Bizarro Files: 21 October 2009

It's Apple Day in the United Kingdom, Overseas Chinese Day in the Republic of China and the International Day of the Nacho in Mexico and the United States.

Notable births on this date include: British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834); jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993); Cuban salsa queen Celia Cruz (1924-2003); science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin (born 1929); actress and writer Carrie Fisher (born 1956); English musician and writer Julian Cope (born 1957); Japanese actor Ken Watanabe (born 1959); English actress Saffron Burrows (born 1972); and actor Matt Dallas (born 1982).

On this date in history, we lost Beat novelist Jack Kerouac (1922-1969); Austrian psychologist Hans Asperger (1906-1980); Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon (1967-1995); and singer-songwriter Elliott Smith (1969-2003).

Historical happenings:

Explorer Ferdinand Magellan "discovered" the Strait of Magellan on this date in 1520. Doesn't that seem awfully convenient, since it was named after him? (Just saying.)

Snark-Free Entry: President Warren G. Harding took an important stand on this date in 1921, when he became the first sitting American president to speak out against lynchings in the Southern United States.

The silent film The Sheik, directed by George Melford and starring Rudolph Valentino -- the king of silent film -- debuted on this date in 1921.

Argentine military leader and politician Juan Perón married his second wife, the former María Eva Duarte -- better known as Evita -- on this date in 1945.

Buddy Holly put in his final recording session on this date in 1958 in New York. Among the tracks laid down in that session was "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," which went on to be a No. 1 single.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum -- designed by master architect Frank Lloyd Wright -- opened in New York City 50 years ago today.

"Runaround Sue" by Dion topped the charts on this day in 1961.

Curtis Mayfield began a four-week stay atop the U.S. album chart on this date in 1972 with the Superfly soundtrack.

Other chart-topping singles on this date in history: "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973); "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago (1976); "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986); "Groovy Kind of Love" by Phil Collins (1988); and "Smooth" by Santana (1999).

The dwarf planet Eris was photographed on this date in 2003, and its being named after a goddess of chaos proved prophetic, because its discovery led to the silly decision to de-planetize Pluto.

And "Womanizer" by Britney Spears was the No. 1 single on this date in 2008. It's a crap song, as is most of her recorded work, but she looked good naked-but-covered (images mildly NSFW, obviously), especially after having the cliched 2.5 children (two she birthed, .5 she married and divorced).

And really ... if you think Mama Spears' oldest daughter got where she is today due to musical talent, you need to have your hearing checked.

Sources for stuff I didn't just make up: Wikipedia, This Day in Music.com, JoshHosler.biz.