DayStrider: Tales from a Time Traveler

Sep 1st: Let Freedom Ring

• Truman Pastworthy • Episode 17

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Let Freedom Ring on September 1st!  Political freedoms?  Check!  Stereotype freedoms?  Check!  Even gravitational freedoms?  Yep!  Check that too!  September 1st has all kinds of freedoms to celebrate. 

  • The Liberty Bell landed on the docks of Philly today - wanna guess what happened on the very first ring?
  • The third female living in America became a published author on this day - but you may be surprised as to which young lady has the honor!
  • The “Superman” of Jet Planes set world records for speed and altitude on this day 50 years ago - can you believe that a product of the 60’s will likely never be surpassed?

If it's a special day for you or for someone you care about, why not learn a little more about today by listening to some fun, engaging tales of the past.  You’ll find yourself a little smarter and have some great stories you can tell in the parking lot at “back to school night”!  If you need some great gift ideas, we have those too (along with links to where you can find them on Amazon).

Learn more about today’s historical exhibits here (these links worked in mid-2024 - not sure how long the links will be available):

Gift ideas for folks who celebrate September 1st:

Text me your favorite time travel movie!!!


~~~ DayStrider Fun ~~~


Do you want to be mentioned here in the podcast? Or do you want me to do a shout-out for a loved one? All you need to do is send me an e-mail: daystriderstories@gmail.com


Better yet, you can record your own shout-out by leaving me a voice message using this SpeakPipe link


Do you have a story that you wish to share? Join me as a guest and let’s tell the world together! Once again, just send me an e-mail or find me here on Facebook: Truman Pastworthy


If you had as much fun listening as I did creating this episode, please click "follow" in your favorite podcast platform . . . oh . . . and even better - why not share it with a friend (or three)! I’m betting you know just the perfect person who would enjoy today’s stories!


If you feel adventurous, how 'bout writing a great review? :-)



Truman:

Welcome, seeker. Did you know that September 1st is a day filled with freedoms? Freedom from oppressive rule, personal freedoms, and even gravitational freedoms. Today in history has it all. Well, guess what? Your portal is all warmed up and ready to stride through history with me. Our journey will first take us to the docks of Philadelphia, where a big bronze bell was broken on its very first ring. After that, we'll hop and skip up to the docks of Boston, where an inquisitive family discovered a child prodigy that you really need to meet. Then we'll zoom to New York and we'll do our best to keep up with the fastest airplane that has ever been made. So fast that it couldn't even be shot down out of the sky. We'll return you to your normal self with a bit more knowledge and some great stories to share with others. After striding through September 1st, you'll have a whole new appreciation for how persistence, courage, determination, and sometimes good old engineering genius can change the future entirely. Time's a-tickin', so let's get to it.

Music:

Music

Truman:

Welcome, seekers, to the enchanting world of Daystrider, the podcast where we embark on a daily journey through history. I'm your travel guide, Truman Pastworthy, and together we'll explore some fascinating stories that happened on this exact day, but from some time in the past. From groundbreaking inventions to remarkable birthdays and extraordinary events to quirky national holidays, we've got it all. So kick back, relax, and open your mind for some lighthearted stories that'll leave you saying, huh, I never knew that happened on this day. Alrighty then, let's get to it. Imagine your favorite local church asked you to head the committee to find them a new church bell. You know, because the one they had was just too small and couldn't be heard all across your growing town. and they knew you could get the job done. So, you go out and do a fundraiser and raise about $40,000. You find the perfect bellmaker, and then you wait a handful of months for it to arrive. And you're so excited as you unpack it and decide to make a haul video to post to your friends. And you get it all set up, and you give the clacker a swing, and clunk! The bell doesn't ring. It just clunks. Because the bell cracked. on your very first sound test. What? You've got to be kidding me. It's broken on the first try. You can't post your video, but you can go write a scathing review. But then now what? You still need a bell. Are you going to ship it back? Well, on this day in 1752, the Liberty Bell arrived on the docks of Philadelphia. It was shipped there from a London bellmaker, and when they finally got it set up to test it out, This actually happened. It cracked on the very first try and didn't ring. How about that? Now, hold on. This isn't the crack. All right. Let me tell you the story. So Ben Franklin and his cronies couldn't just send the bell back. They had already spent good money on this thing, 150 pounds, which is about $40,000 today. And it would cost more than that to ship the bell back and have it repaired. Another option, they could find a pair of local Johns to fix it, and that's exactly what they did. A couple of local Johns. Now, if you've seen the Nicolas Cage movie American Treasure, you know about Pass