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Today is July 10 2016

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Today's Holidays and Historical Events (updated daily)
Today's Food Holiday
  • Pick Blueberries Day: More
    - From Wikipedia (Blueberry): 'Blueberries are perennial flowering plants with indigo-colored berries from the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium (a genus that also includes cranberries, bilberries and grouseberries). Species in the section Cyanococcus are the most common fruits sold as "blueberries" and are native to North America (commercially cultivated highbush blueberries were not introduced into Europe until the 1930s).

    Blueberries are usually erect, prostrate shrubs that can vary in size from 10 centimeters (3.9 in) to 4 meters (13 ft) in height. In the commercial production of blueberries, the smaller species are known as "lowbush blueberries" (synonymous with "wild"), while the larger species are known as "highbush blueberries".

    The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, and 1–8 cm (0.39–3.15 in) long and 0.5–3.5 cm (0.20–1.38 in) broad. The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, sometimes tinged greenish. The fruit is a berry 5–16 millimeters (0.20–0.63 in) in diameter with a flared crown at the end; they are pale greenish at first, then reddish-purple, and finally dark purple when ripe. They are covered in a protective coating of powdery epicuticular wax, colloquially known as the "bloom". They have a sweet taste when mature, with variable acidity. Blueberry bushes typically bear fruit in the middle of the growing season" fruiting times are affected by local conditions such as altitude and latitude, so the peak of the crop can vary from May to August (in the northern hemisphere) depending upon these conditions.

    Blueberries consist of 14% carbohydrates, 0.7% protein, 0.3% fat and 84% water. They contain only negligible amounts of micronutrients, with moderate levels (relative to respective Daily Values) (DV) of the essential dietary mineral manganese, vitamin C, vitamin K and dietary fiber. Generally, nutrient contents of blueberries are a low percentage of the DV (table). One serving provides a relatively low caloric value of 57 kcal per 100 g serving and glycemic load score of 6 out of 100 per day.

    Blueberries contain anthocyanins, other polyphenols and various phytochemicals under preliminary research for their potential role in the human body'.
Other celebrations/observances today:
  • Nikola Tesla Day: More
    His birthday in 1856. Inventor and promoter of alternating current electricity.
    - From Wikipedia (Nikola Tesla): 'Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

    Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before emigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant. His work in the formative years of electric-power development was involved in a corporate alternating current/direct current "War of Currents" as well as various patent battles. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1891.

    Tesla went on to pursue his ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs and made early (1893) pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. He tried to put these ideas to practical use in an ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission, his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project. In his lab, he also conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wireless controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited.

    Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a reputation in popular culture as an archetypal "mad scientist". His patents earned him a considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with varying degrees of success. He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels through his retirement. Tesla died on 7 January 1943. His work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960, the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor. There has been a resurgence in popular interest in Tesla since the 1990s'.
    - On YouTube: More
    - On YouTube: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • National Clerihew Day: More
    A 'short comic or nonsensical verse, typically in two rhyming couplets with lines of unequal length and referring to a famous person.' Invented by Edmund Clerihew Bently. Example:
    'Sir Humphry Davy
    Abominated gravy.
    He lived in the odium
    Of having discovered sodium. '
  • Teddy Bear Picnic Day : More
    Honoring the song and a fun time for children. The 1907 music was written by John Walter Bratton. Lyrics were added in 1932 by James Kennedy.
    - On YouTube (song): More
    - On YouTube (song): More
Awareness / Observance Days on: July 10
  • Health
    • Disability Awareness Day: More
      In Great Britain.
Events in the past on: July 10
  • In 1890, Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
    From Wikipedia: 'Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, but the least populous and the second least densely populated of the 50 United States. The western two-thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, with a population estimate of 62,448 in 2013.

    The region had acquired the name Wyoming by 1865, when Representative James Mitchell Ashley of Ohio introduced a bill to Congress to provide a "temporary government for the territory of Wyoming". The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, made famous by the 1809 poem Gertrude of Wyoming by Thomas Campbell, based on the Battle of Wyoming in the American Revolutionary War. The name ultimately derives from the Munsee word meaning "at the big river flat."

