Daily Calendar for Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Question of the Day
The trees in our New Hampshire town are covered with ugly cocoonlike things that look as if they’re destroying the foliage. What are these?
Most likely you’re seeing the webs of fall webworms. These can appear from late July through October. The caterpillars are greenish yellow with lots of hair and black dots, and they feed on leaves. As feeding continues, their silken webs enlarge to cover the areas they plan to eat. This can indeed make it look as if the tree is being destroyed. Insecticides can control the worms, but each web must be penetrated for success. Infected branches also can be removed and the caterpillar webs destroyed. Bad as the webs may look, however, the damage they cause is usually minimal, and most leaves will return the following spring.
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- James Boswell (biographer) –
- Daniel Decatur Emmett (songwriter, musician) –
- Fred Lazarus, Jr. (merchandiser) –
- Fanny Brice (singer & comedienne) –
- Melba Moore (singer) –
- Richard Dreyfuss (actor) –
- Kate Jackson (actress) –
- Mike Gartner (hockey player) –
- Joely Fisher (actress) –
- Winona Ryder (actress) –
- Gabrielle Union (actress) –
- Ben Foster (actor) –
- Amanda Beard (Olympic swimmer) –
Died
- Joseph Pulitzer (journalist) –
- Chang Lin-Tien (first Asian-American to head a major U.S. university when he was named chancellor at the University of California at Berkeley) –
- Teri Garr (actress) –
Events
- First commencement of first U.S. coeducational college (Oberlin) took place –
- Black Tuesday at the NY Stock Exchange—Great Depression began –
- The first peacetime draft in U.S. history went into effect –
- The first ballpoint pens went on sale at Gimbel’s Department store in N.Y.C. at $12.50 a piece –
- Boris Pasternak refused the Nobel Prize for literature under pressure from Soviet authorities –
- A spectacular gem robbery took place in New York’s American Museum of Natural History. The greatest loss was the Star of India, the largest sapphire in the world –
- John Glenn returned to space at age 77 –
- A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Pakistan –
- The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series –
- A man paddled a 1,364-pound pumpkin down the River Ouse in Yorkshire, England –
- The Friends for Life animal shelter in Houston, Texas, posted a story on Facebook about their escape artist cat named Quilty, who repeatedly freed friends from the shelter’s cat room. The talented kitty gained Internet fame and his story was picked up by the news media. He later was adopted. –
Weather
- A deadly tornado struck Berryville, Arkansas –
- A snow hurricane occurred in Maine –
- Typhoon Cimaron battered the northern Philippines with winds up to 143 mph –
