Category Archives: Uncategorized

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”

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 howContinue reading “Oxygen discovered (sort of)”

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 interestingContinue reading “The Death of Mark Antony”

August 1, 1971 – George Harrison presented his two Concerts For Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York City, on this date. The concert was mainly intended to provide financial aid to refugees from the Bangladesh area, who were fleeing by the thousands. In total, the concert and other efforts stemming from it raisedContinue reading “The Concerts For Bangladesh”

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 ofContinue reading “The days just lay there and sizzle”

August 1, 1981 –MTV launched 41 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. Demand Euphoria!

July 31, 1980 (I’m going with 1980 and not getting involved in the 1979 controversy) –Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers that he is a wizard was born on this dates. J K Rowlings, the Harry Potter brand author, and unfortunately loony bigot, shares a birthday with her creation (born 1965). Her ‘children’s stories‘ haveContinue reading “Happy Birthday Harry”

July 31, 1964 –The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted the first photo moon’s surface ever taken by a U.S. spacecraft, mapping the surface for a future lunar landing, on this date. Ranger 7 carried six slow-scan vidicon TV cameras capable of transmitting high-resolution television pictures of the lunar surface. A total of 4,308 photographsContinue reading “Ranger 7 sends back photos of the moon”