National Taquito Day

National Taco Day
Vodka Day
St. Francis of Assisi Day, patron of animals.

  • 1582 Gregorian Calendar Adjustment (it corrected an accumulated 11 day discrepancy). The day following Thursday, October 4, 1582 was Friday, October 15, 1582. It was effective in most Catholic countries. The old Julian calendar continued in use in Britain and its colonies until 1752, in Japan until 1873, in China until 1912, in Russia until 1918, in Greece until 1923, and in Turkey until 1925.
  • 1879 Edward Murray East was born. An American botanist and chemist he helped with the development of hybrid corn. Specifically, he concentrated on controlling the protein and fat content of possible hybrids.
  • 1979 American actress Rachael Leigh Cook was born. She began working as a model at age 10, and her picture is still used on boxes of Milk-Bone Dog Biscuits.
  • 1995 Edward H. Lowe died. He invented Kitty Litter.
  • 2004 American scientists Richard Axel and Linda Buck were awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. They received the award for their work on our sense of smell. Axel and Buck discovered genes that are responsible for our ability to recognize thousands of complex odors, and remember them throughout life.
  • 2006 New York Times journalist and food writer R.W. Apple died at the age of 71.