<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Peach Pie Day'. . The Peach season is about to end, get 'um
while they are abundant.
[The Hankster says] A peach of a treat. Yes, I know it is not original and neither is the taste. That is why it is so good. And yes, I have placed one piece on top of another in a bowl and called it Peach Cobbler. The bowl keeps the ice cream I put on top from running.
* 'National Waffle / Waffle Iron Day'. . Celebrates the August 24 1869
patent for the waffle iron. See more in the history section for 1969.
[The Hankster says] With fruit on top. The waffle I mean, not the iron. Oh, that would be a mess.
* 'This is not National Potato Chip Day , but ...'. . Depending on which
origin of the potato chip in which you believe, the following is the most
widely accepted. From Wikipedia: 'According to a traditional story in the
United States, the original potato chip recipe was created in Saratoga
Springs, New York. By the late 19th century, a popular version of the story
attributed the dish to George Crum, a half black, half Native American cook
at Moon's Lake House, who was trying to appease an unhappy customer on
August 24, 1853. The customer kept sending his fried potatoes back,
complaining that they were too thick. Frustrated, he sliced the potatoes
razor thin, fried them until crisp and seasoned them with extra salt. To
Crum's surprise, the customer loved them. They soon became called 'Saratoga
Chips', a name that persisted into at least the mid-20th century.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Strange Music Day'.
Since 1998 by musician, Patrick Grant of Strange Music Inc. It is a listen
to something different day.
- From Wikipedia (Patrick Grant (composer)):
'Patrick Grant (born 1963) is an American composer living and working in
New York City. His works are a synthesis of classical, popular, and world
musical styles that have found place in concert halls, film, theater,
dance, and visual media over three continents. Over the last three decades,
his music has moved from post-punk and classically bent post-minimal
styles, through Balinese-inspired gamelan and microtonality, to ambient,
electronic soundscapes involving many layers of acoustic and electronically
amplified instruments. Throughout its evolution, his music has consistently
contained a ..a driving and rather harsh energy redolent of rock, as well
as a clean sense of melodicism...intricate cross-rhythms rarely let up...
Known as a producer and co-producer of live musical events, he has
presented many concerts of his own and other composers, including a 2013
Guinness World Record-breaking performance of 175 electronic keyboards in
NYC. He is the creator of International Strange Music Day (August 24) and
the pioneer of the electric guitar procession Tilted Axes'.
[The Hankster says] And I thought the kids were teasing me in band practice. And here it is. A whole day celebrating the type of music I didn't mean to play.
* 'Pluto Demoted Day'.
On August 24 2006, Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet. See
more in the history section for 2006.
* 'Knife Day'.
Can't find any specific event for knives on this day, but it's on the
Internet.
* 'Wayzgoose Day'.
Old English celebration of the end of summer and the start of the season of
working by candlelight. From Wikipedia: The derivation of the term is
doubtful. It may be a misspelling for 'wasegoose', from wase, Middle
English for 'sheaf', thus meaning 'sheaf' or 'harvest goose', a bird eaten
at harvest-time, cf. the 'stubble-goose' mentioned by Chaucer in The Cook's
Prologue. The most likely origin is the word 'Weg(s)huis', which was
current in early Modern Dutch. This word (literally, 'way house') was one
of several words meaning the English 'inn' and was figuratively used for 'a
banquet'.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Other:
* 'William Wilberforce Day'. Birthday in 1759 of the British politician who
is best known for his efforts in the movement to abolish the slave trade.
- From Wikipedia (William Wilberforce):
'William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was an English
politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the
slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his
political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of
Parliament for Yorkshire (1784–1812). In 1785, he became an Evangelical
Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong
concern for reform.
In 1787, he came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of
anti-slave-trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Hannah More and
Charles Middleton. They persuaded Wilberforce to take on the cause of
abolition, and he soon became one of the leading English abolitionists. He
headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for
twenty years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807'.
<> Historical events on August 24
* 'In 79, The famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius takes place, reaching
Pompeii and other Roman cities. The date has been challenged, and many
scholars believe that the event occurred on October 24) .
- From Wikipedia: 'The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD was one of the
most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. Historians have
learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the
Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.
