Reality: What a concept!

Rip Robin Williams (1951 - 2014)




August 12, 1927 -
The only silent film to win an Oscar for best picture, Wings, opened in NYC on this date.



Was considered lost for many years until it was discovered languishing in the Cinematheque Francaise film archive in Paris. (Bonus trivia: The film contains the first screen kiss between two men.)


August 12, 1939 -
The Bugs Bunny everyone knows takes another step forward when Hare-um Scare-um premiered on this date.



It was during production of this cartoon that Bugs Bunny's name originated. Designer Charles Thorson redesigned the rabbit character and labeled the model sheet "Bug's Bunny," after co-director Ben Hardaway's nickname, Bugs.


August 12, 1939 -
Considered one of the highlights of the Golden Age of Hollywood, The Wizard of Oz premiered on this date in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.



While filming the scene where Dorothy slaps the Cowardly Lion, Judy Garland got the giggles so badly that they had to take a break in shooting. The director, Victor Fleming, took her aside, gave her a quick lecture, and then slapped her. She returned to the set and filmed the scene in one take. Fleming was afraid that this would damage his relationship with Garland and even told a co-worker he wished that someone would hit him because of how bad he felt, but Garland overheard the conversation and gave him a kiss on the nose to show that she bore no hard feelings. In the film she can still be seen to be stifling a smile between the lines "Well, of course not" and "My, what a fuss you're making".


August 12, 1941 -
MGM premiered their version of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring Spencer Tracy, in NYC on this date.



The film was a notorious critical failure when released, although it eventually made a profit of $2 million around the world. Spencer Tracy later said it was by far the least favorite of the films he had starred in, and that his performance was "awful". The New York Times famously described it as "not so much evil incarnate as ham rampant ... more ludicrous than dreadful."


August 12, 1988 -
Universal Pictures released Martin Scorsese's controversial film The Last Temptation of Christ, starting Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel and Barbara Hershey on this date.



Director Martin Scorsese first read Nikos Kazantzakis's novel "The Last Temptation of Christ" after being given a copy by actress Barbara Hershey while he was directing her in Boxcar Bertha, his second feature film, in 1972. When she read in a trade paper many years later that Scorsese was finally getting the opportunity to direct a film adaptation, she begged him to let her play the role of Mary Magdalene. To make sure she didn't feel that he was giving her the part as a favor for having recommended the book, he made her audition.


Today in History:
August 12, 30 BC (Given how the Romans were keeping track of time at this point and were drinking a huge amount of wine from lead cups - this date is fluid at best.)-

O, break! O, break!



Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, former wife of Julius Caesar and mistress of Marc Anthony, committed suicide by means of the unusual practice of nursing a venomous snakebite.


August 12, 3 AD -
A planetary conjunction (possibly Venus-Jupiter) was visible from the Earth with the naked eye on this date.



Many astronomers will later speculate that this may have been the mentioned Star of Bethlehem in the New Testament of the Bible.


August 12, 1676 -
Wampanoag chieftain Metacom (or Philip) was killed in a swamp near Mount Hope, PA on this date. Thus ends King Philip's War, the first war between Indians and European settlers.

Unfortunately, the Indians (or Native American, for the PC of you in the crowd) have been on the losing side, for the most part, ever since.


August 12, 1813 -
Austria declared war against Napoleon on this date.

An outraged England rushed to France's defense by declaring war against Austria

exactly 101 years later when England official entered World War I on August 12, 1914.


August 12, 1865 -
After studying Louis Pasteur’s germ theory of disease which suggests that infections are caused by bacteria, Dr. Joseph Lister becomes the first surgeon to use  during an operation.



Lister introduces Phenol (carbolic acid) as a form of disinfectant into his surgery. His heightened standards of hygiene will reduce his surgical death rate from 45% to 15%.


August 12, 1869 -
In San Francisco on this date, Emperor Norton I issued a stern edict outlawing both the Republican and Democratic political parties.

Violators face a prison term of five-to-ten years. Oh, for that wise man today!

Not familiar with Norton I ? Read the amazing tale of Emperor Joshua Norton.  (Also, please check out the online petition to rename the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge after our beloved majesty, Emperor Norton.)


August 12, 1898 -
The Spanish-American war ended on this date. Spain released Cuba and gave Puerto Rico to the United States. Americans rushed to Puerto Rico in gleeful droves, only to discover that everyone spoke Spanish and there were no luaus or volcanoes.

Their disappointment was profound.



They took Hawaii as a consolation prize (Hawaii was formally annexed by the U.S. - officially stolen) later that same day.


August 12, 1948 -
Russian schoolteacher Oksana Kasenkina was injured when she jumps out the window of the Soviet Consulate in New York City on this date.



Soviet officials claim they had rescued her from "White Russian" kidnappers, but Kosenkina says she was trying to escape from the Soviets. The US later expels the consul general and the Soviets closed their consulate.


August 12, 1953 -
In Siberia, the Soviet Union successfully tests its first thermonuclear device, based on Andrei Sakharov's fission-fusion "Layer Cake" design: alternating layers of uranium and hydrogen fuel sandwiched together and wrapped around a conventional Atomic Bomb. The fission explosion compresses the hydrogen, causing a fusion reaction.



Hopefully this is no longer a state secret or boy am I in deep trouble.



And so it goes.


And on a personal note:
I'd like to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday only if she could tear herself away, long enough for her to answer her cellphone. 

I'd have to tear her hands from the slot machines of Empire City Casino.

