Laughing because there's nothing to do about it

It's Father-Daughter take a walk together day,

(Once again, two teams of high priced (non-ACME) lawyers have confirmed that -

a.) I can refer to this as a 'digital image',
b.) the UN called in my mother to monitor the taking of this digital image, and
c.) I may or may not be related to two of the people in this ditigal image. (I am legally obliged to confirm that I am related to my mother.)

(Again, I was not even permitted to snap the photo.)

Such is life with young ladies.


Today is also Chocolate Day (If you're a chocoholic, then you have two more chocolate days to celebrate! World Chocolate Day is on September 4 and National Chocolate Day is on October 28.)



The date commemorates the introduction of Hershey's Kisses on this date in 1907 and the introduction of chocolate in Europe in 1550.



Remember kids, chocolate is actually the seed pod of the fruit of the cocoa tree - so it must be healthy for you, eat up.

And it's also National Strawberry Sundae Day

It's also Bonza Bottler Day - this happens every month when the day and the date are the same number. (May 5, June 6, July 7, etc.).

The holiday was invented by Elaine Fremont in 1985 (who died in a car accident in 1995.) Her friends and family have been keeping her holiday alive by posting announcements of the holiday every year (I didn't know Ms. Fremont but I like the idea.)

If all of that weren't enough, it's Richard Starkey birthday today. And all he has to show for it is a photograph.



And I believe he still won't sign it for you.


July 7, 1936 -
The first ever television show was broadcast by NBC/RCA on this date. It was seen by only a few hundred people who had access to the new television.



The first ever program featured newsreel items, as well as a variety show of sorts, which included female dancers performing a water lily dance, a fashion show and some comic bits.


July 7, 1939 -
Jean Renior's prescient masterpiece, Rules of the Game (La Règle Du Jeu,) starring Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, and Paulette Dubost, premiered in Paris, France on this date (because of World War II, the film did not officially open in the US until 1950.)



The fact the movie was almost lost during the war is a myth: actually, the EXTENDED version was almost lost. The original movie shown in 1939 was 113 minutes, or maybe more. It was a relative failure, so Renoir cut it down to approx. 100 minutes and then again to 90 minutes (and even 85 minutes for theatres showing two movies). It was these 23 minutes that were thought to be lost during a WWII bombing. The situation remained unchanged until as late as 1958, when most of the original rushes were discovered and the long version reconstituted to 110 minutes, which is still the version showed nowadays. The parts that have been definitively lost correspond to two scenes for which sound exists, but not images. 


July 7, 1944 -
Universal Pictures releases the sequel to The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Carradine, in U.S. theaters on this date.



Lon Chaney Jr. often said that being made up as the Mummy character was his least favourite make-up. There is a photo of the actor on set during production of The Mummy's Ghost where he is pinching his own nose in disgust.


July 7. 1956 -
The Looney Tunes short, Stupor Duck, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



The "tall building" that Stupor Duck leaps in "a single bound" is labeled "McKimson and Assoc.," in reference to the short's director.


July 7, 1960 -
Universal Pictures releases the horror film The Brides of Dracula, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, in the UK on this date.



For the film's climax, Peter Cushing and director Terence Fisher had a difference of opinion over how the climax should be done. The actor wasn't happy about the idea of Van Helsing using powers of black magic in order to destroy Baron Meinster. Cushing explained that that went against everything his character represented.


July 7, 1977 -
The 10th film in the James Bond oeuvre, The Spy Who Loved Me, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Roger Moore in his third outing as James Bond, (Barbara Bach and Richard Kiel co-starred), was released in the UK on this date.



A representative from the Egyptian government was on-set throughout the shoot in Cairo and Giza, to make sure that the country was not portrayed in an unflattering light. For that reason, when the scaffolding collapses on Jaws, and Bond quips "Egyptian builders",  Roger Moore merely mouthed the line, dubbing it in later. It went unnoticed by the official Egyptian minder, and ironically, got a great laugh from Egyptian audiences.


July 7, 1984 -
The single Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood became Britain's all-time best-selling single (at the time) on this date.



