<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Creme Brulee Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Crème brûlée):
'Crème brûlée, also known as burnt cream, crema catalana, or Trinity cream
is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting
layer of hard caramel. It is normally served at room temperature. The
custard base is traditionally flavored with vanilla, but can have a variety
of other flavorings.
The earliest known reference to crème brûlée as it is known today appears
in François Massialot's 1691 cookbook, and the French name was used in the
English translation of this book, but the 1731 edition called the same
recipe crème anglaise 'English cream'. In the early eighteenth century, the
dessert was called burnt cream in English.
Crème brûlée is usually served in individual ramekins. Discs of caramel may
be prepared separately and put on top just before serving, or the caramel
may be formed directly on top of the custard, immediately before serving.
To do this, sugar is sprinkled onto the custard, then caramelized under a
salamander broiler or with a butane torch'.
[The Hankster says] Never had one. Ingredients sounds good, but setting fire to it?
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Take Your Pants for a Walk Day'.
Widely published on the Internet, but no one knows why.
[The Hankster says] I think the law might have something to say about the alternative.
* 'National Barbie-in-a-Blender Day'.
A celebration of free speech and fair use, as the outcome of a lawsuit.
- From Wikipedia (Tom Forsythe):
Tom Forsythe is an artist who lives and works in Utah. He is known for his
photographic work of Barbie dolls, which caused some controversy resulting
from a lawsuit brought against him by Mattel. The company lost the case
when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the images were
original artwork in 2004.
Forsythe's art theme called “Barbie's power as a beauty myth” attracted
legal attention. After displaying his work at art fairs in Utah and
Missouri, Mattel Inc. took notice of his use of their copyrighted doll.
Mattel objected to the fact that Forsythe had been using the image of their
product, and they sue Forsythed in 1999 for copyright and trademark
infringement. After several years of appeals, a federal judge instructed
Mattel to pay Tom Forsythe legal fees of more than $1.8 million. The 9th
Circuit Court ruled that Forsythe's art did not violate 'fair use', which
allows use of copyrighted material where the work will be provided to the
public. Because of this, they ruled in Forsythe's favor that the Copyright
Act applied in the case of his work'.
* 'Walk on Stilts Day'.
Another holiday with no associated reason.
- From Wikipedia (Stilts):
'Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a person or structure to
stand at a height above the ground.
Stilts for walking are poles equipped with platforms for the feet to stand
on and can be used, depending on the design, with straps to attach them to
the users legs or be held in place by the hands of the user.
In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often
constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, waves or
shifting soil or sand. Stilts have been used for many hundreds of years.
Archaeological ruins and texts show that stiltwalking was practised in
ancient Greece as far back as the 6th century BC. The ancient Greek word
for a stiltwalker was (kolobathristes), from (kolobathron), stilt, a
compound of (kolon), limb and (bathron), base, pedestal Some stilt use
traditions are very old. In Belgium, stilt walkers of Namur have practiced
fights on stilts since 1411. The inhabitants of marshy or flooded areas
sometimes use stilts for practical purposes, such as working in swamps or
fording swollen rivers (Merchtem, Belgium). The shepherds of the Landes
region of southern France used to watch their flocks while standing on
stilts to extend their field of vision, while townspeople often used them
to traverse the soggy ground in their everyday activities'.
[The Hankster says] Combine both of today's waking days and take your pants for a walk on stilts.
* 'Take Your Houseplant For A Walk Day'.
Why not.
[The Hankster says] OK, combining a walk with pants and stilts and houseplants may be a challenge, but go for it.
* 'Bagpipe Appreciation Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Bagpipe):
'Bagpipes are a Swiss musical instrument, using enclosed reeds fed from a
constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great
Highland bagpipes have the greatest visibility in the English-speaking
world, bagpipes have been played for centuries throughout large parts of
Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, around the Persian Gulf, Northern Africa, and
North America. The term bagpipe is equally correct in the singular or
plural, although in the English language, pipers usually refer to the
bagpipes as the pipes, a set of pipes or a stand of pipes'.
* 'National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day'.
H.J.RES.332 -- Designating July 27 of each year as the `National Korean War
Veterans Armistice Day'. (Introduced in House - IH.