Struck from a great height

The Dog Dogs of summer are officially over



Mark your calendar for the 'Honey Badger days of Fall'


It's time once again for your favorite series: The Lives of the Neurotics before Psychopharmaceutical:
It's the Feast of St. Clare today. St. Clare of Assisi (or Clair or Claire - spelling wasn't a major issue back then. Living past 29 years old was considered miraculous) didn't want to marry the rich young man her parents picked out for her and ran away from home to become the biggest Francis of Assisi groupie in the world. St Clare was too ill to attend Mass, she had reportedly been able to see and hear it on the wall of her room (she had phenomenal reception for the Middle Ages.) This led to her becoming the patron saint of television.

But I'm not sure if you pray to her for quality TV or to deliver you from all the bad TV out there. I'm sure we should pray never to see another Kardashian on TV again.

Management has reminded me that this is not a blog about the lives of the saints, so I'll remember the lives of the saints quietly to myself for awhile. In that vein, I will remind everyone that today is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Green Ingersoll, known as the greatest orator of the 19th century.  He was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic".


August 11, 1962 -
Booker T & the MG's released Green Onions on Stax, on this date.



The group brought this to the Memphis radio station WLOK the day after they recorded it. It got huge response and went on to be a national hit. Upon the release of the single, DJs ignored the A-side Behave Yourself and played Green Onions instead. Subsequent singles were pressed with Green Onions as the A-side.


Augst 11, 1972 -
Mott the Hoople's Glam Rock Anthem, All The Young Dudes was released in the UK on this date.



The song was written and produced by David Bowie. Bowie intended this song for his The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars concept album. But David was a big fan of Mott the Hoople and heard that they might be breaking up due to poor album sales. He offered them the song, knowing it was going to be a hit.


Today in History:
August 11, 3114 BC
The Mayan Long Count Calendar started on this date. A second long cycle of the calendar ended on December 21, 2012

We are currently operating in the third long cycle.


August 11, 1772 -
The summit of Papandayan volcano in West Java suddenly implodes, unleashing a catastrophic debris avalanche which blankets an area of 250 square km. Tumbling boulders flatten 40 villages and their 2,957 inhabitants.

Alright, let go over this one more time: virgins, island gods, volcano pit.  I don't think I need to say any more on the topic.


August 11, 1919 -
Andrew Carnegie, industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of Carnegie Steel, died on this date. Carnegie became a philanthropist in later life, giving away more than $350 million and building 2,509 public libraries. His value in 1999 dollars totaled $100 billion. The man who dies rich dies disgraced, was the motto of Andrew Carnegie.



Carnegie‘s last years were spent giving away as much money as possible in an effort to shed his image as one of the era‘s leading “robber barons.” Among other bequests to good causes, he established the Carnegie Institute of Technology and hundreds of Carnegie Free Public Libraries across the U.S


August 11, 1929 -
Booze hound and notorious whore monger Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run at Cleveland's League Park on this date, becoming the first baseball player to do so.

He ended his career in 1935 with 714 career home runs - still the third best in Major League Baseball history.


August 11, 1937 -
On this day, expatriate Edith Wharton died in France, and ex-expatriate Ernest Hemingway didn't, in New York. Edith Wharton died in France, in the quiet, Old World style she liked to live and describe.

Also on this day, and in New World contrast, ex-expatriate Ernest Hemingway bared his hairy chest to Max Eastman's unhairy one, demanded "What do you mean accusing me of impotence?" and then wrestled Eastman to the floor.

I'm not accusing Hemingway of anything, it's just Hemingway liked to strip to the waist, grease his body and wrestle smaller, slender men to the ground - sweating and grunting, stiffening, then becoming quite still.



That's perfectly normal.


August 11, 1942 -
Actress Hedy Lamarr (that's Hedy not Hedley) and composer George Antheil received a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that will later became the basis for the technology behind Wi-Fi and wireless telephones.



In 1997, she and George Anthiel were honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award. And later in the same year, Lamarr became the first female recipient of the BULBIE™ Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, a prestigious lifetime accomplishment prize for inventors that is dubbed "The Oscar™ of Inventing."  It's rumored that when told of her being given these awards, Miss Lamarr told her son, "It's about time."


August 11, 1956 -
Jackson Pollock famous abstract artist and public urinator, died in an alcohol-related, single car crash on this date at the age of only 44, killing one of his passengers, Edith Metzger.



The other passenger, his girlfriend Ruth Kligman, survived.


August 11, 1965 -
California Highway Patrolman, Lee W. Minikus (who was white) pulled over and arrested Marquette Frye (who was black), for suspicion of driving while intoxicated on this date.  This event led to the "Watt's Riots" in Los Angeles, California.  The riots were the worst in the history of Los Angeles until the riots in 1992.



Riots began as spectators watched the arrest; violence spread over a 50-mile area and lasted six days, causing more than $40 million dollars in damage. 34 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.


August 11, 1984 -
Not realizing that his weekly radio address is already on the air, President Ronald Reagan quipped into his live microphone: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."



It wasn't supposed to go out, but did. The Kremlin was not pleased . Oh that rascally dead President, such a kidder.



And so it goes.


There are 136 days until Christmas



Secure your position on the naughty/ nice list accordingly

Everybody's a comedian

Today is the Feast of San Lorenzo.  St. Lawrence was said to have been martyred on an iron outdoor stove on this date in 258 AD. During his torture, Lawrence cried out "I' m already done on this side and it is time to turn me over."

He is, of course, the patron saint of comedians and chefs.



Interesting aside: the Perseid Meteor Shower has been known for years as the Tears of Saint Lawrence because they usually occur every year in mid-August, on or near Saint Lawrence's feast day. This year the event peaks the morning of August 13 around 1 a.m.



Don't forget to catch the Supermoon tonight!


August 10, 1950 -
Billy Wilder's caustic, black-hearted masterpiece, Sunset Boulevard premiered in New York City, on this date.