    After the Union Pacific Railroad had reached the town of Cheyenne in 1867, the region's population began to grow steadily, and the federal government established the Wyoming Territory on July 25, 1868. Unlike mineral-rich Colorado, Wyoming lacked significant deposits of gold and silver, as well as Colorado's subsequent population boom. However, South Pass City did experience a short-lived boom after the Carissa Mine began producing gold in 1867. Furthermore, copper was mined in some areas between the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Snowy Range near Grand Encampment.

    Once government-sponsored expeditions to the Yellowstone country began, reports by Colter and Bridger, previously believed to be apocryphal, were found to be true. This led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park, which became the world's first national park in 1872. Nearly all of Yellowstone National Park lies within the far northwestern borders of Wyoming.

    On December 10, 1869, territorial Governor John Allen Campbell extended the right to vote to women, making Wyoming the first territory and then U.S. state to grant suffrage to women. In addition, Wyoming was also a pioneer in welcoming women into politics. Women first served on juries in Wyoming (Laramie in 1870); Wyoming had the first female court bailiff (Mary Atkinson, Laramie, in 1870); and the first female justice of the peace in the country (Esther Hobart Morris, South Pass City, in 1870). Also, in 1924, Wyoming became the first state to elect a female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, who took office in January 1925. Due to its civil-rights history, Wyoming's state nickname is "The Equality State", and the official state motto is "Equal Rights".

    Wyoming's constitution included women's suffrage and a pioneering article on water rights. Congress admitted Wyoming into the Union as the 44th state on July 10, 1890'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
    - At Wikipedia (all states): More
  • In 1892, The first concrete-paved street ing the us, was built in in Bellefountaine, Ohio.
    From Wikipedia: 'In 1891, Bellefontaine became the location of the first concrete street in America. George Bartholomew invented a process for paving using Portland cement, which until then had been used in stone construction. A small section of Main Street, on the west side of the Logan County Courthouse, was the first to be paved using that process. When that proved successful, Court Avenue, which runs along the south side of the courthouse, was paved with concrete. While Main Street is now paved with asphalt, Court Avenue has retained its original concrete pavement for more than 100 years. At its centennial, the street was closed to traffic and a statue of Bartholomew placed at its Main Street end; it became a pedestrian way. Since then one lane has been reopened for eastbound traffic'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1913, Death Valley, California, hits 134 F (57 C), the highest temperature recorded in the United States.
    From Wikipedia: 'Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America because of its lack of surface water and its low relief. It is so frequently the hottest spot in the United States that many tabulations of the highest daily temperatures in the country omit Death Valley as a matter of course.

    On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek) in Death Valley. This temperature stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth. (A report of a temperature of 58 °C (136.4 °F) recorded in Libya in 1922 was later determined to be inaccurate.) Daily summer temperatures of 120 °F (49 °C) or greater are common, as well as below freezing nightly temperatures in the winter. July is the hottest month, with an average high of 115 °F (46 °C) and an average low of 88 °F (31 °C). December is the coldest month, with an average high of 65 °F (18 °C) and an average low of 39 °F (4 °C). The record low is 15 °F (-9.4 °C)'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1938, Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.
    From Wikipedia: 'On July 14, 1938, Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes), beating the previous record set in 1933 by Wiley Post in a single engine Lockheed Vega by almost four days. Hughes returned home ahead of photographs of his flight. Taking off from New York City, Hughes continued to Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, Minneapolis, then returning to New York City. For this flight he flew a Lockheed 14 Super Electra (NX18973, a twin-engine transport with a four-man crew) fitted with the latest radio and navigational equipment. Hughes wanted the flight to be a triumph of American aviation technology, illustrating that safe, long-distance air travel was possible. While he had previously been relatively obscure despite his wealth, being better known for dating Katharine Hepburn, New York City now gave Hughes a ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes. In 1938, the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas—known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport—was renamed after Hughes, but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1940, During World War II, the Battle of Britain (July 10 1940 - October 31, 1940), The German Luftwaffe begins attacking British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).
    From Wikipedia: 'The Battle of Britain was a combat of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force ("RAF") defended the United Kingdom ("UK") against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacks from the end of June 1940, and described as the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces. The British officially recognise its duration as from 10 July until 31 October 1940 that overlaps with the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, while German historians do not accept this subdivision and regard it as a campaign lasting from July 1940 to June 1941.

