Independence Day

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Week: 27 \ Day: 184
July Averages: 82°\50°
86004 Today: H 83° \ L 55° Average Sky Cover: 60% 
Wind ave:   1mph\Gusts:  17mph
Ave. High: 82° Record High:  96° (2007) Ave. Low: 48° Record Low:  32° (1912)
§ § § § §
Observances Today:
Air Conditioning Appreciation Days
Boom Box
Dog Days Caribbean or Caricom Day
Hop A Park Day
Independence From Meat Day
International Cherry Pit Spitting Day
International Day of Cooperatives
National Country Music Day
Parade Day
Ramadan (Islam)
Sidewalk Egg Frying Day
Tom Sawyer Fence-Painting Day

Fil-American Friendship Day (Philippines)
Fourth of July or Independence Day (US-1776 from Britain)
Heroes Day (Zambia)
Indivisible Day (US)
¤ ¤
Observances This Week:
National Unassisted Homebirth Week: 1-7
Beans and Bacon Days: 1-5  
National Tom Sawyer Days: 2-5 (aka Fence Painting Days)
Rosewell UFO Days: 3-5 
Freedom Week: 4-10 

¤ ¤
Quote of the Day 

¤ ¤
US Historical Highlights for Today
1636 - City of Providence, Rhode Island form
1776 - According to popular legend the Liberty Bell rings for the 2nd Continental Congress
1776 - US Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from Britain
1789 - 1st US tariff act
1796 - 1st Independence Day celebration is held
1802 - US Military Academy officially opens (West Point, NY)
1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people
1817 - Chief Engineer James Geddes begins construction on the Erie Canal, one of the first great engineering works in North America
1827 - Slavery abolished in NY
1828
 - Construction begins on B & O (Baltimore-Ohio) 1st US passenger RR

1829 - Cornerstone laid for 1st US mint (Chestnut & Juniper St, Phila)
1831 - "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" is 1st sung in Boston
1836 - Wisconsin Territory forms
1845 - Henry David Thoreau moves into his shack on Walden Pond
1855 - In Brooklyn, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, is published
1861 - In a special session of 27th Congress Lincoln requests 400,000 troops
1863 - Boise, Idaho founded (now capital of Idaho)
1863 - General Lee's army withdraws from Gettysburg
1866 - Firecracker thrown in wood starts fire destroying half of Portland, Maine
1876 - 1st public exhibition of electric light in SF
1881 - Booker T. Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute (Alabama)
1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody presents 1st Wild West show, North Platte, Nebr
1884 - 1st US bullfight held (Dodge City Ks)
1884 - Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris
1888 - 1st organized rodeo competition held, Prescott, Ariz
1895 - Katherine Lee Bates publishes "America the Beautiful"
1918 - The community of Ajo, AZ celebrated the 4th of July with foot races, boxing contests, pie eating contests and other activities.
1950 - Harry Truman signs public law 600 (Puerto Ricans write own constitution)
1959 - America's new 49-star flag honoring Alaska statehood unfurled
1966 - LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act
1970 - Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" debuts on LA radio
1996 - Hot Mail, a free internet E-mail service begins
1997 - US space probe Pathfinder lands on Ares Vallis Mars
2004
 - The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City

2009 - The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks.
¤ ¤
Today’s World Events through History
1054 - Brightest known supernova SN 1054 (creates the Crab Nebula) 1st reported by Chinese astronomers
1634 - The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, later to become the Canadian province of Quebec.
1785 - James Hutton, geologist, publicly reads an abstract of his theory of uniformitarianism for the first time at the meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1829 - The first London bus "omnibus", operated by George Shillibeer, begins service between Marylebone Road and Bank Junction
1865 - First edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is published
1950 - The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.
1976 - Operation Entebbe - Israel rescues 229 Air France hostage passengers In Uganda (3 hostages die along with Ugandan soldiers and Israeli soldier)
1987 - Nazi Klaus Barbie, "Butcher of Lyon" sentenced to life in France
1992 - 99th Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Steffi Graf beats Monica Seles (6-2 6-1)
§ § § § §
Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthdays Today 