In America, any sexual innuendo contained in this song got little attention, but it caused plenty of controversy in the UK. The song entered the UK singles chart at #77 on November 12, 1983, and was at #35 when Frankie Goes To Hollywood performed it on Top Of The Pops January 5, 1984. The song jumped to #6, and on January 11, 1984, BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read announced on air that he refused to air Relax because of the single's controversial artwork and lyrics. He didn't know it at the time, but the BBC was planning to ban the single, and do so soon afterward.


July 7, 1984 -
Prince's song from his upcoming movie Purple Rain, When Doves Cry goes to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, giving his first #1 hit, on this date.



There is no bass on this song. Prince took out the bass track at the last minute to get a different sound, though he hated to see it go. "Sometimes your brain kind of splits in two - your ego tells you one thing, and the rest of you says something else. You have to go with what you know is right," he told Bass Player magazine.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
July 7, 1456 -
Pope Callixtus III retried Joan of Arc on this date; the trial acquitted her of heresy 25 years after her death.

The pile of ashes that was Joan was unsurprisingly silent upon hearing the news.


July 7, 1865 -
Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt, convicted co-conspirators of the Lincoln assassination were hanged in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on this date.



Unfortunately, the conspirators dropped about five or six feet, which proved insufficient to break their necks. They were allowed to hang for 25 minutes to ensue the job, if not done well, was at least completed. Mary Surratt became the first woman executed by the United States.


July 7, 1928 –
Wonder no more where the expression came from -

Sliced bread was sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri, on this date.



It is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped".

Unfortunately Betty White is no longer with with us!


July 7, 1936 -
Apparently you can build a better mousetrap or improve on a screw.

John P. Thompson applied for the patent rights on a "Screw" (U.S. Patent 1,908,080) with an innovative “cruciform groove” and a matching "Screw driver" (U.S. Patent 1,908,081) in 1932. In 1933, Thompson's patents were transfers to a friend of his, Henry F. Phillips, the managing director of the Oregon Copper Company, a mining outfit in eastern Oregon.



Phillips made some improvements on the screw driver and was granted a patent (US patent 2,046,480) on this date.

The rest as they say, is history, therefore I've mentioned it. Otherwise, why would you care?


July 7. 1946 -
Our favorite, germophobe, bisexual billionaire, Howard Hughes was pulled out, barely alive, from the fiery wreckage of an XF-11 reconnaissance plane that Hughes was testing over Beverly Hills, by, William Durkin, a US Master Sergeant, who happened to be in the area, on this date.



Hughes' injuries were extensive;including a crushed collar bone, 24 broken ribs and numerous third-degree burns. Miraculously, he survives, although he is never quite the same. It's believed that Hughes' long-term addiction to codeine was a result of his convalescence from this near fatal accident.


July 7, 1947 -
The US Army sends a team of men led by Army Air Field Major Jesse Marcel to a reported crash site near Roswell, New Mexico on this date. They collected debris 75 miles northwest of Roswell, New Mexico, scattered over an area 300 miles wide and ¾ of a mile long. This 'recovery' has become the subject of intense speculation, rumor and questioning. There are widely divergent views on what actually happened and passionate debate about what evidence can be believed. The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a press release the next day, stating that personnel had recovered a crashed "flying disc" from a ranch near Roswell, sparking intense media interest, but later that day, a new press release was put out stating what was recovered was a top-secret research balloon that had crashed.



Many UFO proponents believe the wreckage was of a crashed alien craft and that the military covered up the craft's recovery. The incident has turned into a widely-recognized and referred to pop culture phenomenon, and for some, Roswell is synonymous with UFOs. It likely ranks as the most famous alleged UFO incident.



Perhaps, the Truth is out there but what about the Epstein files.


July 7, 1952 -
During her first Atlantic crossing, the SS United States crossed the finish line in the great race for the fastest Atlantic crossing ever.



To this day, no other liner has ever come close to her speed record in that maiden crossing - in a record 82 hours, 40 minutes. Unfortunately, the SS United States lies abandoned and rusting at Pier 82 in Philadelphia at the present time


July 7, 1981 -
The first solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, crossed the English Channel flying 163 miles from the Pointoise Cormeilles airport, near Paris, to the Manston Royal Air Force Base, in Kent, England, on this date.



