Today is August 7 2015

National Raspberries N’ Cream Day: More

• Purple Heart Day: More
  Since August 7 1782 and created by General George Washington. It is considered to be the first official military combat badge of the United States Armed Forces
• National Lighthouse Day: More
  A Congressional Act on August 7 1789 for the 'establishment and support of Lighthouse, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers'.
• Sea Serpent Day: More
  Remembers the reported Sea Serpent sighting aboard the 'HMS Daedalus' in 1848.
  - At Wikipedia: MoreBraham Pie Day
• Braham Pie Day: More
  A homemade pie festival in Braham Minnesota.
• 18th annual Kool-Aid Days Festival : More
  Second weekend in August, 7-9 in 2015, in Hastings, Nebraska..
• Twins Days Festival (40th): More
  A twins gathering, August 7-9 (first full weekend) August in Twinsburg, Ohio.

• Health
  • Jeans for Genes Day: More
    August 7 in Australia. A (wear jeans) fund raiser to fight childhood disease.
  • Silent Leadership Challenge: More
    August 7 in New Zealand. A fund raiser and workplace education effort on behalf of those with hearing loss.

• In 1782, George Washington orders the creation of the 'Badge of Military Merit' to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic 'Purple Heart'.
  'The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after April 5, 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, which took the form of a heart made of purple cloth, the Purple Heart is the oldest military award still given to U.S. military members – the only earlier award being the obsolete Fidelity Medallion. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York.
  
  The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was established by George Washington – then the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army – by order from his Newburgh, New York headquarters on August 7, 1782. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers by Gen. George Washington himself. General Washington authorized his subordinate officers to issue Badges of Merit as appropriate. From then on, as its legend grew, so did its appearance. Although never abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until after World War I.
  
  The Commission of Fine Arts solicited plaster models from three leading sculptors for the medal, selecting that of John R. Sinnock of the Philadelphia Mint in May 1931. By Executive Order of the President of the United States, the Purple Heart was revived on the 200th Anniversary of George Washington's birth, out of respect to his memory and military achievements, by War Department General Order No. 3, dated February 22, 1932'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1888, Theophilus Van Kannel of Phila patents the revolving door.
  From Wikipedia: 'Theophilus Van Kannel (1841 – December 24, 1919) was an American inventor, famous for inventing the revolving door, patented on August 7, 1888.
  
  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Van Kannel, who was recognized for his invention with the John Scott Medal by the Franklin Institute in 1889, founded the Van Kannel Revolving Door Company, which eventually was bought out by the International Steel Company in 1907. International Steel Company is the parent company of International Revolving Door Company. Theophilus had no family.
  
  He invented and owned Witching Waves, an amusement ride introduced at Luna Park, Coney Island, in 1907.
  
  Van Kannel died in New York City of heart failure and was buried in West Park Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio.
  
  A revolving door typically consists of three or four doors that hang on a central shaft and rotate around a vertical axis within a cylindrical enclosure. Revolving doors are energy efficient as they prevent drafts (via acting as an airlock), thus preventing increases in the heating or cooling required for the building. At the same time, revolving doors allow large numbers of people to pass in and out'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1927, The Peace Bridge connecting the United States and Canada (between Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario), opened, to celebrate 100 years of peaceful and beneficial relations.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Peace Bridge is an international bridge between Canada and the United States at the east end of Lake Erie at the source of the Niagara River, about 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) upriver of Niagara Falls. It connects the City of Buffalo, New York, in the United States to the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario, in Canada. It is operated and maintained by the binational Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority.
  
  The Peace Bridge consists of five arched spans the Niagara River and a Parker through-truss span the Black Rock Canal on the American side of the river. The total length is 5,800 feet (1,768 m). Material used in the construction included 3,500 feet (1,067 m) of steelwork, 9,000 tons of structural steel and 800 tons of reinforcing steel in the concrete abutments. The Peace Bridge was named to commemorate 100 years of peace between the United States and Canada. It was constructed as a highway bridge to address the needs of pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic which could not be accommodated on the International Railway Bridge, built in 1873'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1942, During World War II, The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and code-named Operation Watchtower, originally applying only to an operation to take the island of Tulagi, by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
  
  On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly United States (US) Marines, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten Allied supply and communication routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders, who had occupied the islands since May 1942, and captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as an airfield (later named Henderson Field) that was under construction on Guadalcanal. Powerful American naval forces supported the landings.
  
  Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven large naval battles (five nighttime surface actions and two carrier battles), and continual, almost daily, aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November, in which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and land with enough troops to retake it, was defeated. In December, the Japanese abandoned their efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by 7 February 1943, in the face of an offensive by the US Army's XIV Corps.
  
  The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms Allied victory in the Pacific theater. The Japanese had reached the peak of their conquests in the Pacific. The victories at Milne Bay, Buna-Gona, and Guadalcanal marked the Allied transition from defensive operations to the strategic initiative in the theater, leading to offensive operations such as the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Central Pacific campaigns, that eventually resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of World War II'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Kon-Tiki expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named Kon-Tiki after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name. Kon-Tiki is also the name of Heyerdahl's book; the Academy Award-winning documentary film chronicling his adventures; and the 2012 dramatised feature film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
  
  Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. His aim in mounting the Kon-Tiki expedition was to show, by using only the materials and technologies available to those people at the time, that there were no technical reasons to prevent them from having done so. Although the expedition carried some modern equipment, such as a radio, watches, charts, sextant, and metal knives, Heyerdahl argued they were incidental to the purpose of proving that the raft itself could make the journey.
  
  The Kon-Tiki expedition was funded by private loans, along with donations of equipment from the United States Army. Heyerdahl and a small team went to Peru, where, with the help of dockyard facilities provided by the Peruvian authorities, they constructed the raft out of balsa logs and other native materials in an indigenous style as recorded in illustrations by Spanish conquistadores. The trip began on April 28, 1947. Heyerdahl and five companions sailed the raft for 101 days over 6900 km (4,300 miles) across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947. The crew made successful landfall and all returned safely.
  
  Thor Heyerdahl's book about his experience became a bestseller. It was published in Norwegian in 1948 as The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas, later reprinted as Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft. It appeared with great success in English in 1950, also in many other languages. A documentary motion picture about the expedition, also called Kon-Tiki was produced from a write-up and expansion of the crew's filmstrip notes and won an Academy Award in 1951. It was directed by Thor Heyerdahl and edited by Olle Nordemar. The voyage was also chronicled in the documentary TV-series The Kon-Tiki Man: The Life and Adventures of Thor Heyerdahl, directed by Bengt Jonson.
  
  The original Kon-Tiki raft is now on display in the Kon-Tiki Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1955, The First transistor radios by Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) are sold.
  From Wikipedia: 'A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following their development in 1954, made possible by the invention of the transistor in 1947, they became the most popular electronic communication device in history, with billions manufactured during the 1960s and 1970s. Their pocket size sparked a change in popular music listening habits, allowing people to listen to music anywhere they went. Beginning in the 1980s cheap AM transistor radios were superseded by devices with higher audio quality, portable CD players, personal audio players, and boom boxes.
  
  In August 1955, while still a small company, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation introduced their TR-55 five-transistor radio under the new brand name Sony. With this radio, Sony became the first company to manufacture the transistors and other components they used to construct the radio. The TR-55 was also the first transistor radio to utilize all miniature components. It is estimated that only 5,000 to 10,000 units were produced'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1959, The U.S penny (reverse side) design, changes from Sheaves of Wheat to the Lincoln Memorial. It was discontinued in 2008.
  From Wikipedia: 'The United States one-cent coin, commonly known as a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. Its obverse has featured the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. From 1959 (the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth) to 2008, the reverse featured the Lincoln Memorial. Four different reverse designs in 2009 honored Lincoln's 200th birthday and a new, "permanent" reverse – the Union Shield – was introduced in 2010. The coin is 0.75 inches (19.05 mm) in diameter and 0.0598 inches (1.52 mm) in thickness. Its weight has varied, depending upon the composition of metals used in its production.
  
