There might be something to it

Climate change might be real.

That's all I'm saying.


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.



In 2005, the 1953 Les Paul and Mary Ford recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.


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



This song about a bashful girl in a tiny bikini was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss. Vance was inspired after watching his 2-year-old daughter Paula at the beach in her new bikini. Brian Hyland was a 16-year-old High school sophomore at the time of this recording.


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



Several cast members were actual P.O.W.s during World War II. Donald Pleasence was held in a German camp, Hannes Messemer in a Russian camp and Til Kiwe and Hans Reiser were prisoners of the Americans.


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




I guess I missed this one


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, 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 halted the Glasgow-to-Euston Royal Mail train in Buckinghamshire on this date. 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 starred 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. Juri 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 Richard 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, 1969 –
At a ‘zebra crossing’ in London, four bitterly fractious friends are forced to take a picture on this date.



Photographer Iain Macmillan took one of the most famous photographs of all time - the cover of the Beatles album, Abbey Road.


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.


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 President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously switched on the lights.




And so it goes.


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At least they don't carry Mad Cow Disease

A Major ACME PSA - Avoid mosquitoes at all cost, they're not good!



Once again, New York City has lucked out and has not been plagued, as it has been in the past, with a large number of West Nile Virus cases this summer. Unfortunately, soon the US may be inundated with Zika.  The Zika virus (spread by the infected Aedes species mosquito, the cockroach of the mosquitos, the same mosquito that spreads both the dengue and chikungunya viruses,) is a mosquito-borne illness that can cause fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis (red eyes) but usually there are little to no symptoms. Unfortunately the virus is spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean and is thought to be heading towards the US. (There have been more cases of Zika that Mad Cow Disease in the US this year.)



ACME takes some pride in this and once again we would like to publish this importance health update:



Mosquitoes can not cause spread the Ebola but do carry the Zika virus. Zika infection during pregnancy can cause a birth defect of the brain called Microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Other problems have been detected among fetuses and infants infected with Zika virus before birth, such as defects of the eye, hearing deficits, and impaired growth. There have also been increased reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an uncommon sickness of the nervous system, in areas affected by Zika. Contrary to the examples of Microcephaly you see in the newspaper every day — such as Schlitzie and Zippy the Pinhead - microcephaly is a severe condition whose victims would be less likely to wear yellow pajamas with large buttons or performing unwillingly in the circus than to have seizures and hearing loss.



Zika virus is easy to avoid: like most viruses, it's very small, very slow, and not especially bright. Unfortunately, it's often carried by mosquitoes that are bigger, faster, and fiendishly clever.

It's not always easy to discern whether or not a given mosquito is carrying the Zika virus (or Malaria, for that matter,) so the prudent move is to avoid all mosquitoes.



This may be unfair to innocent mosquitoes who mean you no harm--the so-called "moderate" mosquitoes - but political niceties must be subordinated to threats to your survival.



It's important to remember that mosquitoes are masters of disguise. With a little makeup or a fancy hat, any mosquito can take on the appearance of several other species. They cannot, however, conceal their stingers.

Avoid all insects with stingers. If you encounter one that claims its stinger is merely a golf-club wedged into its rectum, do not believe it: insects don't golf.



Do not open your doors or windows to strangers before ascertaining whether or not they're mosquitoes. If they acknowledge being mosquitoes but deny carrying the Zika virus, do not trust them. Some mosquitoes may even offer to show you a doctor's certificate, but such evidence is meaningless: they may have picked up Zika virus in the time elapsed since their doctor tested them.

Be wary of delivery men, plumbers, electricians, and cable guys with stingers trailing from their jumpsuits.


August 7 annually recognizes a famous sea serpent sighting.  This sighting was made by the men and officers of HMS Daedalus in August 1848 during a voyage to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic.  The 60 foot long creature that they saw held a peculiar maned head above the ocean water.

I, for one, will break out the hats and hooters to celebrate Sea Serpent Day.



Let us also 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 sea sick 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.



This was written during the same afternoon as The Bee Gees' previous American hit, Lonely Days in Barry Gibb's basement flat at Addison Road, Holland Park, London.


August 7, 1948 -
... Huh! I must be walking in my sleep. But how can I be walking in my sleep if I'm awake enough to know I'm walking in my sleep. The strange things people do in their sleep, especially if they're awake.



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.



The film was intended as a low-budget imitation of Elvis Presley's musical movies, with added teen appeal, but the series took on a life of its own.


The Word of the Day


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.



Before you go - Puddle Pity Party's new video for the week is his cover of  Coldplay's Fix You



Ok, you may go.


1263

In case this skipped your mind

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.







A comment from a member of the preview audience of Follow the Fleet about bit-player Ball: "You might give the tall gum chewing blonde more parts and see if she can't make the grade - a good gamble."