Mount Vesuvius spewed a deadly cloud of volcanic gas, stones, and ash to a
height of 33 kilometres (21 mi), ejecting molten rock and pulverized pumice
at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred
thousand times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima bombing. Several Roman
settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic
surges and ashfall deposits, the most well known being Pompeii and
Herculaneum.
The number of deaths is difficult to evaluate. The remains of about 1,500
people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum, but it is not known
whether they represent a small or a large part of the overall deaths.
Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the
details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted for two
days. The morning of the first day, August 24, was perceived as normal by
the only eyewitness to leave a surviving document, Pliny the Younger, who
at that point was staying at Misenum, on the other side of the Bay of
Naples about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the volcano, which may have
prevented him from noticing the early signs of the eruption. He was not to
have any opportunity, during the next two days, to talk to people who had
witnessed the eruption from Pompeii or Herculaneum (indeed he never
mentions Pompeii in his letter), so he would not have noticed early,
smaller fissures and releases of ash and smoke on the mountain, if such had
occurred earlier in the morning. Around 1:00 p.m., Mount Vesuvius violently
exploded, throwing up a high-altitude column from which ash began to fall,
blanketing the area. Rescues and escapes occurred during this time. At some
time in the night or early the next day, August 25, pyroclastic flows in
the close vicinity of the volcano began. Lights seen on the mountain were
interpreted as fires. People as far away as Misenum fled for their lives.
The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, knocking down wholly or
partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating all
population remaining there and altering the landscape, including the
coastline. These were accompanied by additional light tremors and a mild
tsunami in the Bay of Naples. By evening of the second day the eruption was
over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone
weakly'.
* 'In 1456, The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed. It was the
first major book printed in the West using movable type.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible,
the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the first major book printed using
mass-produced movable type. It marked the start of the Gutenberg Revolution
and the age of the printed book in the West. Widely praised for its high
aesthetic and artistic qualities, the book has an iconic status. Written in
Latin, the Catholic Gutenberg Bible is an edition of the Vulgate, printed
by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, in present-day Germany, in the 1450s.
Since its publication, 49 copies (or substantial portions of copies) have
survived, and they are considered to be among the most valuable books in
the world even though no complete copy has been sold since 1978. The
36-line Bible, believed to be the second printed version of the Bible, is
also sometimes referred to as a Gutenberg Bible, but is possibly the work
of another printer'.
* 'In 1814, During the War of 1812 (June 18, 1812 to February 16, 1815),
Washington, DC, was invaded by British forces that set fire to the White
House and Capitol. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Burning of Washington in 1814 was an attack during
the War of 1812 between British forces and those of the United States of
America. On August 24, 1814, after defeating the Americans at the Battle of
Bladensburg, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross occupied
Washington, D.C., and set fire to many public buildings, including the
White House (known as the Presidential Mansion at the time), and the
Capitol, as well as other facilities of the U.S. government.
The attack was in part a retaliation for the recent American destruction of
Port Dover in Upper Canada. It marks the only time in U.S. history that
Washington, D.C., has been occupied by a foreign force.
President James Madison, military officials and his government fled the
city in the wake of the British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg. They
eventually found refuge for the night in Brookeville, a small town in
Montgomery County, Maryland, which is known today as the United States
Capital for a Day. President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb
Bentley, a Quaker who lived and worked in Brookeville. Bentley's house,
known today as the Madison House, still stands in Brookeville.
Less than a day after the attack began, a sudden, very heavy
thunderstorm—possibly a hurricane—put out the fires. It also spun off a
tornado that passed through the center of the capital, setting down on
Constitution Avenue and lifting two cannons before dropping them several
yards away, killing British troops and American civilians alike. Following
the storm, the British returned to their ships, many of which were badly
damaged. The occupation of Washington lasted only about 26 hours. After the
Storm that saved Washington, as it soon came to be called, the Americans
were able to regain control of the city'.
* 'In 1821, The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz,
Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Treaty of Córdoba established Mexican independence
from Spain at the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence. It was
signed on August 24, 1821 in Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico. The signatories
were the head of the Army of the Three Guarantees, Agustín de Iturbide,
and, acting on behalf of the Spanish government, Jefe Político Superior
Juan O'Donojú. The treaty has 17 articles, which developed the proposals of
the Plan of Iguala. The Treaty is the first document in which Spanish and
Mexican officials accept the liberty of what will become the First Mexican
Empire, but it is not today recognized as the foundational moment, since
these ideas are often attributed to the Grito de Dolores (September 16,
1810). The treaty was rejected by the Spanish government'.
