Category Archives: Uncategorized

July 16, 1969 –53 years ago on this date, the 363-foot-tall Apollo 11 space vehicle was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 9:37 a.m. (As I have gotten older, I have only now put it together that some sick puppies at NASA (probably some of the ‘“Good Germans‘) arranged toContinue reading “Apollo 11 launched”

July 16, 1945 –…If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One – I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds…. – thus began the Atomic Age. Fittingly, in a desert named Jornada del Muerto (Journey of Death,) code-named Trinity, theContinue reading “Testing the first atomic bomb”

July 16, 2000 –Coldplay went to No. #1 on the UK album charts on this date with their debut release Parachutes. The album produced four singles: Shiver, Yellow, Trouble, and Don’t Panic. Parachutes later went on to earn the British outfit their first Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2002.

July 15, 1799 –The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing. The stone is a Ptolemaic era stele with carved text. The text is made up of three translations of a single passage, written in two Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and Demotic), and in classicalContinue reading “The Rosetta Stone was found on this date”

July 15, 1946 –I didn’t think I was a famous singer. I didn’t think I was a star or that I could make the waters part – just that singing was what I was going to do. Linda Maria Ronstadt, singer and actress was born in Tucson, Arizona on this date. (Send her your goodContinue reading “Linda Ronstadt”

July 15, 1972 –Elton John’s fifth studio album, Honky Chateau, reached No. #1 on the US Billboard Charts, on this date, making it the first of John’s seven consecutive US No. #1 album. The album was recorded at Château d’Hérouville, Hérouville, France, in January 1972. At the time, the studio was known as “Strawberry Studios,”Continue reading “Honky Chateau hits the top of the charts”

July 15, 1869 –During war with Prussia, French ruler Napoleon III commissions Hippolye Mege Mouries to find a butter substitute. A patent for margarine was issued on this date, it being based on beef fat instead of milk fat. He called it Margarine (but you can call it Oleo) because the French word for pearlContinue reading “You might think it’s butter …”

July 15, 2009 –45 years after he played at the Ed Sullivan Theater with The Beatles, Paul McCartney returned to the venue to appear on The Late Show With David Letterman. Earlier in the day, McCartney plays a few songs from the theater’s marquee, surprising the onlookers in Manhattan.

July 14, 1965 –The space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, sending back the first photographs of the planet — they took eight hours to arrive. They were the first ever close-up photos of another planet. The photos reveal that the planet’s surface is cratered. And so it goes

July 14, 1964 –The Rolling Stones score their first #1 hit in the UK with their cover of Bobby Womack’s It’s All Over Now. New York disc jockey Murray the K gave The Stones a copy of the original recording of the song by The Valentinos and suggested they record it. Murray was important enoughContinue reading “It’s All Over Now went to the top of the charts”