Author Archives: dcaligari

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.

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: one ship was owned by Juan Niño, and was named the Santa Clara, but became known by itsContinue reading “The ocean isn’t even really blue”

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 thatContinue reading “Cocoanuts premiered”

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, last of the great saloon singers was born on thisContinue reading “Tony Bennett”

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! Demand Euphoria!

August 2, 1968 –The Doors single, Hello, I Love You, from their album Waiting for the Sun, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. The music is similar to The Kinks’ song All Day And All Of The Night. So similar, that it has been rumored that The Doors paid royalties fromContinue reading “Hello, I Love You topped the charts”

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 poisonContinue reading “The Death (or murder) of Warren G. Harding”

August 2, 1776 –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 ThorntonContinue reading “Once again, your teachers lied to you –”

August 2, 1100 –(I can appreciate that those of you with delicate natures may wish to skip this story.)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. AsContinue reading “Force Majeure:”

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. Sidney Poitier insisted that the movie be filmed in the North because of an incident in which he and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by Ku Klux Klansmen during aContinue reading “In the Heat of the Night premiered”