    The primary objective of the Nazi German forces was to compel Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement. In July 1940, the air and sea blockade began with the Luftwaffe mainly targeting coastal shipping convoys, ports and shipping centres, such as Portsmouth. On 1 August, the Luftwaffe was directed to achieve air superiority over RAF with the aim of incapacitating RAF Fighter Command and, 12 days later, it shifted the attacks to RAF airfields and infrastructure. As the battle progressed, the Luftwaffe also targeted factories involved in World War II aircraft production and strategic infrastructure and, eventually, it employed terror bombing on areas of political significance and civilians.

    By preventing the Luftwaffe's air superiority over UK, the British forced Adolf Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel Operation Sea Lion, a provisionally proposed amphibious and airborne invasion of Britain. However, Nazi Germany continued bombing operations on Britain, known as the Blitz. The failure to destroy Britain's air defences to force an armistice (or even surrender outright) is considered by Steven Bungay to be the Nazi's first major defeat in World War II, and a crucial turning point in the conflict'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1950, 'Your Hit Parade' which counted down the top 7 music hits (using staff musicians and singers), premieres on NBC-TV. The radio version began in 1935.
    From Wikipedia: 'Your Hit Parade is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or groups. Many listeners and viewers casually referred to the show with the incorrect title The Hit Parade.

    When the show debuted, there was no agreement as to what it should be called. The press referred to it in a variety of ways, with the most common being "Hit Parade," "The Hit Parade," and even "The Lucky Strike Hit Parade" (see for example "Lucky Strike Hit Parade is Popular," Laredo (Texas) Times, May 21, 1935, p 7). The program's title was not officially changed to "Your Hit Parade" until November 9, 1935 ("Al Goodman to Be Maestro on Radio Series," Oakland Tribune, November 9, 1935, p. 14.)

    Each Saturday evening, the program offered the most popular and bestselling songs of the week. The earliest format involved a presentation of the top 15 songs. Later, a countdown with fanfares led to the top three finalists, with the number one song for the finale. Occasional performances of standards and other favorite songs from the past were known as "Lucky Strike Extras."

    Listeners were informed that the "Your Hit Parade survey checks the best sellers on sheet music and phonograph records, the songs most heard on the air and most played on the automatic coin machines, an accurate, authentic tabulation of America's taste in popular music." However, the exact procedure of this "authentic tabulation" remained a secret. Some believe song choices were often arbitrary due to various performance and production factors. The show's ad agencies—initially Lord and Thomas and later Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne—never revealed the specific sources or the methods that were used to determine top hits. They made a general statement that it was based mainly on "readings of radio requests, sheet music sales, dance-hall favorites and jukebox tabulations"; Radio Guide claimed "an endless popularity poll on a nationwide scale'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube (TV): More
    - On YouTube (radio): More
  • In 1962, Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, was launched into orbit.
    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.

    Belonging to At and T, the original Telstar was part of a multi-national agreement among At and T (USA), Bell Telephone Laboratories (USA), NASA (USA), GPO (United Kingdom) and the National PTT (France) to develop experimental satellite communications over the Atlantic Ocean. Bell Labs held a contract with NASA, paying the agency for each launch, independent of success.