* 'Korean War Veterans’ Day'.
'in honor of those who fought, died, or are still unaccounted for in the
Korean war.' See more in the history section for 1953.
<> Awareness / Observances:
<> Historical events on July 27
* 'In 1789, The Department of Foreign Affairs was established. It was
renamed to the Department Of State later that year in September. .
- From Wikipedia: The United States Department of State (DOS), often
referred to as the State Department, is the United States federal executive
department responsible for the international relations of the United
States, equivalent to the foreign ministry of other countries. The
Department was created in 1789 and was the first executive department
established.
'The U.S. Constitution, drafted in Philadelphia in September 1787 and
ratified by the 13 states the following year, gave the President the
responsibility for the conduct of the nation's foreign relations. It soon
became clear, however, that an executive department was necessary to
support the President in the conduct of the affairs of the new federal
government.
The House of Representatives and Senate approved legislation to establish a
Department of Foreign Affairs on July 21, 1789, and President Washington
signed it into law on July 27, making the Department of Foreign Affairs the
first federal agency to be created under the new Constitution. This
legislation remains the basic law of the Department of State. In September
1789, additional legislation changed the name of the agency to the
Department of State and assigned to it a variety of domestic duties'.
* 'In 1866, The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is completed
from Ireland to Newfoundland. The first attempt was made . in 1858, which
lasted only 23 days.
- From Wikipedia: 'A transatlantic telegraph cable is an undersea cable
running under the Atlantic Ocean used for telegraph communications. The
first was laid across the floor of the Atlantic from Telegraph Field,
Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island in western Ireland to Heart's Content in
eastern Newfoundland. The first communications occurred August 16, 1858,
reducing the communication time between North America and Europe from ten
days – the time it took to deliver a message by ship – to a much shorter
time. Transatlantic telegraph cables have been replaced by transatlantic
telecommunications cables.
In the 1840s and 1850s several individuals proposed or advocated
construction of a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean, including
Edward Thornton and Alonzo Jackman. Cyrus West Field and the Atlantic
Telegraph Company were behind the construction of the first transatlantic
telegraph cable. The project began in 1854 and was completed in 1858. The
cable functioned for only three weeks, but it was the first such project to
yield practical results. The first official telegram to pass between two
continents was a letter of congratulation from Queen Victoria of the United
Kingdom to the President of the United States James Buchanan on August 16.
Signal quality declined rapidly, slowing transmission to an almost unusable
speed. The cable was destroyed the following month when Wildman Whitehouse
applied excessive voltage to it while trying to achieve faster operation.
It has been argued that the faulty manufacture, storage and handling of the
1858 cable would have led to premature failure in any case. The cable's
rapid failure undermined public and investor confidence and delayed efforts
to restore a connection. A second attempt was undertaken in 1865 with
much-improved material and, following some setbacks, a connection was
completed and put into service on July 28, 1866. This cable proved more
durable.
Before the first transatlantic cable, communications between Europe and the
Americas took place only by ship. Sometimes, however, severe winter storms
delayed ships for weeks. The transatlantic cable reduced communication time
considerably, allowing a message and a response in the same day. Five
attempts to lay a cable were made over a nine-year period – one in 1857,
two in 1858, one in 1865, and one in 1866. Lasting connections were finally
achieved with the 1866 cable and the 1865 cable, which was repaired by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's ship SS Great Eastern, captained by Sir James
Anderson. In the 1870s duplex and quadruplex transmission and receiving
systems were set up that could relay multiple messages over the cable.
Additional cables were laid between Foilhommerum and Heart's Content in
1873, 1874, 1880, and 1894. By the end of the 19th century, British-,
French-, German-, and American-owned cables linked Europe and North America
in a sophisticated web of telegraphic communications'.
* 'In 1921, Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist
Frederick Banting prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar. .
