Today is July 21 2014

Junk Food Day: More

• Get Out of the Doghouse Day: More
  Third Monday of July
• Global Hug Your Kid Day: More
  Third Monday in July
• National Tug-Of-War Tournament Day: More
• Space Shuttle program ends: More
  July 21 2011. Space Shuttle Atlantis lands.

• In 356 BC, The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Temple of Artemis or Artemision, also known less precisely as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis. It was located in Ephesus (near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey). One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was completely rebuilt three times before its eventual destruction in 401 AD. Only foundations and sculptural fragments of the latest of the temples at the site remain.
  
  The first sanctuary (temenos) antedated the Ionic immigration by many years, and dates to the Bronze Age. Callimachus, in his Hymn to Artemis, attributed it to the Amazons. In the 7th century BC, the old temple was destroyed by a flood. Its reconstruction began around 550 BC, under the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes, at the expense of Croesus of Lydia: the project took 10 years to complete. The temple was destroyed in 356 BC by an act of arson and was again rebuilt, this time as the Wonder
  
  In 356 BC, the temple was destroyed in a vainglorious act of arson by a man, Herostratus, who set fire to the wooden roof-beams, seeking fame at any cost; thus the term herostratic fame. For this outrage, the Ephesians sentenced the perpetrator to death and forbade anyone from mentioning his name; but Theopompus later noted it. In Greek and Roman historical tradition, the temple's destruction coincided with the birth of Alexander the Great (around 20/21 July 356 BC). Plutarch remarked that Artemis was too preoccupied with Alexander's delivery to save her burning temple'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1588, The British fleet begins battle with the Spanish 'Invincible Armada'.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Spanish Armada (Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, literally "Great and Most Fortunate Navy") was a Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from A Coruña in August 1588, under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. The strategic aim was to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Tudor establishment of Protestantism in England, with the expectation that this would put a stop to English interference in the Spanish Netherlands and to the harm caused to Spanish interests by English and Dutch privateering.
  
  The Armada chose not to attack the English fleet at Plymouth, then failed to establish a temporary anchorage in the Solent, after one Spanish ship had been captured by Francis Drake in the English Channel. The Armada finally dropped anchor off Calais. While awaiting communications from the Duke of Parma's army the Armada was scattered by an English fireship attack. In the ensuing Battle of Gravelines the Spanish fleet was damaged and forced to abandon its rendezvous with Parma's army, who were blockaded in harbour by Dutch flyboats. The Armada managed to regroup and, driven by southwest winds, withdrew north, with the English fleet harrying it up the east coast of England. The commander ordered a return to Spain, but the Armada was disrupted during severe storms in the North Atlantic and a large number of the vessels were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Of the initial 130 ships over a third failed to return. As Martin and Parker explain, "Philip II attempted to invade England, but his plans miscarried, partly because of his own mismanagement, and partly because the defensive efforts of the English and their Dutch allies prevailed. " The expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). The following year, England organised a similar large-scale campaign against Spain, the Drake–Norris Expedition or "counter-Armada of 1589", which was also unsuccessful, had serious economic consequences and saw the loss of many English lives and ships'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
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• In 1902, Willis Carrier creates the first air conditioner in Buffalo, New York.
  From Wikipedia: 'In Buffalo, New York, on July 17, 1902, in response to a quality problem experienced at the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company of Brooklyn, Willis Carrier submitted drawings for what became recognized as the world's first modern air conditioning system. The 1902 installation marked the birth of air conditioning because of the addition of humidity control, which led to the recognition by authorities in the field that air conditioning must perform four basic functions:
  1. control temperature 2. control humidity 3. control air circulation and ventilation 4. cleanse the air
  
  After several more years of refinement and field testing, on January 2, 1906, Carrier was granted U.S. Patent 808,897 for an Apparatus for Treating Air, the world's first spray-type air conditioning equipment. It was designed to humidify or dehumidify air, heating water for the first and cooling it for the second. In 1906 Carrier discovered that "constant dew-point depression provided practically constant relative humidity," which later became known among air conditioning engineers as the "law of constant dew-point depression." On this discovery he based the design of an automatic control system, for which he filed a patent claim on May 17, 1907. U.S. Patent 1,085,971 was issued on February 3, 1914.
  