The aircraft weighs some 217 pounds. Its 2.7 hp engine is powered exclusively by 16,128 photovoltaic cells. It was created by Dupont and a team led by Dr. Paul MacCready of Pasadena, California.


July 7, 2005 -
21 years ago on this date, four bomb explosions struck London's transport system during the morning rush. Three Underground trains were hit within half an hour, and a double-decker bus joined the toll, thirty minutes later.



A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" posted a claim of responsibility, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over fifty people were killed and more than 700 injured.


July 7, 2006 -
The Western Black Rhinocero, one of the rarest of the Black Rhinoceros species, was hunted to extinction, on this date. Its extinction can be attributed to the illegal poaching of the animal.

One group, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), continues to list it as "Critically Endangered" in the hopes that someone will discover a small isolated population somewhere. In 2011, with no sightings in a decade, the IUCN formally declared that the western black rhino had gone extinct.


Before you go - Just wanted to let you know that there are many lovely gifts one could get a person. And then there are inappropiate cards and gifts; this is one of them -

Perhaps, one should keep on top of their own weight program



And so it goes.

When words become superfluous

Today is International Kissing Day



Established in 2006 in the United Kingdom, celebrates the sign of affection and greeting that we share with the people we know. Kissing can also share 80 million microbes of bacteria. How are you supposed to celebrate the holiday? Wake up in the morning and kiss your partner good morning, then greet your friends with a quick kiss on the cheek to show them how much you appreciate them - except during a global pandemic!



And please remember to use ACME toothpaste!


July 6, 1928 -
The first true sound picture, Lights of New York, (Jolson's 1927 The Jazz Singer was basically part-silent film part-sound film) previewed in New York on this date.



Director Bryan Foy (originally a member of the famous vaudeville act, Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys,) had no previous experience directing features. He had been a gag writer and supervised a multitude of Vitaphone musical shorts shot in New York.


July 06, 1933 -
The Looney Tunes short, Buddy in Africa, directed by Ben Hardaway and starring Buddy, was released on this date.



This cartoon seldom airs on television due to heavy black stereotyping that would be deemed offensive to modern audiences.


July 6, 1933 -
MGM's Pre-Code musical comedy short, Nertsery Rhymes, featuring Ted Healy and His Stooges premiered this date. This was one of five short films the comedy team made for the studio and the first film appearance of The Three Stooges.



This is the first short featuring Curley as the third Stooge since Shemp left due to Ted Healy's abrasiveness, bad temper and heavy drinking

July 06, 1940 -
The Looney Tunes short, Porky's Baseball Broadcast, directed by Friz Frelemg and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



According to the date on the newspaper, the game is being played on August 20, 1940.


July 06, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Little Blabbermouse, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



The short was pretty risque for its time, as this was postcode, the ballerinas sing a song whose lyrics say: "if you find your Romeo sitting in a bordello..."


July 06, 1944 -
The classic film noir, Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson, opened on this date.



Edward G. Robinson's initial reluctance to sign on was largely because he had been demoted to third lead. Eventually, he realized that he was at a transitional phase of his career, and was getting paid the same as Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray for doing less work.


July 6, 1945 -
The Abbott and Costello film, The Naughty Nineties (featuring longest recorded version of their "Who's on First" routine,) directed by Jean Yarbrough was released on this date.



The laughter that can be heard faintly in the background during the "Who's on First" routine belongs to the film crew and director Jean Yarbrough. After numerous re-takes trying to eliminate it, Yarbrough just couldn't get the crew - or himself - to stop laughing during the routine, no matter how many times they heard it. So he just gave up and left the giggling in.


July 06, 1957 -
The Merrie Melodies short, What's Opera, Doc?, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (in arguably one of their most famous cartoons.) was released on this date.



After giving Elmer Fudd - and the actor who voiced him, Arthur Q. Bryan - a spectacular showcase in What's Opera, Doc?, director Chuck Jones never made another cartoon with the character.