  The U.S. Mint's official name for a penny is "cent" and the U.S. Treasury's official name is "one cent piece". The colloquial term penny derives from the British coin of the same name, the pre-decimal version of which had a similar value. In American English, pennies is the plural form. (The plural form pence—standard in British English—is not used in American English.)
  
  Although the coin's abolition has been proposed because it is now worth very little, there are currently no firm plans to eliminate the penny. As of 2015, based on the U.S. Mint Annual Report released for 2014, it costs the U.S. Mint 1.67 cents (down from 2.41 cents in 2011 and 1.83 cents in 2013) to make one cent because of the cost of materials, production, and distribution. This figure includes the Mint's fixed components for distribution and fabrication, as well as Mint overhead allocated to the penny. Fixed costs and overhead would have to be absorbed by other circulating coins without the penny. The loss from producing the one cent coin in the United States for the year of 2013 was $55,000,000. This was a slight decrease from 2012, the year before, which had a production loss of $58,000,000'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1964, The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution or the Southeast Asia Resolution, Pub.L. 88–408, 78 Stat. 384, enacted August 10, 1964, was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
  
  It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of conventional military force in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the resolution authorized the President to do whatever necessary in order to assist "any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty". This included involving armed forces.
  
  It was opposed in the Senate only by Senators Wayne Morse (D-OR) and Ernest Gruening (D-AK). Senator Gruening objected to "sending our American boys into combat in a war in which we have no business, which is not our war, into which we have been misguidedly drawn, which is steadily being escalated". (Tonkin Gulf debate 1964) The Johnson administration subsequently relied upon the resolution to begin its rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam and open warfare between North Vietnam and the United States'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1981, The Washington Star closes, ending 128 years of operation. The assets were purchased by the Washington Post.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Washington Star, previously known as the Washington Star-News and the Washington Evening Star, was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C. between 1852 and 1981. For most of that time, it was the city's newspaper of record, and the longtime home to columnist Mary McGrory and cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman. On August 7, 1981, after 128 years, the Washington Star ceased publication and filed for bankruptcy. In the bankruptcy sale, The Washington Post purchased the land and buildings owned by the Star, including its printing presses'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
• In 1987, Lynne Cox becomes first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union.
  From Wikipedia: 'Lynne Cox (born 1957 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American long-distance open-water swimmer and writer. In 1971, she and her teammates were the first group of teenagers to complete the crossing of the Catalina Island Channel in California. She has twice held the record for the fastest crossing of the English Channel from England to France (1972 in a time of 9h 57 min and 1973 in a time of 9h 36 min). In 1975, Cox became the first woman to swim the 10 °C (50 °F), 16 km (10 mi) Cook Strait in New Zealand. In 1976, she was the first person to swim the Straits of Magellan in Chile, and the first to swim around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
  
  Cox is perhaps best known for swimming 2h 5 mins in the Bering Strait on 7 August 1987, from the island of Little Diomede in Alaska to Big Diomede, then part of the Soviet Union, where the water temperature averaged around 43 to 44 °F (6 to 7 °C). At the time people living on the Diomede Islands, only 3.7 km (2.3 mi) apart, were not permitted to travel between them, although the Eskimo communities there had been closely linked until the natives of Big Diomede were moved to the Russian mainland after World War II. Her accomplishment a few years before the end of the Cold War earned praise from both US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More

Tomorrow's food holiday will be 'National Raspberries N’ Cream Day'.
[The Hankster says] Just when you thought we were finished with raspberries for a while, here we are again. Hey, it's there season. We have had 'National Raspberry Popover Day', 'National Raspberry Cake Day', 'National Raspberry Cream Pie Day'. And of course the 'Golden raspberry Awards', but that is something entirely different. No, if nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve. So there.

