Bite me!

October 24th
On this day in 1861 workers from the Western Union Telegraph Company complete the first transcontinental telegraph line in Salt Lake City, Utah. The first message sent was from the Chief Justice of California to President Lincoln pledging the support of the west in the fight to preserve the Union. For the first time those who moved to the shores of the Pacific could communicate vital information to those on the other side of the country in a matter of minutes, rather than months.

On this day in 1997 broadcaster Marv Albert is sentenced in his trial for sexual assault against Vanessa Perhach. He allegedly bit her on the back and tried to force himself on her after she refused to have a three-way with him at a hotel in Washington DC. Apparently he took Dave Chappelle's famous line of "sometimes you just gotta take the pussy" to heart and added his own bite mark to it. Albert was fired from NBC and Madison Square Garden, but then was rehired a year later after complying with court orders for treatment.

On this day in 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid opened around the US. Starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as the title characters, it was an old west buddy movie about bank robbers that has remained a favorite to many, including me! The movie was a huge success and it featured the Oscar winning song "Raindrops keep falling on my head" by Burt Bacharach.