The TV western "Gunsmoke" premiered on this day in 1955. For 20 years Marshall Matt Dillon kept law and order in Dodge by not talking much and hanging around the saloon a lot. Matt was a real lawman. He would have run every cop on "Law & Order" out of Dodge for unmanly woosery.

     Singer Jose Feliciano is 66 today. You don't hear much about Jose anymore. I wonder if his fire is still lit.

     On this date in 1953 Swanson sold its first TV dinner. And suddenly, Americans had airplane food in their living rooms.

     Singer Yuma Sumac was born in Peru on this day in 1928. Yuma's voice range was an incredible seven octaves. She once hit a note so high, it shattered her dog.

     Yuma Sumac had the most perfect voice in human history. She could sing notes so high, only dogs that had studied in Vienna could hear her.

     It rained fish in Cairo, Illinois, on this date in 1890. Honest. It really did. And everybody was completely shocked even though the weatherman had forecast a 20% chance of fish.
     Even in those days nobody took weathermen seriously.

     History's first pistol duel between women occurred in Paris on this date in 1718. Countess de Polignac and the Marquise di Nesle dueled at 25 paces over the affections of the Duke de Richelieu. Madame de Nesle was wounded in the abdomen. She lost the duel, but she won the Duke -- who could never resist a woman with two belly buttons.

     Today's exciting female dueling trivia question: Why did pistol dueling never catch on among women?
     Throughout history, rather than duel on the field on honor, women preferred to settle their differences in a more civilized manner -- like mud wrestling.

     On this day in 1927 hot dogs with a zipper went on sale in America. They were hot dogs inside a zippered casing, which was boiled and then zipped open. Zippered hot dogs were healthier than regular hot dogs, because the zipper got stuck and people couldn't eat the hot dogs.

     On this day in 1945 Jose Feliciano was born. He's such a creative singer, he can actually work the phrase "Whoa, baby, come on now!" into the national anthem.

     Arnold Palmer was born on this day in 1929. Arnie has made millions playing golf, and he didn't even go to medical school.

      The worst NFL game in history occurred on this day in 1967 when the Raiders beat the Broncos 51-0. But the score was misleading -- the game wasn't nearly that close.

     A strange event took place at Cairo, Illinois, on this day in1890 when a large number of fish fell from the sky during a rain shower. However, there was a logical explanation for the bizarre occurrence: after the shower a rainbow appeared in the sky, so obviously the fish were rainbow trout.

     The "Gunsmoke" TV series premiered on this day in 1955. Gunsmoke was a fictional show in which Marshall Dillon always brought the bad guys to justice. On Gunsmoke, criminals were never set free on legal technicalities -- that's why it was a fictional show.

     Swanson sold its first "TV dinner" on this day in 1953. They say it didn't look very appetizing. But I suppose in those days TV dinners were still in black and white.

     Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry won the Battle of Lake Erie on this day in 1813. If only he'd lost, all that polluted water would belong to Canada.