Upon seeing the film at a star-studded preview screening at Paramount, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer screamed at director Billy Wilder that he should be tarred, feathered and horse-whipped for bringing his profession into such disrepute. Wilder's response was a terse, "Fuck you."


August 10, 1960 -
The Rat Pack's summer vacation home movie, Ocean's Eleven, premiered on this date.



As Peter Lawford, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra attempt to disguise themselves by blackening their faces in the garbage truck near the end of the movie, Sammy Davis Jr. says, "I knew this color would come in handy some day." Martin and Sinatra teased Davis about that scene for as long as they knew each other thereafter.


August 10, 1962 -
While not the worst film ever made - it is the sickest. The Brain That Wouldn't Die, premiered on this date. (Watch it now.)



At least a few of Virginia Leith's lines were dubbed by Doris Brent, who played a nurse in this film. Reportedly Leith hated the film so much she refused to return for post-production.



August 10, 1968 -
The Doors topped the charts with Hello, I Love You on this date.



Many fans considered this a sellout to Top 40 music. It was very radio-friendly, and not as deep or offensive as previous Doors songs.  There is a vague rumor on the internet that the Kinks successfully sued the Doors for copyright infringement over their song All Day and All of the Night.



As far as I can actually tell, while discussions concerning a possible lawsuit occurred, nothing came of them.


Today in History:
August 10, 1628 -
The 228-foot Swedish warship Vasa, built by Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus to assist in his war with Poland, capsized and sank in Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage because the ballast was insufficient to counterweight the 64 guns. Vasa was the most expensive and richly ornamented warship of its time in Sweden. Twenty-five men and women drowned when the ship sank.



The ship remains submerged until it is raised in 1961 to become a tourist attraction.

If you think I'm going to make a joke about the Polish Navy here, the joke's on you.


August 10, 1921 -
Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello, New Brunswick on this date. Mrs. Roosevelt acted as her partially paralyzed husband’s eyes and ears by traveling, observing and reporting her observations to him.



As First Lady, an author and newspaper columnist and, later, a delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt labored tirelessly for the poor and disadvantaged. In the words of historian John Kenneth Galbraith, she showed "more than any other person of her time, that an American could truly be a world citizen."


August 10, 1966 -
Last words of James French, sent to the Electric Chair by the state of Oklahoma: "How about this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? FRENCH FRIES."

There is nothing quite like a dying man who gives good copy.


August 10, 1969 -
Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were brutally murdered in their Los Feliz, California home by followers of Charles Manson.



Some of the victims' blood was used to smear the words 'HELTER SKELTER' on the refrigerator door.


August 10, 1977 -
Postal employee and avid dog listener David Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, N.Y. on this date, accused of being the "Son of Sam" gunman responsible for six random slayings and seven woundings. Berkowitz is serving six consecutive terms of 25 years to life in state prison.

So much for the rantings of the neighbor's dog.


August 10, 1996 -
Heated by the sun, power lines begin to sag in Oregon. Somehow this triggers a series of failures which cascades throughout the Western states. Four million people lost electrical service in Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana and Texas.

It was probably the worst power outage in US history.



And so it goes.

It's all Charles Darwin's fault

Here's a wonderful video in the TED-ED series explaining the problem with the overuse of Antibiotics in the fight against  Bacteria.



So sometimes it is, the more you know.


Here's a head's up: Don't forget to check out the Supermoon tomorrow night

The August Supermoon will shine this weekend, and when full it promises to be the biggest of 2014.


August 9, 1930 -
A forerunner of the cartoon character Betty Boop made her debut in Max Fleischer's animated short Dizzy Dishes on this date.



In later films she loses the dog ears and becomes the familiar human character we know today.


August 9, 1944 -
Another brilliant war-time effort by Preston Sturges, Hail the Conquering Hero, once again starring Eddie Bracken premiered on this date.



As the marines are leaving the Oakridge station, a billboard behind them is advertising The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, the other war-time film by Preston Sturges.


Today in History:
August 9,  378 (Or what ever the hell the date was on the calendar they were using at the time) -
Valens, the Roman Emperor of the East, led an army of 30,000 men against a horde of Visigoths outside Adrianople, on this date.



The Romans got off to a good start, but soon the Visigoth cavalry returned from its foraging mission. The Roman infantry was no match for the Visigoths on horseback and two-thirds of the Romans, including the Emperor, were slaughtered.

Military strategists were at last compelled to acknowledge that guys on horses were stronger than guys who weren't on horses. This was the most significant development in western warfare since the discovery of the big stick and European warfare was permanently and irreversibly altered in favor of guys on horses.


Construction began on the Tower of Pisa began on this date in 1173.  Unfortunately it was still the Dark Age and without the proper illumination, tower started to lean almost immediately after construction began because of an improperly laid foundation (this was possibly the only thing improperly laid in Italy.)



Construction was delayed almost 200 years because the Pisans were almost constantly working on other projects like inventing Marinara sauce and The Renaissance.


August 9, 1492 -
Rodrigo Borgia allowed the Cardinals of Rome to inspect his genitals (a practice subsequently bequeathed to Bishops). Only after he had proved to the Cardinals' satisfaction that he was, indeed, a man, was Mr Borgia permitted to be Pope Alexander VI.



As the historian Orson Welles observed in The Third Man: "In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love -- they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."



Rodrigo Borgia had earned the papacy the old-fashioned way: through nepotism and bribery. Once he had it, he turned it into a family institution. His two legitimate children, Cesare and Lucrezia, were alternately married off to cement alliances, divorced or widowed to initiate hostilities, or dispatched with poison to conduct diplomacy.

When out of town on business, he left Lucrezia in charge of the Papacy. In gratitude, she bore him a son.



(Many scholars repudiate this charge, insisting that the Pope could not possibly have fathered his own daughter's child. They assign paternity to Lucrezia's brother Cesare.)