and Stowe. Those are the two Johns, John Pass, John Stowe. They melted down the bell, and they recast it, and they reinscribed it, and they got it working like new again. Eh, not so fast. You know, these two Johns were mechanics, not bell makers. And so when they clanged their new bell, it sounded horrible. Come on, guys. Hey, give us another chance. They melted it down again, and they recast it again. Will the third time be the charm? Yep, it worked. And it became the official bell of the city. Yay for the statehouse bell. Wait, what? Statehouse bell? Hold on, hold on, keep listening. So they rang this bell on all kinds of special occasions for many years. But it was strangely silent on July 4th, 1776. Well, there's actually a good reason for that. The Declaration of Independence was signed on that day, but no one really knew about it yet. They had to go get a bunch of copies printed out, and then... They actually read the document out loud in public on July 8th, 1776. And that day, the bell was ringing and ringing to celebrate freedom from the British rule. Yay! So that's when they changed the name to Liberty Bell, right? Nope. Still the Statehouse Bell. All right. Let's flash forward a year and a half where the British are coming, the War of Independence is on, and they're making their way down from New York through New Jersey towards Philadelphia to put down these rabble-rousing colonists. And so Franklin and his cronies got nervous, and they actually dismounted the bell and had it hauled under guard to Allentown, Pennsylvania, which is about 60 miles north, and it was hidden in the basement of a church there. They didn't want anybody to get their bell. Well... Eventually, Washington and the Continental Army won the war and the bell was returned to Philly. And so maybe now that liberty has been gained from England, we could change the name to the Liberty Bell, right? Nope. All right. I do want to share the story about the crack in the bell. So historians actually get their panties in a bunch here because it's not well documented when the actual crack in the bell that we know of today when it was formed. The most popular belief is that it happened in 1835, so that's 80-some years of quality ringing. But this time when it cracked, they didn't want to melt it back down because it had a history now. So instead, they drilled out the crack in an effort to repair it, and then they used these plugs so that the bell could actually keep ringing. Yeah, and this repair job is why the crack is now so wide that you can easily see it today. And it worked. And they kept ringing the bell for another 11 years. And then it cracked again. And this time, it was three strikes and you're out. Because this crack was unfixable. And so the bell had to be retired. But just to be clear, the crack you see in the pictures was that second one that they drilled out and plugged. You can't see the third crack unless you're up really close. So they built a little museum, and they moved it to where everyone could see the bell and reflect on its meaning in American history. And everyone was able to see the inscriptions that were on the bell. And I haven't mentioned that the inscription included a Bible verse from Leviticus 25.10 that says, Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof, along with pass and stow's names and the date they remade it and such. So now this... is why people started calling it the Liberty Bell, right? Because they could read that Bible inscription? Nope. Still not why. Truman, just tell us then, why is it called the Liberty Bell? All right, I will. Up in New York City around 1833, so this is when the bell was ringing pre-crack, a few men started the American Anti-Slavery Society. And they wrote and printed articles and books, and they spoke in public about abolishing slavery. They started a weekly newspaper to deliver the message, and they were trying to win freedom and liberty for the slaves because they thought that institution was wrong. And in 1837, where the bell was now ringing post-crack, they began using the bell as their logo. It was recognizable. It was meaningful. And of course, the inscription had the word Liberty and all the inhabitants throughout the land. And so that was actually how the Liberty Bell got its name. Yay! And today, you can go see the bell in Philly. And they've perfectly situated it in the Liberty Bell Center so that it's set up with the original statehouse right there in the background. And you can look at the bell, and then your eyes can travel up the bell tower where it used to reside and ring, and you can get this feeling, this sense of awe for what the bell stands for, for its place in history. It's pretty neat. And it's free admission, so there's no reason not to go check it out. But they actually won't let you touch the bell, much less try to ring it. Now, while researching this segment... I learned that sometimes officials actually lightly tap the bell to softly ring it on special occasions. I want to know how to get a ticket to that event. Yeah, so the bell itself, it's actually pretty big. It's about four feet tall. And the bottom of the bell, the diameter, is just under four feet. And the walls of the bell are three inches thick. And it weighs in at just over 2,000 pounds. So it literally weighs a ton. Now, you want to hear something pretty cool? Back in 1944, they actually rang the bell and a local radio station recorded the seven dings. One ding for each letter of the word liberty. So here's that sound.

