UP IN LIGHTS • In 1911 the first neon sign was patented. Neon is a colorless, odorless gas found in our atmosphere at a ratio of 1 part neon to 55,000 parts air. When concentrated in a glass tube, it conducts electricity and produces a red glow. The color can be changed by altering pressure or adding other gasses.
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MOMENTS IN TIME • On Nov. 1, 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, one of Italian artist Michelangelo's finest works, is first exhibited to the public. Michelangelo's epic ceiling frescoes consist of nine panels devoted to biblical world history. The most famous of these is The Creation of Adam, a painting in which the arms of God and Adam are stretching toward each other. • On Oct. 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt, the future 26th president of the United States, is born in New York City. As president, he insisted on a strong navy, encouraged the construction of the Panama Canal and set aside land for America's first national parks and monuments.
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broadcast of a college football game, played between the Chicago Maroons and the Princeton Tigers. The first live broadcast of a college football game didn't happen until 1924. • On Oct. 31, 1961, five years after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalinism, Joseph Stalin's embalmed body is removed from public display in Lenin's tomb in Moscow's Red Square. When Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, he was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum featuring glass casing. • On Oct. 30, 1974, 32-year-old Muhammad Ali becomes the heavyweight champion of the world for the second time when he knocks out 25-year-old champ George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle." Seven years before, Ali had lost his title when the government accused him of draft-dodging.
• On Oct. 29, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson assured social activist Jane Addams that he had no intention of leading the U.S. into war; he was re-elected on the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War." By April 1917 Wilson de- • On Nov. 2, 1983, President Ronald livered his war message to Congress Reagan signs a bill designating a fedand the U.S. entered World War I. eral holiday honoring Martin Luther • On Oct. 28, 1922, hundreds of peo- King, Jr., to be observed on the third ple gather around radios to hear the Monday of January. King was awardfirst-ever cross-country telephone ed the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. © 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.
• If you would like to make your own neon tubes, here's the recipe: Simply liquefy a large quantity of air, and allow it to boil. Collect the first gasses that escape when it reaches boiling point. That will be a mixture of helium, neon, and nitrogen. Remove the nitrogen through chemical absorption, then chill the remaining mixture to -310 f. and pass it over charcoal, which will absorb the helium. Now heat the charcoal to recover the neon. LAVA LAMPS • What is a lava lamp made of? The moving blob is specially compounded wax, floating in a tube of mineral oil. When heated by the 40-watt light bulb below, it expands and becomes less dense than the liquid it’s suspended in and starts to rise. At the top of the globe, the wax cools and begins to sink again. HANDY TIP • If you don't want bugs buzzing around your porch lights, use yellow light bulbs. Yellow is invisible to many insects so they won't be attracted to the light. A WORLD RECORD • The world's oldest functioning light bulb is located at the fire department in Livermore, CA. It was installed in 1901. It's been lit ever since, and has been turned off only a handful of times, mostly accidentally, or when it was transferred to different locations. It's listed in "Guinness Book of World Records" and "Ripley's Believe It Or Not."