Clear the decks - we have a lot to celebrating to do

The first Saturday in August is National Mustard Day (in my home it is National Moutarde Day, we leave the 's' off for savings.) In case you didin't know, Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant (white or yellow mustard, Sinapis hirta; brown or Indian mustard, Brassica juncea; or black mustard, B. nigra).



So please have some mustard today. Don't put all those people out of work.


It's a beautiful day today, so it a perfect time to celebrate National Ice Cream Sandwich Day today. The day was made to enjoy an ice cream sandwich.

The best way to celebrate is to make your own!


If all that wasn't enough, the first Saturday in August, today is International Beer Day (not to be confused with National Beer Day, celebrated annually on April 7th.) International Beer Day, founded in 2007, is a global celebration of the second most popular beverage in the world: Beer!



International Beer Day festivities usually takes place in pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants, breweries, backyards and anywhere else you can enjoy a cold one; this year, enjoy responsibly at home. (Hey International Beer Consortium, you can contact my lawyers about my commission.)


August 2, 1965 -
Michael Caine's first outing as the anti Bond spy, Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File, premiered in the US on this date.



In the novels, the name of the lead character was never revealed. So Michael Caine and Producer Harry Saltzman tried to think of a boring name for the hero. Caine suggested "Harry", which Saltzman found rather amusing. Caine then remembered a boring classmate named Tommy Palmer. So "Palmer" became the surname.


August 2, 1967 -
The crime drama In the Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, opened in New York on this date.



This was the first major Hollywood film in color that was lit with proper consideration for an actor with dark skin. Haskell Wexler recognized that standard lighting used in filming produced too much glare on most black actors and others of dark complexion. He toned down the lighting to feature Sidney Poitier with better results.


August 2, 1968 -
The Doors single, Hello, I Love You, from their album Waiting for the Sun, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



The music is similar to The Kinks' song All Day And All Of The Night. So similar, that it has been rumored that The Doors paid royalties from the British single to The Kinks after the threat of legal action.


August 2, 1975 -
The eponymously named title track from their One of These Nights album, became the Eagles second single to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, after Best Of My Love, on this date.



Glenn Frey cited this as an example of how he and Don Henley clicked as songwriters. "I'd go over to the piano and say, 'Hey, what do you think of this?' he told Tavis Smiley. "I'd play something, and he'd go, 'Yeah, I like that, I like that.' Maybe just get up and start singing. That's the way we wrote 'One of These Nights.' I just went over to the piano and I started playing this little minor descending progression, and he comes over and goes, (singing) 'One of these nights.' I go, yeah, yeah."


August 2, 1985 -
Universal Pictures released the sci-fi comedy film Weird Science, directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock and Ilan Mitchell-Smith, on this date.



In the scene where Bill Paxton is speaking to Kelly LeBrock while interrogating everyone over what had happened the previous night, in the background, Suzanne Snyder and Anthony Michael Hall are struggling to stay in character, but it is clear they are laughing. John Hughes chose to use this take in the completed film.


August 2, 1989 -
Universal Pictures released Ron Howard's film, Parenthood, starring Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Martha Plymton and Keanu Reeves on this date.



This movie is based on Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel's experiences as parents.


August 2, 1998 -
Beastie Boys' fifth studio album Hello Nasty started a three week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Album Charts, on this date. This would be the band's third U.S. No. 1 album.



Some of the pioneering hip-hop acts that emerged in the early '80s distorted their vocals in innovative ways, but in the '90s, rappers usually went for a big, bold sound without any distortion. Beastie Boys bucked that trend, using a karaoke microphone to squiggle their raps on tracks from their 1992 album Check Your Head, notably So What'cha Want. By the time they recorded Intergalactic for the Hello Nasty album, they had access to a vocoder.


August 2, 1999 –
M. Night Shyamalan's psychological thriller, The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette premiered in the US on this date.



Reportedly, Haley Joel Osment got the role of Cole Sear for one of three reasons. First, he was best for it. Second, he was the only boy at auditions who wore a tie. Third, director M. Night Shyamalan was surprised when he asked Osment if he read his part. Osment replied, "I read it three times last night." Shyamalan was impressed, saying, "Wow, you read your part three times?" To which Osment replied, "No, I read the script three times."


August 2, 2014 -
Weird Al Yankovic's fourteenth studio album, Mandatory Fun goes to No. 1 on the Billboard Album Charts, on this date.



It’s the first No. 1 comedy album on Billboard’s charts since Allan Sherman’s My Son, the Nut in 1963 – the album that contained Sherman’s biggest hit, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh.