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 premiere 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.


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 says that his agent first told him about the project while he was riding in a taxi, and that he said that 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.


A moment of zen


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 the 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, 1965 -
One of the crowning achievements of the civil rights movement, The Voting Rights Act, was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, 52 years ago on this date.



One of it key aims was to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.


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 again:



There are 141 days until Christmas



And so it goes.


Before you go - 2 guys playing Trent Reznor's Hurt on the cello



Now you may go.


1264

Remember to leave the 's' off for savings

Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant (white or yellow mustard, Sinapis hirta; brown or Indian mustard, Brassica juncea; or black mustard, B. nigra).  National Mustard Day is observed on the first Saturday in August.



So break out the hats and hooters!


Today is International Beer Day (as opposed to National Beer Day, celebrated  annually on April 7th.) International Beer Day, founded in 2007, is a global celebration of the second most popular beverage in the world: beer!



International Beer Day festivities take place in pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants, breweries, backyards and anywhere else you can enjoy a cold one. (Hey International Beer Consortium, you can contact my lawyers about my commission.)


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



The film's editor was Dorothy Arzner, who would later go on to become Hollywood's first female director. Arzner impressed the producers by cannily interspersing stock bull-fighting footage with shots of Rudolph Valentino to make it look like the actor was actually in the ring with real bulls. This was quite a progressive technique in its day.


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 director Fred Zinnemann.


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.



The picnic scene in which Francie (Grace Kelly) asks John (Cary Grant), "Do you want a leg or a breast?" as well as John's response, "You make the choice." was an improvisation.


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.

Don't forget to check out The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour


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 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.



Oh, and by the way, thank you  Pauly Shore.


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, 1924 –
The comic strip, Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray, debuted the Chicago Tribune on this date.

Apparently there is no deep, dark meaning behind the fact that Annie has no pupils; that was just the style of the artist. All of the characters in the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip had no pupils; it wasn't just Annie. Even her dog Sandy had no pupils.

Now you know.


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.


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, 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 -
55 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.


August 5, 1981 -
As dementia continued to take its karma toll, President Ronald Reagan began firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work on this date.



The executive action, regarded as extreme by many, significantly slows air travel for months.



And so it goes.


Before you go - feel free to sing Happy Birthday, unencumbered by the whole copyright issue thing, to the Curiosity Rover parked on Mars, at the moment.



NASA has programmed the Curiosity Rover to sing itself Happy Birthday every year, on the anniversary of it’s landing date August 5, 2012.



1265

It's St. Sithney Day again.

He 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 56 years old today and now into his retirement.



Hopefully, he's enjoying being a citizen of the world more than we're enjoying being a citizen of the USA.


August 4, 1942 –
The Paramount Picture film, Holiday Inn, directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby was released in theaters on this date. Kemmons Wilson, who founded the "Holiday Inn" motel chain in 1952, named it after this movie.



When Irving Berlin won an Oscar for his song White Christmas from this movie, he became the first artist to present himself with an Academy Award.



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


It's always that time somewhere in the world!


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, 1790 -
US Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton urged the Congress that ten boats for the collection of revenue needed to be built. This was to stop smuggling, especially of coffee, which was hampering trade. Congress passed the Tariff Act on this date.



The Coast Guard was born as the Revenue Cutter Service. The Coast Guard was empowered to board and inspect any vessel in US waters and any US boat anywhere in the world.


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, 1884 -
Thomas Stevens wearily arrived in Boston on this date, 104 days after leaving San Francisco (April 22, 1884,) completing the first bicycle trip (on a penny-farthing) to cross the US.

He later continued around world (two years, nine months) on a trip financed with articles for Outing and the Wheelman magazines. The bicycle part of his journey around the world ended on December 17, 1886, when he reached Yokohama, Japan. Stevens returned by steamer to San Francisco, on January 3, 1887.

It’s important to note that some areas were inaccessible to Stevens during his journey so he had to get around them via boat or train, but he did bike through everything he could.


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



Regardless, the Congress responded 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.


1265

Posté sans commentaire -

Folks, today is National Grab Some Nuts Day.

How you celebrate is between you and your god?


August 3, 1926 -

To work is to feel alive.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tonybennet192848.html

To work is to feel alive.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tonybennet192848.html

To work is to feel alive.

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







The slacker that Tony Bennett is, still performs over 150 gigs on the road 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, hangs out with rappers, 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.)


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.


Another book, not part of my childhood


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



Christopher Columbus famously sailed from the port of Palos de la Frontera, in southern Spain across 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. (Every thing else you think you know about Columbus is a lie.)


August 3, 1921 –
Under the direction of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Lt. John A. Macready, a U.S. Army pilot, made the first application of 175 pounds of lead arsenate pesticide with a modified Curtiss JN-6 "Super Jenny.", thus creating crop dusting.



