The Edge

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 29, the 303rd day of 2024. There are 63 days left in the year.

Today in history

On Oct. 29, 1929, ‘Black Tuesday’ descended on the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panicked selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America’s Great Depression began.

Also on this date

In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier, military adventurer and poet, was executed in London for treason.

In 1940, a blindfolded Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number — 158 — from a glass bowl in America’s first peacetime military draft.

In 1960, a chartered plane carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team crashed on takeoff from Toledo, Ohio, killing 22 of the 48 people on board.

In 1987, following the confirmation defeat of Robert H. Bork to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan announced his next choice of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a nomination that fell apart over revelations of Ginsburg’s previous marijuana use.

In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he had blazed as the first American to orbit the Earth 36 years earlier.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm and its aftermath were blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S.

In 2015, China announced plans to abolish its one-child policy, allowing all families to have two children for the first time in more than 35 years.

In 2017, all but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem, reacting to a remark from team owner Bob McNair to other NFL owners that “we can’t have the inmates running the prison.”

In 2018, a Boeing jet operated by the Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed in the Java Sea minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

In 2022, more than 150 people were killed and dozens more injured in South Korea after being crushed by a large crowd pushing forward on a narrow street during Halloween festivities in Seoul.

Fun fact

Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world, some species can grow up to 35 inches per day.

Today’s birthdays

Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is 86. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is 77. Actor Kate Jackson is 76. Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin is 71. Actor Dan Castellaneta (TV: “The Simpsons”) is 67. Actor Joely Fisher is 57. Actor Rufus Sewell is 57. Actor Winona Ryder is 53. Actor Tracee Ellis Ross is 52. Actor Gabrielle Union is 52. Olympic gold medal bobsledder Vonetta Flowers is 51. Actor Ben Foster is 44. Olympic gold medal swimmer Amanda Beard is 43.

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