Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses.  Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in the United States during the Roaring Twenties.   Barnstormers were pilots who flew throughout the country to sell airplane rides and perform stunts.  Charles Lindbergh first began flying as a barnstormer.   Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of manned flight.  The sensational journalism and economic prosperity that marked the Jazz Age in the United States allowed barnstormers to publicize aviation and eventually contributed to bringing about regulation and control.   In 1925, the U.S. government began regulating aviation, when it passed the Contract Air Mail Act, which allowed the U.S. Post Office to hire private airlines to deliver mail with payments made based on the weight of the mail.  The following year, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act, which shifted the management of air routes to a new branch in the Department of Commerce, which was also responsible for "licensing of planes and pilots, establishing safety regulations, and general promotion."   Barnstorming "seemed to be founded on bravado, with 'one-upmanship' a major incentive."  By 1927, competition among barnstormers resulted in their performing increasingly dangerous tricks, and a rash of highly publicized accidents led to new safety regulations, which led to the demise of barnstorming.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstorming    

One of the most fascinating periods of aviation history is the age of barnstorming in the 1920s.  The end of World War I left many trained pilots out of work and itching to fly again.  The military also had a surplus of aircraft, mostly the Curtiss JN-4 Biplane “Jenny,” biplanes, which they sold to former aviators and civilians for a fraction of their original price.  The former pilots’ boredom and bravery combined with access to inexpensive planes eventually led to the rise of barnstorming as a wildly popular source of entertainment in the Roaring Twenties.  Barnstorming earned its name from the aerobatic pilots who would land their light planes in fields and use local barns as venues for their impromptu airshows.  Paying spectators would gather to watch these daring pilots attempt a variety of dangerous tricks.  Daredevil stunt pilots would perform maneuvers like spins, dives, loop-the-loops, and barrel rolls at dangerously low altitudes, and aerialists would attempt feats like wing walking, jumping from plane to plane, and even mid-air tennis matches.   https://hartzellprop.com/hartzell-history-history-barnstorming/ 

The little owl (Athene noctua), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva, is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea, and North Africa.  It was introduced into Britain at the end of the 19th century and into the South Island of New Zealand in the early 20th century.  This owl is a member of the typical or true owl family Strigidae, which contains most species of owl, the other grouping being the barn owls, Tytonidae.  It is a small (approx. 22 cm long), cryptically coloured, mainly nocturnal species and is found in a range of habitats including farmland, woodland fringes, steppes and semi-deserts.  See picture at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_owl    

The proof is in the pudding is an expression that means the value, quality, or truth of something must be judged based on direct experience with it—or on its results.  The expression is an alteration of an older saying that makes the meaning a bit clearer:  the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  In other words, things must be judged by trying them yourself or seeing them in action, rather than on other factors, such as hearsay.  The earliest records of the original expression come from the beginning of the 1600s.  The shortened version has been in common use since at least the beginning of the 1900s.  Another variation of the term is the proof of the pudding, which refers to the results themselves, direct experience with something, or the testing of something to judge its value or truth.  In these sayings, the word proof was originally used in the sense of a test of something—such as a test of quality, worth, truth, etc.  However, it is now often interpreted as meaning the same thing as evidence.  https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/the-proof-is-in-the-pudding/    

An infinity pool is a reflecting pool or swimming pool where the water flows over one or more edges, producing a visual effect of water with no boundary.  Such pools are often designed so that the edge appears to merge with a larger body of water such as the ocean, or with the sky, and may overlook locations such as natural landscapes and cityscapes.  They are often seen at hotels, resorts, estates, and in other luxurious places.  It has been claimed that the infinity pool concept originated in France, and that one of the first vanishing-edge designs was the Stag Fountain at the Palace of Versailles, built in the late 17th century.   In the US, architect John Lautner has been credited as one of the first to come up with an infinity pool design in the early 1960s.  He included infinity pools in various residential projects, and also created the vanishing-edge pool in the 1971 James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_pool    

October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 65 days remain until the end of the year. 

1682 – Philadelphia is founded in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

1726 – J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56, one of few works he called a cantata.   

1775 – King George III expands on his Proclamation of Rebellion in the Thirteen Colonies in his speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament.   

1858 – Theodore Roosevelt, American colonel and politician, 26th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919)

1971 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire. 

2017 – Catalonia declares independence from Spain. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_27    

October 27, 2025