§ § § § §
My Rambling Thoughts
Happy Independence Day. 239 years ago the Declaration of Independence was made public.
While I certainly celebrate this event each year, I am always reminded that the words on many of the founding father’s documents present great ideas. I also realize that ideals of these documents have not always been heeded. For example: ‘All men are created equal’ unless you were a Native American, Black, Latino, female, adopted, Japanese during WWII,… and the list goes on and on. We all have selective memory on many events, but today as our country celebrates its Independence from Britain, let’s all remember that we are far from a perfect union. We need to do what we can to meet the ideals of our founding fathers/mothers who just wanted to be free.
I’m taking a break until July 6…enjoy your weekend.
§ § § § §
Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Add a different set of three letters to each of the following words to create a list of new words. The three-letter additions all have something in common. What are the new words, and how are the three-letter additions related? 

EASE
GIN
HEM
ICE
ON
OPUS
RILE
TIC

§ § § § §
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
§ § § § §
…Cool Facts…
Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a 50,000 word book titled 'Gadsby' which did not use the letter "e".

Thumbelina, the smallest horse in the world, is about the size of a dog.
¤ ¤
…Flagstaff, AZ History…
100 YEARS AGO-1915
Last Sunday, William Schlosser, while riding with Miss Florence Bart and three young children in a new Ford, broke an axle near the divide on the Grand Canyon Road. The vehicle overturned and they were all thrown out. No one was seriously injured, and the car was righted and returned to town under its own power.

As of July 1, 1915, every person in the United States who is 10 years of age or older may open a Postal Savings Bank account. This will be of great advantage to those persons who live far away from the more usual banks. Postmaster General Barenson.
¤ ¤
…Harper’s Index…
125 – number of US prisoners exonerated last year

46 – percentage of those exonerations in which no crime had occurred
¤ ¤
… Relationship Facts…
According to the New York Times, a study conducted during the 1980's found that men who kiss their wives before leaving for work live longer, get into fewer car accidents, and have a higher income than married men who don't.

Men fall in love faster than women do.
¤ ¤
…Unusual Fact of the Day…
Jerry Lynn Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz hold the record for most spaceflights by an astronaut.
§ § § § §
2 jokes for the day
Q: Did you hear about the cannibals that attended the wedding?

A: They toasted the bride and groom.

¤ ¤
There was a student who was desirous of taking admission for a study course.
He was smart enough to get through the written test, a GD and was to appear for the personal interview. Later, as the interview progressed, the interviewer found this boy to be bright since he could answer all the questions correctly. The interviewer got impatient and decided to corner the boy.
"Tell me your choice;" said he to the boy, "What's your choice: I shall either ask you ten easy questions or ONE real difficult. Think well before you make up your mind."
The boy thought for a while and said, "My choice is ONE real difficult question."
"Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice!" said the man on the opposite side. Tell me: What comes first, Day or Night?"
The boy was jolted first but he waited for a while and said: "It's the DAY, sir."
"How???????" the interviewer was smiling ("At last, I got you!" he said to himself.)
"Sorry sir, you promised me that you will not ask me a SECOND difficult question!"
Admission for the course was thus secured.     

¤ ¤
Yep, It Really Happened
As a dumb kid (and dumb young adult), whenever July rolled around I always lamented the fact that my state, Illinois, outlawed the sale and possession of fireworks. As an older and wiser adult I was always on the fence about the justification for these kinds of laws, but then I come across a story like this and I start to think that maybe people really can't be trusted to themselves. 
In some kind of YouTube stunt gone wrong, 47-year-old Scott Jeffers of Walled Lake, died last week when he held a firecracker to his face and it exploded. 
Police in Michigan say his family watched while Jeffers attempted the prank. Paramedics who arrived at the scene found him unresponsive and suffering from serious head trauma.
Jeffers was pronounced dead at the scene and alcohol was a factor.
According to the police investigation, Jeffers tried to perform a stunt for YouTube, and he thought that the firecracker was unlit. 
Police said that the firecracker was bought in the state legally. Family members told investigators that Jeffers was preparing to host a party.         