Radio Announcer:

The seven strokes of liberty from the world-famed Liberty Bell.

Music:

Liberty Bell.

Truman:

And then even more interesting, in 1999, some grad students from Penn State were able to take measurements of the bell and create a digital model. And this helped them mathematically determine the exact vibration that the bell would have sounded in the E-flat tone that it was originally set to ring in. And so they approximated the original sound. Let's give that a listen.

Music:

BELL RINGS

Truman:

How cool is that? The Liberty Bell. Yeah, it's a symbol of freedom that cracked under pressure, but still rings true in the heart of history. So I'm going to leave you with a great quote that I heard from one of the curators who worked at the Center. It can't make a sound, but it's the loudest bell in the world. Roses are red and liberty is great. Writing a review helps me elevate. Can't find the words because you're stuck in a crack? Type, this pod's a ringer. I'll keep coming back. I want to share a story that may change your mindset a little. Maybe help you see potential where before you only saw limits. So it was a hot, sunny day. like any other along the Gambia River in the spring of 1761. But for an eight-year-old girl playing with her friends, this day took an awful turn. The Gambia flows through West Africa and dumps into the Atlantic, and this region is rich with history and tradition and populated with peaceful souls. But then, out of nowhere, a ship full of bad men showed up, and they kidnapped her along with hundreds of her family, friends, and townsfolk. They locked her up and forced her and others to endure an 80-day sail from Western Africa to Boston in America. And later in July of that year, this sickly girl was sold to John and Susanna Wheatley for a trifle. And just like that, she became the slave of the Wheatley family. Since she didn't have a proper English name, her new owners called her Phyllis, which happened to be the name of the ship that that was her prison and nightmare all those months. Now historians believe that John and Susanna were attracted to Phyllis because they had recently lost a child that was about her age, and they put her to work in their home as a housekeeper. But it wasn't long until they realized that they had a child prodigy on their hands. Historians believed that Phyllis had observed the Wheatley children doing their reading and writing lessons each day, And she took up some chalk and tried her hand at writing on the board. Now keep in mind what I'm sharing today happened at a time in history where people from Africa were dismissed as incapable of learning. Now I'm not trying to stir things up about politics or race here, but I do think it's important to understand that the Europeans and their descendants living in America really had no appreciation for the intellectual or artistic abilities of the people from Africa arriving into America at that time and forced into slavery. As we know today, the way people thought at that time were dead wrong. And our young friend Phyllis, she didn't justify expectations. She shattered them by mastering three languages. Wow. So it is believed that John and Susanna decided to teach Phyllis how to read and write. Probably as an experiment. And perhaps they wanted to see just how far she could go. Well, as a 10-year-old, about the equivalent of a 5th grader, she mastered reading and writing in English, and then was also able to learn Greek and Latin.

Music:

What?

