So, you think it's been a tad hot lately?

The heatwave seems to have been finally broken but here's a little fact that should cool you right down:   The Earth's record lowest temperature was recorded.on this date in 1983. Scientists at the Vostok Station in Antarctica measured the temperature at -128.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-89.2 degrees Celsius).


Are you up for an adventure?  Heineken USA sponsored a great little game at JFK airport recently - Departure Roulette.  Hit the red button and see where Heineken is going to send you.



I guess it could be fun - unless you had to go to Detroit.


It's National Junk Food Day - Eat whatever the hell you want.



It doesn't really matter what you eat - at some point, you'll be dead.


July 21, 1951 -
Robin McLaurim Williams, actor and comedian, was born on this date (or was it 1952.)



Robin is set to return to network tv this fall with the tv series The Crazy Ones co-starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.


Today in History:
July 21, 365 -
Earthquake destroys the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria, causing the sea to recede and then re-enter the city with tremendous force. Many of those not killed by collapsing buildings were drowned. Fifty thousand die.

It was not a good day in Ole Alexandria


July 21, 1730 -
Holland established the death penalty for acts of sodomy on this date.

I've often said, this is what comes from trolls and the lack of proper lubricant.


July 21, 1899 -
Ernest Hemingway was born on this date. He was young at the time of his birth. It was fine to be young.

He drove an ambulance in the first world war. It wasn't called the first world war then. It was called the war. It was one of those times when people shot at each other. When people were shooting at each other they didn't have time to worry about what to call it. It was only afterwards that they needed to call it something. "What should we call that time when we were shooting at each other?"

"Let's call it the Great War."

"Good."

It was a good ambulance. It was long and white. It had flashing lights and a siren that went "wee-ooo, wee-ooo." He liked that.



After the war he lived in Paris. A lot of Americans lived in Paris after the war, but only a few of them had ever driven an ambulance. In the 30s he went to Spain. He was a journalist. They were having a war.

They called it the Spanish Civil War. It was started by an Evil Stoogie named General Franco on July 18, 1936. It was a test drive to see whether or not they should have World War II. They had fascists and socialists and anarchists. They even drank sangria. People shot at each other.



(General Franco finally gave up power on July 19, 1974, because he was sick. Maybe he had always been sick. It is sometimes hard to understand sickness. Maybe we are not meant to understand it.)

Later Hemingway lived in Cuba. He liked to fish. He liked to drink. He thought all men should fish. He wrote stories about fishing. Finally he blew his brains out at his home in Idaho. It was July 2, 1961.

He had written a lot of books but now he was dead.


July 21, 1919 -
The Wingfoot Air Express (owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company) caught fire and crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, 13 people were killed. This was the worst Airship disaster in the USA until the Zeppelin Airship, Hindenburg crashed in 1937.

Of the 13 who died: one was a crew member, two were passengers whilst the remaining 10 were bank employees in the building below.


July 21, 1925 -
The so-called "Monkey Trial" ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.



Scopes was found guilty and was fined $100. The conviction was later overturned on the technicality that the judge had set the fine rather than the jury.


July 21, 1972 -
In Milwaukee, George Carlin was arrested for obscenity and disorderly conduct for performing his "Seven Dirty Words" routine on a Summerfest stage in Milwaukee. (Tits is still the funniest.)



He was released after posting $150 bail.


July 21, 1981 -
Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the shooting of John Lennon. His only response is to read a passage from Catcher in the Rye.

I can only wish, in between bouts of forced sodomy with irate Beatle fans (without the proper lubricant,) Mr. Chapman has had a chance to rethink his crime.



And so it goes.


I'm not using the wayback machine at the moment - why not take a trip back to 1984 with this appearance by the Talking Heads in a BBC documentary?