  On December 3, 1911, Carrier presented the perhaps most significant document ever prepared on air conditioning – Rational Psychrometric Formulae – at the annual meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It became known as the "Magna Carta of Psychrometrics." This document tied together the concepts of relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dew-point temperature, thus making it possible to design air-conditioning systems to precisely fit the requirements at hand.
  
  With the onset of World War I in late-1914, the Buffalo Forge Company, for which Carrier had been employed 12 years, decided to confine its activities entirely to manufacturing. The result was that seven young engineers pooled together their life savings of $32,600 to form the Carrier Engineering Corporation in New York on June 26, 1915. The seven were Carrier, J. Irvine Lyle, Edward T. Murphy, L. Logan Lewis, Ernest T. Lyle, Frank Sanna, Alfred E. Stacey, Jr., and Edmund P. Heckel. The company eventually settled on Frelinghuysen Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.
  
  Despite the development of the centrifugal refrigeration machine and the commercial growth of air conditioning to cool buildings in the 1920s, the company ran into financial difficulties, as did many others, as a result of the Wall Street Crash in October 1929. In 1930, Carrier Engineering Corp. merged with Brunswick-Kroeschell Company and York Heating and Ventilating Corporation to form the Carrier Corporation, with Willis Carrier named Chairman of the Board.
  
  Spread out over four cities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Carrier consolidated and moved his company to Syracuse, New York, in 1937, and the company became one of the largest employers in central New York'.
  - At Popular Mechanics: More
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• In 1904, Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium. The record only stood for three months.
  From Wikipedia: 'Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, was the first man to drive a car at over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).
  
  He set a record of 103.561 mph (166.665 km/h) on a beach at Ostend in Belgium on 21 July 1904, driving a 13.5 litre Gobron-Brillié racing car. He covered a 1 kilometre course in 21.6 seconds, beating Belgian Pierre de Caters mark of 97.25 mph (156.51 km/h), set the previous May over the same 1 kilometre course in Ostend. The record stood for just three months. Rigolly also participated in early Grand Prix motor racing'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
• In 1918, The German U-156 shells Nauset Beach, in Orleans, Massachusetts. 'The Attack on Orleans was a naval and air action during World War I which took place on 21 July 1918. A German U-boat opened fire on the American town of Orleans, Massachusetts and several merchant vessels nearby. A tugboat was sunk, but shells fired in the direction of the town landed harmlessly in a marsh and on a beach.'
  From Wikipedia: 'The Attack on Orleans was a naval and air action during World War I which took place on 21 July 1918. A German U-boat opened fire on the American town of Orleans, Massachusetts, and several merchant vessels nearby. A tugboat was sunk, but shells fired in the direction of the town landed harmlessly in a marsh and on a beach.
  
  On the morning of 21 July 1918 – during the last year of the First World War – the German submarine U-156, Captained by Richard Feldt, surfaced three miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and began to shell the tugboat "Perth Amboy" and the four barges in her tow. A handful of the shells fired by the U-boat’s two deck guns struck Nauset Beach, giving the town of Orleans the distinction of being the first, and only, spot in the United States to receive fire from the enemy during the First World War.
  
  Coming to Cape Cod’s defense was the United States Life-Saving Service and the fledgling air arm of the United States Navy. The lifesavers, who were based at Station No. 40, launched a surfboat under heavy enemy shellfire and rowed in the direction of the thirty-two sailors trapped aboard the tug and barges. Meanwhile, HS-1L flying boats and R-9 seaplanes were dispatched from the Chatham Naval Air Station and dive-bombed the enemy raider with payloads of TNT. It was the first time in history that American aviators engaged an enemy vessel in the western Atlantic.
  