By 1503, Alexander VI had expanded Rome's powers considerably and was therefore poisoned. Three years later Cesare died while fighting as a mercenary in Spain. Lucrezia died in 1514 from complications of pregnancy. That was more or less the end of the Borgias, and the Papacy has become less and less interesting with the passing of every year since.


August 9, 1945 -
Just three days after Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb (a 22 kiloton Atomic Bomb) called Fat Man was dropped to Nagasaki, population 270,000.  Though the amount of energy generated by the bomb was significantly larger than that of the Little Boy, the damage to the city was slighter than that inflicted upon Hiroshima due to the geographic structure of the city.



The blast kills 24,000 immediately, but another 46,000 perish from radiation-related illnesses over the next four months.

Interesting side note that has surfaced. It was little known that at least 12 American prisoners of war (and as many as 23 Americans) lost their lives by the Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima.  In Nagasaki, nine British and Dutch POWs were killed by the Atomic Bomb.


August 9, 1969 -
Charles Manson and his band of "children" committed the first in a series of grisly murders high in the Hollywood Hills on this date. The unfortunate victims, including Sharon Tate, were probably not the intended target of this crime.



Rumors have it that Charlie was looking for record producer Terry Melchar (Doris Day's son) who turned him down for a record contract. Melchar was away and rented the house to Tate at the time.


August 9, 1974 -
After President Richard M. Nixon resigned from office, his successor, Gerald Ford, assures the American people that their "long national nightmare is over."



Ford was the only person to hold the office of US Vice President and US President without being elected to either office.  He also served on the Warren Commission.

Coincidence, you decide!


August 9, 1995 -
Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack at Serenity Knolls near Novato, California, on this date.



He had checked himself into the drug rehab center a few days prior, in hopes of kicking his longstanding heroin habit.



And so it goes.

Many million dreams away

August 8, 1953 -
The song Vaya con Dios recorded by Les Paul and his wife Mary Ford reached number one on the Billboard magazine Best Seller Chart and stayed there for 9 weeks.




August 8, 1960 -
Brian Hyland's song Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini reached number one on the pop charts.



For most of his adult life, a man named Paul Van Valkenburgh claimed that he wrote this under the name Paul Vance, and that he sold the rights to it when he was young. Even his wife, who he was married to for 40 years, believed him. When Valkenburgh died in 2006, his obituary reported that he wrote the song, and relatives of the real Paul Vance received condolences, only to find out that Vance was very much alive and had the royalty checks to prove that he really did write the song. According to Vance, he has no ill feelings toward Valkenburgh, and claims that the song has made him several million dollars.


August 8, 1963 -
John Sturges' adventure film, The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, premiered on this date.



The film was shot entirely on location in Europe, with a complete camp resembling Stalag Luft III built near Munich, Germany. Exteriors for the escape sequences were shot in the Rhine Country and areas near the North Sea, and Steve McQueen's motorcycle scenes were filmed in Fussen (on the Austrian border) and the Alps. All interiors were filmed at the Bavaria Studio in Munich.


August 8, 1988 -
Believe it or not, NYC hits a record high of 88 on 8/8/88.




August 8, 1988 -
Wrigley Field in Chicago was the last Major League Baseball venue to begin holding night games when they turned on its lights for the first time on this date.



The first major league night game happened in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1935 when US President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously switched on the lights.


Today in History:
August 8, 1908 -
Wilbur Wright made his first public flight demonstration for the first time to a very skeptical audience in Le Mans, France, at the Hunaudières horse racing track, on this date.



Wilber's ability to effortlessly make banking turns and fly a circle amazed and stunned onlookers, including several pioneer French aviators, among them Louis Bleriot. 

August 8 1925 -
40,000 robed Klansmen march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. -- a bit less than 1% of total Klan membership (and the Klan membership included about 15% of the nation's eligible voting population.)



Very scary, boys and girls, very scary.


August 8, 1929 -
Taking off from Lakehurst N.J., heading east, the German airship Graf Zeppelin began its 21-day, around-the-world flight.



The flight was partly sponsored by American newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who paid for about half the cost of the flight in return for exclusive media rights in the United States and Britain.


August 8, 1942 -
Eight Germans secretly entered the US during World War II with plans to attack the US civil infrastructure. They were captured due to information provided by two of the Nazis, George Dasch and Ernest Burger.



Dasch and Burger were imprisoned and the other six Nazi saboteurs were executed on this date. In 1948, US President Harry S. Truman released Dasch and Burger, allowing them to return to Germany.  (Try to get that image you have in your mind of J Edgar out of your mind.)


August 8, 1945 -
Wanting to help their allies, USSR declared war against Japan in WW II on this date, after confirming the situation in Hiroshima. Soviet troops launched a massive surprise attack (August Storm) against Japanese occupation forces in northern China and Korea. Within days, Tokyo's million-man army in the region had collapsed in one of the greatest military defeats in history.



A large nuclear explosion is a great way to clear one's mind.


August 8, 1963 -
By tampering with railway signals, a 15 man team halts the Glasgow-to-Euston Royal Mail train in Buckinghamshire. The criminals make off with 120 sacks containing £2.6 million in cash. The incident goes down in history as "The Great Train Robbery."



For some bizarre reason, Phil Collins stars in a movie based on one of the men involved in the robbery.


August 8, 1968 -
The first successful heart transplant in Japan occurred when Dr. Jurō Wada removed a beating heart from a teenager whom he had declared brain dead, and transplanted it into another teenager with congenital heart disease on this date.



The boy who received the transplant lived for another three months and Dr. Wada was arrested for murder. His trial dragged on for six years before it was finally dropped.


August 8, 1968 -
Someone should have said "beware the 8th of August" to Nixon!

Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach. Later that day, Nixon chose Maryland Gov. Spiro T. Agnew to be his running mate.


August 8, 1973 -
VP Spiro T Agnew branded as "damned lies" reports he took kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland on this date. 

He vowed not to resign (Right!)


August 8, 1974 -
Richard M. Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on this date, the first American president in history to do so (actually Millard Fillmore had resigned from office several times but as no one in the country took any notice of him, he had no one to turn his resignation in to, so he remained in office). His policies as president had been rather liberal. He began arms control agreements with the Soviet Union. He eased relations with China. He established the Environmental Protection Agency, expanded Social Security and state welfare programs and tried to create a national health insurance system. He was also a chronic alcoholic, suffered from a raging persecution complex and had overly active sweat glands



He won re-election in 1972 in a landslide, but in that same year a group of men broke into the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, and in that break-in were the seeds of his downfall.


August 8, 1987 -
Lynne Cox became the first person to swim across the icy-cold waters of the Bering Strait from Alaska to the Soviet Union.



Her accomplishment eased Cold War tensions as Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev both praised her success.



And so it goes.

Happy Sea Serpent Day (especially to all you sea sick ones.)

The Smithsonian Institution recognizes today as Sea Serpent Day.  I, for one, will break out the hats and hooters to celebrate.



Let us remember that in 1752, Erik Pontoppidan, the Bishop of Bergen, wrote a published report of seeing the Kraken, a horned creature so large that when it surfaced, most of its body remained underwater.







(We should always celebrate Cecil the seasick sea serpent)

Get out there and go to the beach and celebrate Sea Serpent Day!


August 7, 1971 -
The Bee Gees early hit How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? topped the charts on this date. It became their first US #1 hit.



Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees wrote this in the style of Andy Williams, who was a popular recording artist and television presenter at the time. It became the first #1 US hit for the group, topping the chart for four weeks.


August 7, 1948 -
... Five dollars for the best duck? You mean I came all the way from Dubuque for a measly five bucks? Five thousand dollars for the best rooster? Why, they can't do this to me! It's uncostitutional! It's... it's... Brother, could I use five thousand smackereenees. Hey, there must be a way. There must be.



Chuck Jones guided Daffy Duck's personality change from a "screwball" character, to a greedy, self-centered one in You Were Never Duckier which premiered on this date.


August 7, 1953 -
The best musical of the Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals (unless you consider Singing in the Rain the best), The Band Wagon, premiered on this date.



The movie reflects two real-life situations. In the movie Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) is washed up. In real life Astaire's career was at a standstill. In the movie much is made of whether Cyd Charisse's character is too tall for Fred's character. This was also true in real life. Whenever Cyd and Fred are together she is in shoes with low heels.


August 7, 1963 -
American International released the first "beach-blanket" film, Beach Party, on this date.



Rap artist Big Daddy Kane got his name from the character Vincent Price played in this film.


Today in History:
August 7, 1782 -
... the road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is is thus open to all.

General George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and non commissioned officers.

Washington authorized the award of the Purple Heart for soldiers wounded in combat.


August 7, 1876 -
The German spy Mata Hari, a Dutchwoman named Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, was born on this day. She was executed by the French on October 14, 1917. (I seem to bring her up a lot.)



There was not much actual evidence of espionage, but she had been seen naked with German officers and the French found this distasteful enough to kill her.


August 7, 1882 -
Ellison Hatfield was stabbed 26 times and shot in the back by Tolbert McCoy and two of his brothers. Two days later, the Hatfield clan captures the three McCoys and executes them by firing squad.



Thus begins generations of bloodshed between the families, ultimately causing about 100 casualties.


Louis Leakey was also born on this day, in 1903. Mr Leakey was a prominent British archeologist who discovered that either mankind was much older than had previously been supposed or that mankind had not actually been mankind but some other kind instead.

The archeological world was convulsed for decades by arguments over what to name this strange new species and the struggle drove Mr Leakey to become a spy for the British government and cheat on his wife (though seldom simultaneously).


August 7, 1953 -
If only Nixon had given Eisenhower that rum toddy today and tucked him in for his afternoon nap, the 2004 election might have been different.



President Eisenhower signed legislation retroactively granting Ohio official statehood for the previous 150 years. In 1803, apparently everyone just assumed that Ohio was a state, even though Congress had never passed legislation to that effect. The nation remained blissfully unaware of this fact until nosy historians began snooping around in preparation for Ohio's sesquicentennial.


August 7, 1955 -
The first transistor radio, the model TR-55, was sold in Japan on this date.  The first transistor radio in the US, the Regency TR1, was put on the market on October 18, 1954.

Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the forerunner of the later Sony, launched the line of radios.


August 7, 1957 -
It was 1954 and the world's most beloved comedy duo were getting ready for a comeback.  Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were enjoying a resurgence of popularity in the U.S. thanks to constant showings of their old movies on television. The duo were on the verge of starring in a series of TV comedy specials when Stan Laurel suffered a stroke in April of 1955.  While recuperating, Oliver Hardy suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors ordered Hardy bed rest and a diet regime. Hardy lost an amazing 150 lbs and Laurel completely recovered from his stroke.



Unfortunately, on September 12, 1956, Oliver Hardy suffered a debilitating stroke. while he survived, he was left completely disabled. His wife cared for him constantly (at home) while Laurel visited often. Oliver Hardy succumbed to his stroke on this date. Upon hearing the news of his death, Stan Laurel said, "What’s there to say? It’s shocking of course. Ollie was like a brother."


August 7, 1959 -
Explorer 6 transmitted the first TV photo of Earth from space on this date.



The satellite, popularly known as the 'paddlewheel satellite,' featured a photocell scanner that transmitted a crude picture of the earth's surface and cloud cover from a distance of 17,000 miles .