¤ ¤
Somewhat Useless Information
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), America's most famous female poet, published only seven poems in her lifetime; all were published anonymously and against her will. It wasn't until after her death, at 56, that her nearly 2000 poems were discovered. 

Sharks and rays share the same kind of skin: instead of scales, they have small tooth-like spikes called denticles. The spikes are so sharp that shark skin has long been used as sandpaper. 

During the first 90 years of this century, the USA dominated the race for the title of the tallest building in the world. In 1974 Chicago's Sears Tower was completed, and generally seen as the 'tallest building' in the world. Sears Tower held on to that title for over 20 years. 

More than 50 percent of the people who are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States and who go untreated still survive. 

A mile on the ocean and a mile on land are not the same distance. On the ocean, a nautical mile measures 6,080 feet. A land or statute mile is 5,280 feet. 

To clean tarnished copper bottoms of pots and pans, spread a little ketchup onto the bottom. Let it sit for about one minute. Wipe it clean and rinse.

§ § § § §
Birthdays Today
91 - Eva Marie Saint, Newark NJ, actress (On the Waterfront, North by Northwest)
88 - Gina Lollobrigida, Subiaco Italy, actress (Trapeze, Falcon Crest)
88 - Neil Simon, Bronx, playwright (Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Biloxi Blues)
72 - Geraldo Rivera, TV personality
69 - Ron Kovic, disabled vietnam vet (Born on 4th of July)
44 - Koko, sign-language gorilla
¤ ¤
Born this day…Died in __@__
Gloria Stuart, actress (Rose-Titanic)/founder (Screen Actors Guild)-2010@100
Mitch Miller, sing along with Mitch (Yellow Rose of Tx)-2010@99
Abigail Van Buren, [Mrs Pauline Phillips], columnist 2013@94
Rube Goldberg, cartoonist (who made the easy outrageously difficult) Pulitzer Prize 1948-1970@87
Vincent Joseph Schaefer, Chemist\Meteorologist (cloud seeding)-1993@87
Leona Helmsley, (wife of Harry), real estate billionaire/tax cheat-2007@87
Virginia Graham, TV personality (Girl Talk, Where Was I) 1998@86
Ann Landers, Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer, columnist-2002@83
Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller-1899@82
Stephen Mather, organized US National Park Service-1930@62
Calvin Coolidge, [Silent Cal], 30th US President (1923-29)-1933@60
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author (House of 7 Gables, Scarlet Letter)-1864@59
Stephen Boyd [William Millar], Glengormley, County Antrim, Irish actor (Fantastic Voyage, Ben-Hur)-1977@45
Stephen Foster, American composer (Oh! Susanna, Swanee River)-1864@37
§ § § § §
Historical Obits Today
John Adams, 2nd US President (1797-1801)-1926@90
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President (1801-09)-1826@83
Hannibal Hamlin, 15th U.S. Vice President-1891@81 
Eva Gabor, actress (Green Acres), pneumonia-1995@76
James Monroe, 5th US president (1817-25), TB-1831@73
Marie Skłodowska-Curie, French-Polish Physicist/Chemist, 1st woman to win Nobel Prize (1903, 1911) radiation poisoning-1934@66 
Charles Kuralt, news anchor (CBS Sunday Morning), lupus-1997@62
Barry White, American singer, stroke, 2003@58
§ § § § §
Brain Teasers Answers
DECEASE
MARGIN
MAYHEM
NOVICE
APRON
OCTOPUS
FEBRILE
SEPTIC

Each of the three-letter additions is the common three-letter abbreviation for the months of the year (DEC, MAR, MAY, etc). AUG completes the hint word.
§ § § § §
Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

§…And That Is All for Now…§

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

Total Pageviews

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.