July 6, 1964 -
The Beatles' film Hard Day's Night premieres in London, on this date.



After filming for the day on April 1, 1964, John Lennon had met his father, Alfred Lennon, for the first time in seventeen years. In the morning, Alf had walked into NEMS Enterprises (where The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein worked) accompanied by a journalist. After explaining to the receptionist that he was John's father, and when Epstein was informed, he immediately sent for a car to pick up John and the rest of The Beatles.  The meeting was unsuccessful, however; the first words John said to his father were, "What do you want?" The meeting lasted no longer than twenty minutes, and ended up with a furious John ordering his father off the premises. The encounter was kept out of newspapers by trading with the journalist for exclusive stories about the other bands Epstein managed.


July 6, 1967 -
Pink Floyd made their first appearance on the BBC music show Top Of The Pops to promote their new single See Emily Play, on this date. Like many television programs from the '60s, the videotape master was erased for re-use and the performance was assumed to be lost.



A badly damaged home video recording recovered by the British Film Institute of this show was given a public screening in London in January 2010.


July 6, 1972 -
Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright ...

David Bowie scandalized British home viewers on this date, while performing Starman on the TV show, Top Of The Pops, by singing with his arm draped around the shoulder of guitarist Mick Ronson – this was the moment Bowie became a star.



This was the last song written for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, supposedly because nobody had heard a potential single on the album. It became Bowie's first UK hit in three years. His only previous chart entry had been Space Oddity in 1969.


July 6, 1979 -
The B-52s, a New Wave band based in Athens, Georgia, released Planet Claire on this date.



The song samples the Peter Gunn Theme, which Henry Mancini wrote for the 1958 TV series. Mancini has a writer credit on Planet Claire along with every member of The B-52s.


July 6, 1988 -
MTV refused to play Neil Young's video for This Note's For You, citing a policy against videos that mention products, on this date.



The video is a parody of various ad campaigns, with lyrics mentioning Coke, Pepsi, Miller and Bud. Forced to admit they were refusing to air an excellent video to protect their sponsors, MTV went into damage control mode and agreed to air the video.



They made it into an event, debuting the video on August 21 as part of a 30-minute special about the controversy. Then they awarded it Video of the Year at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. Young showed up to accept it.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
July 6, 1415 -
Jan Hus was burned at the stake for various heresies by the Council of Constance.



Among other things, Hus had incited the citizens of Prague to protest against Antipope John XXIII and his policy of granting indulgences.

Those Antipopes are so moody.


July 6, 1535 -
Thomas More, the patron saint of politicians, was beheaded in England for treason, on this date. He got a little off the top for refusing to renounce the Catholic church in favor of King Henry VIII's Church of England.



More's sentence to death by hanging was commuted to beheading (nice to have friends in high places.) He was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1935.


July 6, 1885 -
French scientist Louis Pasteur and his colleagues inject the first of fourteen daily doses of rabbit spinal cord suspensions containing progressively inactivated rabies virus into nine year old Joseph Meister, who had been severely bitten by a rabid dog two days prior.



The immunization will be successful. This marks the beginning of the modern era of immunization.


July 6, 1919 -
The British airship R.34 landed in New York at Roosevelt Field on this date. (There's no word what was on sale at the Mall.)



It completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship. It had left Firth of Forth, Scotland, 108 hours earlier and there was no beverage cart service throughout the entire flight!


July 6, 1921 -
Several members of the Chicago White Sox went on trial for throwing the 1919 World Series, on this date. The White Sox players despised their owner Charles Comiskey. He was notoriously stingy. He would offer bonuses for performance and then take them back at the last minute. Gamblers knew that the players were frustrated and angry and offered several of them money to throw the World Series. The night before the series began, a Sox pitcher found $10,000 under the pillow in his hotel bedroom. The next day his first pitch landed between the batter's shoulder blades. The Sox lost the series to the Cincinnati Reds 5 to 3.



