Today is July 11 2015

National Blueberry Muffin Day: More
National Rainier Cherry Day More
Celebrates the cross-bread cherry created in 952 at Washington State University

• National Cheer Up The Lonely Day: More
  Created by Francis Pesek as a way to promote kindness to others.
• All American Pet Photo Day: More
• Day of The Five Billion: More
• Slurpee Day or 7-11's Birthday: More
  A free small Slurpee from 11 am until 7 PM on a first come first serve basis.
• Wayne Chicken Day: More
  July 10-12 in Wayne, Nebraska.

• Other
  • World Population Day: More
    A UN awareness day set on the anniversary of the 'Five Billion Day' on July 11, 1987, when the world's population reached that figure.

• In 1798, The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
  From Wikipedia: 'The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection, using the mobility of the United States Navy to, by Congressional mandate, rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces on land, at sea, and in the air. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U.S. Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking military officer in the U.S. armed forces, is a Marine Corps general.
  
  The United States Marine Corps traces its institutional roots to the Continental Marines of the American Revolutionary War, formed by Captain Samuel Nicholas by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress on 10 November 1775, to raise two battalions of Marines. That date is regarded and celebrated as the date of the Marine Corps' birthday. At the end of the American Revolution, both the Continental Navy and Continental Marines were disbanded in April 1783. The institution itself would not be resurrected until 11 July 1798. At that time, in preparation for the Quasi-War with France, Congress created the United States Marine Corps. Marines had been enlisted by the War Department as early as August 1797 for service in the new-build frigates authorized by the Congressional "Act to provide a Naval Armament" of 18 March 1794, which specified the numbers of Marines to be recruited for each frigate'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1801, French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
  From Wikipedia: 'Jean-Louis Pons (24 December 1761 – 14 October 1831) was a French astronomer. Despite humble beginnings and being self-taught, he went on to become the greatest visual comet discoverer of all time: between 1801 and 1827 Pons discovered thirty-seven comets, more than any other person in history.
  
  Pons made his first comet discovery, jointly attributed to Charles Messier, on 11 July 1801. He appears to have used telescopes and lenses of his own design; his "Grand Chercheur" ("Great Seeker") seems to have been an instrument with large aperture and short focal length, similar to a "comet seeker". However, he was not an especially diligent recorder of his observations, and his notes were often extremely vague.
  
  He discovered five periodic comets, three of which, 7P/Pons–Winnecke, 12P/Pons–Brooks and 273P/Pons–Gambart, bear his name. One observed on 26 November 1818 was named Comet Encke (now 2P/Enke) after Johann Franz Encke, who calculated its orbit and its remarkably short period (Encke, however, continued to refer to the comet as "Pons's Comet"). Pons also co-discovered the comet formerly known as "Pons–Coggia–Winnecke–Forbes" and today known as 27P/Crommelin after Andrew Crommelin, who calculated its orbit.
  
  Pons received the French Academy of Sciences's Lalande Prize in 1818 for his discovery of three comets in that year. He won it again in 1820 (jointly with Joseph Nicollet) for further comet discoveries at Marlia and for an unmatched third time in 1827 (jointly with Jean-Félix Adolphe Gambart) for discovering another seven comets at the Florence observatory.
  
  By 1827, Pons's eyesight had begun to fail, and he retired from observing altogether shortly before his death, on the 14th of October 1831. In his honour, a moon crater was named after him'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
• In 1892, US Patent Office says J W Swan, rather than Thomas Edison, invented the electric light carbon for the incandescent lamp.
  From Wikipedia: 'The common coupling of Swan's name with that of Thomas Edison in connection with the incandescent electric lamp has often led to the notion that Swan collaborated with Edison in this invention. That was not so. Their work was completely independent, and although each knew the other was working on the problem of devising a practical lamp, they had neither met nor communicated with each other. The conjunction of their names came about in 1883 when the two competing companies merged to exploit both Swan's and Edison's inventions.
  
  In America, Edison had been working on copies of the original light bulb patented by Swan, trying to make them more efficient. Though Swan had beaten him to this goal, Edison obtained patents in America for a fairly direct copy of the Swan light, and started an advertising campaign that claimed that he was the real inventor. Swan, who was less interested in making money from the invention, agreed that Edison could sell the lights in America while he retained the rights in the United Kingdom.
  