* 'In 1857, The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe
economic crises in United States history. It expanded to a world wide
financial crisis. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United
States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of
the domestic economy. Because of the interconnectedness of the world
economy by the 1850s, the financial crisis that began in late 1857 was the
first world-wide economic crisis. In Britain, the Palmerston government
circumvented the requirements of the Peel Banking Act of 1844, which
required gold and silver reserves to back up the amount of money in
circulation. Surfacing news of this circumvention set off the Panic in
Britain.
Beginning in September 1857, the financial downturn did not last long
however, a proper recovery was not seen until the American Civil War. The
sinking of the SS Central America contributed to the panic of 1857, as New
York banks were awaiting a much-needed shipment of gold. American banks did
not recover until after the civil war. After the failure of Ohio Life
Insurance and Trust Company, the financial panic quickly spread as
businesses began to fail, the railroad industry experienced financial
declines and hundreds of workers were laid off.
Since the years immediately preceding the Panic of 1857 were prosperous,
many banks, merchants, and farmers had seized the opportunity to take risks
with their investments and as soon as market prices began to fall, they
quickly began to experience the effects of financial panic'.
* 'In 1869, Cornelius Swarthout patents waffle iron. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Cornelius Swartwout (1838 – December 17, 1910, in Kings
County New York) was an American inventor who filed an early US patent
related to waffle irons. He was born in Troy, New York, the grandson of the
American Revolutionary War military veteran Cornelius Swartwout.
The earliest waffle irons were not the work of Mr. Swartwout instead, they
originated in the Netherlands circa 14th century. The Swartwout family
lineage goes back to the Dutch Low Countries.They were typically made of
two hinged iron plates connected to two long wooden handles, the plates
often imprinted elaborate patterns on the waffles, coat of arms,
landscapes, religious symbols, and the like. These irons were held over a
hearth fire for baking.
On August 24th, 1869, Swartwout was awarded a US patent for an Improvement
in Waffle-Irons, consisting of a novel handle for opening, closing and
turning a stovetop waffle iron. His invention looked nothing like modern
electric models, but its design revolutionized how waffles were made.
Fashioned to sit on wood or gas stoves, the cast-iron plates were joined by
a hinge that swiveled in a cast-iron collar'.
* 'In 1875, Captain Webb 1st swims English Channel (39 miles in 21 hours
and 45 minutes.) .
- From Wikipedia: 'Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848 – 24 July 1883)
was the first recorded person to swim the English Channel without the use
of artificial aids for sport purpose. On 25 August 1875, Webb swam from
Dover to Calais in fewer than 22 hours.
In 1873, Webb was serving as captain of the steamship Emerald when he read
an account of the failed attempt by J. B. Johnson to swim the English
Channel. He became inspired to try himself, and left his job to begin
training, first at Lambeth Baths, then in the cold waters of the Thames,
the English Channel and Hollingworth Lake.
On 12 August 1875, he made his first cross-Channel swimming attempt, but
strong winds and poor sea conditions forced him to abandon the swim. On 24
August, he began a second swim by diving in from the Admiralty Pier at
Dover. Backed by three escort boats and smeared in porpoise oil, he set off
into the ebb tide at a steady breaststroke. Despite stings from jellyfish
and strong currents off Cap Gris Nez which prevented him from reaching the
shore for five hours, finally, after 21 hours and 45 minutes, he landed
near Calais—the first successful cross-channel swim. His zig-zag course
across the Channel was over 39 miles (64 km) long'.
* 'In 1891, Thomas Edison applied patents for the Kinetoscope and
Kinetograph (U.S. Pats. 493,426 and 589,168). This Kinetoscope was a single
user device that one leaned over and looked into. It had an image much like
what is seen as a flip-book. The Kinetograph was the camera and process
that took the film for the Kinetoscope.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition
device. The Kinetoscope was designed for films to be viewed by one
individual at a time through a peephole viewer window at the top of the
device. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector but introduced the basic
approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before
the advent of video, by creating the illusion of movement by conveying a
strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with
a high-speed shutter. A process using roll film first described in a patent
application submitted in France and the U.S. by French inventor Louis Le
Prince, the concept was copied by U.S. inventor Thomas Edison in 1889, and
subsequently developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson
between 1889 and 1892. Dickson and his team at the Edison lab also devised
the Kinetograph, an innovative motion picture camera with rapid
intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement, to photograph movies for
in-house experiments and, eventually, commercial Kinetoscope presentations.