Many journalists knew right away that the series had been fixed. One of the accused players, one of the most tragic figures, was Shoeless Joe Jackson, who admitted to taking money, but during the series he didn't make a single error. He also hit the only home run of the series. All of the White Sox players were acquitted for lack of evidence, but the commissioner of baseball banned them from the game for the rest of their lives.

None of the gamblers was ever punished.


July 6, 1935 -
Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (born Lhamo Dondrub), the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet's Lamaistic Buddhists was born on this date.



Once again, I'm pissing off the Chinese gov't. At this rate, I believe during the oncoming cyber war, I will be given over to the Chinese, as part of the reparations.


July 6 1944 -
Fire broke out at a matinee performance of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Baily Circus, in Hartford, Connecticut, burning 168 people to death, and injuring an additional 250. The main tent had been waterproofed with wax thinned by gasoline. Said one of the Flying Wallendas, "I can never look down at a crowd again without smelling the flames and the burning flesh."



I believe with thoughts like this, even I would give up showbiz.



Among notable survivors, beside the Flying Wallendas, were Eunice Groark, first female lieutenant governor of Connecticut and Charles Nelson Reilly.


July 6, 1944 -
Lieutenant Jackie Robinson (yes that Jackie) while riding a civilian bus from Camp Hood, Texas, refused to give up his seat to a white man.



Lt. Robinson was court marshaled for refusing the order of a civilian bus driver to move to the back of the bus. He was acquitted of the charges.


July 6, 1945 -
The Joint Chiefs of Staff approve Operation OVERCAST, intended to "exploit ... chosen rare minds whose continuing intellectual productivity we wish to use," on this date. The directive authorizes the immigration of up to 350 German and Austrian specialists, primarily experts in rocketry.



Operation OVERCAST is later renamed Operation PAPERCLIP. This is how we got the 'Good Germans' to work on our space program.


July 6, 1957 -
It was 67years ago today ... it was on this date that the 16 year old John Lennon met the 15 year old Paul McCartney for the first time.



In the afternoon, John Lennon's band the Quarrymen were playing at the garden fete of St Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool and Paul McCartney heard them. McCartney impressed Lennon when he showed John and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars, something they'd been paying someone else to do for them.


Louis Armstrong, an essential influence on jazz, and pot and Swiss Kriss (herbal laxative) enthusiast,



died on this date, in 1971.

died on this date, in 1971.

I do not wish to imply that the supernal Mr Armstrong died in some freak pot/ laxative accident.



And so it goes.

Rest up. It's Sunday

Hope you all had a great time last night and all got home safely from where ever you were celebrating, especially for those of you whom got hit with that intense thunderstorm.

But remember don't try to light any unexploded fireworks you might find along the road; you don't know where it's been and you don't know what you could pick up.


July 05, 1941 -
The Looney Tunes short, Meet John Doughboy, directed by Bob Clamplett and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



This short fell into the public domain in 1969 when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts failed to renew the copyright in time


July 05, 1941 -
The Merrie Melodies short, The Heckling Hare, directed by Tex Avery and starring Bugs Bunny, was released on this date.



This is the cartoon that led to Tex Avery leaving Warner Brothers. The final gag of this cartoon originally had Bugs and Willoughby (the dog) fall off an extremely steep cliff, with Bugs telling the audience, "Hold on to your hats, folks. Here we go again!" Producer Leon Schlesinger didn't like the ending and cut it. According to Avery, Schlesinger thought the ending lines were too similar to the punchline of a then-popular dirty joke and therefore too risqué to be in a cartoon, and that the audience would believe there was a connection between the fall and the punchline. Avery was enraged and walked out of the studio. He was promptly suspended, and when MGM heard about it, animation producer Fred Quimby quickly hired him.


July 05, 1952 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Cracked Quack, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



This is the last Porky Pig short to be directed by Friz Freleng.


July 5, 1954 -
Elvis Presley recorded his first commercial song, That’s All Right (Mama) on this date. The song, which hadn't been rehearsed by Elvis, was recorded at Sun Records by Sam Phillips (who is commonly credited for discovering him.)



The following evening, Blue Moon of Kentucky was recorded as the B side. That’s All Right (Mama) was played on Memphis, Tennessee's own WHBQ radio program Red, Hot and Blue just two days after it was recorded and became Elvis' first hit.