    The original Telstar had a single innovative transponder that could relay data, a single television channel, or multiplexed telephone circuits. Since the spacecraft spun, it required an array of antennas around its "equator" for uninterrupted microwave communication with Earth. An omnidirectional array of small cavity antenna elements around the satellite's "equator" received 6 GHz microwave signals to relay back to ground stations. The transponder converted the frequency to 4 GHz, amplified the signals in a traveling-wave tube, and retransmitted them omnidirectionally via the adjacent array of larger box-shaped cavities. The prominent helical antenna received telecommands from a ground station.

    Launched by NASA aboard a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, Telstar 1 was the first privately sponsored space launch. A medium-altitude satellite, Telstar was placed in an elliptical orbit completed once every 2 hours and 37 minutes, inclined at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the equator, with perigee about 952 kilometres (592 mi) from Earth and apogee about 5,933 kilometres (3,687 mi) from Earth This is in contrast to the 1965 Early Bird Intelsat and subsequent satellites that travel in circular geostationary orbits.

    Due to its non-geosynchronous orbit, Telstar's availability for transatlantic signals was limited to the 20 minutes in each 2.5 hour orbit when the satellite passed over the Atlantic Ocean. Ground antennas had to track the satellite with a pointing error of less than 0.06 degrees as it moved across the sky at up to 1.5 degrees per second'.
    - At FamousDaily: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube (documentary): More
    - On YouTube (song): More
  • In 1965, Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour" was released.
    From Wikipedia: '"In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on his 1965 album of the same name, also appearing on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. The song was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be assassinated in April 1968. Pickett's first hit on Atlantic Records, it reached #1 on the R and B charts and peaked at #21 on the pop charts'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1967, Bobbie Gentry recorded "Ode to Billie Joe."
    From Wikipedia: '"Ode to Billie Joe" is a 1967 song written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry, a singer-songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi. The single, released in late July, was a number-one hit in the United States, and became a big international seller. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song for 1967 (the other two were #2 "The Letter" by the Box Tops and #1 "To Sir With Love" by Lulu). The song is ranked #412 on Rolling Stone's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The recording of "Ode to Billie Joe" generated eight Grammy nominations, resulting in three wins for Gentry and one win for arranger Jimmie Haskell'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  II.
Henry's Heads Up! - previous days social media post (updated daily)

<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):


* 'Pick Blueberries Day'. - From Wikipedia (Blueberry): 'Blueberries are perennial flowering plants with indigo-colored berries from the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium (a genus that also includes cranberries, bilberries and grouseberries). Species in the section Cyanococcus are the most common fruits sold as blueberries and are native to North America (commercially cultivated highbush blueberries were not introduced into Europe until the 1930s).

Blueberries are usually erect, prostrate shrubs that can vary in size from 10 centimeters (3.9 in) to 4 meters (13 ft) in height. In the commercial production of blueberries, the smaller species are known as lowbush blueberries (synonymous with wild), while the larger species are known as highbush blueberries

The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, and 1–8 cm (0.39–3.15 in) long and 0.5–3.5 cm (0.20–1.38 in) broad. The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, sometimes tinged greenish. The fruit is a berry 5–16 millimeters (0.20–0.63 in) in diameter with a flared crown at the end they are pale greenish at first, then reddish-purple, and finally dark purple when ripe. They are covered in a protective coating of powdery epicuticular wax, colloquially known as the bloom They have a sweet taste when mature, with variable acidity. Blueberry bushes typically bear fruit in the middle of the growing season fruiting times are affected by local conditions such as altitude and latitude, so the peak of the crop can vary from May to August (in the northern hemisphere) depending upon these conditions.

Blueberries consist of 14% carbohydrates, 0.7% protein, 0.3% fat and 84% water. They contain only negligible amounts of micronutrients, with moderate levels (relative to respective Daily Values) (DV) of the essential dietary mineral manganese, vitamin C, vitamin K and dietary fiber. Generally, nutrient contents of blueberries are a low percentage of the DV (table). One serving provides a relatively low caloric value of 57 kcal per 100 g serving and glycemic load score of 6 out of 100 per day.

Blueberries contain anthocyanins, other polyphenols and various phytochemicals under preliminary research for their potential role in the human body'.
[The Hankster says] Yes, I will pick some up from the store today. You pick berries your way and I will pick them my way.


<> Other holidays / celebrations


* 'Nikola Tesla Day'. His birthday in 1856. Inventor and promoter of alternating current electricity. . - From Wikipedia (Nikola Tesla): 'Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before emigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant. His work in the formative years of electric-power development was involved in a corporate alternating current/direct current War of Currents as well as various patent battles. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1891.

Tesla went on to pursue his ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs and made early (1893) pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. He tried to put these ideas to practical use in an ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission, his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project. In his lab, he also conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wireless controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited.

Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a reputation in popular culture as an archetypal mad scientist His patents earned him a considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with varying degrees of success. He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels through his retirement. Tesla died on 7 January 1943. His work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960, the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor. There has been a resurgence in popular interest in Tesla since the 1990s'.
[The Hankster says] Should I say it? OK, the volts are in. Have an electrifying day. See you shouldn't have insisted, and I wouldn't have to say such a shocking thing. Watts the difference, you have heard it all before. And..... Sorry it looks like I have exceeded this social media's current (got one more in) terms of service concerning puns.


* 'National Clerihew Day'. A 'short comic or nonsensical verse, typically in two rhyming couplets with lines of unequal length and referring to a famous person.' Invented by Edmund Clerihew Bently. Example: 'Sir Humphry Davy Abominated gravy. He lived in the odium Of having discovered sodium. '
[The Hankster says] I was going to try one concerning a politician, but the races are already a joke.


* 'Teddy Bear Picnic Day'. Honoring the song and a fun time for children. The 1907 music was written by John Walter Bratton. Lyrics were added in 1932 by James Kennedy.


<> Awareness / Observances:

o Health
* 'Disability Awareness Day'. In Great Britain.


<> Historical events on July 10


* 'In 1890, Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state. . - From Wikipedia: From Wikipedia: 'Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, but the least populous and the second least densely populated of the 50 United States. The western two-thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, w ith a population estimate of 62,448 in 2013.

The region had acquired the name Wyoming by 1865, when Representative James Mitchell Ashley of Ohio introduced a bill to Congress to provide a "temporary government for the territory of Wyoming". The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, made famous by the 1809 poem Gertrude of Wyoming by Thomas Campbell, based on the Battle of Wyoming in the American Revolutionary War. The name ultimately derives from the Munsee word meaning "at the big river flat."

After the Union Pacific Railroad had reached the town of Cheyenne in 1867, the region's population began to grow steadily, and the federal government established the Wyoming Territory on July 25, 1868. Unlike mineral-rich Colorado, Wyoming lacked significant deposits of gold and silver, as well as Colorado's subsequent population boom. However, South Pass City did experience a short-lived boom after the Carissa Mine began producing gold in 1867. Furthermore, copper was mined in some areas between the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Snowy Range near Grand Encampment.

Once government-sponsored expeditions to the Yellowstone country began, reports by Colter and Bridger, previously believed to be apocryphal, were found to be true. This led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park, which became the world's first national park in 1872. Nearly all of Yellowstone National Park lies within the far northwestern borders of Wyoming.

On December 10, 1869, territorial Governor John Allen Campbell extended the right to vote to women, making Wyoming the first territory and then U.S. state to grant suffrage to women. In addition, Wyoming was also a pioneer in welcoming women into politics. Women first served on juries in Wyoming (Laramie in 1870); Wyoming had the first female court bailiff (Mary Atkinson, Laramie, in 1870); and the first female justice of the peace in the country (Esther Hobart Morris, South Pass City, in 1870). Also, in 19 24, Wyoming became the first state to elect a female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, who took office in January 1925. Due to its civil-rights history, Wyoming's state nickname is "The Equality State", and the official state motto is "Equal Rights".

Wyoming's constitution included women's suffrage and a pioneering article on water rights. Congress admitted Wyoming into the Union as the 44th state on July 10, 1890'.


* 'In 1892, The first concrete-paved street ing the us, was built in in Bellefountaine, Ohio. . - From Wikipedia: 'In 1891, Bellefontaine became the location of the first concrete street in America. George Bartholomew invented a process for paving using Portland cement, which until then had been used in stone construction. A small section of Main Street, on the west side of the Logan County Courthouse, was the first to be paved using that process. When that proved successful, Court Avenue, which runs along the south side of the courthouse, was paved with concrete. While Main Street is now paved with asphalt, Court Avenue has retained its original concrete pavement for more than 100 years. At its centennial, the street was closed to traffic and a statue of Bartholomew placed at its Main Street end it became a pedestrian way. Since then one lane has been reopened for eastbound traffic'.


* 'In 1913, Death Valley, California, hits 134 F (57 C), the highest temperature recorded in the United States. . - From Wikipedia: 'Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America because of its lack of surface water and its low relief. It is so frequently the hottest spot in the United States that many tabulations of the highest daily temperatures in the country omit Death Valley as a matter of course.

On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek) in Death Valley. This temperature stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth. (A report of a temperature of 58 °C (136.4 °F) recorded in Libya in 1922 was later determined to be inaccurate.) Daily summer temperatures of 120 °F (49 °C) or greater are common, as well as below freezing nightly temperatures in the winter. July is the hottest month, with an average high of 115 °F (46 °C) and an average low of 88 °F (31 °C). December is the coldest month, with an average high of 65 °F (18 °C) and an average low of 39 °F (4 °C). The record low is 15 °F (-9.4 °C)'.


* 'In 1938, Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world. . - From Wikipedia: 'On July 14, 1938, Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes), beating the previous record set in 1933 by Wiley Post in a single engine Lockheed Vega by almost four days. Hughes returned home ahead of photographs of his flight. Taking off from New York City, Hughes continued to Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, Minneapolis, then returning to New York City. For this flight he flew a Lockheed 14 Super Electra (NX18973, a twin-engine transport with a four-man crew) fitted with the latest radio and navigational equipment. Hughes wanted the flight to be a triumph of American aviation technology, illustrating that safe, long-distance air travel was possible. While he had previously been relatively obscure despite his wealth, being better known for dating Katharine Hepburn, New York City now gave Hughes a ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes. In 1938, the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas—known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport—was renamed after Hughes, but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person'.


* 'In 1940, During World War II, the Battle of Britain (July 10 1940 - October 31, 1940), The German Luftwaffe begins attacking British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though). . - From Wikipedia: 'The Battle of Britain was a combat of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom (UK) against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacks from the end of June 1940, and described as the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces. The British officially recognise its duration as from 10 July until 31 October 1940 that overlaps with the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, while German historians do not accept this subdivision and regard it as a campaign lasting from July 1940 to June 1941.

The primary objective of the Nazi German forces was to compel Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement. In July 1940, the air and sea blockade began with the Luftwaffe mainly targeting coastal shipping convoys, ports and shipping centres, such as Portsmouth. On 1 August, the Luftwaffe was directed to achieve air superiority over RAF with the aim of incapacitating RAF Fighter Command and, 12 days later, it shifted the attacks to RAF airfields and infrastructure. As the battle progressed, the Luftwaffe also targeted factories involved in World War II aircraft production and strategic infrastructure and, eventually, it employed terror bombing on areas of political significance and civilians.

By preventing the Luftwaffe's air superiority over UK, the British forced Adolf Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel Operation Sea Lion, a provisionally proposed amphibious and airborne invasion of Britain. However, Nazi Germany continued bombing operations on Britain, known as the Blitz. The failure to destroy Britain's air defences to force an armistice (or even surrender outright) is considered by Steven Bungay to be the Nazi's first major defeat in World War II, and a crucial turning point in the conflict'.


* 'In 1950, 'Your Hit Parade' which counted down the top 7 music hits (using staff musicians and singers), premieres on NBC-TV. The radio version began in 1935. . - From Wikipedia: 'Your Hit Parade is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or groups. Many listeners and viewers casually referred to the show with the incorrect title The Hit Parade.

When the show debuted, there was no agreement as to what it should be called. The press referred to it in a variety of ways, with the most common being Hit Parade, The Hit Parade, and even The Lucky Strike Hit Parade (see for example Lucky Strike Hit Parade is Popular, Laredo (Texas) Times, May 21, 1935, p 7). The program's title was not officially changed to Your Hit Parade until November 9, 1935 (Al Goodman to Be Maestro on Radio Series, Oakland Tribune, November 9, 1935, p. 14.)

Each Saturday evening, the program offered the most popular and bestselling songs of the week. The earliest format involved a presentation of the top 15 songs. Later, a countdown with fanfares led to the top three finalists, with the number one song for the finale. Occasional performances of standards and other favorite songs from the past were known as Lucky Strike Extras.

Listeners were informed that the Your Hit Parade survey checks the best sellers on sheet music and phonograph records, the songs most heard on the air and most played on the automatic coin machines, an accurate, authentic tabulation of America's taste in popular music. However, the exact procedure of this authentic tabulation remained a secret. Some believe song choices were often arbitrary due to various performance and production factors. The show's ad agencies—initially Lord and Thomas and later Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne—never revealed the specific sources or the methods that were used to determine top hits. They made a general statement that it was based mainly on readings of radio requests, sheet music sales, dance-hall favorites and jukebox tabulations Radio Guide claimed an endless popularity poll on a nationwide scale'.


* 'In 1962, Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, was launched into orbit. . - 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.

Belonging to At and T, the original Telstar was part of a multi-national agreement among At and T (USA), Bell Telephone Laboratories (USA), NASA (USA), GPO (United Kingdom) and the National PTT (France) to develop experimental satellite communications over the Atlantic Ocean. Bell Labs held a contract with NASA, paying the agency for each launch, independent of success.

The original Telstar had a single innovative transponder that could relay data, a single television channel, or multiplexed telephone circuits. Since the spacecraft spun, it required an array of antennas around its equator for uninterrupted microwave communication with Earth. An omnidirectional array of small cavity antenna elements around the satellite's equator received 6 GHz microwave signals to relay back to ground stations. The transponder converted the frequency to 4 GHz, amplified the signals in a traveling-wave tube, and retransmitted them omnidirectionally via the adjacent array of larger box-shaped cavities. The prominent helical antenna received telecommands from a ground station.

Launched by NASA aboard a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, Telstar 1 was the first privately sponsored space launch. A medium-altitude satellite, Telstar was placed in an elliptical orbit completed once every 2 hours and 37 minutes, inclined at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the equator, with perigee about 952 kilometres (592 mi) from Earth and apogee about 5,933 kilometres (3,687 mi) from Earth This is in contrast to the 1965 Early Bird Intelsat and subsequent satellites that travel in circular geostationary orbits.

Due to its non-geosynchronous orbit, Telstar's availability for transatlantic signals was limited to the 20 minutes in each 2.5 hour orbit when the satellite passed over the Atlantic Ocean. Ground antennas had to track the satellite with a pointing error of less than 0.06 degrees as it moved across the sky at up to 1.5 degrees per second'.


* 'In 1965, Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour was released. . - From Wikipedia: 'In the Midnight Hour is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on his 1965 album of the same name, also appearing on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. The song was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be assassinated in April 1968. Pickett's first hit on Atlantic Records, it reached #1 on the R and B charts and peaked at #21 on the pop charts'.


* 'In 1967, Bobbie Gentry recorded Ode to Billie Joe. . - From Wikipedia: 'Ode to Billie Joe is a 1967 song written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry, a singer-songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi. The single, released in late July, was a number-one hit in the United States, and became a big international seller. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song for 1967 (the other two were #2 The Letter by the Box Tops and #1 To Sir With Love by Lulu). The song is ranked #412 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time The recording of Ode to Billie Joe generated eight Grammy nominations, resulting in three wins for Gentry and one win for arranger Jimmie Haskell'.

 III.
Top Song & Movie 50 years ago today (last updated July 109 2016 next July 17 2016

No. 1 song

  • Hanky Panky - Tommy James and the Shonde
    - On YouTube: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    'Strangers in the Night' has been displaced by 'Hanky Panky', which will hold the no. 1 spot until July 23 1966, when 'Wild Thing - The Troggs', takes over.
    - From Wikipedia: '"Hanky Panky" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich for their group, The Raindrops. It was famously remade by rock group Tommy James and the Shondells, who took it to No. 1 in the United States in 1966.

    James' version was recorded at a local radio station, WNIL in Niles, Michigan, and released on local Snap Records, selling well in the tri-state area of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. However, lacking national distribution, the single quickly disappeared. James moved on, breaking up The Shondells, and finishing high school.

    In 1965, an unemployed James was contacted by Pittsburgh disc jockey "Mad Mike" Metro. Metro had begun playing The Shondells' version of "Hanky Panky", and the single had become popular in that area. James then decided to re-release the song, traveling to Pittsburgh where he hired the first decent local band he ran into, The Raconteurs, to be the new Shondells (the original members having declined to re-form).

    After appearances on TV and in clubs in the city, James took a master of "Hanky Panky" to New York, where he sold it to Roulette Records. "The amazing thing is we did not re-record the song," James told Bronson, "I don't think anybody can record a song that bad and make it sound good. It had to sound amateurish like that. I think if we'd fooled with it too much we'd have fouled it up." It was released promptly and took the top position of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in July 1966.

    Bob Rivers parodied the song as "Newt Gingrich Does the Hanky Panky"'.

Top movie

  • Three on a Couch
    - At Wikipedia:  More
    - On IMDb: More
    - On YouTube (trailer): More
    Having displaced 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', it will be there until the weekend box office of July 17 1966 when, 'Torn Curtain', takes over.- From Wikipedia: 'Three on a Couch is a comedy film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis.

    Filmed from September 13-December 1, 1965, it was released on July 7, 1966 by Columbia Pictures. Co-starring are Janet Leigh, Leslie Parrish, Mary Ann Mobley, James Best and Kathleen Freeman.

    This was the first film that Lewis made for Columbia after ending a 17-year partnership with Paramount Pictures. This is also the first film that Lewis directed in which he did not receive a screenwriting credit. Three on a Couch was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time'.
  IV.
Today in the Past (reference sites): July 10
   V.
This month July 2016 (updated once a month - last updated - Jul 10 2016)

Monthly holiday / awareness days in July

Food
National Blueberries Month
National Grilling Month
National Honey Month
National Ice Cream Month
National Horseradish Month
National Hot Dog Month
Wheat Month

Health
Alopecia Month for Women
Bereaved Parents Awareness Month
Eye Injury Prevention Month
Hemochromatosis Screening Awareness Month
International Group B Strep Awareness Month
International Women with Alopecia Month
International Zine Month
Juvenille Arthritis Awareness Month
National Black Family Month
National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month
National Cord Blood Awareness Month
National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month
Social Wellness Month

Animal / Pets
National 'Doghouse Repairs' Month

Other
Bioterrorism/Disaster Education and Awareness Month
Cell Phone Courtesy Month
Family Golf Month
Independent Retailer Month
National Child-Centered Divorce Month
National Make A Difference to Children Month
National Parks and Recreation Month
National Vacation Rental Month
Smart Irrigation Month
Tour de France 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

  VI.
TV fifty years ago 1966 (updated yearly - last updated Jan. 1 2016)

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

 VII.
Best selling books fifty years ago (updated yearly - last updated Jan. 1 2016)

Best selling books of 1966 More

VIII.
Fun (Last link added October 1 2014, but content on each site may change daily)
  • 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
  IX.
Other Holiday Sites (Last link added October 1 2014. Link content changes yearly)

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


US Government Holidays

  • 2016 Postal Holidays More
  • 2016 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

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