  While searching for a better filament for his light bulb, Swan inadvertently made another advance. In 1881 he developed and patented a process for squeezing nitro-cellulose through holes to form conducting fibres. His newly established company (which by merger eventually became the Edison and Swan United Company) used Swan's cellulose filaments in their bulbs. The textile industry has also used this process'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1893, The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.
  From Wikipedia: 'A cultured pearl is a pearl created by a oyster farmer under controlled conditions. Cultured pearls can be farmed using two very different groups of bivalve mollusk: the freshwater river mussels, and the saltwater pearl oysters.
  
  A pearl is formed when the mantle tissue is injured by a parasite, an attack of a fish or another event that damages the external fragile rim of the shell of a mollusk shell bivalve or gastropod. In response, the mantle tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre into the pearl sac, a cyst that forms during the healing process. Chemically speaking, this is calcium carbonate and a fibrous protein called conchiolin. As the nacre builds up in layers of minute aragonite tablets, it fills the growing pearl sac and eventually forms a pearl.
  
  Natural pearls are formed by nature, more or less by chance. On the other hand, cultured pearls are human creations formed by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, upon which a pearl sac forms, and the inner side precipitates calcium carbonate, in the form of nacre or "mother-of-pearl". The most popular and effective method for creating cultured pearls are made from the shells of freshwater river mussels harvested in the midwestern states of the U.S., from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Shells with the common names, "Washboard" "Maple Leaf" "Ebony" "Pimpleback" and "Three Ridge" are popular for use in pearl culture due to their compatibility with the host animal, and the nacre they are to be covered by. These high-quality and sought-after shells are first sliced into strips and then into cubes. The edges and corners are ground down until they are a roughly spherical and then milled to become perfectly round, and brought to a highly polished finish.
  
  After the nucleus is ready, the next step is obtaining the mantle tissue. The mantle tissue is harvested from one oyster and cut into small pieces. After obtaining the mantle tissue from the first oyster it is time to operate on the second animal. The oyster is placed in warm water to relax the animal. Then it is gently pried open and mounted in a stand to be operated on. A small incision is made and the nucleus is inserted along with a small piece of mantle gland. The oyster is then placed back in the water and allowed over several years to coat the nucleus with nacre. The nucleus is coated in many layers of this nacre, so that when pearls are cut in half, visible layers can be seen.
  
  Despite the common misperception, Mikimoto did not discover the process of pearl culture. The accepted process of pearl culture was developed by the British Biologist William Saville-Kent in Australia and brought to Japan by Tokichi Nishikawa and Tatsuhei Mise. Nishikawa was granted the patent in 1916, and married the daughter of Mikimoto. Mikimoto was able to use Nishikawa's technology. After the patent was granted in 1916, the technology was immediately commercially applied to akoya pearl oysters in Japan in 1916. Mise's brother was the first to produce a commercial crop of pearls in the akoya oyster. Mitsubishi's Baron Iwasaki immediately applied the technology to the South Sea pearl oyster in 1917 in the Philippines, and later in Buton and Palau. Mitsubishi was the first to produce a cultured South Sea pearl – although it was not until 1928 that the first small commercial crop of pearls was successfully produced'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1895, Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology to scientists.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas (19 October 1862, Besançon, France – 10 April 1954, Lyon) and Louis Jean (5 October 1864, Besançon, France – 6 June 1948, Bandol), were the first filmmakers in history. They patented the cinematograph, which in contrast to Edison's "peepshow" kinetoscope allowed simultaneous viewing by multiple parties.
  
  Their first film Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon (1895) is considered the "first true motion picture." .
  
  It was not until their father retired in 1892 that the brothers began to create moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera, most notably film perforations (originally implemented by Emile Reynaud) as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector. The original cinématographe had been patented by Léon Guillaume Bouly on 12 February 1892. The brothers patented their own version on 13 February 1895. The first footage ever to be recorded using it was recorded on March 19, 1895. This first film shows workers leaving the Lumière factory.
  
  The Lumières brothers saw film as a novelty and had withdrawn from the film business in 1905. They went on to develop the first practical photographic color process, the Lumière Autochrome'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (1895): More
  - On YouTube (1897): More
• In 1914, The Babe, makes his debut as a 19 year-old pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.
  From Wikipedia: 'George Herman Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948), better known as Babe Ruth, was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat", he began his MLB career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records, including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.690), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164); the latter two still stand today. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. He was one of the first five inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.
  
