Day Tripping: October 8

How About Them Apples

Matt Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1970 raised mostly by his mother after his parents divorced. Her by-the-book parenting methods made him, by his own addition, feel out of place.

“I think what’s important for kids to know is that your decisions here on Earth matter, your behavior matters, and how you treat other people matters.”

When he reached high school, Damon met Ben Affleck in drama class. At Harvard, he wrote the first treatment for Good Will Hunting. It would be fair to say there are clues from his childhood in the story.

Matt Damon’s artistic successes are well documented, but his work as an activist is even more significant. As founder of the H2O Africa Foundation, Matt affected the merger that became Water.org which provides aid and access to drinking water for developing nations.

Also, with the leadership of his friend George Clooney, Damon and other stars founded Not On Our Watch which brings global exposure to the atrocities occurring in Darfur and other parts of Africa. He is also a spokesperson for hunger relief with Freedom America.

Today is:

Emergency Nurses Day — Perhaps we should be honoring these heroes more often.

Musical Ride

Ray Charles scored his first Platinum record album in 2004 with Genius Loves Company, four months after his death in June.

Interesting Notes

In 1989, Ron Wood of the Stones publicly stated that The Who was only getting back together for the money. So Pete Townshend replied publicly, “Mick needs a lot more than I do. His last album was a flop.” Pete was talking about the forgettable album Dirty Work.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Former head coach and then principal owner of the Oakland Raiders, Al Davis always did things his way. His motto, “Just win, baby” made The Raiders football team a crew of renegades you either loved or despised.

For most of his tenure with the team, The Raiders were one of the NFL’s most popular franchises. Al Davis was 82 when he died in 2011.

Notable Births

1920 — Frank Herbert wrote, “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

1940 — Paul Hogan said, “The secret to my success is that I bit off more than I could chew and I chewed as fast as I could.”

K. Barrett Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr. Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Terry Trueman Dr. Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca Holly Kellums Michael Burg, MD Lucy Dan Dave Logan

All previous Day Tripping entries are available at the following links:

The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present

A comprehensive directory for Day Tripping