Lt. Macready flight over a sic acre Catalpa tree grove near Troy, Ohio, killed almost 99% of the Sphinx Moth caterpillars, saving 5000 trees. The government then utilized aerial application in the Southern states.


August 3, 1943 (I have seen this event posted as happening on August 30th)-
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 accomplished 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, 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, 1977 –
Tandy Corporation announced the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers.

The basic model originally shipped with 4 KB of RAM.



And so it goes


Before you go (I'm not sure if I've posted this before or not,) Youth of America cried out and their prayers were answered, Vanity Fair posted a video back in March, with some of the members of Sesame Street reading famous movie quotes:



I thought my favorite was Cookie's imitation of Brando's Streetcar Named Desire until I saw Oscar the Grouch doing Cher.


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You can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream

It's National Ice Cream Sandwich Day today, a day to enjoy an ice cream sandwich.



The best way to celebrate is to make your own!


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.



Christopher Plummer was originally considered for the lead role, but dropped out to star in The Sound of Music. The role was then offered to Richard Harris, who also refused it. Harris later regretted his decision.


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



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


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



The album One Of These Nights sold platinum in the UK and Canada, and sold 4x platinum in the US. It was the Eagles highest-selling album to date, but their next album Hotel California sold even better.


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.



The film grossed just under $100 million during the original run in theaters. Several years later, the project was rereleased into theaters so it could be logged officially as earning $100 million.


If you're starting to complain about the humidity


Today in History:
August 2, 1100 -
Act of God:
You may often wonder when this phrase came into being - Act of God. 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, 1776 –
Once again, your teachers lied to you - the signing of the Declaration of Independence didn’t occur on July 4.



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


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

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


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


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Attention must be paid.

If you want to live your life through to the end, you have to live dangerously.



Jeenne Moreau, one of the world's greatest actresses passed away yesterday.


The festival of Lammas marks the beginning of the harvest, when people go to church to give thanks for the first grain to be cut.

This is the long way of saying that it's August again,

how did a single month become so important? Like almost everything else that's difficult to understand, the history of August begins in Ancient Rome.

The Roman calendar was a hot mess. Not just because there were VII days in a week and XXVIII days in a month, but also because the calendar was being managed by a high priest. In 46 BC, for example, autumn began in January. This irritated Julius Caesar, who demanded that the calendar be reformed to make sense - and that the priests assigned to manage it, stop getting high.



Caesar's new calendar went into effect on January 1, 45 BC. The fifth month of the year, Quintilis, which had actually been the seventh month of the year, was renamed July - short for Julius - in honor of his work on the calendar. (Calendar professionals still refer to July as the "Caesarian section.")

Years later, after Caesar's grand-nephew defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra and became emperor of Rome, the Senate decided to name a month after him. They chose the month of Sextillus, the sixth month (and therefore eighth), and renamed it Gaius Octavius. Fortunately the Emperor renamed himself Augustus before any calendars had been printed.

The Emperor was not entirely pleased. His month had only 30 days, whereas his grand-uncle's had 31. The Senate immediately added another day to August, removing it from February in the hope of losing one day of winter to gain one of summer.



Remember to celebrate responsibly the following, this month;
Brownies at Brunch Month 
National Peach Month 
Pink Toenail Month
Clown Month
International Left-handed Month 
Eye Exam Month
Family Meal Month 


August 1, 1931 -
F.W. Murnau's last film (he died in a car accident a few days after starting work on the music for the film), Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, was released on this date.



The film's cinematographer was Floyd Crosby, David Crosby's dad. Crosby won the 1931 Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on the film.


August 1, 1952 -
Jo Stafford, pop star singer during the 1940s and 1950s, entered the Billboard charts with the song You Belong To Me on this date.



In the '30s, she performed with her sisters as The Stafford Sisters and later sang with Tommy Dorsey. She was one of the first artists to record parody versions of hit songs, and was known for her work with the USO where she entertained the troops. She died on July 16, 2008 at age 90.


August 1, 1971 -
George Harrison presented his two Concerts For Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York City, on this date.




Among the featured artists were Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr and Leon Russell. The concert raised $243,418.51 for Bangladesh relief, which was administered by UNICEF. Sales of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.


August 1, 1971 -
The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour debuts on CBS television as a summer replacement show, on this date.



And Cher will outlive us all.


August 1, 1973 -
Universal premiered George Lucas ode to early 1960s, American Graffiti, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark and Mackenzie Phillips, on this date.



The film was shot in sequence, so as filming went on and the actors grew tired from the shooting schedule, the characters they played would also look more and more tired as the night went on.