  Today, a sign celebrates the historic engagement above the beach. It reads:
  
  "Three miles offshore, in the direction of the arrow, was the scene of attack of a German submarine on a tug and barges July 21, 1918. Several shells struck the beach. This is the only section of the United States’ coast shelled by the enemy during World War I'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1919, The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people. 'The Type FD dirigible, owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, was transporting people from Grant Park to the White City amusement park. One crew member, two passengers, and ten bank employees were killed in what was, up to that point, the worst dirigible disaster in United States history.'
  From Wikipedia: 'The Wingfoot Air Express was a dirigible that crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago on Monday July 21, 1919. The Type FD dirigible, owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, was transporting people from Grant Park to the White City amusement park. One crew member, two passengers, and ten bank employees were killed in what was, up to that point, the worst dirigible disaster in United States history.
  
  The craft caught fire at about 4:55pm while cruising at an altitude of 1,200 ft (370 m) over the Chicago Loop. When it became clear the dirigible was lost, the pilot, Jack Boettner, and chief mechanic, Harry Wacker, used parachutes to jump to safety. A second mechanic, Henry Weaver, died when his parachute caught fire. Another passenger, Earl H. Davenport, a publicity agent for the White City Amusement Park, jumped from the dirigible, but his parachute got tangled in the rigging and he hung fifty feet below the burning craft; he was killed when the airship crashed. A fifth person who parachuted from the dirigible, Chicago Daily News photographer Milton Norton, broke both legs and later died at a hospital.
  
  At the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank building at the northeast corner of LaSalle Street and Jackson Boulevard, 150 employees were closing up after the day's business in and around the main banking hall, which was illuminated by a large skylight. The remains of the Wingfoot struck the bank's skylight directly and flaming debris fell through to the banking hall below. The result was ten employees killed, and 27 banking staff reported injured.
  
  In addition to causing the city of Chicago to adopt a new set of rules for aviation over the city, the crash led to the closing of the Grant Park Airstrip and the creation of Chicago Air Park'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1921,- To prove his contention that air power is superior to sea power, US Colonel William Mitchell demonstrates how bombs from planes can sink a captured German battleship
  From Wikipedia: 'On July 20, 1921, the Navy brought out the ex-German World War I battleship, Ostfriesland. One day of scheduled 230, 550, and 600 lb (270 kg) bomb attacks by Navy, Marine Corps, and Army aircraft settled the Ostfriesland three feet by the stern with a five-degree list to port. She was taking on water. Further bombing was delayed a day, the Navy claiming due to rough seas that prevented their Board of Observers from going aboard, the Air Service countering that as the Army bombers approached, they were ordered not to attack. Mitchell's bombers were forced to circle for 47 minutes, as a result of which they dropped only half their bombs, and none of their large bombs.
  
  On the morning of July 21, in accordance with a strictly orchestrated schedule of attacks, five NBS-1 bombers led by 1st Lt. Clayton Bissell dropped a single 1,100 lb bomb each, scoring three direct hits. The Navy stopped further drops, although the Army bombers had nine bombs remaining, to assess damage. By noon, Ostfriesland had settled two more feet by the stern and one foot by the bow.
  
  At this point, Capt. Walter R. Lawson's flight of bombers, consisting of two Handley-Page O/400 and six NBS-1 bombers loaded with 2,000 lb (910 kg) bombs, was dispatched. One Handley Page dropped out for mechanical reasons, but the NBS-1s dropped six bombs in quick succession between 12:18 pm and 12:31 pm. Bomb aiming points were for the water near the ship. Mitchell described Lawson's attack, "Four bombs hit in rapid succession, close along side the Ostfriesland. We could see her rise eight to ten feet between the terrific blows from under water. On the fourth shot, Capt Streett, sitting in the back seat of my plane stood up and waving both arms shouted, "She is gone!" There were no direct hits but at least three of the bombs landed close enough to rip hull plates as well as cause the ship to roll over. The ship sank at 12:40 pm, 22 minutes after the first bomb, with a seventh bomb dropped by the Handley Page on the foam rising up from the sinking ship. Nearby the site, observing, were various foreign and domestic officials aboard the USS Henderson'.
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• In 1949, The United States ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty. This paved the way for N.A.T.O.
  From Wikipedia: 'The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949, is the treaty establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NA
  