  After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee controversially sold Ruth to the Yankees, an act that, coupled with Boston's subsequent championship drought, popularized the "Curse of the Bambino" superstition. In his 15 years with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League (AL) championships and four World Series championships. His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport's popularity but also helped usher in the live-ball era of baseball, in which it evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor. As part of the Yankees' vaunted "Murderer's Row" lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, extending his MLB single-season record. He retired in 1935 after a short stint with the Boston Braves. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season twelve times'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1922, The Hollywood Bowl opens.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheater located in Hollywood, California.
  
  The Hollywood Bowl is known for its band shell, a distinctive set of concentric arches that graced the site from 1929 through 2003, before being replaced with a somewhat larger one beginning in the 2004 season. The shell is set against the backdrop of the Hollywood Hills and the famous Hollywood Sign to the Northeast.
  
  The "bowl" refers to the shape of the concave hillside the amphitheater is carved into. The bowl is owned by the County of Los Angeles and is the home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the host of hundreds of musical events each year.
  
  It is located at 2301 North Highland Avenue, north of Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood/Highland subway station and south of Route 101.
  
  The site of the Hollywood Bowl was chosen in 1919 by William Reed and his son H. Ellis Reed, who were dispatched to find a suitable location for outdoor performances by the members of the newly formed Theatre Arts Alliance headed by Christine Wetherill Stevenson. The Reeds selected a natural amphitheater, a shaded canyon and popular picnic spot known as 'Daisy Dell' in Bolton Canyon.
  
  On 11 November 1921 the first Sunrise Service took place at the bowl, in one of its first major events. The Bowl officially opened on July 11, 1922'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1955, The U.S. Air Force Academy was dedicated in Colorado at Lowry Air Base.
  From Wikipedia: 'The United States Air Force Academy (also known as USAFA or the Air Force Academy), is a military academy for officer cadets of the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The Academy's stated mission is "to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become leaders of character, motivated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation." It is the youngest of the five United States service academies, having graduated its first class in 1959. Graduates of the Academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree, and are commissioned as second lieutenants in the United States Air Force. The Academy is also one of the largest tourist attractions in Colorado, attracting approximately a million visitors each year.
  
  Prior to the Academy's establishment, air power advocates had been pushing for a separate Air Force Academy for decades. As early as 1918, Lieutenant Colonel A.J. Hanlon wrote, "As the Military and Naval Academies are the backbone of the Army and Navy, so must the Aeronautical Academy be the backbone of the Air Service. No service can flourish without some such institution to inculcate into its embryonic officers love of country, proper conception of duty, and highest regard for honor." Other officials expressed similar sentiments. In 1919, Congressman Charles F. Curry introduced legislation providing for an Academy, but concerns about cost, curriculum and location led to its demise. In 1925, air power pioneer General Billy Mitchell testified on Capitol Hill that it was necessary "to have an air academy to form a basis for the permanent backbone of your air service and to attend to the...organizational part of it, very much the same way that West Point does for the Army, or that Annapolis does for the Navy." Mitchell's arguments did not gain traction with legislators, and it was not until the late 1940s that the concept of the United States Air Force Academy began to take shape.
  
  Support for an air academy got a boost with the National Security Act of 1947, which provided for the establishment of a separate Air Force within the United States military. As an initial measure, Secretary of the Air Force W. Stuart Symington negotiated an agreement where up to 25% of West Point and Annapolis graduates could volunteer to receive their commissions in the newly established Air Force. This was only intended to be a short term fix, however, and disagreements between the services quickly led to the establishment of the Service Academy Board by Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. In January 1950, the Service Academy Board, headed by Dwight D. Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, concluded that the needs of the Air Force could not be met by the two existing U.S. service academies and that an air force academy should be established.
  
  Following the recommendation of the Board, Congress passed legislation in 1954 to begin the construction of the Air Force Academy, and President Eisenhower signed it into law on 1 April of that year. The legislation established an advisory commission to determine the site of the new school. Among the panel members were Charles Lindbergh, General Carl Spaatz, and Lieutenant General Hubert R. Harmon, who later became the Academy's first superintendent. The original 582 sites considered were winnowed to three: Alton, Illinois; Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; and the ultimate site at Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Secretary of the Air Force, Harold E. Talbott, announced the winning site on 24 June 1954. Meanwhile, Air Training Command (ATC) began developing a detailed curriculum for the Academy program'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1962, First transatlantic satellite television transmission.
  From Wikipedia: 'Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, and fax images, and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2—though no longer functional—still orbit the Earth.
  