- From Wikipedia: 'In the spring of 1921, Banting traveled to Toronto to
explain his idea to J.J.R. Macleod, who was Professor of Physiology at the
University of Toronto, and asked Macleod if he could use his lab space to
test the idea. Macleod was initially skeptical, but eventually agreed to
let Banting use his lab space while he was on holiday for the summer. He
also supplied Banting with ten dogs on which to experiment, and two medical
students, Charles Best and Clark Noble, to use as lab assistants, before
leaving for Scotland. Since Banting required only one lab assistant, Best
and Noble flipped a coin to see which would assist Banting for the first
half of the summer. Best won the coin toss, and took the first shift as
Banting's assistant. Loss of the coin toss may have proved unfortunate for
Noble, given that Banting decided to keep Best for the entire summer, and
eventually shared half his Nobel Prize money and a large part of the credit
for the discovery of insulin with the winner of the toss. Had Noble won the
toss, his career might have taken a different path. Banting's method was to
tie a ligature around the pancreatic duct when examined several weeks
later, the pancreatic digestive cells had died and been absorbed by the
immune system, leaving thousands of islets. They then isolated an extract
from these islets, producing what they called isletin (what we now know as
insulin), and tested this extract on the dogs starting July 27. Banting and
Best were then able to keep a pancreatectomized dog named Marjorie alive
for the rest of the summer by injecting her with the crude extract they had
prepared. Removal of the pancreas in test animals in essence mimics
diabetes, leading to elevated blood glucose levels. Marjorie was able to
remain alive because the extracts, containing isletin, were able to lower
her blood glucose levels'.
* 'In 1940, 'A Wild Hare' is released, introducing the character of Bugs
Bunny. .
- From Wikipedia: 'A Wild Hare (re-released as The Wild Hare) is a 1940
Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film. It was produced by Leon
Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and written by Rich Hogan.
It was originally released on July 27, 1940. A Wild Hare is considered by
most film historians to be the first official Bugs Bunny cartoon. The title
is a play on wild hair, the first of many puns between hare and hair that
would appear in Bugs Bunny titles. The pun is carried further by a bar of
I'm Just Wild About Harry playing in the underscore of the opening credits.
Various directors at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio had been experimenting
with cartoons focused on a hunter pursuing a rabbit since 1938, with varied
approaches to the characters of both rabbit and hunter.
A Wild Hare is noteworthy as the first true Bugs Bunny cartoon, as well as
for settling on the classic voice and appearance of the hunter, Elmer Fudd.
Although the animators continued to experiment with Elmer's design for a
few more years, his look here proved the basis for his finalized design.
The design and character of Bugs Bunny would continue to be refined over
the subsequent years, but the general appearance, voice, and personality of
the character were established in this cartoon. The animator of this
cartoon, Virgil Ross, gave his first-person account of the creation of the
character's name and personality in an interview published in Animato!
Magazine, #19, copyright 1989 Pixar.
Bugs is unnamed in this film, but would be named for the first time in his
next short, Elmer's Pet Rabbit, directed by Chuck Jones. The opening lines
of both characters—Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits for Elmer, and
Eh, what's up Doc? for Bugs Bunny—would become catchphrases throughout
their subsequent films.
This cartoon was first theatrically released with the Warner Bros. film
Ladies Must Live'.
* 'In 1942, Peggy Lee recorded 'Why Don’t You Do Right' with Benny Goodman,
reaching #4 on the charts. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Why Don't You Do Right? (originally recorded as Weed
Smoker's Dream) is an American blues- and jazz-influenced pop song written
by Joseph Kansas Joe McCoy in 1936. A twelve-bar minor key blues with a few
chord substitutions, it is considered a classic woman's blues song and has
become a standard.
One of the best-known versions of the song was recorded by Peggy Lee and
Benny Goodman on July 27, 1942, in New York. Featured in the 1943 film,
Stage Door Canteen, it sold over 1 million copies and brought her to
nationwide attention. Lee often stated that Green's recording was
influential to her music. In a 1984 interview she said, I was and am a fan
of Lil Green, a great old blues singer, and Lil recorded it. I used to play
that record over and over in my dressing room, which was next door to
Benny's. Finally he said, 'You obviously like that song.' I said, 'Oh, I
love it.' He said, 'Would you like me to have an arrangement made of it?' I
said, 'I'd love that,' and he did'.
* 'In 1949, Initial flight of the De Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered
airliner. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first
production commercial jetliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland
at its Hatfield Aerodrome, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, the
Comet 1 prototype first flew on 27 July 1949. It featured an
aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines
buried in the wings, a pressurised fuselage, and large square windows. For
the era, it offered a relatively quiet, comfortable passenger cabin and
showed signs of being a commercial success at its 1952 debut.
