July is usually the hottest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. July is one of the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere. The climate is mild in most of the Southern Hemisphere, with the exception of the COLD Antarctica, and the cold, rainy part of South America.
During July, when there isn't much rain, the grass often loses it's greenness. Some flowers are abundant in July, because they strive on the heat. Also, insects are abundant as well - life is striving in July (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway)!
Independence Day is observed in the United States on July 4. On that day in 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. In France, a similar holiday, Bastille Day, occurs on July 14 (although they did not adopt the Declaration of Independence.) Several other countries celebrate national independence in July. Independence Day is celebrated in Venezuela on July 5; in Argentina, July 9; in Belgium, July 21; and in Peru, July 28.
In my home, July 12th is a national holiday.
July is chock-a-block of celebrations.
The Ruby is the gem for July.
The water lily is the flower for the month of July.
Here are some of the causes recognized in July:
Baked Bean Month
Ah, the musical fruit, once again, I didn't go with the Mel Brooks clip though.
Fireworks Safety Month
July is National Tennis Month.
maybe extreme tennis isn't your thing.
Hitchhiking Month
Remember, if you're in a national park, the bears are not like Yogi, don't let them into your car.
July is National Hot Dog Month - National Hot Dog Day is July 23.
Remember don't look too closely into the bit end of your hot dog
Smart Irrigation Month
Wait a minute, maybe they didn't mean this type of irrigation.
National Hyperhidrosis Education Month
For those not in the know, it's excessive sweating.
Peach Month (There seems to be some confusion on whether National Peach Month is in July or August.
So Dammit, dare to eat the peach!!!)
Read An Almanac Month
Which is what I celebrate all the time. (One of our favorite Bunkies suggested reading, Poor H. Allen Smith's Almanac, which is a fun read, in fact.)
July 1, 1953 -
The Howard Hawk musical comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe premiered in Atlantic City on this date.
In her very last interview (10 years after making Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Marilyn Monroe recalled the lack of respect studio execs had for her, but made a point of mentioning co-star, Jane Russell: "I remember when I got the part in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.' Jane Russell, she was the brunette in it and I was the blonde. She got $200,000 for it, and I got my $500 a week, but that to me was, you know, considerable. She, by the way, was quite wonderful to me."
July 1, 1956 -
TV critic John Crosby panned the following performer's performance, calling it an 'unspeakable, untalented and vulgar young entertainer.'
Elvis Presley appeared on NBC- TV's The Steve Allen Show and performed Hound Dog, to a live Hound Dog.
July 1, 1956 -
Columbia Pictures released the classic sci-fi movie, Earth vs The Flying Saucers, featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen, on this date.
Columbia's publicity department created publicity stills using the cut-and-paste technique. The resulting stills of the flying saucers were vastly inferior to the special effects in the film itself. In fact, one of the more infamous stills shows Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor standing on top of the water in the middle of the Potomac River.
July 1, 1965 -
Paramount Pictures released the film The Sons of Katie Elder, starring John Wayne and Dean Martin on this date.
This movie marked the return of John Wayne to work after having a cancerous lung and two ribs removed just four months earlier. He insisted on doing some of his own stunts to show the public that the illness hadn't slowed him down.
July 1, 1967 -
The Association's song Windy (not to be confused with The Beach Boy's song, Wendy,) hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on this date. It was the Association's second No. 1 hit, following Cherish in 1966.
Although the writer of the song, Ruthann Friedman never revealed the identity of Windy, she said that he was another singer/songwriter, and not "a freewheeling Haight Ashbury Hippy" as often reported. Friedman said about the song: "I have heard so many different permutations of what the song was about. Here is the TRUTH. I was sitting on my bed - the apartment on the first floor of David Crosby's house in Beverly Glenn - and there was a fellow who came to visit and was sitting there staring at me as if he was going to suck the life out of me. So I started to fantasize about what kind of a guy I would like to be with, and that was Windy - a guy (fantasy). The song took about 20 minutes to write."
July 1, 1968 -
The Band releasd their debut album, Music from Big Pink, on this date.
The album title came from the big pink house in upstate New York they rented and used as a recording studio. The Band was Bob Dylan's backup band, and they moved there to be near Dylan while he was recovering from a motorcycle accident. Dylan offered to help with this album, but The Band refused because they wanted to make a mark on their own.