You know what to do.


July 05, 1952 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Cracked Quack, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, was released on this date.



This is the last Porky Pig short to be directed by Friz Freleng.


July 5, 1956 -
MGM released boxer Rocky Grazaiano's film biography, Somebody Up There Likes Me, starring Paul Newman and Pier Angeli on this date.



Originally, the movie was to be filmed on-location in New York City in Technicolor with James Dean in the lead role. However, after James Dean's death, it was decided the film should be in black and white, and filmed on studio sets. Director Robert Wise felt the sets looked very fake, and only used them for night scenes, while filming the daytime scenes on-location.


July 5, 1965 -
Motown President Berry Gordy, Jr. appears on the popular TV show To Tell The Truth on this date.



The Supremes performed Baby Love and Back In My Arms Again during his segment.


July 5, 1980 -
The Randal Kleiser teen romance film, The Blue Lagoon, starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins, went into general release on this date.



Christopher Atkins did most of his nude scenes without the use of a body double. Reportedly, he had to stand nude every morning before shooting these scenes while a female makeup artist got his body ready.


July 5, 1986 -
Janet Jackson's album, Control, started a two-week run at No.1 on the Billboard charts, on this date.



The album featured the hit singles: What Have You Done for Me Lately, Nasty, Control, When I Think of You, and Let's Wait Awhile.


July 5, 1989 -
The pilot for Seinfeld, called The Seinfeld Chronicles (Good News, Bad News) aired on NBC on this date.



Julia Louis-Dreyfus did not appear in this pilot episode. In fact, she was unaware that the episode existed until it was released as part of the DVD box set in 2004.


July 5, 1989 -
The dark comedy, Weekend at Bernie's, starring, Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Catherine Mary Stewart, and Terry Kiser, opened on this date



This was considered as a vehicle for Corey Haim and Corey Feldman early in production before it was decided to make the leads older.


July 5, 1994 -
Hootie & the Blowfish released their debut album, Cracked Rear View on this date. It goes on to sell an amazing 21 million copies.



Cracked Rear View was recorded in two months in Los Angeles with producer Don Gehman, whose clients also include John Mellencamp and R.E.M.


It's the 28th anniversary of the destruction of earth by invading alien armies known as the X-ists on July 5, 1998.



Although the world did not end in 1998 (unless this is an elaborate alternate universe), 27 years later, the pipe and the slack of Bob still comfort me.


Another album from the discount bin at The ACME Record Shoppe .


Today in History:
July 5, 1794 -
Sylvester Graham was born in Suffield, Connecticut, on this date. He was ordained in 1826 as a Presbyterian minister. He was an early advocate of dietary reform in United States most notable for his emphasis on vegetarianism, and the temperance movement, as well as sexual and dietary habits.

Graham believed that a firm, crusty bread made of coarsely ground whole-wheat flour was more nutritious and healthy. He correctly argued that chemical additives in bread that make it whiter in color and more commercially appealing also made it unwholesome.

Graham was also inspired by the temperance movement and preached that a vegetarian diet was a cure for alcoholism, and, more importantly, sexual urges. The main thrust of his teachings was to curb lust. While alcohol had useful medicinal qualities, it should never be abused by social drinking. For Graham, an unhealthy diet stimulated excessive sexual desire which irritated the body and caused disease. While Graham developed a significant following known as Grahamites, known for stuffing Graham crackers in their mouths when the urge came over them (as opposed to Sodomites known for stuffing ... oh never mind.) He was also ridiculed by the media and the public for his unwavering zealotry.



According to newspaper records, many women fainted at his lectures when he aired opinions both on sexual relations and the wearing of corsets. Whether their fainting was due to the subject matter or the tight corsets they wore is still debated.


July 5, 1801 -
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, born on this date, was the first senior officer of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and full admiral of the Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his possibly apocryphal order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!".



If you have the time go out and see him, he's in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York. (I guess that's only convenient if you're near the Bronx.)

