The Edge

Today is Friday, Oct. 11, the 285th day of 2024. There are 81 days left in the year.

Today in history

On Oct. 11, 1991, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment; Thomas re-appeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a “high-tech lynching.”

Also on this date

In 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education ordered all the city’s Asian students segregated into their own school. (The order was later rescinded at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt, who in exchange promised to curb future Japanese immigration to the United States.)

In 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra (shih-RAH’), Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

In 1984, Challenger astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space as she and fellow Mission Specialist David C. Leestma spent 3½ hours outside the shuttle.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev opened two days of talks in Reykjavik, Iceland, concerning arms control and human rights.

In 1987, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was first displayed, during the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on the National Mall.

In 2017, the Boy Scouts of America announced that it would admit girls into the Cub Scouts starting the following year and establish a new program for older girls based on the Boy Scout curriculum.

In 2021, Jon Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders following reports about messages he wrote years earlier that used offensive terms to refer to Blacks, gays and women.

Fun fact

The Incredible Hulk, Marvel’s iconic green-skinned hero, was originally grey. This change from grey to green was not a planned choice but a result of inconsistencies in the coloring process during the early comic series. Stan Lee, the creator, embraced this accidental green hue, which became a defining feature of the Hulk’s character.

Today’s birthdays

Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry is 97. Actor Amitabh Bachchan is 82. Singer Daryl Hall (Hall and Oates) is 78. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, is 74. Actor David Morse is 71. Football Hall of Famer Steve Young is 63. Actor Joan Cusack is 62. Actor Jane Krakowski is 56. Rapper MC Lyte is 54. Actor Emily Deschanel is 48. Actor Michelle Trachtenberg is 39. Golfer Michelle Wie is 35. Rapper Cardi B is 32. NFL linebacker T.J. Watt is 30.

The Edge is compiled by Katie Clohessy. She can be contacted at kclohessy@lmtribune.com.