the fourth Thursday of every November thereafter.

In the early 2000s, a family renovated a beautiful Victorian home in Newton, Massachusetts. After finally moving in, it wasn’t long before their five-year-old daughter, Julielle, began telling them stories of her friend, Mrs. Woodman, who lived on the third floor and wore long dresses. Oh, and who also levitated slightly off the floor.  The family was skeptical at first, but their daughter was insistent, so they did a little research. A Mr. and Mrs. Woodman had lived in that home in the late 19th century; the Woodmans had seven children, as did Julielle’s floating friend. All of the details provided by Julielle about her ghostly friend matched public records exactly.

There’s a story I heard a long time ago about a young man who went to apply for a job as a telegraph operator.  He knew Morse Code but there were already other applicants who were waiting to be interviewed. Sitting down he heard a telegraph clacking away in the background.  After a few minutes, he stood up and walked into the inner office.  Then the employer came out and announced to the other applicants, “Thank you all very much for coming, but the job has just been filled.” 

They were all confused and one man spoke up: “Wait a minute- I don’t understand. We have been waiting longer than he and we never even got a chance to be interviewed.” The employer responded, “All the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been sending the following message: “If you understand this, then come right in. The job is yours.”

In September 1911 Violet Jessop, a stewardess, was aboard the RMS Olympic, one of the Titanic's sister ships, when it collided with another ship.  The Olympic was damaged, but made it back to port with no casualties. Less than six months later, Jessop was aboard the Titanic, when it sank. After that, Jessop served aboard the HMS Britannic during WWI. There was an unexplained explosion (thought to be a deep-sea mine), causing the boat to sink quickly. Jessop had to jump out of the lifeboat she was on in order to avoid being sucked under the ship's propellors, and suffered a head injury in the process.

Despite all this, she returned to work for the same shipping line, White Star, about 4 years later.

Sept 30, 2004 The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo. The digital pictures not only show how Architeuthis attacks its prey, but suggest that the animal is more aggressive than previously thought.  It’s length was estimated to be a little over 26 feet. 

Sept 2019 a 315 billion-tonne, 30 x 19 nautical mile iceberg named D28 calved from Amery ice shelf, Antarctica.  Experts advise that calving events like this one are normal and unlikely to be a result of climate change.  On March 19, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Iceberg D28 floating in the waters off of the Amery Ice Shelf.