A prototype for the Kinetoscope was shown to a convention of the National
Federation of Women's Clubs on May 20, 1891. The first public demonstration
of the Kinetoscope was held at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences
on May 9, 1893. Instrumental to the birth of American movie culture, the
Kinetoscope also had a major impact in Europe its influence abroad was
magnified by Edison's decision not to seek international patents on the
device, facilitating numerous imitations of and improvements on the
technology. In 1895, Edison introduced the Kinetophone, which joined the
Kinetoscope with a cylinder phonograph. Film projection, which Edison
initially disdained as financially nonviable, soon superseded the
Kinetoscope's individual exhibition model. Many of the projection systems
developed by Edison's firm in later years would use the Kinetoscope name'.
* 'In 1912, Alaska becomes US territory ('Seward’s Folly'). .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Alaska Purchase was the United States' acquisition
of Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the
United States Senate.
Russia wanted to sell its Alaskan territory, fearing that it might be
seized if war broke out with the United Kingdom. Russia's primary
activities in the territory had been fur trade and missionary work among
the Native Alaskans. The land added 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km2) of
new territory to the United States.
Reactions to the purchase in the United States were mostly positive some
opponents called it Seward's Folly (after Secretary of State William H.
Seward), while many others praised the move for weakening both Britain and
Russia as rivals to American commercial expansion in the Pacific region.
The purchase threatened British control of its Pacific coast colony, giving
added impetus to Canadian Confederation, which was realized just three
months later, in July 1867. The Dominion of Canada would welcome British
Columbia to confederation in 1871, ending US hopes of annexation and an
uninterrupted connection of Alaska to the United States.
Originally organized as the Department of Alaska, the area was renamed the
District of Alaska and the Alaska Territory before becoming the modern
state of Alaska upon being admitted to the Union as a state in 1959'.
* 'In 1932, Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United
States non-stop. The flight was from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey.
* 'In 1954, The Communist Control Act goes into effect, outlawing the
American Communist Party. The Communist Party exists today as a political
party. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Communist Control Act (68 Stat. 775, 50 U.S.C.
841-844) is a piece of United States federal legislation, signed into law
by President Dwight Eisenhower on 24 August 1954, which outlaws the
Communist Party of the United States and criminalizes membership in, or
support for the Party or Communist-action organizations and defines
evidence to be considered by a jury in determining participation in the
activities, planning, actions, objectives, or purposes of such
organizations'.
* 'In 1979, 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' by Prince was released. It was his
first U.S. hit. .
- From Wikipedia: 'I Wanna Be Your Lover is a song by American recording
artist Prince. It was recorded in 1979 as part of a group of songs Prince
hastily wrote and recorded when Warner Bros. asked for a follow-up to his
debut album, For You, which did not fare well on the pop charts (peaking at
No. 163) and did not contain a hit single. For You did contain a hit single
on the R and B charts, Soft and Wet In response, Prince recorded I Wanna Be
Your Lover. It turned out to be his first successful single and first top
40 hit, scoring two weeks at number one on the R and B singles chart in
December 1979 and peaking at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100.
I Wanna Be Your Lover was released on August 24, 1979 as the lead single
from his second album, Prince. Musically, it is a funk song sung
exclusively in falsetto, detailing Prince's love for a woman and how he
would treat her better than the men she is with, and frustration that she
thinks of him as a child The single edit stops after 2:57, but the album
version goes off on a jam of keyboards and synthesizers, played by Prince.
It was later revealed that the song concerned a crush Prince had at the
time on singer Patrice Rushen'.
* 'In 1989, The U.S. space probe, Voyager 2, sent back photographs of
Neptune. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Voyager 2's closest approach to Neptune occurred on
August 25, 1989. Because this was the last planet of the Solar System that
Voyager 2 could visit, the Chief Project Scientist, his staff members, and
the flight controllers decided to also perform a close fly-by of Triton,
the larger of Neptune's two originally known moons, so as to gather as much
information on Neptune and Triton as possible, regardless of Voyager 2's
departure angle from the planet. This was just like the case of Voyager 1's
encounters with Saturn and its massive moon Titan.
