1385 - In Germany, the University of Heidelberg was founded under Pope Urban VI as a college of the Cistercian order

1707 - The first Parliament of Great Britain meets

1786 - Government of New Brunswick moves from Saint John to Anne's Point (Fredericton)

1847 - 65 more immigrants in Grosse-Île, Quebec die of cholera and typhus in one week; almost 10,000 during whole of 1847

1873 - Ottawa's Dufferin Bridge over the Rideau Canal was opened

1874 - Harvard beats McGill in the first intercollegiate football game in Canada

1921 - Green Bay Packers play first NFL game, 7-6 win over Minneapolis

1924 - Ontarians vote, by a narrow margin, to maintain prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the province; law lasts from 1916 until 1927

1941 - Walt Disney's "Dumbo" released

1945 - Brooklyn Dodgers announce that Jackie Robinson will play for their farm club, the Montreal Royals; first black baseball player hired by a major league team

1954 - Britain, England, France & USSR agree to end occupation of Germany

1956 - In Budapest, Hungarian students and workers demonstrate against Soviet domination and Communist rule

1958 - Underground coal gas explosion and rock surge in the Number Two Cumberland mine at Springhill, NS traps 174 miners; rescue workers bring 81 men out the first day, 12 more found alive on Oct. 30, 7 more on Nov. 1; 74 die in the deepest coal mine in North America; last body recovered Nov. 6

1962 - "Little" Stevie Wonder makes his first recordings for Motown Records

1965 �?Marvin Gaye releases Ain't That Peculiar

1967 - Brenda Robertson is the first woman elected to New Brunswick legislature

1971 - Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida, 16 years after Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California

1971 �?Isaac Hayes releases Theme From Shaft

1976 �?Rod Stewart releases Tonight's The Night

1979 - The 118 year old Rideau Club in Ottawa was destroyed by fire

1980 - Anik-III used by Globe and Mail to send computerized microwave signals of pages; from Toronto to Montreal; later to Calgary and Vancouver; Canada's first newspaper to use satellite technology

1983 - A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel

1993 - Blue Jays slugger Joe Carter hits a three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th inning to give Toronto an 8-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 of the World Series; defending champions take the Series 4-2; first team to win the World Series on Canadian soil

2002 - 53 armed Chechens demanding an end to Russia's aggression against Chechnya burst into the Moscow theater House of Culture during the performance of during the second act of the musical Nord-Ost (based on Veniamin Kaverin's romantic novel Two Captains, about two contrasting students during Soviet times and exploration of the Arctic). They let some 100 children and Muslims go, and take the remaining approximately 800 persons hostage

 

Birthdays

1752 - Nicolas Appert - inventor: food canning, bouillon tablet
1885 - Lawren Harris, Brantford, Ontario - painter; member of the Group of Seven
1888 - Al Jolson [Asa Yoelson] Russia - entertainer: April Showers, Swanee, Sonny-Boy, Mammy
1906 - Gertrude Caroline Ederle, NY City - swimmer; the first woman to swim across the English Channel
1913 - Gordie Drillon, Moncton, NB - NHL hockey player: Toronto Maple Leafs; last Leaf to win the NHL scoring title (1938)
1920 - Bob Montana - cartoonist; created Archie comic strip
1923 - Frank Sutton, Clarksville Tennessee - actor: Sgt Carter - Gomer Pyle USMC
1923 - Ned Rorem, Richmond Indiana - composer/author: Sky Music
1925 - Johnny Carson, Corning, Iowa - comedian: Tonight Show, Who Do You Trust
1931 - Diana Dors, England - actress: Berserk!, Steaming
1931 - Jim Bunning - baseball pitcher: Phillies; perfect Game against Mets 1965
1935 - Chi Chi Rodriguez - PGA golfer
1940 �?Pele [Edson Arantes do Nascimento] Três Corações, Brazil �?renowned soccer player
1942 - Michael Crichton, Chicago, Illinois - author: Andromeda Strain, Congo, Looker
1954 �?Ang Lee, Taiwan - film director, screenwriter, producer: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Hulk
1956 - Dwight Yoakum - singer: If There Was a Way
1959 - "Weird Al" Yankovic - parody singer: Eat It, UHF, Naked Gun
1962 - Doug Flutie - WFL/NFL/CFL quarterback

 

 

FOR PEOPLE OVER 50:
 
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.

 

Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.

 

After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks. Then try 50-lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (I'm at this level.)

 

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.