Truman:

Yeah. Now to keep you grounded here a little, at this time in America, most 5th graders weren't even learning to read or write. There wasn't even a 5th grade for another 50 years or so. Most children were helping their families sustain themselves. They had chores. They had to work. They had to go out and earn wages. Phyllis was pretty darn special. Now also, as Phyllis was growing up, a thing called the Great Awakening was sweeping through New England, bringing with it a powerful wave of religious and social change. Protestants like John Wesley and George Whitefield traveled all across the countryside preaching in towns and on country roads. And these two and others caused quite a stir with their fire-and-brimstone approach to persuade people to open their minds about religion. And young Phyllis, she took all this in and observed how powerful words could be. She learned how to wield words as a weapon and began crafting poetry that would move hearts and open minds. In her poetry, she crafted messages using words to say something very specific, but could also be read to mean many different things. And this was powerful, especially her hidden messages about freedom. When she was 19, she wrote a poem about the late George Whitefield that went viral. Now back in 1770, going viral meant that her poem was printed on a bunch of leaves of paper and spread all around her town and other towns for people to read. Her motivations to write such a moving piece to mourn Whitefield likely arose from her childhood traditions. Back in her village, it was the role of the young girls to sing hymns at memorial services for the recently deceased. Anyway, this poem's popularity was a major shock to people in that area, because the poem was so well done and so moving, yet many couldn't believe that it was written by a black person. Phyllis essentially changed the very notions of who could create such art. Think about it. At 18 years old, Phyllis was forcing people of all ages to reconsider their prevailing stereotypes about those with different color skin. She kept writing and writing, and her American parents, and using that term lightly, the Wheatleys, wanted to see if they could help her get a book of poems published. So they sent her along with their oldest son to England to find a publisher and have an actual book made. And with some good fortune there, they were successful. And on this day in 1773, Phyllis became the first person of African descent in America to become published, the first slave in America to become published. Not only that, she was the third woman of any color skin in all of colonial America to have published a book. This is remarkable. Yeah, her book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was the real deal. It was a hardback edition that included a foreword that was signed by John Hancock and other Boston notables of the time. Yes, that's the John Hancock, yes. You can find copies online, of course, and you can see an original version of the book in the Museum of American Revolution in Philadelphia. Interestingly, they included a full-page portrait of Phyllis in the book so that people would know that the author was a black person. Not only that, it also clearly explained that she was a servant to John Wheatley, leaving no doubt that she was enslaved at that time. Now Phyllis was emancipated soon after her book was published, but then she had another notable writing experience that I want to share. She actually had the chance to exchange communications with George Washington in early 1776. So that's when he and the colonies were still inching towards independence. She wrote a poem about freedom and revolution that was supporting Washington and the Continental Army that was published in newspapers everywhere. The ending went like this. Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side. Thy every action let the goddess guide. A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine, with gold unfading, Washington be thine. Yep, there's more to that poem. You can look it up. But that was the ending, and upon hearing of it, George Washington actually responded to her with a letter. Yes, the future president made time to write a letter to praise her for her great works of art. He expressed that he couldn't write such poetry. He even invited her to visit with him to be entertained and discuss her work. Wow, that's pretty impressive, right? Yeah, but sadly, Phyllis's life ended prematurely at the age of 31 with health issues, and it is believed that there were complications with her childbirth. After her emancipation, Phyllis lived and worked in Boston and eventually married John Peters, who had also been emancipated, and they went on to have three children, but sadly none of them survived, all health issues. Phyllis Wheatley's journey redefined the limits of what was thought possible, not just for a young girl enslaved in a foreign land, but for any who believed that the mind and spirit could be bound by chains. Her words broke through the barriers of ignorance and prejudice, proving that the light of genius knows no bounds. A