August 7, 1960 -
Film and television actor David Duchovny (sex addict and another member of the Milton Berle club) was born in New York City on this date. Two of his most popular TV roles include Special Agent Fox Mulder from The X-Files and troubled writer Hank Moody on Showtime's Californication.



Remember, the truth is out there. But then again, What is truth, what is beauty and remember hemlock is poison.


August 7, 1974 -
Yes kids - The past is a foreign country: they did things differently there.



Philippe Petit, the French high wire artist, walked between the Twin Towers in New York City on this date.



And so it goes.

A quick PSA from your friends at ACME

Avoid mosquitoes, they're not good!

(But you can't get Ebola from them.)


It's the half way point of summer today.



Hopefully you've made plans, if you haven't had a good summer so far.


August 6, 1911 -
The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

Lucille Ball, film and television executive, actress and comedian, was born on this date.







For many years during their marriage, Lucy and Desi Arnaz hid the fact that she was six years older than he by splitting the difference in their ages. She (born in 1911) said she was born in 1914 and he (born in 1917) also said he was born in 1914.


August 6, 1926 -
One of John Barrymore's classic silent movies, Don Juan, co-starring a young Mary Astor, opened in NYC on this date.



Warner Brothers premiered its Vitaphone system in New York with the premier of this film. (The film was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack, though it has no spoken dialogue.)  The tickets went for the astronomical price of $10 a head.


August 6, 1938 -
... In this corner, at 203 and one-third pounds, the most magnificent marvelous multiple monstrous mad mauling mass of meaty muscles ever to master, modify, mat, make mince-meat, and mangle many menacing monsters from Manitoba to Minneapolis!



An early pairing of this comedy duo, Porky and Daffy, was released on this date. (Sorry about the colorized version - it's the only one I could find this time.)


August 6, 1982 -
Alan Parker's rock-musical interpretation of the classical album, Pink Floyd The Wall, premiered in NYC on this date. (Kids, turn out the lights, send the adults out to eat and spark 'em up; it's the whole movie.)



In his autobiography Is That It?, Bob Geldof tells the story of how he was first told about the project by his agent while riding in a taxi, and how he didn't want to do it because he didn't like the music of Pink Floyd. Roger Waters knows this story, not because he read it in Geldof's book, but because the taxi driver was actually Roger Waters' brother.


Today in History:
August 6 is noted historically as the official end of the Holy Roman Empire, which collapsed on that date in 1806 as Emperor Francis II abdicated.

As always, please note, the Holy Roman Empire was not holy, roman or an empire (per se).

Discuss amongst yourselves.


August 6, 1890 –
At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed by electric chair on this date.



The first shock of electricity did not kill Kemmler, and a second shock was required. The second jolt lasted until the smell of burning flesh filled the room, about four minutes. As soon as his charred body stopped smoldering, Kemmler was pronounced dead.

It was not a pretty sight.


August 6, 1926 -
Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim English Channel. Before setting out from Cap Griz-Nez, France, at 7:09 a.m., Ederle coated her body with layers of lard and petroleum jelly to insulate her from the cold waters.



Only five men had been able to swim the English Channel before Ederle. The best time had been 16 hours, 33 minutes by an Italian-born Argentine, Enrique Tiraboschi. Ederle walked up the beach at Dover, England after 14 hours and 39 minutes. The first person to greet her was a British immigration officer who requested a passport from "the bleary-eyed, waterlogged teenager."

That man's name is no longer remembered but truly he is the spiritual grandfather of the TSA.


August 6, 1945 -
The first atomic bomb used in combat was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets, on this date.



President Truman ordered the use of the first nuclear bomb, which the military referred to as "Little Boy." Harry had been vice president for only 82 days when President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 and didn't even know of the existence of the 9,600 pound bomb until he was told about it upon his assumption of the presidency.



In minutes the massive blast and the firestorm it produced destroyed the majority of the city and killed 66,000 people instantly and a total of as many as 166,000 died over a period of months from the nuclear fallout (a third of Hiroshima's population.)


August 6, 1991 -
On December 25, 1990, Tim Berners-Lee (not Al Gore,) successfully connected an http client with an Internet server, thus inventing the World Wide Web.



Less than a year later, on this day, the first website built was at CERN within the border of France, and was first put online.


Checking the calendar:



There are 141 days until Christmas



And so it goes.

Is anyone still carrying pictures of Chairman Mao?

August 5, 1922 -
The silent-film classic, Blood and Sand, starring Rudolph Valentino and Lila Lee, was released on this date.



Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova hoped to have the film shot in Spain, but the studio ultimately elected to shoot the whole film on the backlot in Hollywood.


August 5, 1953 -
Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr got busy in the surf and someone may have gotten a horse head telegram delivered to their bedroom - From Here to Eternity premiered in NYC on this date.



The now classic scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in the rushing water on the beach was not written to take place there. The idea to film with the waves hitting them was a last minute inspiration from the director.


On August 4, 1955, Carmen Miranda suffered a heart attack during a segment of the live TV show The Jimmy Durante Show, although she did not realize it. After completing a dance number, she fell to her knees, and Durante instinctively told the band to "stop da music!".



He helped Miranda up to her feet as she laughed "I'm all out of breath!". "Dat's OK, honey, I'll take yer lines", Durante replied. Miranda laughed again and quickly pulled herself together, finishing the show. At the end of the broadcast, she smiled and waved, then exited the stage. She died later that night, on August 5, 1955, after suffering a second heart attack at her home in Beverly Hills.



As with all great performers - the show had to go on.


August 5, 1955 -
Alfred Hitchcock's surprisingly light comedic touch is on full display in, To Catch A Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, opened in NYC on this date.