  Telstar 1 relayed its first, and non-public, television pictures—a flag outside Andover Earth Station—to Pleumeur-Bodou on July 11, 1962. Almost two weeks later, on July 23, at 3:00 p.m. EDT, it relayed the first publicly available live transatlantic television signal. The broadcast was made possible in Europe by Eurovision and in North America by NBC, CBS, ABC, and the CBC. The first public broadcast featured CBS's Walter Cronkite and NBC's Chet Huntley in New York, and the BBC's Richard Dimbleby in Brussels. The first pictures were the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The first broadcast was to have been remarks by President John F. Kennedy, but the signal was acquired before the president was ready, so engineers filled the lead-in time with a short segment of a televised game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The batter, Tony Taylor, was seen hitting a ball pitched by Cal Koonce to the right fielder George Altman. From there, the video switched first to Washington, DC; then to Cape Canaveral, Florida; to the Seattle World's Fair; then to Quebec and finally to Stratford, Ontario. The Washington segment included remarks by President Kennedy, talking about the price of the American dollar, which was causing concern in Europe. When Kennedy denied that the United States would devalue the dollar it immediately strengthened on world markets; Cronkite later said that "we all glimpsed something of the true power of the instrument we had wrought."'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1975, Chinese archaeologists unearth the 'Terra-Cotta Army'.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Terracotta Army ("Soldier-and-horse funerary statues") is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.
  
  The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits nearby Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.
  
  The Terracotta Army was discovered on 29 March 1974 to the east of Xi'an in Shaanxi province by farmers digging a water well approximately 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) east of the Qin Emperor's tomb mound at Mount Li (Lishan), a region riddled with underground springs and watercourses. For centuries, occasional reports mentioned pieces of terracotta figures and fragments of the Qin necropolis – roofing tiles, bricks and chunks of masonry. This discovery prompted Chinese archaeologists to investigate, revealing the largest pottery figurine group ever found in China'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1979, America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
  From Wikipedia: 'Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA and was the United States' first space station. Skylab orbited Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a weight of 170,000 pounds (77,111 kg), the last launch of a Saturn V rocket. Three manned expeditions to the station, conducted between May 1973 and February 1974 using the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) atop the smaller Saturn IB, each delivered a three-astronaut crew. On the last two manned missions, an additional Apollo / Saturn IB stood by ready to rescue the crew in orbit if it was needed.
  
  The station was damaged during launch when the micrometeoroid shield separated from the workshop and tore away, taking one of two main solar panel arrays with it and jamming the other one so that it could not deploy. This deprived Skylab of most of its electrical power, and also removed protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make it unusable. The first crew was able to save it in the first in-space major repair, by deploying a replacement heat shade and freeing the jammed solar panels.
  
  Skylab included the Apollo Telescope Mount, which was a multi-spectral solar observatory, Multiple Docking Adapter (with two docking ports), Airlock Module with EVA hatches, and the Orbital Workshop, the main habitable volume. Electrical power came from solar arrays, as well as fuel cells in the docked Apollo CSM. The rear of the station included a large waste tank, propellant tanks for maneuvering jets, and a heat radiator.
  
  Numerous scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab during its operational life, and crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal holes in the Sun. The Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) was used to view Earth with sensors that recorded data in the visible, infrared, and microwave spectral regions. Thousands of photographs of Earth were taken, and the record for human time spent in orbit was extended beyond the 23 days set by the Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1, to as much as 84 days by the Skylab 4 crew. Plans were made to refurbish and reuse Skylab, using the Space Shuttle to boost its orbit and repair it. However, development of the Shuttle was delayed, and Skylab reentered Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated in 1979, with debris striking portions of Western Australia. Post-Skylab NASA space laboratory projects included Spacelab, Shuttle-Mir, and Space Station Freedom (later merged into the International Space Station)'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1985, Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) became the first major league pitcher to earn 4,000 strikeouts in a career. (Texas).
  From Wikipedia: 'Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and a previous chief executive officer (CEO) of the Texas Rangers. He is currently an executive adviser to the owner of the Houston Astros.
  
  During a major league record 27-year baseball career (1966, 1968–1993), he pitched for four different teams: the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
  
  Ryan, a hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher, threw pitches that were regularly recorded above 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). The high velocity remained throughout his career, even into his 40s. Ryan was also known to throw a devastating 12–6 curveball at exceptional velocity for a breaking ball.
  
  While his lifetime winning percentage was .526, Ryan was an eight-time MLB All-Star, and his 5,714 career strikeouts rank first in baseball history by a significant margin. He leads the runner-up, Randy Johnson, by 839 strikeouts. Similarly, Ryan's 2,795 bases on balls lead second-place Steve Carlton by 962—walking over 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in MLB history. Ryan, Pedro Martínez, Randy Johnson, and Sandy Koufax are the only four pitchers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched. Other than Jackie Robinson (whose number was retired by the entire MLB), Ryan is currently the only major league baseball player to have his number retired by at least three different teams: the Angels, Astros, and Rangers.
  
  Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. He is tied with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters, with 12. Ryan also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite the seven no-hitters, he never threw a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award. Ryan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four decades and the only pitcher to have struck out seven pairs of fathers and sons'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1987, The Heart's 'Alone' single goes #1 for 3 weeks.
  From Wikipedia: '"Alone" is a song composed by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It first appeared via Steinberg and Kelly's 1983 pet project, I-Ten, on Taking a Cold Look. It was later recorded by Valerie Stevenson and John Stamos in their roles as Lisa Copley and Gino Minelli, on the original soundtrack of the CBS sitcom Dreams in 1984. American rock band Heart made it a number-one US and Canadian hit in 1987. Twenty years later, Celine Dion recorded it for her album Taking Chances.
  
  Heart released the song as the first single from their ninth studio album, Bad Animals, in May 1987. Their version is a power ballad that begins with a piano line and a subdued vocal from Ann Wilson before exploding into an amplified hard rock, albeit heavily synth-led, chorus. The song has been covered numerous times on American Idol. According to a Songfacts interview with Steinberg, Kelly (an experienced session singer) provided the high harmony parts on the record. "Alone" is Heart's biggest hit, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 that July. It ranked No. 2 on the Billboard Year-End Top Pop Singles of 1987. It is also their most successful single in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, so far as the band's only ever song to peak inside the UK Top 5; it is also one out of three UK Top 10 singles by the band. The song was also a huge global hit, reaching No. 1 in Canada, the top five in Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland, the top ten in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Poland as well as the top twenty in Germany. The song's popular video featured the band in a synched live performance. An "unplugged" version of the song later appeared on Heart's 1995 album The Road Home'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 2011, Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery on September 23, 1846.
  From Wikipedia: 'Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third-largest by mass. Among the giant planets in the Solar System, Neptune is the most dense. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth and slightly larger than Neptune. Neptune orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years at an average distance of 30.1 astronomical units (4.50×109 km). Named after the Roman god of the sea, its astronomical symbol is, a stylised version of the god Neptune's trident.
  
  Neptune is not visible to the unaided eye and is the only planet in the Solar System found by mathematical prediction rather than by empirical observation. Unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led Alexis Bouvard to deduce that its orbit was subject to gravitational perturbation by an unknown planet. Neptune was subsequently observed with a telescope on 23 September 1846 by Johann Galle within a degree of the position predicted by Urbain Le Verrier. Its largest moon, Triton, was discovered shortly thereafter, though none of the planet's remaining known 14 moons were located telescopically until the 20th century. The planet's distance from Earth gives it a very small apparent size, making it challenging to study with Earth-based telescopes. Neptune was visited by Voyager 2, when it flew by the planet on 25 August 1989. The advent of the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based telescopes with adaptive optics has recently allowed for additional detailed observations from afar.
  
  On 11 July 2011, Neptune completed its first full barycentric orbit since its discovery in 1846, although it did not appear at its exact discovery position in the sky, because Earth was in a different location in its 365.26-day orbit. Because of the motion of the Sun in relation to the barycentre of the Solar System, on 11 July Neptune was also not at its exact discovery position in relation to the Sun; if the more common heliocentric coordinate system is used, the discovery longitude was reached on 12 July 2011'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More

We have two food related holidays tomorrow:
- 'National Blueberry Muffin Day'.
{the Hankster says] I hope you found that Blueberry, pick-your-own farm today, or otherwise got a few pints of berries. It's time to put them to use. Got too many, dump them in a cobbler.

- 'National Rainier Cherry Day'. Celebrates the cross-bread cherry created in1952 at Washington State University
{the Hankster says] Would I leave my friends that were not able to get blueberries for tomorrow, without a plan B? No sir. You can replace them with cherries.


Tomorrow is 'National Cheer Up The Lonely Day'. Created by Francis Pesek as a way to promote kindness to others.
{the Hankster says] A great way to do that would be to make them some muffins. You choose the fruit.

If you see your pets hiding from you tomorrow, that is because the know that it is 'All American Pet Photo Day'. They are trying to live down the pics your took at Halloween and Christmas, when you dressed them up in costume.

