Today is August 26 2015

National Cherry Popsicle Day: More
From Wikipedia: 'In 1905 in Oakland, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was mixing a white powdered flavoring for soda and water out on the porch. He left it there, with a stirring stick still in it. That night, temperatures reached a record low, and the next morning, the boy discovered the drink had frozen to the stick, inspiring the idea of a fruit-flavored 'Popsicle'. In 1922, he introduced the frozen treat at a fireman's ball. It was a sensation. In 1923, Epperson sold the frozen pop on a stick to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Alameda, California. Seeing that it was a success, in 1924 Epperson applied for a patent for his 'frozen confectionery' which he called 'the Epsicle ice pop'. He renamed it to Popsicle, allegedly at the insistence of his children. 'In 1925, Epperson sold the rights to the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company..''

• Make Your Own Luck Day : More
  'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.' - Seneca
• National Toilet Paper Day: More
  The current Guinness world record for the largest roll was set in 2011 by Charmin, at: diameter measured 9.73 feet (the height measuring 8.49 feet)..

• Health
  • National Meals on Wheels Day: More
    In Australia.
• Animal and Pets
  • National Dog Day: More
    Since 2004 by Colleen Paige. It focuses on everything dog, including treatment, health and recognition of their place in the workplace.
• Other
  • Women’s Equality Day: More
    Since 1971 on the date of the passage of the 19th Amendment (August 26 1920) to the United States Constitution. The amendment's passage gave women the right to vote.

• In 1791, John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat. This steamboat used a paddle movement, much like a duck uses its feet. Robert Fulton designed and ran the firs 'commercially successful' steamboat, the Clermont in 1807. This was a stern paddel wheeler.
  From Wikipedia: 'John Fitch (January 21, 1743 – July 2, 1798) was an American inventor, clockmaker, entrepreneur and engineer. He was most famous for operating the first steamboat service in the United States.
  
  By 1785, Fitch was done with surveying and settled in Warminster, Pennsylvania, where he began working on his ideas for a steam-powered boat. Unable to raise funds from the Continental Congress, he persuaded various state legislatures to award him a 14-year monopoly for steamboat traffic on their inland waterways. With these monopolies, he was able to secure funding from businessmen and professional citizens in Philadelphia.
  
  Fitch had seen a drawing of an early British Newcomen atmospheric engine in an encyclopedia, but Newcomen engines were huge structures designed to pump water out of mines. He had somehow heard about the more efficient steam engine developed by James Watt in Scotland in the late 1770s, but there was not a single Watt engine in America at that time, nor would there be for many years (Fulton's exported model in his 1807 steamboat, Clermont, would be one of the first) because Britain would not allow the export of any new technology to its former colony. As a result, Fitch attempted to design his own version of a steam engine. He moved to Philadelphia and engaged the clockmaker and inventor Henry Voigt to help him build a working model and place it on a boat.
  
  The first successful trial run of his steamboat Perseverance was made on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention. It was propelled by a bank of oars on either side of the boat. During the next few years, Fitch and Voigt worked to develop better designs, and in June 1790 launched a 60-foot (18 m) boat powered by a steam engine driving several stern-mounted oars. These oars paddled in a manner similar to the motion of a swimming duck's feet. With this boat, he carried up to 30 paying passengers on numerous round-trip voyages between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey during the summer of 1790. Estimates of miles traveled that summer range from 1,300 to 3,000, and Fitch claimed that the boat often went for 500 miles without mechanical problems. Estimated speeds were of a minimum 6 miles per hour under unfavorable conditions, to a maximum of 7 or 8 miles per hour.
  
  Fitch was granted a U.S. patent on August 26, 1791, after a battle with James Rumsey, who had also invented a steam-powered boat. The newly created federal Patent Commission did not award the broad monopoly patent that Fitch had asked for, but rather a patent of the modern kind, for the new design of Fitch's steamboat. It also awarded steam-engine-related patents dated that same day to Rumsey, Nathan Read, and John Stevens. The loss of a monopoly due to these same-day patent awards led many of Fitch's investors to leave his company. While his boats were mechanically successful, Fitch no longer had the financial resources to carry on.
  