A day to honor our special veterans. tomorrow is 'Purple Heart Day'. Since August 7 1782 and created by General George Washington. It is considered to be the first official military combat badge of the United States Armed Forces

A bright idea this was (sorry, the devil made me say that). Tomorrow is 'National Lighthouse Day'. A Congressional Act on August 7 1789 for the 'establishment and support of Lighthouse, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers'.

Tomorrow is 'Sea Serpent Day'. Remembers the reported Sea Serpent sighting aboard the 'HMS Daedalus' in 1848. It caused quite a stir in the papers, but cooler heads thought it to be an Elephant Seal, overturned boat or Giant Squid.
[The Hankster says] There were no reports of a Monty Python film shooting in progress at the time.

We have several festivals tomorrow:
- 'Braham Pie Day'. A homemade pie festival in Braham Minnesota.

- '18th annual Kool-Aid Days Festival '. Second weekend in August, 7-9 in 2015, in Hastings, Nebraska.

- 'Twins Days Festival (40th)'. A twins gathering, August 7-9 (first full weekend) August in Twinsburg, Ohio.


Awareness / Observance Days on: August 7
o Health
- 'Jeans for Genes Day'. August 7 in Australia. A (wear jeans) fund raiser to fight childhood disease.

- 'Silent Leadership Challenge'. August 7 in New Zealand. A fund raiser and workplace education effort on behalf of those with hearing loss.


Historical events in the past on: August 7

In. 1782, George Washington orders the creation of the 'Badge of Military Merit' to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic 'Purple Heart'.

In. 1888 - Theophilus Van Kannel of Phila patents the revolving door.

In. 1927, The Peace Bridge connecting the United States and Canada (between Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario), opened, to celebrate 100 years of peaceful and beneficial relations.

In. 1942, During World War II, The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.

In. 1947, Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.

In. 1955, The First transistor radios by Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) are sold.

In. 1959, The U.S penny (reverse side) design, changes from Sheaves of Wheat to the Lincoln Memorial. It was discontinued in 2008.

In. 1964, The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.

In. 1981, The Washington Star closes, ending 128 years of operation. The assets were purchased by the Washington Post.

In. 1987, Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union.

No. 1 song

• I'm Henry VIII, I Am - Herman's Hermits: More
  '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' has been displaced by 'I'm Henry VIII, I Am', which will hold the no. 1 spot until August 14 1965, when 'I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher', takes over.

Top movie

• Ship of Fools More
  Having displaced 'The Sound of Music', it will be there until the weekend box office of Aug. 15 1965 when, 'A Very Special Favor', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: August 7 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: August 7 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 7th August More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 7th August More
• On-This-day.com history 7th August More
• On-This-day.com music history 7th August More
• Wikipedia.com: History August 7 More

Monthly holiday / awareness days in August

Food
National Catfish Month
National Goat Cheese Month
National Panini Month
Shop Online For Groceries Month
Rye Month

Health and Well-being
Children's Eye Health and Safety Month
Children's Vision and Learning Month
National Breastfeeding Month
National Immunization Awareness Month
National Minority Donor Awareness Month
National Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
National Win With Civility Month
Neurosurgery Outreach Month
Psoriasis Awareness Month

Animal and Pets
World Mutt-i-grees Rescue Month

Other
American Artists Appreciation Month
American Adventures Month
American Indian Heritage Month - also Nov.
Black Business Month
LBoomers Making A Difference Month
LBystander Awareness Month
LChild Support Awareness Month
LGet Ready for Kindergarten Month
Happiness Happens Month
Motor Sports Awareness Month
National Read A Romance Month
National Traffic Awareness Month
National Truancy Prevention Month
National Water Quality Month
Tomboy Tools Month
What Will Be Your Legacy Month

August is:

August origin (from Wikipedia): Originally named Sextili (Latin), because it was the sixth month in the original ten-month Roman calendar: under Romulus in 753 BC, when March was the first month of the year.
"About 700 BC it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 45 BC giving it its modern length of 31 days. In 8 BC it was renamed in honor of Augustus According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt. "

August 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