Bet she can't wait to get home


Today in History:
August 1, 30 BC (again, this date is not fixed in stone; the annual calendar makers orgy and dinner dance was held on this date as well) -
Mark Antony, (not the not so handsome ex-husband of J-Lo but) lover of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII and claimant to the Roman throne, was the most interesting man of his age (think the Dos X man and the Old Spice guy - Isaiah Mustafa and not Fabio.) Marc Antony came from a very well to do family but ran with the very fast crowd of Rome. By the time he was 20, Antony had to flee Rome (for Greece) to escape his creditors (he had run up $5 million in debt) and the scandal involving a long-term homosexual relationship with the son of the Consul of Rome.

Mark Antony joined the army and joined the staff of his distant relative Julius Caesar. His fortunes, literally changed and Antony expected to be named the heir to Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar, but had not counted on Caesar naming his adopted son and grand-nephew Octavian as his successor.

Shaken by his loss at Actium, abandoned by his allies and faced with certain defeat at the hands of his rival Octavian, Mark Antony committed suicide by falling upon his own sword on this date. Cleopatra followed him in death shortly afterward when she allowed herself to be bitten by a venomous asp.

An interesting fact you can drop at the next cocktail party you attend, through his youngest daughters, Mark Antony became the ancestor of most of the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Octavian's (Augustus') family.


August 1, 1589 -
King Henri III of France was assassinated by a crazy Jacobin monk, Jacques Clement, who plunged a knife into the lower part of his body, on this date.

Among his crimes are opposing the Catholic League, and his love of...vigorous sodomy (or so it is rumored.)


August 1, 1769 -
Spain sent an exploratory expedition from San Diego to Monterey to survey the area and identify places worth sending more people to become Catholic. The expedition was led by Gaspar de Portola, nephew of the celebrated Spanish comedian Uncle Porky, and included a number of religious missionaries assigned to imposing afternoon naps upon the heathens.

Camping on some fertile ground beside a river on August 2, Father Juan Crespi suggested they name the river El Rio de Padre Juan Crespi. As the laughter subsided, he suggested El Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, (The River of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Uncle Porky.) It was agreed, and the merry band continued on their way.



Twelve years later Mexico's Spanish Governor, Felipe de Neve, began dispatching settlers to establish pueblos in the name of the Spanish King. These settlers were called "Los Pobladores" on account of their penchant for Poblas. One such group, led by Captain Rivera y Moncada, settled in the area by the previously mentioned river. They named their new community "Our Pueblo by the River of Our Lady of the Angels of Uncle Porky."

The settlement grew, and came to be known as "The City by the Pueblo by the River of Our Lady of the Angels of Uncle Porky."

In 1822, Mexico took California from Spain. In 1846, following two years of hostilities, the United States took it from Mexico. Many Americans were injured attempting to pronounce the name of El Ciudad del Pueblo del Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, which they therefore renamed Los Angeles in 1850.

California was admitted to the Union later that year.



Los Angeles retained that name until the middle of the last century, when even that became too difficult for most American tongues, at which point it finally became L.A.


In Wiltshire, England, on August 1, 1774 Joseph Priestley focused sunlight through a lens in order to heat a sample of mercuric oxide (red calx). The resulting gas supported the burning of a candle with a vigorous flame, was essentially insoluble in water, and accommodated a mouse under glass for some time. And that's how Oxygen was born.



Priestley called his new gas "dephlogisticated air.” His discovery came at a very good time, people were getting very tired from holding their breathe all these years.


August 1, 1793 -
The kilogram first appeared in France. Developed by priests and scientists, the kilogram flourished as soon as it was released into the wild and can now be found thriving throughout the world.

The kilogram can be found in parts of the United States, but has encountered too many indigenous predators to establish dominance.


August 1, 1936 -
Adolf Hitler presides over the opening ceremony of the Olympics on this date. The Chancellor of Germany announces: "I proclaim the games of Berlin, celebrating the eleventh Olympiad of the modern era, to be open."



The whole thing makes for a great film by Leni Riefenstahl and the torch relay was introduced by Joseph Geobbel’s Propaganda Ministry.


August 1, 1944 -
I keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would like to be, and what I could be, if...there weren't any other people living in the world

Anne Frank penned her last entry into her diary on this date.

Three days later, Anne and her family were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. Anne died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 at age 15.


August 1, 1961-
Six Flags Over Texas, the first park of the Six Flags chain opened on this date.



Located on 212 acres in Arlington, Texas, the park was developed around a theme - the history of Texas. The park was the first to feature log flume and mine train rides.


August 1, 1981 -
MTV launched 36 years ago today, starting with the video, Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles followed by Pat Benatar's You Better Run. Western civilization has been on a rapid decline ever since.



Since I have long aged out of their demographics, I realize that I no longer need to care about MTV's success - it can crash and burn for all I care.



And so it goes. 


Before you go - Jim Gaffigan thinks owning a boat is weird.



And now you know.



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