Through repeated computerized test simulations of trajectories through the
Neptunian system conducted in advance, flight controllers determined the
best way to route Voyager 2 through the Neptune-Triton system. Since the
plane of the orbit of Triton is tilted significantly with respect to the
plane of the ecliptic, through mid-course corrections, Voyager 2 was
directed into a path about three thousand miles above the north pole of
Neptune. At that time, Triton was behind and below (south of) Neptune (at
an angle of about 25 degrees below the ecliptic), close to the apoapsis of
its elliptical orbit. The gravitational pull of Neptune bent the trajectory
of Voyager 2 down in the direction of Triton. In less than 24 hours,
Voyager 2 traversed the distance between Neptune and Triton, and then
observed Triton's northern hemisphere as it passed over its north pole.
The net and final effect on Voyager 2 was to bend its trajectory south
below the plane of the ecliptic by about 30 degrees. Voyager 2 is on this
path permanently, and hence, it is exploring space south of the plane of
the ecliptic, measuring magnetic fields, charged particles, etc., there,
and sending the measurements back to the Earth via telemetry.
While in the neighborhood of Neptune, Voyager 2 discovered the Great Dark
Spot, which has since disappeared, according to observations by the Hubble
Space Telescope. Originally thought to be a large cloud itself, the Great
Dark Spot was later hypothesized to be a hole in the visible cloud deck of
Neptune.
Neptune's atmosphere consists of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The methane
in Neptune's upper atmosphere absorbs the red light from the Sun, but it
reflects the blue light from the Sun back into space. This is why Neptune
looks blue.
With the decision of the International Astronomical Union to reclassify
Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006, the flyby of Neptune by Voyager 2 in 1989
became the point when every known planet in the Solar System had been
visited at least once by a space probe'.
* 'In 1995, Windows 95 debuts. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Windows 95 (codenamed Chicago) is a consumer-oriented
operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released on August 24,
1995, and was a significant improvement over the company's previous
DOS-based Windows products.
Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows
products. It featured significant improvements over its predecessor,
Windows 3.1, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its
simplified plug-and-play features. There were also major changes made to
the core components of the operating system, such as moving from a mainly
co-operatively multitasked 16-bit architecture to a pre-emptively
multitasked 32-bit architecture.
Accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign, Windows 95 introduced
numerous functions and features that were featured in later Windows
versions, such as the taskbar, the Start button and the way the user
navigates. It was also suggested that Windows 95 had an effect of driving
other major players (including OS/2) out of business, something which would
later be used in court against Microsoft.
Three years after its introduction, Windows 95 was succeeded by Windows 98.
Microsoft ended support for Windows 95 on December 31, 2001'.
* 'In 2006, The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term
'planet such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The definition of planet set in Prague in 2006 by the
Iget linku.txtnternational Astronomical Union (IAU) states that, in the
Solar System, a planet is a celestial body which: is in orbit around the
Sun, has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round
shape), and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.' 'A
non-satellite body fulfilling only the first two of these criteria is
classified as a 'dwarf planet'.
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in August
Food
National Catfish Month
National Goat Cheese Month
Rye Month
Health
Children's Eye Health and Safety Month
Children's Vision and Learning Month
National Breastfeeding Month
National Immunization Awareness Month
National Minority Donor Awareness Month
National Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
Neurosurgery Outreach Month
Psoriasis Awareness Month
Animal / Pets
Other
American Adventures Month
American Artists Appreciation Month
American Indian Heritage Month
American History Essay Contest
Black Business Month
Boomers Making A Difference Month
Bystander Awareness Month
Child Support Awareness Month
Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
Happiness Happens Month
Motor Sports Awareness Month
National Read A Romance Month
National Traffic Awareness Month
National Truancy Prevention Month
National Water Quality Month
Shop Online For Groceries Month
What Will Be Your Legacy Month
XXXI Summer Olympics: 5-21
August is:
August origin (from Wikipedia): Originally named Sextili (Latin), because it was the sixth month in the original ten-month Roman calendar: under Romulus in 753 BC, when March was the first month of the year.
"About 700 BC it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 45 BC giving it its modern length of 31 days. In 8 BC it was renamed in honor of Augustus
According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt.
"
August at Wikipedia: More
If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago,
or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More
Best selling books of 1966 More
Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More