time traveler's delight heroes stories we share with courage and valor that's beyond compare. If these tales have inspired you way deep down, please share with your friends and pass the wonder around. Imagine that you had the opportunity to go for a ride in the fastest airplane ever built. And the ride would also be the highest an airplane has ever flown at this record speed. Now, if you even had the nerve to agree to such an adventure... Now imagine that you've passed all the health tests necessary because not just anyone can fly at three and a half times the speed of sound for several hours as you fly halfway around the world and back. Okay, so you've got up the nerve and you've passed the health test. Now you're all suited up, and now you're walking up to this sleek-looking jet black, dark-looking craft. It's more like a sci-fi spaceship than it is an airplane, with its long, slender body, with what appears to be razor-sharp wings, and a razor-pointed nose. It's actually quite intimidating to see this thing up close. But not only that, as you approach, you can tell... that fluids are dripping out of the plane all over the runway. And you ask, hey, what is this stuff? And someone says, ha, don't worry about that. That's just jet fuel. And don't worry, it has a very high flashpoint. You could drop a match on this stuff and it wouldn't catch fire. So you're safe. Okay, it won't catch fire while I'm walking across it. But what about the plane? It's leaking fuel. Is somebody going to do something about that? Yeah, good question. Yeah, who'd want to get on a plane that's leaking fuel all over the runway? Well, there's actually a good reason the SR-71 Blackbird had that problem. But we'll get to that in a minute. So back in the 50s and 60s, the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia was heating up. It was pretty intense. Well, the U.S. had this spy plane called the U-2 that could fly really high and take pictures of all the activities going on in Russia. But one day, one of these U-2s got shot down, and then tensions really heated up, because now Russia had proof for the whole world that the U.S. was flying over top of its country and spying on them. And now the U.S. couldn't fly that plane anymore, and so they no longer had a way to know what the Russians were up to. So the CIA asked the Lockheed Martin folks, they have a skunkworks team, that's what they were called, come up with an answer. And the answer was, make a superman of airplanes, meaning faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And they did it. In the early 1960s, this team of crack engineers worked around the clock for hours and hours, months and months, to come up with a spy plane that was so fast it could outfly any missiles that were fired at it. It literally was faster than a speeding bullet. Oh, and it flew so high that no other plane could even get up that high to intercept it and shoot it down. And for 25 years that this plane was in service, it was never harmed by enemy fire. Over 3,500 missions. How about that? Oh, it was fired on hundreds of times. There are even stories by the pilots where they could literally see the missiles being launched at them through the powerful spy cameras. which might make the bravest person even a little nervous. But yeah, the Blackbird flew so high and so fast that the missiles just exploded harmlessly behind them, even up to two miles back. Is that all you got? Can you imagine that? Being able to go so fast, the enemy can't even hit you with their weapons. And this is over a span of 25 years. So they knew this thing was out there and they still couldn't build missiles fast enough. Anyway. To fly this high and this fast meant a number of things going on. The biggest of which is the plane got really hot. Air friction caused it to be superheated up. So 800 degrees at the nose of the plane, which is as hot as a blowtorch, and over 3,400 degrees at the back where the flames are bursting out from the engines. That's actually why they painted the plane black. Its official name was SR-71, but they called it the Blackbird because of the paint. And even though paint adds weight that would slow the plane down, it helps dissipate some of the heat to keep the plane cooler as it's flying. Don't ask me how that works. I don't know the physics there. But there is another physics problem. The plane got so hot that its length expanded six whole inches once it got going. Now, six inches is about the length of your mobile phone, and you might say, that's not much for a 100-foot-long plane. Wait a second. Think about it. All that metal is expanding out six inches and then cooling back down when it gets onto the ground. Wouldn't that cause wrinkles as it expands out and then leave gaps when it cools down? Or both? Yes, both. Literally. When the planes landed, sometimes they had to remove some of the airplane skin and iron it flat again. And remember in the beginning of this segment when I talked about that fuel leaking? They actually had to build the plane so that when it was on the ground, there were gaps in some of the pieces. But then once it got flying, all the metal heated up and expanded, and bam, all those gaps were closed nice and tidy. No fuel leaks up in the air. Voila. Yeah. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? And there's a whole lot more crazy about this jet plane. You know how you have oil in your car's engine to keep it running smooth, right? And maybe you know that when your engine's cold, the oil's a little thicker. But as the engine runs and heats up, the oil gets hot and thins out, right? Well, the Blackbird's oil was so thick that it was almost a solid. The oil actually had to be warmed up pre-flight to soften enough to be effective until the plane heated up to its normal flying temperatures, which, as I said, was as hot as a blowtorch. And remember when I told you that the leaking jet fuel wouldn't ignite if you dropped a match on it? Yeah, this feature enabled them to use the fuel as a coolant. So yes, they flushed the fuel around the innards of the plane to keep the important parts cool. Yes, fuel that would be burned. Yes, that was a coolant. I could go on and on, like the rubber tires. Regular rubber tires would melt, so they had to mix in aluminum flex into the tires to keep them from melting. And the titanium, the metal they used for this plane... They had to create several million brand new airplane parts from scratch because they couldn't just go buy titanium parts off the shelf from other airplane suppliers. Oh, and get this, they couldn't even find enough high quality titanium in the United States. So the CIA had to set up a bunch of shell companies to buy the best quality titanium in the world, which happened to be mined and sold in Russia. Yeah. Thanks, guys, for giving us the stuff we're going to end up using to spy on you. All right. Speaking of titanium, drilling a hole in this stuff was insanity. Think about it. If you're a tool nerd like me, you have a set of titanium-tipped drill bits. Yeah. And you can use those to drill through anything. And they get the job done. And for normal airplanes, when you drill holes in the aluminum, you can drill hundreds and hundreds of holes before resharpening your drill bits. But when you're drilling in titanium, it's a whole lot more challenging. They had to resharpen their drill bits every few minutes. And that's after engineering special cutting angles and using special cutting lubricants. It's crazy. And then here's a little surprise. It's not even about science. It's a social matter. Working on this project was so demanding and challenging, the senior leaders only wanted to recruit the very best machinists from the pool of workers. Now, since it's government airplane manufacturing, these are going to be union workers. And so the rule was that employers had to take the most tenured people for each type of role, no matter how good or bad that employee was. But this project demanded that they have the very best, no matter how old the person was. So they actually invited the union bosses in to tour the place and show them the extremely top-secret project and help them see... How critical it was that they make an exception for this tenure thing. And the union bosses agreed. How about that? All right. I'm running out of time here. And there's so many things to say about this amazing airplane. One quick funny story. They had the plane built and ready to cart out to the test site. And they hauled the plane on this big, huge trailer, 35 feet wide and over 100 feet long. But guess what? Along the road, there were highway signs, and the wings were sticking out past the trailer, and they would have bumped into the signs and caused damage. So there was this crew whose job it was was to lead the convoy, cut down the signs with a hacksaw, and then after the plane drove past, the crew would bolt the signpost back in place as if nothing ever happened. Yeah. All right, let's wrap up. Let's finally get to why we're talking about this airplane in the first place. So I've said over and over, this plane is fast. When they took it up for their record-setting flight, they clocked in at about 2,100 miles an hour. That means it can travel a mile in two-thirds of a second. That's fast. So today, a normal passenger plane makes a nonstop flight from New York to London in about seven hours. The Blackbird took that same trip on this day in history in 1974 in one hour and 54 minutes. It was zooming. Now, one last tidbit. The plane used an astro-navigation system, which meant that it looked up at the stars to tell where it was at every second during flight. It went so fast that normal location systems couldn't keep up. That's just crazy. All right, I'll leave you with this. The SR-71 Blackbird wasn't just an airplane. It was a symbol of unparalleled innovation and daring. And on this day, it shattered records and proved that it was uncatchable. And therefore, unstoppable. And guess what? Since then, no one has ever made a faster plane. And we're talking 50 years. And there you have it. Some great stories to share with your someone special to celebrate September 1st. Once again, those are... how the Liberty Bell got