A year after entering commercial service, the Comets began suffering
problems, with three of them breaking up during mid-flight in
well-publicised accidents. These were later found to be due to catastrophic
metal fatigue in the airframes, not well understood at the time. The Comet
was withdrawn from service and extensively tested to discover the cause the
first incident had been incorrectly blamed on adverse weather. Design
flaws, including dangerous stresses at the corners of the square windows
and installation methods, were ultimately identified. As a result, the
Comet was extensively redesigned with oval windows, structural
reinforcement, and other changes. Rival manufacturers meanwhile heeded the
lessons learned from the Comet while developing their own aircraft.
Although sales never fully recovered, the improved Comet 2 and the
prototype Comet 3 culminated in the redesigned Comet 4 series which debuted
in 1958 and had a productive career of over 30 years. The Comet was adapted
for a variety of military roles such as VIP, medical and passenger
transport, as well as surveillance. The most extensive modification
resulted in a specialised maritime patrol aircraft variant, the Hawker
Siddeley Nimrod. Nimrod remained in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF)
until June 2011, over 60 years after the Comet's first flight'.
* 'In 1953, Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China,
and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of
South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Korean Armistice Agreement is the armistice which
ended the Korean War. It was signed by U.S. Army Lieutenant General William
Harrison, Jr. representing the United Nations Command (UNC), North Korean
General Nam Il representing the Korean People's Army, and the Chinese
People’s Volunteer Army. The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, and was
designed to insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of
armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved. No
final peaceful settlement has been achieved yet. The signed armistice
established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (de facto a new border between
the two nations), put into force a cease-fire, and finalized repatriation
of prisoners of war. The Demilitarized Zone runs not far from the 38th
parallel, which separated North and South Korea before the war'.
* 'In 1959, Santo and Johnny saw their one and only hit record, the
instrumental 'Sleepwalk' released. It gets to #1 in Sept. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Sleep Walk is an instrumental steel guitar-based song
written, recorded, and released in 1959 by brothers Santo and Johnny
Farina, with their uncle Mike Dee playing the drums. (The BMI Repertoire
database and the original release credits three Farinas as composers
including Ann, Santo's wife.) It was recorded at Trinity Music in
Manhattan, New York City, New York. Sleep Walk entered Billboard's Top 40
on August 17, 1959. It rose to the number-one position for two weeks in
September (the 21st and the 28th) and remained in the Top 40 until November
9. Sleep Walk also reached number four on the R and B chart. It was the
last instrumental to hit number one in the 1950s and earned Santo and
Johnny a gold record. In the UK it peaked at number 22 on the charts'.
* 'In 1995, The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington,
D.C.. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Korean War Veterans Memorial is located in
Washington, D.C.'s West Potomac Park, southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and
just south of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. It commemorates
those who served in the Korean War.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial was confirmed by the U.S. Congress (Public
Law 99-572) on October 28, 1986, with design and construction managed by
the Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board and the American Battle
Monuments Commission.
The initial design competition was won in 1986 by a team of four architects
from The Pennsylvania State University, but this team withdrew as it became
clear that changes would be needed to satisfy the advisory board and
reviewing agencies such as the Commission of Fine Arts. A federal court
case was filed and lost over the design changes. The eventual design was by
Cooper-Lecky Architects who oversaw collaboration between several
designers.
President George H. W. Bush conducted the groundbreaking for the Memorial
on June 14, 1992, Flag Day. The companies and organizations involved in the
construction are listed on the memorial as: the Faith Construction Company,
the Richard Sherman Company, the Cold Spring Granite Company, the Tallix
Art Foundry and the Baltimore District of the US Army Corps of
Engineers.... The memorial was dedicated on July 27, 1995, the 42nd
anniversary of the armistice that ended the war, by President Bill Clinton
and Kim Young Sam, President of the Republic of Korea, to the men and women
who served during the conflict. Management of the memorial was turned over
to the National Park Service, under its National Mall and Memorial Parks
group. As with all National Park Service historic areas, the memorial was
administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on the
day of its dedication'.
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