It's National Toasted Marshmallow Day

It must be close to the end of summer.


August 30, 1959 -
Bobby Darin's jazzy interpretation of Mack The Knife began its 26-week stay on the pop-singles charts.



... And he keeps it out of sight.


August 30, 1967 -
John Boorman's crime drame thriller, Point Blank, premiered on this date.



This was the first major picture to film on location at Alcatraz Island after the closure of the federal prison in 1963.


August 30, 1968 -
Apple Records released its first single, Hey Jude by The Beatles on this date.



They were so lucky to sign them up to the label.


Today in History:
On August 30, in the year 30 BC, Egypt's Queen Cleopatra clutched a snake to her breast and died. History has judged this a suicide, but there is room for doubt: she had previously clutched Julius Caesar and Marc Antony to her breast without dying, and may have therefore considered herself immunized.



Dilligent readers will realize that this is the second time that I have mentioned the death of Cleopatra - the dates came from different sources.

Folk remember, the Romans were much too busy giving themselves lead poisoning with their wine goblets, engaging in enormous orgies and changing their calendars to appease the newest head of the Julio-Claudian clan to take accurate notes.


August 30, 1780 -
General "Eggs" Benedict Arnold secretly promised to surrender the West Point fort to the British army during the American Revolution. The measure of Arnold's treachery was made worse by the fact that he was considered by many to be the best general and most accomplished leader in the Continental Army.



In fact, without Arnold's earlier contributions to the American cause, the American Revolution might well have been lost; notwithstanding, his name, like those of several other prominent traitors throughout history, has become a byword for treason and a brunch staple.

August 30, 1859 -
At the University of Göttingen, PhD candidate Albert Niemann isolates the alkaloid C17H21NO4 from leaves of the plant Erythroxylum coca.


Niemann names his white, powdery discovery cocaine and observes firsthand its peculiarly strong anesthetic effect: "it benumbs the nerves of the tongue, depriving it of feeling and taste."



Oh, that's what cocaine does. Now I know.


August 30, 1930 -
Warren Edward Buffett often called the "Sage of Omaha", "Oracle of Omaha", or "Omaha Steak", American investor, businessperson and philanthropist is born on this date. Buffett has amassed an enormous fortune from astute investments managed through the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO.


With an estimated current net worth of around $37 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the second-richest person in the world as of February 2009, between Bill Gates and Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helú.

I, on the other hand, did not make a blip on the list.


August 30, 1993 -
On CBS-TV The Late Show with David Letterman premiered.



Billy Murray was his first guest and Billy Joel was the first musical guest.

(I hope Dave gets his new dog under control - those were some very ugly bites he showed Drew Barrymore.)


And in case you didn't see him talking with Brian Williams yesterday, stop looking at the President's forehead, he's stopped posting his birth certificate there ( I definitely have a place they can look for it.)



And so it goes.