its name and its infamous crack. You got to meet Phyllis Wheatley, the child prodigy and pioneer of stereotype re-engineering. And we had some fun facts about the Superman of spy planes, the SR-71 Blackbird. Now, if learning about national icons is your thing, then the story about how the bald eagle became a U.S. symbol will come out on June 20th. And the construction of the Eiffel Tower... will be on December 15th, so check back in for those episodes. If you were inspired by Phyllis Wheatley's courage and achievements, then you will love to learn about Clara Barton's life on the May 21st episode. Or, if writings that capture the resilience of the human spirit speaks to you, then check out Anne Frank's life in the June 25th episode. And of course, if you like stories about fast planes, then you will be jazzed up about the F-14 Tomcat Fighter, featured on December 21st. And then, if military anything is your vibe, we've got a few goodies for you on January 8th, February 23rd, and June 3rd. Check them out. Every day has a story, and there's so much fun. We're going to stride through them all until we're done. Normally, my reflection moment is inspired by one of the stories that we just heard about. But today is a little different. This episode is the 17th of its kind, which means that we have 50 stories out there about this day in the past. Yes, actually, it's 51. Good catch, mathematician. Good catch. But 50 stories is kind of like a milestone, right? It's pretty neat to think about them all. We've learned about inventions and discoveries and famous people who were born on that day or started an organization on that day or, like today, published a famous work on that day. We've heard about remarkable achievements by people and machines, again, like today's impressive airplane. Throw in some parades and parties and even a fairy tale and you have the makings of some extreme eclecticism. And yes, that's actually a word, I looked it up. Eclecticism. Oh yeah, and don't forget the animals. We've celebrated llamas and horses and food too. Don't want to leave the tootsies or the tots out of the mix. But I'll tell you what, it's been a lot of fun to research all these stories. And even more fun coming up with the right bits to share with each and every one of you. Obviously, we want to be sure our stories are true. And naturally, we can't squeeze every little detail in about each topic. But this has been quite a journey. For someone who's nostalgic and likes to learn and loves to hear stories, it's the perfect way to celebrate the days of the year. And special thanks to all of you wonderful listeners. We've climbed into the top 10% of all podcasts ever made. That's worldwide. So that's some great company to be in for sure. So thanks so much for listening. All right, so after you've shared your special stories, you can also mention the following famous folks who celebrate their birthdays today. Dr. Phil celebrates September 1st. You remember him from daytime TV? Yeah, he's not a physician though. He did get his clinical psychology doctorate, but he was on TV for 21 years giving advice. Does anyone remember how that happened? Well, Oprah was in a legal battle in 1995 and she hired Phil McGraw's legal consulting firm and fell in love with his folksy charm. And then she began inviting him onto her show and bam, he got himself a spinoff. How about that? Okay, Gloria Estefan adds a candle to her cake today. She's a seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer, and she's also an actress, and she's authored two New York Times best-selling kids' books. That's pretty neat. She's best known for fusing her Latin musical style into mainstream pop music in the 80s and 90s. Zendaya adds another chapter to her life's book as she continues to diversify her achievements. She got her start on the Disney Channel. The most popular tour was four years on Shake It Up as Rocky Blue. But she's moved on from Disney to star in Netflix movies. And she's also done some voice acting for several animated movies, including Space Jam. You go, girl. Carlos Sanz Jr. adds another lap around the calendar. He's known as the matador from Madrid in racing circles. He's a Formula One racer who's confident and aggressive, and he's won a number of junior championships in leagues, and he continues to progress up the racing ladder. All right, any guesses as to who could be the 50th most famous person showing up on famousbirthdays.com for September 1st? Well, today is the first time I get to feature twins. Rawan and Rayan Fahmy, YouTube stars. They have over 10 million subscribers. But you may have never heard of them because they're from Jordan and now reside in the United Arab Emirates. And so if you go to try to check out their videos and English is your only language, you're going to be out of luck. I'm not sure what Arabic language it is that they speak, but they have a lot of followers and subscribers. And then, of course, when I looked at Wikipedia's centenarians list, there was no one that they know of who is over 100 years old and born on this day. No September 1sts.

Music:

Darn.

