Spider-Man Day
October 14
Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, first appeared in August 1962 in Amazing Fantasy #15. Spider-Man wasn’t actually going to be a spider-based superhero. Stan Lee actually wanted to base a comic on a fly or insect but decided on a spider. Spider-Man was the first teen-hero who wasn’t an adult’s sidekick. The correct way of writing the spider’s name is actually Spider-Man, Stan Lee specifically placed a hyphen to avoid confusion with “Superman”. Spider-Man’s web dissolves within an hour and yet is strong enough to hold the Hulk. Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four when the human torch died.
National Fossil Day
October 14
A fossil is any preserved remains, imprint, or trace specimens of living things from a previous geological period. The study of fossils is called paleontology. Fossils aren’t just dinosaur bones, but include ancient plants, bacteria, fungi, and other prehistoric animals as well. Permineralization is a fossilization process where mineral deposits carried by water from internal casts in empty spaces of dead organisms. The first fossils were recorded in writing as early as 570 B.C., although paleontology had not been established yet as a discipline at this point. Ancient Greek scholars Xenophanes, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, and Strabo wrote about fossils of marine organisms. From these fossils, they surmised that land was once underwater. The Megalosaurus is known as the first dinosaur ever described scientifically. In 1819, British fossil hunter William Buckland found a large fossil in Stonesfield, Oxfordshire, England. He eventually officially named it a megalosaurus in 1824.
Today’s Birthdays of Note….
Dwight D. Eisenhower – 34th President of U.S. – born in Denison, Texas
Ralph Lauren – Fashion Designer – born in New York City, New York