Back on July 11 1987, the Earth had a population milestone. It was 'Day of The Five Billion'. From Wikipedia: 'It is estimated that the human population reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It would be another 123 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only thirty-three years to rise by another billion, reaching three billion in 1960. Thereafter, the human population reached four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in 1999 and, by some estimates, seven billion in October 2011 with other estimates being in March 2012. It is projected to reach eight billion by 2024–2030'

Tomorrow is one of the reasons I started the Heads Up post. You need some time to plan for 'Slurpee Day or 7-11's Birthday'. A free small Slurpee from 11 am until 7 PM on a first come first serve basis.
{the Hankster says] The other initial Heads Up occasions were for free doughnuts, coffee or ice cream. Yes, there is a pattern. What happened to the post, you say. stuff just happens. More and more stuff.

For you who like everything chicken. Tomorrow is the second day of the 'Wayne Chicken Day'. July 10-12 in Wayne, Nebraska.
{the Hankster says] While there will be lots of chicken and egg related events, I read where due to the avian flu situation, there will be no live chicken events. The website does state that all other fowl events will take place (my kind f people). You can, however, still get your cement chicken to dress up. Hey, take a pic for pet photo day. You will most likely never have such a cooperative model.


We have an awareness day tomorrow. It will be 'World Population Day'. A UN awareness day set on the anniversary of the 'Five Billion Day' on July 11, 1987, when the world's population reached that figure.

Historical events in the past on: July 11

In 1798, The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.

In 1801, French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.

In 1892, US Patent Office says J W Swan, rather than Thomas Edison, invented the electric light carbon for the incandescent lamp.

In 1893, The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.

In 1895, Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology to scientists.

In 1914, The Babe, makes his debut as a 19 year-old pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.

In 1922, The Hollywood Bowl opens.

In 1955, The U.S. Air Force Academy was dedicated in Colorado at Lowry Air Base.

In 1962, The first transatlantic satellite television transmission takes place from the recently launched Telstar..

In 1975, Chinese archaeologists unearth the 'Terra-Cotta Army'.

In 1979, America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean on a planned deorbit.

In 1985, Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) became the first major league pitcher to earn 4,000 strikeouts in a career.

In 1987, The Heart's 'Alone' single goes #1 for 3 weeks.

In 2011, Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery on September 23, 1846.

No. 1 song

• Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds: More
  'I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)' has been displaced by 'Mr. Tambourine Man', which will hold the no. 1 spot until July 31 1965, when '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones', takes over.

Top movie

• Cat Ballou More
  Having displaced 'Tickle Me', it will be there until the weekend box office of July 18 1965 when, 'The Sound of Music', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: July 11 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: July 11 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 11th July More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 11th July More
• On-This-day.com history 11th July More
• On-This-day.com music history 11th July More
• Wikipedia.com: History July 11 More

Monthly holiday / awareness days in

Food
Eggplant Month
Garlic Month
Lettuce Month
Melon Month
National Baked Bean Month
National Blueberries Month
National Bison Month
National Culinary Arts Month
National Grilling Month
National Hot Dog Month
National Ice Cream Month
National Horseradish Month
National Hot Dog Month
National July Belongs to Blueberries
Nectarine Month
Sandwich Generation Month
Wheat Month

Health and Well-being
Alopecia Month for WomebnHealth and Well-Being
Bereaved Parents Awareness Month
Eye Injury Prevention Month Link
Fragile X Awareness Month
Hemochromatosis Screening Awareness Month
Herbal / Prescription Interaction Awareness Month
International Group B Strep Awareness Month
International Women with Alopecia Month
Juvenille Arthritis Awareness Month
National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month
National Cord Blood Awareness Month
National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month
National Outdoor Month
National Picnic Month
National Recreation and Parks Month
National Share a Sunset with Your Lover Month
Social Wellness Month
Worldwide Bereaved Parents Month

Animal and Pets
Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month
National 'Doghouse Repairs Month

Other
Air-Conditioning Appreciation
Anti Boredom Month
Bioterrorism/Disaster Education and Awareness Month
Cell Phone Courtesy Month
Dog Days
Family Golf Month
Family Reunion Month
Fireworks Safety Month
Independent Retailer Month
International Blondie and Deborah Harry Month
International Zine Month
National Black Family Month
National Child-Centered Divorce Month
National Make A Difference to Children Month
National Parks and Recreation Month
National Vacation Rental Month
National Wheelchair Beautification Month
Smart Irrigation Month
Tennis Month
Tour de France Month
UV Safety Month
Women's Motorcycle 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 1965 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
  RSS: More

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2015 Postal Holidays More
• 2015 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

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