Truman:

All right. Well, maybe next year. All right. What else is today? Well, we celebrate American Chess Day. And note that I emphasized American today. Because there's also an International Chess Day on July 20th. And there's more. There's a National Chess Day that's on the second Saturday in October. What? Yeah, I don't get it. I don't know why the chess people can't get their act together and pick one day. But I'll tell you what. We're going to feature the game of chess on the July 20th episode because that's when the International Chess Federation was founded. See? So there you go. Solving all the problems here at Daystrider. Just picking one day. Another oddball for you. Today is Cherry Popover Day. Now, when I researched what is a popover, it's basically a twist on a muffin or a cupcake where the actual base of the popover is skinny and then the puff that comes out on top over the edges looks kind of like a mushroom. That's a popover. And there's even special pans to make popovers. Now, I can't say that I've tried them. I don't even know that I've seen them. So, someone, anyone out there, give me a hand here. Have you tried a popover? Send me a text or leave me a SpeakPipe message. Tell me all about it. The first Sunday in September does have one fun and funny holiday. Celebrating the ideal pet. You never have to clean up after this pet for peeing or pooing in the house. You don't even have to groom it or walk it. In fact, you don't even have to feed it. What? Today is Pet Rock Day. So the Pet Rock was dreamed up by a guy named Gary Dahl in 1975 when he was listening to his pals all complain about their pets. So he went and found a nice rock and boxed it up with some corrugated shavings, and the gag gift was born. He then decided to market this gag, and it went viral in the mid-70s for about six months. He made about $15 million from this gimmick, which translates to $87 million today. I'd take that, right? For just painting a rock? All right. So you need a gift idea for your loved one. And in addition to retelling the stories that you just learned about on this day in history, you can have them open up a gift that's customized to their birthday. And I have several great ideas for you. And as always, you can find links to these in the gift idea section of the show notes. Now often I mention that you can get a unique gift for the person who has everything. And once again, today is no exception. Starting with the Liberty Bell. There are some really neat replicas and other Liberty Bell decor, but one cool thing I found was a large wall decal that would be perfect for your patriotic-minded loved one. If your loved one enjoys poetry, or if they enjoy collecting things, a book of Phyllis Wheatley poems would be the perfect gift idea for them. And if your loved one has every kind of desktop knick-knack or bookshelf collectible, I suggest you scan their collection. Because I'm betting they do not have a mini SR-71 Blackbird airplane model. At least not yet they don't. Uh-huh. And I found a really cool piece of wall art for this, too. There's a set of Blackbird prints that's pretty cool. And the famous folks that were born today, they have some neat gift ideas attached to them as well. Dr. Phil books, Gloria Estefan CDs, Zendaya posters, and even racing merch. Similarly, today's special holidays are also ripe with gift ideas. You can get pretty much anything chess related from decor to the actual board game itself. You can challenge your loved one in the kitchen by giving them a nice set of popover baking pans. And if you want to get nostalgic with the late 1970s, you can still find Pet Rocks out there as a fun gift, whether it's a gag or not. Yep, see that? All kinds of customized gifts for folks who've circled September 1st on the calendar. And these ideas are unique only to this day of the year. Well, except for the chess ones, I give you that. Okay, now if those ideas are not cool enough, you can give them a personalized shout-out right here on the podcast. I can do the shout-out for you. All you got to do is send me an email with their name and something fun you want to share. Or you can do your own shout-out by using the SpeakPipe link that's available in the show notes. And here's the special shout-out for today.

Guest:

Happy birthday, Vanessa. It's Lucy. I can't wait to see you again. Happy birthday. Hope your school year's great. Happy birthday, Vanessa, from Nico. Happy birthday to my little Vanessa. Happy birthday to my big Vanessa. Happy birthday to the Vanessa who's bigger than her grandma. Happy birthday to you and many more. We love you, Vanessa.

Truman:

All right. Way to go, folks. As I mentioned, you can find the link to do that in the show notes. And as always, if you have a story that just needs to be shared about any day in the past, Send me an email and let's connect. And guess what, my fellow Daystriders? If you haven't noticed, we've updated the podcast artwork. And so now we're ready to start spreading the love with some Daystrider merch. That's right. Stickers are going to be the very first item up for our prize program. Stay tuned for buttons, magnets, t-shirts, and maybe even hats. Because who wouldn't want to have some fun time travel merch, right? So here's the challenge. To get a sticker is really easy. All you got to do is go to Podchaser.com from your phone or your laptop. Find the Daystrider podcast and give it a review. Or you can pick your favorite episode and give that particular episode a review. See that? It's easy. Who's up for the challenge? Who wants a sticker? I hope everyone does, because I wouldn't mind having to go out and get extra stickers made, that's for sure. Alrighty then, we're wrapping up. Thanks so much for listening and helping us get into the top 10% of all podcasts ever made across the entire planet. That's amazing. Let's keep striding on together and see how high we can get. I hope you had half as much fun listening as I did creating this episode. And sharing it with a friend or family member would be incredible and sincerely appreciated. Thanks so much for listening. Until next time, this is Truman Pastworthy, reminding you that every day has a great story. And we'll be striding through them all to find some more goodies for you. Now get out there and make your own great story today.