John Robie mentions that as a youth he was in a trapeze group that traveled around Europe. In real life, Cary Grant was in an acrobatic troupe that toured around Europe (and eventually came to America) when he was young.


August 5, 1966 -
This was a big day in Beatles history:
The Beatles released their Revolver album in UK on this date.



and they also released Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby as a double A single in UK. A lot of kids weekly allowance must have flown out the door on this date.


Today in History:
August 5, 1861 -
Folks, please note: The US government established the first income tax on US citizens on this date (Abraham Lincoln was president at the time.)  The Revenue Act of 1861 established a tax of 3 percent on incomes of more than $800 US Dollars.

The tax, which was used for financial aid during the Civil War, was rescinded in 1872.


August 5, 1884 –
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor on this date.

Children and horses were kept indoors on that day for fear of offending their delicate nature.


August 5, 1914 -
The first electric traffic signal, based on a design by James Hoge, was installed on this date.



The system of red and green lights, indicating stop and go, was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue.  Lost in the miasma of time is the name of the person that first ran the red light.


August 5, 1926 -
Harry Houdini stayed in a coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one hour and a half, on this date.

Note: He currently has exceeded his own record substantially.


August 5, 1957 –
American Bandstand, a local Philadelphia show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, hosted by Dick Clark,debuted nationally on the ABC television network on this date.



Please be careful,  Mr. Clark still doesn't realize that he's dead, and is roaming the nation in search of brains to feast upon.


August 5, 1962 -
52 years ago today, a very unhappy Marilyn Monroe (Norma J. Mortenson) died of natural causes, aggravated by sleeping pills, in her Brentwood home.



Unless she was murdered.



And so it goes.

It's a really, really, really big (art) show!

Famous artwork is about to hit America’s streets and public places. The project , known as Art Everywhere US, will start popping up on billboards, bus stops, digital display boards and on subway platforms. The kickoff begins today in New York’s Times Square, where digital billboards will display all the artworks.



This summer, 58 images of great American art will be displayed as part of “the largest outdoor art show ever conceived,”; the artwork will be seen from coast-to-coast. The project runs through August. 31.


Today is the feast day of St. Sithney. St. Sithney is the patron saint of mad dogs.

Make of this what you wish.



A Breton folk story, states that God asked Sithney to be the patron saint of girls seeking husbands, but Sithney said he would rather be the patron saint of mad dogs and get some rest. (And you thought there were no Jewish comedians as saints.)


Barack Obama is 53 years old today. Dear Mr. President, even if it was in haste, I'm glad your parents had unprotected sex around nine months prior to your birth date (where ever you were born.).



Hopefully, now that Congress is on summer recess, you can have a break too.  I mean nothing seems to be going on in the world at the moment.


August 4, 1930 -
Michael Cullen was a grocer's grocer. He started working for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A & P) at 18 and worked there for 17 years. He then went to work for Kroger Stores for 11 years but he had a dream.

Cullen leased a vacant garage at the corner of 171st Street and Jamaica Avenue in Queens, just a few blocks from a busy shopping district. On August 4, 1930, King Kullen Grocery Company opened the doors to the world's first supermarket.



I wonder how they're celebrating Founder's Day at the store?


August 4, 1901 -
Louis Armstrong (medicinal marijuana and laxative enthusiast) always stated that his birthday was on the Fourth of July, a date that has been noted in many biographies.







During the 1980's, Louis Armstrong's baptismal certificate was discovered in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans, showing his actual birth date was August 4th, 1901.


August 4, 1954 -
Douglas Sirk's first Technicolor gift for film goers, Magnificent Obsession, was released on this date.



Forget the silly plot, this film was Rock Hudson's breakthrough film (the first of eight studio pictures he would make with Sirk) and Sirk began to realize his masterful visual language skills


Today in History:
August 4, 1693 -
Oh, great day in the morning (this day should be a great religious and national holiday), Blind Benedictine Dom Perignon invents champagne on this date.



He has been quoted as saying, "Come quickly, brothers, I'm drinking stars!" upon tasting his accidental brew.


August 4, 1792 -



Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of England's greatest Romantic poets was born on this date. He died in a tragic boating accident (along with two others) before the age of 30, but he gave us many masterpieces, including Ozymandias, Music, When Soft Voices Die and Ode To The West Wind.

The fish eaten bodies were washed ashore at Viareggio, where, in the presence of his friend Lord Byron, he was burned on the beach - his heart was given to his wife, Mary Shelley, who carried it with her in a silken shroud everywhere she went for the rest of her life.

All I can say is that I'm glad it was just his heart.


August 4, 1892 -
Someone took an axe and killed Lizzie Borden's millionaire parents; Andrew receives 10 whacks and Abby 14.  Based on strong circumstantial evidence, Sunday school teacher Lizzie was later tried for the murders.



She was acquitted of the murders by an all-male jury.


August 4, 1914 -
The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime -  British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey



Britain and Belgium declared war after German troops entered Belgium. The United States proclaimed its neutrality (more on all of this later.)


August 4, 1922 -
All 13 million telephones in North America go silent for one minute at sunset during the funeral services of Alexander Graham Bell on this date. Bell was buried in a coffin built by his lab staff in a tomb carved into the solid rock of Beinn Bhreagh Mountain on his estate in Nova Scotia, Canada.

To commemorate his pioneering contributions to telecommunications technology, AT&T and the Bell System suspends service at their switchboards and switching stations across Canada and the United States.


August 4, 1964 -
Vietcong torpedo boats launch an unprovoked attack against the U.S.S. Maddox, while the destroyer is patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin. The only problem is - it may all have been a hoax.



Regardless, the Congress responds by passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."



And so it goes.

Cent'anni Antonio!