Don't forget to tune into The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today.


Today in History:
August 2, 1100 -
Force Majeure
(Those of you with delicate sensibilities may wish to skip this story.)

You may have wondered when the phrase Act of God first came into use. You’ve seen it on legal forms and may have unfortunately encountered it when trying to collect on your home insurance policy. As with many things, the English can be blamed - er, credited - with popularizing the term.

William II - known as William Rufus - the second surviving son of William the Conqueror, was King of England from 1087 until 1100. He also held power in Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was not well liked, particularly for his unusual (and unwholesome) practice of buggering unwilling men each morning of his reign.



William began his royal tenure on September 26, 1087, and apparently liked to start his day with a brisk round of forced sodomy. Though he had no shortage of “special friends,” he seemed to prefer a fresh, mostly unwilling courtier each morning.

And why not? It’s good to be the king.

As the thousandth such morning approached, William decided to follow his usual routine: a bit of coerced intimacy followed by a hunting excursion. Off the royal party went. Before long, the nobles returned - except William. His brother Henry (soon to be Henry I) was among those who hurried back, leaving William lying (yes, lying) dead in the New Forest with an arrow through his lung, on this very date.



Henry, wasting no time, crowned himself King. He later ordered an inquest into his brother’s demise -not that he was especially curious about the outcome. In fact, no one even bothered to retrieve William’s body. It was eventually carted back to Winchester Cathedral by a peasant, in the back of a dung cart. I kid you not.

A royal commission was convened and ultimately concluded that William’s death was a just end - an Act of God visited upon a wicked king.

So there you have it: the next time your insurance company refuses to pay out due to an “Act of God,” you can thank a long-dead English monarch with a fondness for vigorous, nonconsensual sodomy.


August 2, 1776 –
Once again, your teachers lied to you - the signing of the Declaration of Independence didn’t occur on July 4.



After the Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2, the final language of the document was approved on July 4, and it was printed and distributed on July 4–5. The actual signing was on this date. Matthew Thornton from New Hampshire didn't get around to sign it until November 4, 1776.


August 2, 1876 -
Drinking at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, Jack McCall noticed Wild Bill Hickok playing poker at a corner table. Then he calmly walked over to the table and blew a wide hole in the back of Hickok's head with a .45 revolver. The professional gambler and onetime lawman was holding a pair of Aces and a pair of Eights, now known as the "Dead Man's Hand." There is no general consensus on what the fifth card was.



So kids, please remember to split those aces and eights when you are dealt them.


August 2, 1909 -
The first Lincoln head pennies were minted on this date.

It was 95% copper and was the first US coin to depict the likeness of a president.


August 2, 1923 -
President Warren G. Harding died suddenly at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on this date. His wife Florence forbids an autopsy, and the President's body is embalmed shortly after death. It is speculated by many that the cause of death, initially reported as "a stroke of apoplexy," was in fact poison administered by the First Lady. Mrs. Harding was rather annoyed that her husband was giving dictation to his secretary in the broom closet.



You have to love this asshole - he actually lost the White House china in a poker game. And despite the fact that Prohibition made it illegal, Harding served his friends alcohol.



Harding had the largest feet of any U.S. President. He wore size 14 shoes. I'll just leave you all with that.



Make of it what you will.


August 2, 1924 -
There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.



James Arthur Baldwin, writer and civil rights activist was born on this date


August 2, 1939 -
Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd, representing fellow physicists who have discovered that an atomic bomb could be built from Uranium, write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt explaining the dangers of Germany developing Atomic Bomb capabilities before the United States. The letter came just before the beginning of World War II.



The scientists warn Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify Uranium-235. Soon after the letter, the United States Government begins “The Manhattan Project.” Einstein later reacted to the destructive elements of the atom bomb by saying. "If only I had known I should have become a watchmaker."


August 2, 1943 -
A Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being sheared in two by the Amagiri, a Japanese destroyer, off the Solomon Islands. Two members of the crew were killed in the collision.



An injured Kennedy and the ship's other survivors clung to the wreckage and swam to a nearby island, where Aaron Kumana and Biuku Gasa found them. The pair rowed 35 miles through enemy-held waters to summon a rescue boat.


August 2, 1990 -
After Kuwait refuses to waive Iraq's war debts, 100,000 Iraqi soldiers stream across the border and seize control of Kuwait City. Their troops outnumbered 5-to-1, the Kuwaitis mount no resistance whatsoever. In so doing, Saddam Hussein precipitates the first Gulf War.



This was one of the the reasons we got into the mess in Iraq.



And so it goes.