Thursday Overnight Open Thread - October 16, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Thursday night, TxMoMeX-eve ONT! Content is lighter than usual tonight. I'll make it up to you at a later date. November 31st is the most likely choice.

There's Still Time!

(Photo composition assistance from Mrs. AZ Deplorable Moron)

If you're not already here or on your way, I implore you to stop what you're doing and start heading toward Corsicana! It's not too late to contact Ben Had (email in the sidebar of the main page) and get the details. You don't need to shoot, you don't need to drink - you just need to get here!

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(Photo courtesy of Weasel - of course!)

Rest In Peace, Ace

No not our head Ewok - Ace Frehley of KISS (and Frehley's Comet) Fame

Today In History

Baby Jessica rescued from a well as the world watches

On October 16, 1987, in an event that had viewers around the world glued to their televisions, 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued after being trapped for 58 hours in an abandoned water well in Midland, Texas.

The drama unfolded on the morning of October 14, 1987, when McClure fell through the 8-inch-wide opening of an abandoned well while playing with other children in the backyard of her aunt’s home day-care center. After dropping about 22 feet into the well, the little girl became stuck. Over the next two-and-a-half days, crews of rescue workers, mining experts and local volunteers labored around the clock to drill a shaft parallel to the one in which McClure was trapped. They then tunneled horizontally through dense rock to connect the two shafts. A microphone was lowered into the well to keep tabs on the toddler, who could be heard crying, humming and singing throughout the ordeal.

On the night of October 16, a bandaged and dirt-covered but alert Baby Jessica, as she became widely known, was safely pulled out of the well by paramedics. By that time, scores of journalists had descended on Midland, a West Texas oil city, and the rescue was carried out on live television before a massive audience.

The Allman Brothers song pre-dates Baby Jessica

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Chevrolet introduces the El Camino

On October 16, 1958, Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino. Inspired by the Ford Ranchero, which had already been on the market for two years, the El Camino was a combination sedan-pickup truck built on the Impala body, with the same “cat’s eye” taillights and dramatic rear fins. It was, ads trilled, “the most beautiful thing that ever shouldered a load!” “It rides and handles like a convertible,” Chevy said, “yet hauls and hustles like the workingest thing on wheels.”

Ford’s Ranchero was the first “car-truck” sold in the United States, but it was not a new idea. Since the 1930s, Australian farmers had been driving what they called “utes”—short for “coupé utility”—all around the outback. Legend has it that a farmer’s wife from rural Victoria had written a letter to Ford Australia, asking the company to build a car that could carry her to church on Sundays and her husband’s pigs to market on Mondays. In response, Ford engineer Lewis Brandt designed a low-slung sedan-based vehicle that was a ritzy passenger car in the front, with wind-up windows and comfortable seats and a rough-and-tumble pickup in back. The ute was a huge hit; eventually, virtually every company that sold cars Down Under made its own version.

In the United States, however, ute-type vehicles were slower to catch on. Though the Ranchero was a steady seller, the first incarnation of the El Camino was not and Chevy discontinued it after just two years. In 1964, the company introduced a new version, this one built on the brawnier Chevelle platform. In 1968, the more powerful SS engine made the El Camino into one of the iconic muscle cars of the late 1960s and 1970s.

The Black Keys - From their album "El Camino"

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Marie Antoinette is beheaded

Nine months after the execution of her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, Marie Antoinette follows him to the guillotine on October 16, 1793.

The daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, she married Louis in 1770 to strengthen the French-Austrian alliance. At a time of economic turmoil in France, she lived extravagantly and encouraged her husband to resist reform of the monarchy. The increasing revolutionary uproar convinced the king and queen to attempt an escape to Austria in 1791, but they were captured by revolutionary forces and carried back to Paris. In 1792, the French monarchy was abolished, and Louis and Marie-Antoinette were condemned for treason.

French Revolution according to Rush ("The guillotine will claim her bloody prize!")

DJ Doof - Birthday Boys Edition
(from thisdayinmusic.com)

Born on this date in 1947: American musician and songwriter Bob Weir, best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead.

Born on this date inn 1959: British musician, songwriter and actor Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet.

Born on this date in 1962: Australian and American musician and actor Flea (Michael Balzary) a founding member and bassist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Tonight's ONT brought to you by special moments captured in style

posted by Open Blogger at 09:51 PM

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