If you're not in the Bronx,

you can check out his Memorial statue in Madison Square Park in Manhattan.


July 5, 1852 -
Frederick Douglass was invited to address the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in his hometown, Rochester, New York. Whatever the expectations of his audience on that 76th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Douglass used the occasion not to celebrate the nation’s triumphs but to remind all of its continuing enslavement of millions of people.



It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?"


July 5, 1865 -
Booth led boldly with his big bass drum - (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)



The Salvation Army began with the efforts of two founders, William Booth and Catherine Booth, to bring salvation to the poor, the hungry, the homeless, and the destitute. On this date, William Booth established The Christian Mission in London, England, which would later be called as The Salvation Army in 1878. The name was changed to The Salvation Army (apparently by the request of an initial member; the Christian Mission's mission-statement originally called the organization a 'volunteer army', and the speaker felt that he wasn't strictly a 'volunteer') and a quasi-military outlook was adopted.



When William Booth became known as the General, Catherine was known as the “Mother of The Salvation Army.” William preached to the poor, and Catherine spoke to the wealthy, gaining financial support for their demanding work. She also ministered, which was a revolutionary act at the time. From the beginning it was already clearly stated in the Foundation Deed of the Christian Mission, that women had the same rights to preach as men. Together the Booths worked tirelessly to help others and brought a spiritual and practical message of rejuvenation. As William said, “The three ‘S's’ best expressed the way in which the Army administered to the 'down and outs': first, soup; second, soap; and finally, salvation".


The memorable "Spam" was rebranded on July 5, 1937, when the product, whose original name was far less memorable (Hormel Spiced Ham), began to lose market share.



The name was chosen from multiple entries in a naming contest. A Hormel official once stated that the original meaning of the name Spam was "Shoulder of Pork and hAM". According to writer Marguerite Patten in Spam – The Cookbook, the name was suggested by Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president. At one time, the official explanation may have been that the name was a syllabic abbreviation of "SPiced hAM", but on their official website, Hormel denies this and states that "SPAM is just that. SPAM." The fact that the originator was given a $100 prize for coming up with the name, however, still appears on the site's SPAM FAQs.



Other varieties of Spam include Spam Less Sodium, Spam Garlic, Spam and Cheese, Spam with Bacon (Hormel bacon), Spam Spread, Spam Lite (containing pork and chicken), Spam Golden Honey Grail, Spam Hot and Spicy (with Tabasco sauce), Spam Hickory Smoked and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey - the latter is a halal food, meaning that it is allowed under Islamic law, and is especially popular in Muslim markets.


July 5, 1942 -
Psst, do you want to know a secret?



Ian Fleming graduated from a training school for spies in Canada on this date.

But you didn't hear it from me.


July 5, 1946 -
The bikini bathing suit, was created by Louis Réard, a French automotive engineer who was running his mother's lingerie business, made its debut during a fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris on this date.



A famous nude dancer, Micheline Bernardin, modeled the two-piece outfit at the show.

Réard, hoping to capitalize on the notoriety, named his new two-piece, atom-sized swimsuit after the Bikini Atoll Island Nuclear test site.


July 5, 1958 -
The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.

Bill Watterson, cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes cartoon series, was born on this date.


July 5, 1975 -
31-year-old Arthur Ashe beat 22-year-old Jimmy Conners in four sets at Wimbledon on this date, winning the fourth set 6-4. With his win, Arthur Ashe became the first African-American to win the tennis singles title.



Ashe won 51 tournaments in his career, and the US Open home court was named after him in 1997.


July 5, 2000 -
The largest-ever airlift of wild birds was launched by conservationists on this date. Over 18,000 penguins were moved to safety after an oil slick threatened their South African breeding ground during mating season. Oil is harmful because it interferes with feathers' natural waterproofing and leaves the penguins exposed to cold and unable to swim for food for themselves and their young.



A third of the entire species of black-footed penguins (found only in Africa and classified as “threatened”) lived on the islands. Thousands of volunteers and zoo experts helped with the airlift and the cleaning of the birds.


Happy Birthday Augie Iannuzzi, wherever you are!



And so it goes.