  Fitch's idea would be turned profitable two decades later by Robert Fulton. Though Fulton was able to obtain a monopoly in the state of New York because of the powerful influence of his partner Robert Livingston, he was unable to gain a U.S. patent largely because he could not demonstrate the originality of his designs. Also, an original member of Fitch's company, William Thornton, had become head of the newly created Patent Office, and made the application process even more difficult for Fulton. Fitch had also received a patent in 1791 from France, and in 1793, having given up hope of building a steamboat in America, he left for France, where an American investor, Aaron Vail, had promised to help him build a boat there. But Fitch arrived just as the Reign of Terror was beginning, and his plans had to be abandoned. He made his way to London to make an attempt there, but that also failed. He returned to the United States in 1794 and made a few more tries to build a steamboat.
  
  Failing this, he moved to Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1797, where he hoped to sell some of the lands he had acquired there in the early 1780s, and use the proceeds to build a steamboat for use on the Ohio or Mississippi River. He arrived to find settlers occupying his properties, resulting in legal disputes that occupied him until his death on July 2, 1798 in Bardstown'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube (Fulton): More
• In 1818, Illinois becomes the 21st US state
  From Wikipedia: 'Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 5th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base and is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics.
  
  Although today the state's largest population center is around Chicago in the northern part of the state, the state's European population grew first in the west, with French Canadians who settled along the Mississippi River, and gave the area the name, Illinois. After the American Revolutionary War established the United States, American settlers began arriving crossing the Appalachians barrier range in the 1810s via the gaps of the Allegheny to boat building centers in Pittsburgh, from Cumberland, Maryland via the Cumberland Narrows pass to outfit in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, from North Carolina and Virginia via the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky and Tennessee, all on the Ohio
  
  After construction of the Erie Canal with increasing traffic and trade through the Great Lakes, Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, at one of the few natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan. John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting new immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other mid-western states from the tyranny of water transport; no longer was a location near a river or canal a need to ship bulk goods'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1902, Conrad Hubert is awarded patent number 737,107 - for a flashlight with an on/off switch.
  From Wikipedia: 'Conrad Hubert (1855–1928) was a Russian inventor known for electric flashlights. He was the son of Russian Jewish parents who were distillers and wine producers as were their ancestors.
  
  The opportunity was not there for Hubert to start again in the distillery business, where in Russia he was well known, so he decided to start a cigar store in New York City. For the next 6 to 8 years he tried other businesses which included a restaurant, a boarding house, a jewelry store, a farm, a milk wagon route and a novelty shop. The novelty shop, American Electrical Novelty and Manufacturing Company, is his legacy. He ultimately turned this into the Ever Ready Company famous for its batterie
  
  Hubert got interested in an electrical device for lighting natural gas equipment in the later part of the 1890s. He obtained this patent (No. 617,592) from David Misell, which came with an "electric device" that resembles the flashlight.
  
  Hubert continued to make improvements on his "portable electric lights" from 1903 forward. In 1905, he and W.H. Lawrence, who had manufactured the first consumer battery to power home telephones, formed the Ever Ready battery company. He soon became a millionaire. In 1914 he sold Ever Ready Company to the National Carbon Company. He soon thereafter bought a controlling share in the Yale Electric Corporation, manufacturing batteries for automobiles and later for radios, and was the chairman of the board of directors until his death'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1920, The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote It prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. Until the 1910s, most states disenfranchised women. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote. It effectively overruled Minor v. Happersett, in which a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give women the right to vote.
  
  The Nineteenth Amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1878 by Senator Aaron A. Sargent. Forty-one years later, in 1919, Congress approved the amendment and submitted it to the states for ratification. It was ratified by the requisite number of states a year later, with Tennessee's ratification being the final vote needed to add the amendment to the Constitution. In Leser v. Garnett (1922), the Supreme Court rejected claims that the amendment was unconstitutionally adopted'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1939, First Major League Baseball game ever aired on television.
  From Wikipedia: 'The first-ever televised baseball game was on May 17, 1939, between Princeton and Columbia; Princeton beat Columbia 2–1 at Columbia's Baker Field. The contest was aired on W2XBS, an experimental station in New York City which would ultimately become WNBC-TV. The game was announced by Bill Stern. Dawson L. Farber, Jr. pitched for Princeton.
  