July 1, 1982 -
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five release the early rap classic The Message, on this date. It's the first hip-hop hit with lyrics about struggle in the inner city.
Unlike many early hip-hop hits, like Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight or Kurtis Blow's The Breaks, which turned on thumping, up-tempo disco tracks, composers Ed "Duke Bootee" Fletcher and MC Melle Mel based The Message on a slow groove and a reverberated synthesizer hook. Fletcher admitted later, he'd been moved to write something in the spirit of Zapp's More Bounce To The Ounce or Tom Tom Club's Genius Of Love, both of which utilized synthesizer hooks over an amped-up funk bass.
Word of the Day
Today in History:
As always, your friends from the ACME Corp would like to salute our friends in Canada on Canada Day.
Canada is the second-largest nation in the world. It is not part of the United States – (it’s the U.S.‘ nicer sister, not dissing Mexico, the U.S.’ feistier sister.)
In the 157 years of their nationhood, Canadians have given the world paint rollers, snowmobiles, electric organs, green ink, toboggans, snow blowers, plexiglass, and the push-up bra.
Canada has about the same population as California, but fewer Scientologists.
Canada’s leading export to the United States is Canadians. Dan Aykroyd, who happens to have been born exactly 72 years ago today, is one.
Pamela Anderson is another, and was also born today, although she’s younger (most of her is north of 40, but some parts are significantly younger). Not to give away here age but she was born on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Canadian nation. Local news reports referred to her as a “Centennial Baby“, at the time.
Other Canadian exports: Bryan Adams, Paul Anka, Alexander Graham Bell, Raymond Burr (of nipple rouge fame), John Candy, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Michael J. Fox, John Kenneth Galbraith, Lorne Greene, Peter Jennings, kd lang, Marshall McLuhan, Joni Mitchell (I believe that she’s doing better), Alice Munro, Catherine O’Hara,
Mike Myers, Oscar Peterson, William Shatner, Alex Trebek, Shania Twain, Neil Young and of course everyone’s favorite Canadian Zen Buddhist, the late Leonard Cohen.
So bunkies remember, when your neighbor has a party, you don't ask why, you pick up a case of Labatt Blue's and a couple of rib-eye steaks.
July 1, 1200 -
Another bar bet winner - Sunglasses were invented in China on this date. Ancient documents describe the use of flat panes of smoky quartz sunglasses by judges in ancient Chinese courts to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses.
July 1, 1874 -
After many delays and set-backs, the Philadelphia Zoo, the first zoological gardens in the United States opens to the public on the grounds of Solitude, the last estate in the area owned by the Penn family, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It was originally chartered by the Pennsylvania state legislature on March 21, 1859 as the Zoological Society of Philadelphia whose core purpose is to oversee “the purchase and collection of living wild and other animals” and “for the instruction and recreation of the people.”
July 1, 1893 -
President Grover Cleveland underwent a secret oral surgery aboard the yacht Oneida for a cancerous growth in his upper palate on this date.
The cancer operation remained a secret until July 1, 1917, when the doctor who performed the operation revealed the story.
July 1, 1912 -
Drama critic Harriet Quimby took a passenger up in her new Blériot monoplane from Boston to fly over Dorchester Bay at the Harvard-Boston Aviation Meet. As she descended for landing, the plane went into a dive and, without seat belts, she and her passenger were thrown out into the shallow water of the bay, where they struck the muddy bottom and were crushed to death.
Quimby was the first American to receive a pilot's license (1911) and was the first woman to solo across the English Channel (1912).
Kids, put on the damn seat belt.
July 1, 1961 -
The Honorable Diana Spencer, a direct descendant of Charles II, was born on this date. She married the Prince of Wales, Charles, in 1981 while more than 750 million people watched. Diana was 20 and her husband was 33 years old at the time.
She was killed in a car crash in 1997 when she was just 36 years old. Her televised funeral gathered 2.5 billion viewers.
Such are the vagaries of life.
July 1, 1979 -
The Sony Corporation revolutionized the music industry on this date when the first Walkman was sold. The Walkman, the first portable personal audio cassette player, allowed people to take music with them anywhere.
The first sale - a blue-and-silver model (TPS-L2), was made in Japan.
Bonus points - in the U.S., it was first marketed as the Soundabout.
And so it goes.
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