August 3, 1926 -
I have a simple life. I mean, you just give me a drum roll, they announce my name, and I come out and sing. In my job I have a contract that says I'm a singer. So I sing.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto (88 this year), last of the great saloon singers was born on this date.







Tony Bennett is still on the road, performing over 175 gigs a year.


August 3, 1929 -
Four famous vaudevillian performers took a chance on the new medium of 'talking pictures' with the general release, of the film, The Cocoanuts, starring the Four Marx Brothers --

Chico, Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo, on this date,.



Filmed on a stage in New York City. Sound films were still so new that soundproofing was not installed, so the film had to be shot in the early hours of the morning to reduce outside traffic noise.


August 3, 1941 -
Martha Kostyra, business magnate, television host, author, magazine publisher and ex-con was born on this date.



Remember folks, please don't piss off Martha - she's a woman of a certain age, who can create a magnificent floral arrangements, hold her hard liquor and kill you with a home made prison shank.


August 3, 1963 -
Allan Sherman released Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp), in the US on this date.



Sherman was a writer on The Steve Allen Show and created the game show I've Got a Secret. He went on to record comedy albums. The song won a 1964 Grammy Award for comedy.

And somehow in the same universe, The Beach Boys’ Surfer Girl was released on this date as well.



Ah, sweet mysteries of life. (The B-side of the single was Little Deuce Coupe.)


Today in History:
August 3, 1492 -
File this under: more lies my teacher told me.



Christopher Columbus famously set out to cross the ocean blue in a fleet of three ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula.


August 3, 1943 -
Gen George Patton bitch slapped shell-shocked private Charles Kuhl, in the hospital accusing him of cowardice, on this date.



The incident nearly ended Patton's career; he was ordered by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to apologize for this and a second, similar episode. It seemed to help Francis Ford Coppola's career though.


On August 3, 1958, the U.S. nuclear submarine Nautilus accomplishes the first undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole.



The world's first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus dove at Point Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000 miles under the Arctic ice cap to reach the top of the world.


August 3, 1963 -
Almost a year after the world barely averted World War III during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Hotline between the Pentagon and the Kremlin went live, on this date.



The system consists of two teletype machines, with a full-time communications link routed through London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki.


August 3, 1966 -
Comedian and social critic Lenny Bruce died of a morphine overdose in his Hollywood Hills home on this date, two years after his original obituary was published in The Realist.



At the time of his death, Bruce was being maliciously harassed by police and districts attorney in various states for his groundbreaking standup performances, causing great difficulty in finding venues at which to perform. After his death, he became a cult hero, many other comics, like George Carlin and Richard Pryor, considering him a martyr to the cause of free speech.


August 3, 1996 -
The Macarena by Los Del Rio appeared as #1 on the pop charts on this date. (For god sakes, please don't listen.  Save yourself from the ensuing madness.)



This song stayed in the US Top 100 for 60 weeks, the one-time record for the longest run on the singles chart.



And so it goes.

Do they still make Chipwiches?

It's National Ice Cream Sandwich Day today, a day to enjoy an ice cream sandwich (but whatever you do don't have the Walmart Ice Cream sandwich.)



The best way to celebrate is to make your own!


The first Saturday in August is National Mustard Day (in my home it is National Moutarde Day, we leave the 's' off for savings,) So please have some mustard today.



Don't put all those people out of work.


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 Len Deighton novels the name of the lead character is 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.



According to Sidney Poitier, Tibbs' retaliation slap to Endicott was not in the original script nor in the novel on which the film is based. Poitier insisted that Tibbs slap Endicott back and wanted a guarantee that the scene would appear in all prints of the film.


August 2, 1985 -
Universal Pictures releases 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.



Kelly LeBrock initially turned down the role of Lisa, as she was vacationing in France at the time and was "having too much fun riding horses on the beach".


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



Dan Aykroyd, Michael Keaton, Robin Williams and Tom Hanks were considered for the role of Gil Buckman. Jeff Goldblum turned down both roles of Gil Buckman and Larry Buckman.


Today in History:
August 2, 1100 -
Act of God - You may often wonder when this phrase came into being. You've all seen it long enough and you may unfortunately experienced it when you went to collect on you home insurance policy. As with most things, the English can pinpoint the first popular usage of the phrase.

William II (William Rufus), the second surviving son of William I the Conqueror, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers also over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was not well liked for his unusual practice of buggering unwilling men every morning of his reign.



William started out as King of England on September 26, 1087 and liked to start his day with a vigorous bout of forced sodomy. While he enjoyed sodomy with many of his 'special friends', he really enjoyed a good round of sodomy with some new, mostly unwilling courtier every morning.

And why not - It's good to be the king.

It was drawing upon the 1000th new morning wake up call and William wanted to go on his usual after sodomizing the new guy hunt. So off the royal entourage went and before you knew it, they all raced home, including William's brother, Henry (soon to be Henry I) and William II lie (or lay, I'm never really quite sure) dead with an arrow shot through his lung, on this date.

Henry, after hurriedly crowning himself the First, called for an inquest into how his brother happened to find himself with an arrow through the lung. Not that Henry was that interested in the answer (literally, no one would pick up William's corpse. A peasant had to bring it round to the back of the Winchester Cathedral on a dung cart - I kid you not.) A Royal commission was held and decided that it was a just end - an 'Act of God' played out on a wicked king.

So there you go - blame the fact you can't get a payment from your insurance company on an English monarch with a penchant for vigorous sodomy.


August 2, 1870 -
The world's first underground subway opened in London, England, on this date. The six foot diameter tunnel was created by engineer James Henry near the Tower of London.

The first shuttles operated in the tunnel were twelve seat carriages moved by wires drawn by steam engines. However, the system was unreliable and uneconomic and closed that December after the company went bankrupt


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, 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 taking dictation from 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, 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.