  On August 26 of the same year, the first ever Major League Baseball game was televised (once again on W2XBS). With Red Barber announcing, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds played a doubleheader at Ebbets Field. The Reds won the first, 5–2 while the Dodgers won the second, 6–1. Barber called the game without the benefit of a monitor and with only two cameras capturing the game. One camera was placed behind home plate, in the second tier of seating, while another was positioned near the visitors' dugout, on the third-base side'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (In the 1939 year of this History of Television): More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1959, British Motor Corporation introduced the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis it was only 10 ft long but seated 4 passengers
  From Wikipedia: The Mini is a small economy car made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s.
  
  'The production version of the Mini was demonstrated to the press in April 1959, and by August several thousand cars had been produced ready for the first sales. The Mini was officially announced to the public on 26 August 1959. Some 2,000 cars had already been sent abroad and would be displayed that day in nearly 100 countries.
  
  The first example, a Morris Mini-Minor with the registration 621 AOK, is on display at the Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire. Another early example from 1959 is now on display at the National Motor Museum in Hampshire'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1964, The Kinks 'You Really Got Me' was released in the U.S.
  From Wikipedia: '"You Really Got Me" is a song written by Ray Davies for English rock band the Kinks. The song, originally performed in a more blues-oriented style, was inspired by artists such as Lead Belly and Big Bill Broonzy. Two versions of the song were recorded, with the second performance being used for the final single. Although it was rumoured that future Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page had performed the song's guitar solo, the myth has since been proven false.
  
  "You Really Got Me" was built around power chords (perfect fifths and octaves) and heavily influenced later rock musicians, particularly in the genres of heavy metal and punk rock. Built around a guitar riff played by Dave Davies, the song's lyrics were described by Dave as "a love song for street kids."
  
  "You Really Got Me" was released on 4 August 1964 as the group's third single, and reached number one on the UK singles chart the next month, remaining for two weeks. The song became the group's breakthrough hit; it established them as one of the top British Invasion acts in the United States, reaching number seven there later in the year. "You Really Got Me" was later included on the Kinks' debut album, Kinks. The song was covered by American rock band Van Halen in 1978, reaching the Billboard Top 40'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1967, Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze' was released.
  From Wikipedia: '"Purple Haze" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and released as the second record single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on March 17, 1967. As a record chart hit in several countries and the opening number on the Experience's debut American album, it was many people's first exposure to Hendrix's psychedelic rock sound.
  
  The song features his inventive guitar playing, which uses the signature Hendrix chord and a mix of blues and Eastern modalities, shaped by novel sound processing techniques. Because of ambiguities in the lyrics, listeners often interpret the song as referring to a psychedelic experience, although Hendrix described it as a love song.
  
  "Purple Haze" is one of Hendrix's best-known songs and appears on many Hendrix compilation albums. The song featured regularly in concerts and each of Hendrix's group configurations issued live recordings. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is included on lists of the greatest guitar songs, including at number two by Rolling Stone and number one by Q magazine'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1970, Nationwide Women's strike for Equality (1 day).
  From Wikipedia: 'The Women’s Strike for Equality was a strike which took place in the United States on August 26, 1970. It celebrated the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, which effectively gave American women the right to vote. The rally was sponsored by the National Organization for Women (NOW). More than 20,000 women gathered for the protest in New York City and throughout the country. At this time, the gathering was the largest on behalf of women in the United States. The strike primarily focused on equal opportunity in the workforce, political rights for women, and social equality in relationships such as marriage. It also addressed the right to have an abortion and free childcare, but these were more controversial positions which more conservative women, including pro-life feminists, generally did not at the time agree with'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 2011, Boeing 787 Dreamliner certified.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American long-range, mid-size widebody, twin-engine jet airliner by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Its variants seat 242 to 335 passengers in typical three-class seating configurations. It is Boeing's most fuel-efficient airliner and is a pioneering airliner with the use of composite materials as the primary material in the construction of its airframe. The 787 was designed to be 20% more fuel efficient than the Boeing 767, which it was intended to replace. The 787 Dreamliner's distinguishing features include mostly electrical flight systems, swept wingtips, and noise-reducing chevrons on its engine nacelles. It shares a common type rating with the larger Boeing 777 to allow qualified pilots to operate both models.
  