  The treaty was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949 by a committee which was chaired by US diplomat Theodore Achilles. Earlier secret talks had been held at the Pentagon between 22 March and 1 April 1948, ...
  
  The treaty was created with an armed attack by the Soviet Union against Western Europe in mind, but the mutual self-defense clause was never invoked during the Cold War. Rather, it was invoked for the first time in 2001 in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center and The Pentagon in Operation Eagle Assist'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
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• In 1958, The last of 'Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts' programs aired on CBS-TV.
  From Wikipedia: 'Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (also known as Talent Scouts) was an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it starred Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting Arthur Godfrey and His Friends at the same time.
  
  The concept for the show was that Godfrey had several "talent scouts" who brought their discoveries onto the program to showcase their talents. The winner of each show was determined by a meter that judged the audience's applause. The radio series began July 2, 1946, and was heard on CBS Tuesday evenings at 9pm. The winner on October 1, 1946, was pianist José Melis, who later became a familiar late night television personality as the orchestra leader on Jack Paar's Tonight show.
  
  In the summer of 1947, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts moved to Fridays at 9:30 p.m. After August 1947 it aired on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. The radio show continued until October 1, 1956. With Archie Bleyer leading the orchestra, the show's announcer was George Bryan. The show's opening (to the tune of "Four and Twenty Blackbirds") featured Peggy Marshall and the Holidays ...
  
  Contestants on the show included Pat Boone, The Chordettes, The McGuire Sisters and Carmel Quinn, all of whom went on to perform on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. Other contestants included Tony Bennett, The Blackwood Brothers, Lenny Bruce, Roy Clark, Rosemary Clooney, Ken Berry, Florian ZaBach, Wally Cox, Vic Damone, The Diamonds, Eddie Fisher, Connie Francis, Don Knotts, Steve Lawrence, Al Martino, Barbara McNair, Marian McPartland, Johnny Nash, Leslie Uggams, Lorraine Donahue (who later appeared on The Voice of Firestone) and Jonathan Winters. Swedish singer Kjerstin Dellert won a contest in 1948 with Someone to Watch Over Me, beginning her career as a vocalist there. Patsy Cline first gained national attention with a winning performance of Walkin' After Midnight on the January 21, 1957 broadcast. Among those who auditioned but were not chosen to appear on the broadcast were Buddy Holly, The Four Freshmen, and Elvis Presley'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1983, The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at -89.2 °C (-128.6 °F).
  From Wikipedia: 'The lowest natural temperature ever directly recorded at ground level on Earth is -89.2 °C (-128.6 °F; 184.0 K), which was at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica, on July 21, 1983. Analysis of satellite data indicated a probable temperature of around -93.2 °C (-135.8 °F; 180.0 K), in East Antarctica, on August 10, 2010; however, this reading was not confirmed by ground measurements.
  
  A 2009 study estimated that under exceptional climate conditions similar to those recorded at Vostok in 1983, temperatures higher on the plateau around Dome Argus could potentially drop as low as -95 °C (-139 °F; 178 K). On August 10, 2010, satellite observations measured a surface temperature of -93.2 °C (-135.8 °F; 180.0 K) at 81.8°S 59.3°E, along a ridge between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji, at 3,900 m elevation. The result was reported at the 46th annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, in December 2013; it is a provisional figure, and may be subject to revision.
  
