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It was on this date in 1938 that the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect, which established the 40-hour work week and a minimum wage. The first minimum wage was 25 cents per hour.
October 24, 2008
Global Economic Crisis AP
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It was on this day in 1901 that Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive going over the Niagara Falls.
She was 63 years old and had no money. She hoped that the stunt of going over the falls in a barrel would bring her fame and fortune.
Annie Taylor posing next to her barrel
She got the idea while reading a newspaper article about the upcoming Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, so she knew there would be a big audience. She had a custom barrel made to order by a Michigan company that normally made barrels for kegs of beer.
The barrel was about two feet in diameter across the top, three feet across the middle, and 15 inches across the bottom. It was four and a half feet tall and weighed 160 pounds — the same weight as Annie Edson Taylor. It was constructed from white Kentucky oak and reinforced by iron rings, with a heavy block of steel in the bottom for ballast and a mattress inside for padding.
Annie Edson Taylor climbed into the barrel in the Niagara River, at Little Grass Island. She was wearing a flowing black dress and flowery hat, and carrying her lucky heart-shaped pillow. After she was inside, the top was shut and a bicycle pump increased the air pressure inside the barrel to help with the cushioning. It was pushed into the river at 4:05 p.m. and it headed toward the Canadian side. Shortly after, Annie and the barrel plunged over the falls. It took about 35 minutes from the time Annie pushed off shore to when she was pulled out of the water by rescuers. She got out of the barrel unharmed, except for a few bruises and a small gash on her forehead. Her first words after she emerged were, "Nobody ought ever to do that again."
She had planned a big lecture tour following the stunt, but it wasn't very successful. She tried to earn money by posing in photographs with her barrel, but that didn't work either, and neither did trying to write a novel.
However, several poems were written about her. John Joseph O'Regan wrote:
"All hail to the Queen of the Mist,
Brave Anna Edson Taylor;
She has beaten all former records,
By her courage, grit and valor."
And P. M. Reynolds wrote:
"Since earth's creation down the stormy way,
All human feats have been surpassed today.
Mrs. Edson Taylor, in her barrel sound,
Through the wild rapids did in safety bound."
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October 24, 1987 
Charlie White Charlie White Google Videos
Charlie White is an American ice dancer. With partner Meryl Davis, he is the 2008 U.S. national silver medalist
and 2008 Four Continents silver medalist. Davis and White teamed up in
1997 and they are currently the longest lasting dance team in the
United States. At the 2006 NHK Trophy, they became the first ice
dancing team to win level fours on all their elements.
**
October 24, 1908 - April 15, 1993 
John Tuzo Wilson
Images: Plate Tectonics Google Videos: Plate Tectonics
John Tuzo Wilson was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved
worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics,
the idea that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (crust and part of
the upper mantle), the lithosphere, are broken up into numerous pieces
or "plates" that move independently over the weaker asthenosphere
***
October 24, 1868-1969 
Alexandra David-Néel Alexandra David-Néel Google Videos
Alexandra David-Néel Google Images
Alexandra David-Néel was a French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist,
Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to the forbidden (to
foreigners) city of Lhasa, capital of Tibet (1924).
In the period 1914-1916 she lived in a cave in Sikkim, near the
Tibetan border, learning spirituality, together with the young
Sikkimese monk Aphur Yongden, who became her lifelong traveling
companion, and whom she would adopt later. From there they trespassed
into Tibetan territory, meeting the Panchen Lama in Shigatse (August 1916). When the British authorities learned about this—Sikkim
was then a British protectorate—Alexandra and Yongden had to leave the
country, and, unable to return to Europe in the middle of World War I, they traveled to Japan.
There Alexandra met Ekai Kawaguchi,
who had visited Lhasa in 1901 disguised as a Chinese doctor, and this
inspired her to visit Lhasa disguised as pilgrims. After traversing
China from east to west, they reached Lhasa in 1924, and spent 2 months
there.
In 1928 Alexandra separated from Philippe. Later they would
reconcile, and Philippe kept supporting her till his death in 1941.
Alexandra settled in Digne, and during the next 10 years she wrote books.
In 1937, Yongden and Alexandra through Soviet Union went to China, traveling there during the second World War. They eventually ended up in Tachienlu, where Mme. David-Neel continued her investigations of Tibetan sacred literature.
One minor mystery relating to Alexandra David-Neel has a solution. In Forbidden Journey, p. 284, the authors wonder how Mme. David-Neel's secretary, Violet Sydney, made her way back to the West in 1939 after Sous des nuées d'orage (Storm Clouds) was completed in Tachienlu. Peter Goullart's Land of the Lamas (not in Forbidden Journey's
bibliography), on pp. 110-113 gives an account of his accompanying Ms.
Sydney partway back, then putting her under the care of LoloChengdu. Mme. David-Neel evidently remained in Tachienlu for the duration of the war. bandits to continue the journey to
While in East Tibet Alexandra and Yongden completed circumambulationAmnye Machen[1]. The pair returned to France only in 1946. She was then 78 years old. of the holy mountain
In 1955 Yongden died. Alexandra continued to study and write till her death at age 100.
She wrote more than
30 books, about Eastern religion, philosophy, and her travels.
Her
well-documented teachings influenced the beat writers Jack Kerouac and
Allen Ginsberg, and philosopher Alan Watts.
During her childhood she
had a strong desire for freedom and spirituality. At the age of 18, she
had already visited England, Switzerland and Spain on her own, and was
a student at Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_David-N%C3%A9el
