The 1944 Cuba–Florida hurricane was a large Category 4 tropical
cyclone that caused widespread damage across the western Caribbean Sea
and the Southeastern United States. It inflicted over US$100 million in
damage and was responsible for at least 318 deaths. The unprecedented
availability of meteorological data during the hurricane marked a
turning point in the United States Weather Bureau's ability to forecast
tropical cyclones. The system became a tropical storm on October 12 and
intensified into a hurricane the next day. On October 18, it made
landfall on western Cuba at peak strength with reported winds of
145 mph (230 km/h). At least 300 people were killed in Cuba, which
suffered extensive damage from winds and storm surge, especially in the
Havana area. Numerous ships sank in Havana Harbor. On October 19 the
storm made a final landfall near Sarasota, Florida, as a Category 2
hurricane. Eighteen people were killed in Florida, half of those from
the loss of a ship in Tampa Bay.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944_Cuba%E2%80%93Florida_hurricane>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1755:
After a two-week siege, the French commander of Fort
Beauséjour in present-day New Brunswick, Canada, surrendered to British
forces, marking the end of Father Le Loutre's War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Beaus%C3%A9jour>
1904:
Irish author James Joyce began his relationship with Nora
Barnacle, and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his 1922
novel Ulysses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce>
1911:
The technology company IBM was founded as the Computing-
Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing-Tabulating-Recording_Company>
2010:
The Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan came into force, banning the
sale and production of tobacco in the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Control_Act_of_Bhutan_2010>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
nuke:
1. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To use a nuclear weapon on a
target.
2. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial, figuratively) To destroy or
erase completely.
3. (transitive, Internet slang, by extension) To carry out a denial-of-
service attack against (an IRC user).
4. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To expose to some form of
radiation.
5. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To cook in a microwave oven.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuke>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this
government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do
not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to
fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become
all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will
arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind
shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate
extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become
lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.
--Abraham Lincoln
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln>