<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Rainier Cherry Day'. . Celebrates the cross-bread cherry
created in 1952 at Washington State University.
- From Wikipedia (Rainier cherry):
'Rainier is a cultivar of cherry. It was developed in 1952 at Washington
State University by Harold Fogle, and named after Mount Rainier. It is a
cross between the Bing and Van cultivars.
Rainiers are sweet cherries with a thin skin and thick creamy-yellow flesh.
The cherries are very sensitive to temperature, wind, and rain. About 1/3
of a Rainier cherry orchard's crop is eaten by birds'.
[The Hankster says] Today the 10th is Pick Blueberries Day. Cherries are a little higher up. I'm about to rent a cherry picker for the cherries and I disclaim any connection with all the reports of downed power lines and uprooted trees from last year.
* 'National Blueberry Muffin Day'. . On the 10th we Picked Blueberries, now
we put them to good use.
- From Wikipedia (Muffin):
'A muffin is an individual-sized, baked quick bread product. Muffins in the
United States are similar to cupcakes in size and cooking methods. Muffins
are available in both savory varieties, such as cornmeal and cheese
muffins, or sweet varieties such as blueberry, chocolate chip or banana
flavours. Muffins are often eaten as a breakfast food. Coffee may be served
to accompany muffins. Fresh baked muffins are sold by bakeries, donut shops
and some fast food restaurants and coffeehouses. Factory baked muffins are
sold at grocery stores and convenience stores and they are also served in
some coffee shops and cafeterias.
Outside the United Kingdom, an English muffin is a flatter disk-shaped,
typically unsweetened bread of English origin. These muffins are popular in
Commonwealth countries and the United States. English muffins are often
served toasted for breakfast. English muffins may be served with butter or
margarine. English muffins may be topped with sweet toppings, such as jam
or honey, or savoury toppings (e.g., round sausage, cooked egg, cheese or
bacon). English muffins are typically eaten as a breakfast food'.
[The Hankster says] You picked 'um today. Now put them to good use tomorrow.
* 'Slurpee Day or 7-11's Birthday'. . On July 11, or 7-Eleven Day,
convenience store customers can enjoy a free small Slurpee drink of any
flavor at participating stores from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m..
- From Wikipedia (Slurpee):
'A Slurpee is a slushy frozen carbonated beverage sold at 7-Eleven stores.
Machines to make frozen beverages were invented by Omar Knedlik in the late
1950s. The idea for a slushed ice drink came when Knedlik's soda fountain
broke down, forcing him to put his sodas in a freezer to stay cool, which
caused them to become slushy. The result was popular with customers, which
gave him the idea to make a machine to help make a slushy from carbonated
beverages. When it became popular, Knedlik hired artist Ruth E. Taylor to
create a name and logo for his invention. She created the ICEE name and
designed the original logo, which is used today. Early prototypes for the
machine made use of an automobile air conditioning unit.
After a successful trial of ICEE machines in 100 stores, 7-Eleven in 1965
made a licensing deal with The ICEE Company to sell the product under
certain conditions. Two of these were that 7-Eleven must use a different
name for the product, and that the company was only allowed to sell the
product in 7-Eleven locations in the US, a non-compete clause ensuring the
two drinks never went head to head for distribution rights. 7-Eleven then
sold the product that in 1966 became known as the Slurpee (for the sound
made when drinking them). The term was coined by Bob Stanford, a 7-Eleven
agency director.
The Slurpee machine has a separate spout for each flavor at the front of a
tumbler or freezer, where patrons pour their own Slurpees. When Slurpees
were first introduced, the dispensing machine was located behind the
counter, and the clerk was tasked with dispensing the product. Common
flavors are frozen Cherry, Coke, and Mountain Dew. But new flavors are
introduced regularly. In the Slurpee's early history, flavors rotated much
more frequently than today. Slurpee flavors were given novelty names such
as Pink Fink, Adults Only, Moonshine, Kissin' Cousin, Gully Washer, Sticky
Icky, and Redeye'.
[The Hankster says] After all the cherry picking and blueberry muffin making, I will be ready for one.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'National Cheer Up The Lonely Day'.
Created by Francis Pesek as a way to promote kindness to others.
[The Hankster says] Visit someone who is lonely or a shut in. And take some Blueberry Muffins.
* 'All American Pet Photo Day'.[The Hankster says] Take a photo and let everyone on social media see it. Several social media sites have groups for the event.
* 'International Town Criers Day'.
Second Monday of July.
[The Hankster says] I wonder if it was better to be woken up at midnight by the town crier's shout and bell, or to just sleep and hope everything was alright in the morning.
* 'Bowdler’s Day'.
An anti- censorship day.
On July 11 1754 birthday of Thomas Bowdler..
- From Wikipedia (Thomas Bowdler):
'Thomas Bowdler, LRCP, FRS (11 July 1754 – 24 February 1825) was an English
physician and philanthropist, best known for publishing The Family
Shakspeare, an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's work, edited by
his sister Henrietta Maria Bowdler, intended to be more appropriate for
19th century women and children than the original. Although early editions
of the work were published with the spelling Shakspeare, after Bowdler's
death, later editions (from 1847) adopted the spelling Shakespeare,
reflecting changes in the standard spelling of Shakespeare's name.
The verb bowdlerise (or bowdlerize) has associated his name with the
censorship not only of literature but also of motion pictures and
television programmes.
After several other publications, some reflecting his interest in and
knowledge of continental Europe, Bowdler's last work was an expurgated
version of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published
posthumously in 1826 under the supervision of his nephew and biographer,
Thomas Bowdler the Younger'.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Other:
* 'World Population Day'.
A UN awareness day set on the anniversary of the day on July 11, 1987, when the world's population reached the 5 billion figure. Also Five Billion Day.
- From Wikipedia (World Population Day): 'World Population day is an annual event, observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues. The event was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987-approximately the date on which the world's population reached five billion people.It encourages the activities, events and information to help make this rig
ht a reality throughout the world. World Population Day aims at increase people's awareness on various population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health and human rights'.
<> Historical events on July 11
* 'In 1798, The United States Marine Corps is re-established they had been
disbanded after the American Revolutionary War. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the
United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection,
using the mobility of the United States Navy to, by Congressional mandate,
rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces on land, at sea, and in the air.
The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U.S.
Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United
States. The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the
highest-ranking military officer in the U.S. armed forces, is a Marine
Corps general.
The United States Marine Corps traces its institutional roots to the
Continental Marines of the American Revolutionary War, formed by Captain
Samuel Nicholas by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress on 10
November 1775, to raise two battalions of Marines. That date is regarded
and celebrated as the date of the Marine Corps' birthday. At the end of the
American Revolution, both the Continental Navy and Continental Marines were
disbanded in April 1783. The institution itself would not be resurrected
until 11 July 1798. At that time, in preparation for the Quasi-War with
France, Congress created the United States Marine Corps. Marines had been
enlisted by the War Department as early as August 1797 for service in the
new-build frigates authorized by the Congressional Act to provide a Naval
Armament of 18 March 1794, which specified the numbers of Marines to be
recruited for each frigate'.
* 'In 1801, French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet
discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than
any other person in history. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Jean-Louis Pons (24 December 1761 – 14 October 1831) was
a French astronomer. Despite humble beginnings and being self-taught, he
went on to become the greatest visual comet discoverer of all time: between
1801 and 1827 Pons discovered thirty-seven comets, more than any other
person in history.
Pons made his first comet discovery, jointly attributed to Charles Messier,
on 11 July 1801. He appears to have used telescopes and lenses of his own
design his Grand Chercheur (Great Seeker) seems to have been an instrument
with large aperture and short focal length, similar to a comet seeker
However, he was not an especially diligent recorder of his observations,
and his notes were often extremely vague.
He discovered five periodic
comets, three of which, 7P/Pons–Winnecke, 12P/Pons–Brooks and
273P/Pons–Gambart, bear his name. One observed on 26 November 1818 was
named Comet Encke (now 2P/Enke) after Johann Franz Encke, who calculated
its orbit and its remarkably short period (Encke, however, continued to
refer to the comet as Pons's Comet). Pons also co-discovered the comet
formerly known as Pons–Coggia–Winnecke–Forbes and today known as
27P/Crommelin after Andrew Crommelin, who calculated its orbit.
Pons received the French Academy of Sciences's Lalande Prize in 1818 for
his discovery of three comets in that year. He won it again in 1820
(jointly with Joseph Nicollet) for further comet discoveries at Marlia and
for an unmatched third time in 1827 (jointly with Jean-Félix Adolphe
Gambart) for discovering another seven comets at the Florence observatory.
By 1827, Pons's eyesight had begun to fail, and he retired from observing
altogether shortly before his death, on the 14th of October 1831. In his
honour, a moon crater was named after him'.
* 'In 1892, US Patent Office says J W Swan, rather than Thomas Edison,
invented the electric light carbon for the incandescent lamp. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The common coupling of Swan's name with that of Thomas
Edison in connection with the incandescent electric lamp has often led to
the notion that Swan collaborated with Edison in this invention. That was
not so. Their work was completely independent, and although each knew the
other was working on the problem of devising a practical lamp, they had
neither met nor communicated with each other. The conjunction of their
names came about in 1883 when the two competing companies merged to exploit
both Swan's and Edison's inventions.
In America, Edison had been working on copies of the original light bulb
patented by Swan, trying to make them more efficient. Though Swan had
beaten him to this goal, Edison obtained patents in America for a fairly
direct copy of the Swan light, and started an advertising campaign that
claimed that he was the real inventor. Swan, who was less interested in
making money from the invention, agreed that Edison could sell the lights
in America while he retained the rights in the United Kingdom.
While searching for a better filament for his light bulb, Swan
inadvertently made another advance. In 1881 he developed and patented a
process for squeezing nitro-cellulose through holes to form conducting
fibres. His newly established company (which by merger eventually became
the Edison and Swan United Company) used Swan's cellulose filaments in
their bulbs. The textile industry has also used this process'.
* 'In 1893, The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto. .
- From Wikipedia: 'A cultured pearl is a pearl created by a oyster farmer
under controlled conditions. Cultured pearls can be farmed using two very
different groups of bivalve mollusk: the freshwater river mussels, and the
saltwater pearl oysters.
A pearl is formed when the mantle tissue is injured by a parasite, an
attack of a fish or another event that damages the external fragile rim of
the shell of a mollusk shell bivalve or gastropod. In response, the mantle
tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre into the pearl sac, a cyst that forms
during the healing process. Chemically speaking, this is calcium carbonate
and a fibrous protein called conchiolin. As the nacre builds up in layers
of minute aragonite tablets, it fills the growing pearl sac and eventually
forms a pearl.
Natural pearls are formed by nature, more or less by chance. On the other
hand, cultured pearls are human creations formed by inserting a tissue
graft from a donor oyster, upon which a pearl sac forms, and the inner side
precipitates calcium carbonate, in the form of nacre or mother-of-pearl The
most popular and effective method for creating cultured pearls are made
from the shells of freshwater river mussels harvested in the midwestern
states of the U.S., from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Shells with the
common names, Washboard Maple Leaf Ebony Pimpleback and Three Ridge are
popular for use in pearl culture due to their compatibility with the host
animal, and the nacre they are to be covered by. These high-quality and
sought-after shells are first sliced into strips and then into cubes. The
edges and corners are ground down until they are a roughly spherical and
then milled to become perfectly round, and brought to a highly polished
finish.
After the nucleus is ready, the next step is obtaining the mantle tissue.
The mantle tissue is harvested from one oyster and cut into small pieces.
After obtaining the mantle tissue from the first oyster it is time to
operate on the second animal. The oyster is placed in warm water to relax
the animal. Then it is gently pried open and mounted in a stand to be
operated on. A small incision is made and the nucleus is inserted along
with a small piece of mantle gland. The oyster is then placed back in the
water and allowed over several years to coat the nucleus with nacre. The
nucleus is coated in many layers of this nacre, so that when pearls are cut
in half, visible layers can be seen.
Despite the common misperception, Mikimoto did not discover the process of
pearl culture. The accepted process of pearl culture was developed by the
British Biologist William Saville-Kent in Australia and brought to Japan by
Tokichi Nishikawa and Tatsuhei Mise. Nishikawa was granted the patent in
1916, and married the daughter of Mikimoto. Mikimoto was able to use
Nishikawa's technology. After the patent was granted in 1916, the
technology was immediately commercially applied to akoya pearl oysters in
Japan in 1916. Mise's brother was the first to produce a commercial crop of
pearls in the akoya oyster. Mitsubishi's Baron Iwasaki immediately applied
the technology to the South Sea pearl oyster in 1917 in the Philippines,
and later in Buton and Palau. Mitsubishi was the first to produce a
cultured South Sea pearl – although it was not until 1928 that the first
small commercial crop of pearls was successfully produced'.
* 'In 1895, Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film
technology to scientists. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis
Nicolas (19 October 1862, Besançon, France – 10 April 1954, Lyon) and
Louis Jean (5 October 1864, Besançon, France – 6 June 1948, Bandol), were
the first filmmakers in history. They patented the cinematograph, which in
contrast to Edison's peepshow kinetoscope allowed simultaneous viewing by
multiple parties.
Their first film Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon (1895) is considered the
first true motion picture. .
It was not until their father retired in 1892 that the brothers began to
create moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes
leading up to their film camera, most notably film perforations (originally
implemented by Emile Reynaud) as a means of advancing the film through the
camera and projector. The original cinématographe had been patented by Léon
Guillaume Bouly on 12 February 1892. The brothers patented their own
version on 13 February 1895. The first footage ever to be recorded using it
was recorded on March 19, 1895. This first film shows workers leaving the
Lumière factory.
The Lumières brothers saw film as a novelty and had withdrawn from the film
business in 1905. They went on to develop the first practical photographic
color process, the Lumière Autochrome'.
* 'In 1914, The Babe, makes his debut as a 19 year-old pitcher for the
Boston Red Sox. .
- From Wikipedia: 'George Herman Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16,
1948), better known as Babe Ruth, was an American professional baseball
player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from
1914 through 1935. Nicknamed The Bambino and The Sultan of Swat, he began
his MLB career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but
achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York
Yankees. Ruth established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records,
including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on
balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.690), and on-base plus slugging (OPS)
(1.164) the latter two still stand today. Ruth is regarded as one of the
greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be
the greatest baseball player of all time. He was one of the first five
inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.
After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee controversially sold Ruth to
the Yankees, an act that, coupled with Boston's subsequent championship
drought, popularized the Curse of the Bambino superstition. In his 15 years
with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League (AL)
championships and four World Series championships. His big swing led to
escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and
boosted the sport's popularity but also helped usher in the live-ball era
of baseball, in which it evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a
sport where the home run was a major factor. As part of the Yankees'
vaunted Murderer's Row lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, extending his
MLB single-season record. He retired in 1935 after a short stint with the
Boston Braves. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a
season twelve times'.
* 'In 1922, The Hollywood Bowl opens. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheater located in
Hollywood, California.
The Hollywood Bowl is known for its band shell, a distinctive set of
concentric arches that graced the site from 1929 through 2003, before being
replaced with a somewhat larger one beginning in the 2004 season. The shell
is set against the backdrop of the Hollywood Hills and the famous Hollywood
Sign to the Northeast.
The bowl refers to the shape of the concave hillside the amphitheater is
carved into. The bowl is owned by the County of Los Angeles and is the home
of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the summer home of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic and the host of hundreds of musical events each year.
It is located at 2301 North Highland Avenue, north of Hollywood Boulevard
and the Hollywood/Highland subway station and south of Route 101.
The site of the Hollywood Bowl was chosen in 1919 by William Reed and his
son H. Ellis Reed, who were dispatched to find a suitable location for
outdoor performances by the members of the newly formed Theatre Arts
Alliance headed by Christine Wetherill Stevenson. The Reeds selected a
natural amphitheater, a shaded canyon and popular picnic spot known as
'Daisy Dell' in Bolton Canyon.
On 11 November 1921 the first Sunrise Service took place at the bowl, in
one of its first major events. The Bowl officially opened on July 11,
1922'.
* 'In 1955, The U.S. Air Force Academy was dedicated in Colorado at Lowry
Air Base. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The United States Air Force Academy (also known as USAFA
or the Air Force Academy), is a military academy for officer cadets of the
United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of
Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The Academy's
stated mission is to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become
leaders of character, motivated to lead the United States Air Force in
service to our nation. It is the youngest of the five United States service
academies, having graduated its first class in 1959. Graduates of the
Academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree, and are
commissioned as second lieutenants in the United States Air Force. The
Academy is also one of the largest tourist attractions in Colorado,
attracting approximately a million visitors each year.
Prior to the Academy's establishment, air power advocates had been pushing
for a separate Air Force Academy for decades. As early as 1918, Lieutenant
Colonel A.J. Hanlon wrote, As the Military and Naval Academies are the
backbone of the Army and Navy, so must the Aeronautical Academy be the
backbone of the Air Service. No service can flourish without some such
institution to inculcate into its embryonic officers love of country,
proper conception of duty, and highest regard for honor. Other officials
expressed similar sentiments. In 1919, Congressman Charles F. Curry
introduced legislation providing for an Academy, but concerns about cost,
curriculum and location led to its demise. In 1925, air power pioneer
General Billy Mitchell testified on Capitol Hill that it was necessary to
have an air academy to form a basis for the permanent backbone of your air
service and to attend to the...organizational part of it, very much the
same way that West Point does for the Army, or that Annapolis does for the
Navy. Mitchell's arguments did not gain traction with legislators, and it
was not until the late 1940s that the concept of the United States Air
Force Academy began to take shape.
Support for an air academy got a boost with the National Security Act of
1947, which provided for the establishment of a separate Air Force within
the United States military. As an initial measure, Secretary of the Air
Force W. Stuart Symington negotiated an agreement where up to 25% of West
Point and Annapolis graduates could volunteer to receive their commissions
in the newly established Air Force. This was only intended to be a short
term fix, however, and disagreements between the services quickly led to
the establishment of the Service Academy Board by Secretary of Defense
James Forrestal. In January 1950, the Service Academy Board, headed by
Dwight D. Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, concluded that
the needs of the Air Force could not be met by the two existing U.S.
service academies and that an air force academy should be established.
Following the recommendation of the Board, Congress passed legislation in
1954 to begin the construction of the Air Force Academy, and President
Eisenhower signed it into law on 1 April of that year. The legislation
established an advisory commission to determine the site of the new school.
Among the panel members were Charles Lindbergh, General Carl Spaatz, and
Lieutenant General Hubert R. Harmon, who later became the Academy's first
superintendent. The original 582 sites considered were winnowed to three:
Alton, Illinois Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and the ultimate site at Colorado
Springs, Colorado. The Secretary of the Air Force, Harold E. Talbott,
announced the winning site on 24 June 1954. Meanwhile, Air Training Command
(ATC) began developing a detailed curriculum for the Academy program'.
* 'In 1962, First transatlantic satellite television transmission. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Telstar is the name of various communications
satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly
identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10,
1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures,
telephone calls, and fax images, and provided the first live transatlantic
television feed. Telstar 2 launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2—though no
longer functional—still orbit the Earth.
Telstar 1 relayed its first, and non-public, television pictures—a flag
outside Andover Earth Station—to Pleumeur-Bodou on July 11, 1962. Almost
two weeks later, on July 23, at 3:00 p.m. EDT, it relayed the first
publicly available live transatlantic television signal. The broadcast was
made possible in Europe by Eurovision and in North America by NBC, CBS,
ABC, and the CBC. The first public broadcast featured CBS's Walter Cronkite
and NBC's Chet Huntley in New York, and the BBC's Richard Dimbleby in
Brussels. The first pictures were the Statue of Liberty in New York and the
Eiffel Tower in Paris. The first broadcast was to have been remarks by
President John F. Kennedy, but the signal was acquired before the president
was ready, so engineers filled the lead-in time with a short segment of a
televised game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs at
Wrigley Field. The batter, Tony Taylor, was seen hitting a ball pitched by
Cal Koonce to the right fielder George Altman. From there, the video
switched first to Washington, DC then to Cape Canaveral, Florida to the
Seattle World's Fair then to Quebec and finally to Stratford, Ontario. The
Washington segment included remarks by President Kennedy, talking about the
price of the American dollar, which was causing concern in Europe. When
Kennedy denied that the United States would devalue the dollar it
immediately strengthened on world markets Cronkite later said that we all
glimpsed something of the true power of the instrument we had wrought.'.
* 'In 1975, Chinese archaeologists unearth the 'Terra-Cotta Army'. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Terracotta Army (Soldier-and-horse funerary statues)
is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi
Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with
the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in
his afterlife.
The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were
discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi
province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the
tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and
horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the
Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses
and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits
nearby Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures
were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen and
musicians.
The Terracotta Army was discovered on 29 March 1974 to the east of Xi'an in
Shaanxi province by farmers digging a water well approximately 1.6
kilometres (0.99 mi) east of the Qin Emperor's tomb mound at Mount Li
(Lishan), a region riddled with underground springs and watercourses. For
centuries, occasional reports mentioned pieces of terracotta figures and
fragments of the Qin necropolis – roofing tiles, bricks and chunks of
masonry. This discovery prompted Chinese archaeologists to investigate,
revealing the largest pottery figurine group ever found in China'.
* 'In 1979, America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it
re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA
and was the United States' first space station. Skylab orbited Earth from
1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other
systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a
weight of 170,000 pounds (77,111 kg), the last launch of a Saturn V rocket.
Three manned expeditions to the station, conducted between May 1973 and
February 1974 using the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) atop the
smaller Saturn IB, each delivered a three-astronaut crew. On the last two
manned missions, an additional Apollo / Saturn IB stood by ready to rescue
the crew in orbit if it was needed.
The station was damaged during launch when the micrometeoroid shield
separated from the workshop and tore away, taking one of two main solar
panel arrays with it and jamming the other one so that it could not deploy.
This deprived Skylab of most of its electrical power, and also removed
protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make it unusable. The
first crew was able to save it in the first in-space major repair, by
deploying a replacement heat shade and freeing the jammed solar panels.
Skylab included the Apollo Telescope Mount, which was a multi-spectral
solar observatory, Multiple Docking Adapter (with two docking ports),
Airlock Module with EVA hatches, and the Orbital Workshop, the main
habitable volume. Electrical power came from solar arrays, as well as fuel
cells in the docked Apollo CSM. The rear of the station included a large
waste tank, propellant tanks for maneuvering jets, and a heat radiator.
Numerous scientific experiments were conducted aboard Skylab during its
operational life, and crews were able to confirm the existence of coronal
holes in the Sun. The Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) was used to
view Earth with sensors that recorded data in the visible, infrared, and
microwave spectral regions. Thousands of photographs of Earth were taken,
and the record for human time spent in orbit was extended beyond the 23
days set by the Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1, to as much as 84 days by the
Skylab 4 crew. Plans were made to refurbish and reuse Skylab, using the
Space Shuttle to boost its orbit and repair it. However, development of the
Shuttle was delayed, and Skylab reentered Earth's atmosphere and
disintegrated in 1979, with debris striking portions of Western Australia.
Post-Skylab NASA space laboratory projects included Spacelab, Shuttle-Mir,
and Space Station Freedom (later merged into the International Space
Station)'.
* 'In 1985, Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) became the first major league
pitcher to earn 4,000 strikeouts in a career. (Texas). .
- From Wikipedia: 'Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed
The Ryan Express, is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and a
previous chief executive officer (CEO) of the Texas Rangers. He is
currently an executive adviser to the owner of the Houston Astros.
During a major league record 27-year baseball career (1966, 1968–1993), he
pitched for four different teams: the New York Mets, California Angels,
Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall
of Fame in 1999.
Ryan, a hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher, threw pitches that were
regularly recorded above 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). The high velocity
remained throughout his career, even into his 40s. Ryan was also known to
throw a devastating 12–6 curveball at exceptional velocity for a breaking
ball.
While his lifetime winning percentage was .526, Ryan was an eight-time MLB
All-Star, and his 5,714 career strikeouts rank first in baseball history by
a significant margin. He leads the runner-up, Randy Johnson, by 839
strikeouts. Similarly, Ryan's 2,795 bases on balls lead second-place Steve
Carlton by 962—walking over 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in MLB
history. Ryan, Pedro Martínez, Randy Johnson, and Sandy Koufax are the only
four pitchers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame who had more
strikeouts than innings pitched. Other than Jackie Robinson (whose number
was retired by the entire MLB), Ryan is currently the only major league
baseball player to have his number retired by at least three different
teams: the Angels, Astros, and Rangers.
Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any
other pitcher. He is tied with Bob Feller for the most one-hitters, with
12. Ryan also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite the seven no-hitters, he
never threw a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award. Ryan is
one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in Major League
baseball games in four decades and the only pitcher to have struck out
seven pairs of fathers and sons'..
* 'In 1987, The Heart's 'Alone' single goes #1 for 3 weeks. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Alone is a song composed by Billy Steinberg and Tom
Kelly. It first appeared via Steinberg and Kelly's 1983 pet project, I-Ten,
on Taking a Cold Look. It was later recorded by Valerie Stevenson and John
Stamos in their roles as Lisa Copley and Gino Minelli, on the original
soundtrack of the CBS sitcom Dreams in 1984. American rock band Heart made
it a number-one US and Canadian hit in 1987. Twenty years later, Celine
Dion recorded it for her album Taking Chances.
Heart released the song as the first single from their ninth studio album,
Bad Animals, in May 1987. Their version is a power ballad that begins with
a piano line and a subdued vocal from Ann Wilson before exploding into an
amplified hard rock, albeit heavily synth-led, chorus. The song has been
covered numerous times on American Idol. According to a Songfacts interview
with Steinberg, Kelly (an experienced session singer) provided the high
harmony parts on the record. Alone is Heart's biggest hit, spending three
weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 that July. It ranked No. 2 on
the Billboard Year-End Top Pop Singles of 1987. It is also their most
successful single in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 3 on the UK
Singles Chart, so far as the band's only ever song to peak inside the UK
Top 5 it is also one out of three UK Top 10 singles by the band. The song
was also a huge global hit, reaching No. 1 in Canada, the top five in
Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland, the top ten in Australia, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Poland as well as the top twenty in Germany. The song's
popular video featured the band in a synched live performance. An unplugged
version of the song later appeared on Heart's 1995 album The Road Home'.
* 'In 2011, Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery on
September 23, 1846. .
No. 1 song
Top movie
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
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 1966 More
Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More