  The aircraft's initial designation was the 7E7, prior to its renaming in January 2005. The first 787 was unveiled in a roll-out ceremony on July 8, 2007 at Boeing's Everett factory. Development and production of the 787 has involved a large-scale collaboration with numerous suppliers worldwide. Final assembly takes place at the Boeing Everett Factory in Everett, Washington, and at the Boeing South Carolina factory in North Charleston, South Carolina. Originally planned to enter service in May 2008, the project experienced multiple delays. The airliner's maiden flight took place on December 15, 2009, and completed flight testing in mid-2011. Boeing has reportedly spent $32 billion on the 787 program.
  
  Final US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification was received in August 2011 and the first 787-8 was delivered in September 2011. It entered commercial service on October 26, 2011 with launch customer All Nippon Airways. The stretched 787-9 variant, which is 20 feet (6.1 m) longer and can fly 450 nautical miles (830 km) farther than the -8, first flew in September 2013. Deliveries of the 787-9 began in July 2014; it entered commercial service on August 7, 2014 with All Nippon Airways, with 787-9 launch customer Air New Zealand following two days later. As of July 2016, the 787 had orders for 1,161 aircraft from 64 customers, with All Nippon Airways having the largest number on order.
  
  The aircraft has suffered from several in-service problems, including fires on board related to its lithium-ion batteries. These systems were reviewed by both the FAA and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau. The FAA issued a directive in January 2013 that grounded all 787s in the US and other civil aviation authorities followed suit. After Boeing completed tests on a revised battery design, the FAA approved the revised design and lifted the grounding in April 2013; the 787 returned to passenger service later that month'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More

Tomorrow's food holiday will be 'National Cherry Popsicle Day'. From Wikipedia: 'In 1905 in Oakland, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was mixing a white powdered flavoring for soda and water out on the porch. He left it there, with a stirring stick still in it. That night, temperatures reached a record low, and the next morning, the boy discovered the drink had frozen to the stick, inspiring the idea of a fruit-flavored 'Popsicle'. In 1922, he introduced the frozen treat at a fireman's ball. It was a sensation. In 1923, Epperson sold the frozen pop on a stick to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Alameda, California. Seeing that it was a success, in 1924 Epperson applied for a patent for his 'frozen confectionery' which he called 'the Epsicle ice pop'. He renamed it to Popsicle, allegedly at the insistence of his children. 'In 1925, Epperson sold the rights to the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company..''


Tomorrow is 'Make Your Own Luck Day '.
[The Hankster says] 'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.' - Seneca

Glad you asked, since tomorrow is 'National Toilet Paper Day'. The current Guinness world record for the largest role was set in 2011 by Charmin, at: diameter measured 9.73 feet (the height measuring 8.49 feet)..
[The Hankster says] I saw one estimate that it would take one person 190 years to use it all.


Awareness / Observance Days on: August 26
o Health
- 'National Meals on Wheels Day'.In Australia.

o Animal and Pets
- 'National Dog Day'. Since 2004 by Colleen Paige. It focuses on everything dog, including treatment, health and recognition of their place in the workplace.

o Other
- 'Women’s Equality Day'. Since 1971 on the date of the passage of the 19th Amendment (August 26 1920) to the United States Constitution. The amendment's passage gave women the right to vote.


Historical events in the past on: August 26

In 1791, John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat. Robert Fulton designed and ran the firs 'commercially successful' steamboat, the Clermont in 1807.

In 1818, Illinois becomes 21st US state.

In 1902, Conrad Hubert is awarded patent number 737,107 - for a flashlight with an on/off switch.

In 1920, The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote It prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.

In 1939, First Major League Baseball game ever aired on television.

In 1959, British Motor Corporation introduced the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis it was only 10 ft long but seated 4 passengers.

In 1964, The Kinks 'You Really Got Me' was released in the U.S.

In 1970, Nationwide Women's strike for Equality (1 day).

In 2011, Boeing 787 Dreamliner was certified.

No. 1 song

• I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher: More
  'I'm Henry VIII, I Am' has been displaced by 'I Got You Babe', which will hold the no. 1 spot until August 28 1965, when 'Help! - The Beatles', takes over.

Top movie

• A Very Special Favor More
  Having displaced 'Ship of Fools', it will be there until the weekend box office of Aug. 29 1965 when, 'Morituri', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: August 26 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: August 26 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 26th August More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 26th August More
• On-This-day.com history 26th August More
• On-This-day.com music history 26th August More
• Wikipedia.com: History August 26 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