The Vatican admits Galileo was right all along 359 years later, 1992

October 31, 1992, the Catholic Church, the Vatican and Pope John Paul II finally admitted the church "erred" when it prosecuted Galilei Galileo for heresy, because he promoted the Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around.  

In 1633, Catholic prosecutors argued that the sun revolving around the Earth was explicitly stated in the Bible.  

Exactly which passage says that?  Show your work, guys!

Happy birthday, Electra Woman!

Deidre Hall, born October 31, 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has won numerous awards for her performances in Days of Our Lives.  

But before that she was Electra Woman!  She appeared in the Saturday morning live-action superhero show Electra Woman and Dyna Girl with Judy Strangis.  She also appeared in Murder, She Wrote, but did not have any scenes with Angela Lansbury. Bummer.

"And Then There Were None" released 1945

And Then There Were None, the movie based on Agatha Christie's masterpiece novel, was released October 31, 1945.  It is the first in a number of adaptions of the one of the best selling novels of all time.  As usual though, there are a number of deviations from the book, which was published in 1939.

It has a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.  

Dame Judith Anderson is the only performer I'm familiar with in the cast.  She played Emily Brent.

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Venera 13 launched 1981

Venera 13, launched October 30, 1981, sent back the first color pictures of Venus.  Its twin Venera 14 was launched only 5 days later.  The descent vehicle separated from the spacecraft and entered the Venusian atmosphere March 1, 1982.

It was expected to last for about 30 minutes, it functioned for over 2 hours before ceasing its transmissions. Venera 13 made the first sound recording of another planet.

Happy birthday, NASA astronaut Ronald Garan!

Ronald Garan, Jr., born October 30, 1961 in Yonkers, New York, is a veteran of two space flights.

His first mission was aboard Discovery (STS-124) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in May-June 2008.  He conducted three EVAs during the mission with fellow astronaut Michael Fossum.

His second and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-21 as Flight Engineer to the ISS in April 2011.  He participated in Expeditions 27 and 28.  He conducted an EVA with Fossum in July 2011.  He returned to Earth in September 2011.

"Keeping Up Appearances" debuts 1990

Keeping Up Appearances, a British comedy about an annoying social climber Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "bouquet") aired its first episode October 29, 1990.  It ran for 5 seasons until Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth) decided to leave the show.

She tried to be a socialite, but her sister Daisy (played by Judy Cornwell) and brother-in-law Onslow were adorably white trash.  Another sister Rose was always going into or coming out of a relationship.  Her sister Violet, which was rarely seen until the final season, was the envy of Hyacinth.  Violet had a Mercedes, sauna and room for a pony.  

She terrorized her husband Richard (played by Clive Swift), her next-door neighbors Elizabeth and Emmet, and the vicar and his wife.  

It's still one of the funniest television shows ever.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" released 1993

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, released across the US October 29, 1993, is a stop-motion animated dark fantasy film about Jack Skellington, the King of Halloween Town, who becomes obsessed with Christmas.  

Tim Burton wrote a poem while working as an animator for Walt Disney Productions and it eventually became The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Disney released it through its stepchild studio Touchstone Pictures.  

It was a critical and financial success and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.  It won Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film and Best Music.