  The value may not be listed as the record coldest temperature as it was measured by remote sensing satellites and not by ground-based thermometers, unlike the 1983 record. The temperature announced reflects that of the ice surface, while the Vostok readings measured the air above the ice, and so the two are not directly comparable. However, it is most likely that the real temperature on the site was lower than that recorded at Vostok'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135.
  From Wikipedia: 'STS-135 (ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter Atlantis and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 launched on 8 July 2011, and landed on 21 July 2011, following a one-day mission extension. The four-person crew was the smallest of any shuttle mission since STS-6 in April 1983. The mission's primary cargo was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight of Raffaello marked the only time that Atlantis carried an MPLM'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 2012, Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.
  From Wikipedia: 'Erden Eruç Air-den Air-rooch, born 14 July 1961 (age 55)) is a Turkish adventurer who became the first person in history to complete an entirely solo and entirely human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth on 21 July 2012 in Bodega Bay, California, United States. The journey had started from Bodega Bay a little more than five years earlier on 10 July 2007. The modes of transport included a rowboat to cross the oceans, a sea kayak for shorelines, a bicycle on the roads and hiking on trails, along with canoes for a few river crossings. The route he followed was 66,299 km (41,196 mi) long, crossed the equator twice and all lines of longitude, and passed over twelve pairs of antipodal points, meeting all the requirements for a true circumnavigation of the globe. Guinness World Records has officially recognized Eruç for the First solo circumnavigation of the globe using human power on a journey that lasted 5 years 11 days 12 hours and 22 minutes, the current world record time for a solo human-powered circumnavigation'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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Tomorrow is the one you have been waiting for. It will be 'Junk Food Day'. Enjoy and don't count the calories. Besides, you know you want to eat salad the rest of the week anyway

Well, in case you broke your diet and all your loved ones know it, cheer up, the very same day is ' Get Out of the Doghouse Day'. Over indulgence and forgiveness, all in the same day. Can't beat that.

Ah, you have a conscience. You feel you must pay penance after all that junk food? . How about a little exercise. It will be 'National Tug-Of-War Tournament Day'. You dug in that food, so dig in those heels and pull for your side. Work those mussels and burn those calories.

Not a Junk Food addict? Why not get addicted to letting someone know you care. You can start with 'Global Hug Your Kid Day'. Of course, there is no reason to stop there.

On July 21, in '69 they are still exploring the moon. On July 21 2011, the US Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of the Atlantis.

No. 1 song

• Rag Doll - The Four Seasons: More
  'Get Around' has been displaced by 'Rag Doll', which will hold the no. 1 spot until July 25 2014, when 'A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles', takes over.

Top movie

• The Moon-Spinners More
  Having displaced 'The Killers', it will be there until the weekend box office of July 26 1964 when, 'Marnie', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: July 21 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: July 21 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 21st July More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 21st July More
• On-This-day.com history 21st July More
• On-This-day.com music history 21st July More
• Wikipedia.com: History July 21 More

National Baked Bean Month, National Culinary Arts Month, National Grilling Month, National Hot Dog Month, National Ice Cream Month, National July Belongs to Blueberries Month, National Vacation Rental Month,

July is:

July origin (from Wikipedia): Named by the Roman Senate in honor of Julius Caesar.
"is the seventh month of the year (between June and August) in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days. It was named by the Roman Senate in honor of the Roman general, Julius Caesar, it being the month of his birth. Prior to that, it was called Quintilis. It is, on average, the warmest month in most of the Northern hemisphere (where it is the second month of summer) and the coldest month in much of the Southern hemisphere (where it is the second month of winter). The second half of the year commences in July. In the Southern hemisphere, July is the seasonal equivalent of January in the Northern hemisphere."

July at Wikipedia: More

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

Best selling books of 1964 More

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
• NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
• Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
• NASA TV: (video feed) More
  NASA TV schedule: More
• Public Domain eBook Links

  Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

• Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
  Home page: More
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Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2014 Postal Holidays More
• 2014 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

• List of holidays by country More
• Holidays and Observances around the World More