Welcome back, hope you had a great weekend! Please be careful what holidays you decide to celebrate today, we don’t want you banned from the Oscars.
Just a reminder, if you are reading the Spark!, Spice it up. We like it spicy here!
Today in History:
On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computer, unveiled a revolutionary device that would change the way people listened to music. The iPod, with its sleek design and 5 GB hard drive, was a game-changer in the world of MP3 players. With the ability to store up to 1000 songs in your pocket, the iPod was a dramatic increase over competing players. The Firewire port allowed for simultaneous charging and high-speed music synchronization, making it innovative for its time. The original iPod only worked with Macintosh computers, but its popularity among Windows users prompted Apple to release a Windows-compatible version in the second generation of iPods.
The iPod’s success was not just due to its hardware features. In June of 2003, Apple introduced the iTunes Music Store, which allowed users to purchase and download music directly to their iPods. This feature completely changed the landscape of the music and computer industry. The runaway success of the iPod made it clear that people were willing to pay for digital music, and it paved the way for other digital music services like Spotify and Pandora.
Before the iPod, there were several other MP3 players available in the market. The first portable digital music player was Sony’s Walkman, which was followed by the Discman for playing CDs. After the advent of the MP3 file, a whole host of competing companies’ flash memory-based music players like the Creative Labs Nomad and the SanDisk Sansa emerged. However, none of these devices were as successful as the iPod, which revolutionized the way people listened to music and paved the way for other digital music services.
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Also of interest on October 23rd
· 1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe.
· 1958 – Canada’s Springhill mining disaster kills seventy-five miners, while ninety-nine others are rescued.
· 1970 – Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame , fueled with natural gas .
· 1989 – An explosion at the Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas , which registered a 3.5 on the Richter magnitude scale , kills 23 and injures 314.
· 1995 – Yolanda Saldívar is found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of popular Latin singer Selena .
· 2004 – A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata Prefecture in northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
· 2007 – A storm causes the Mexican Kab 101 oil platform to collide with a wellhead, leading to the death and drowning of 22 people during rescue operations after evacuation of the platform.
· 2011 – A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey , killing 582 people and injuring thousands.
· 2015 – The lowest sea-level pressure in the Western Hemisphere , and the highest reliably-measured non-tornadic sustained winds, are recorded in Hurricane Patricia , which strikes Mexico hours later, killing at least 13 and causing over $280 million in damages.
Births on This Day
· 1925 – Johnny Carson , American comedian and talk show host (d. 2005)
· 1935 – Chi-Chi Rodríguez , Puerto Rican-American golfer
· 1940 – Pelé , Brazilian footballer and actor (d. 2022)
· 1948 – Hermann Hauser , Austrian-English businessman, co-founded Acorn Computers and Olivetti Research Laboratory
· 1956 – Dwight Yoakam , American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
· 1959 – Sam Raimi , American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
· 1959 – “Weird Al” Yankovic , American singer-songwriter, comedian, and actor
· 1962 – Doug Flutie , American football player, sportscaster, and drummer
· 1970 – Grant Imahara , American television presenter and engineer (d. 2020)
· 1976 – Cat Deeley , English model, actress, and television host
· 1986 – Emilia Clarke , English actress
· 1986 – Jessica Stroup , American actress
Deaths on This Day
· 1921 – John Boyd Dunlop , Scottish businessman, founded Dunlop Rubber (b. 1840)
· 1988 – Asashio Tarō III , Japanese sumo wrestler, the 46th Yokozuna (b. 1929)
· 2007 – John Ilhan , Turkish-Australian businessman, founded Crazy John’s (b. 1965)
· 2015 – Fred Sands , American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded the Museum of Contemporary Art (b. 1938)
Holidays Today
October 23 Holidays & National Days | 2023 Calendar (nationaltoday.com)
The Funnies: AI Contribution of the Day:
BingChat Prompt: create a realistic photo of a woman slapping her annoying co-worker.
Quote of the Day:
Comic of the Day:
Crimes Against Hugh’s Manatees (tumblr.com)
Inspirobot Always Controversial, Occasionally Inspirational Quote of the Day:
In case you missed Friday’s Best Friends Spark! you can catch it here .
What I am listening to today: https://youtu.be/Vl-8qRW6UHQ?si=52tV8njj4wMn9g7V
