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Today is August 30 2016

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Today's Holidays and Historical Events (updated daily)
Today's Food Holiday
  • National Toasted Marshmallow Day: More
    Sponsored by the National Confectioners Association.
    - From Wikipedia (Marshmallow): 'marshmallow is a sugar-based confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a spongy consistency, molded into small cylindrical pieces, and coated with corn starch. Some marshmallow recipes call for eggs. This confection is the modern version of a medicinal confection made from Althaea officinalis, the marshmallow plant.

    Marshmallow probably first came into being as a medicinal substance, since the mucilaginous extracts come from the root of the marshmallow plant, Althaea officinalis, which was used as a remedy for sore throats. Concoctions of other parts of the marshmallow plant had medical purposes as well. The root has been used since Egyptian antiquity in a honey-sweetened confection useful in the treatment of sore throat. The later French version of the recipe, called pâte de guimauve (or "guimauve" for short), included an egg white meringue and was often flavored with rose water.

    The use of marshmallow to make sweets dates back to ancient Egypt, where the recipe called for extracting sap from the plant and mixing it with nuts and honey. Another pre-modern recipe uses the pith of the marshmallow plant, rather than the sap. The stem was peeled back to reveal the soft and spongy pith, which was boiled in sugar syrup and dried to produce a soft, chewy confection.

    A popular camping or backyard tradition in the United Kingdom, North America, New Zealand and Australia is the roasting or toasting of marshmallows over a campfire or other open flame. A marshmallow is placed on the end of a stick or skewer and held carefully over the fire. This creates a caramelized outer skin with a liquid, molten layer underneath. According to individual preference, the marshmallows are heated to various degrees—from gently toasted to a charred outer layer. Often, the latter is achieved by igniting the marshmallow. The toasted marshmallow can either be eaten whole or the outer layer can be removed and consumed separately and the rest of the marshmallow toasted again.

    S'mores are made by placing a toasted marshmallow on a slab of chocolate which is placed between two graham crackers. These can then be squeezed together to cause the chocolate to start to melt.

    The traditional marshmallow recipe uses powdered marshmallow root, but most commercially manufactured marshmallows instead use gelatin in their manufacture. Vegetarians and vegans avoid gelatin, but there are versions which use a substitute non-animal gelling agent such as agar. In addition, marshmallows are generally not considered to be kosher or halal unless either their gelatin is derived from kosher or halal animals or they are vegetarian.

    Marshmallow creme and other less firm marshmallow products generally contain little or no gelatin, which mainly serves to allow the familiar marshmallow confection to retain its shape. They generally use egg whites instead. Non-gelatin, egg-containing versions of this product may be consumed by ovo vegetarians. Several brands of vegetarian and vegan marshmallows and marshmallow fluff exist'.
Other celebrations/observances today:
  • Frankenstein Day: More
    Birthday of Mary Shelley on August 30 1797. She wrote 'Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus' when she was 18 years old.
    - From Wikipedia (Mary Shelley): 'Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

    In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53.

    Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish her husband's works and for her novel Frankenstein, which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826), and her final two novels, Lodore (1835) and Falkner (1837). Studies of her lesser-known works, such as the travel book Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1829–46), support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary Shelley's works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practised by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin'.
  • Slinky Day: More
    Invented in the 1940’s by Richard James.
    - From Wikipedia (Slinky): 'Slinky is a toy; a precompressed helical spring invented by Richard James in the early 1940s. It can perform a number of tricks, including travelling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum, or appear to levitate for a period of time after it has been dropped. These interesting characteristics have contributed to its success as a toy in its home country of United States, resulting in many popular toys with slinky components in a wide range of countries

    The toy was invented and developed by naval engineer Richard T. James in 1943 and demonstrated at Gimbels department store in Philadelphia in November 1945. The toy was a hit, selling its entire inventory of 400 units in ninety minutes. James and his wife Betty formed James Industries in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania to manufacture Slinky and several related toys such as the Slinky Dog and Suzie, the Slinky Worm. In 1960, James's wife Betty became president of James Industries, and, in 1964, moved the operation to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1998, Betty James sold the company to Poof Products, Inc..

    Slinky was originally priced at $1, but many paid much more due to price increases of spring steel throughout the state of Pennsylvania, and has remained modestly priced throughout its history as a result of Betty James' concern about the toy's affordability for financially disadvantaged customers. Slinky has seen uses other than as a toy in the playroom: it has appeared in the classroom as a teaching tool, in wartime as a radio antenna, and in physics experiments with NASA. Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 2000. In 2002, Slinky became Pennsylvania's official state toy, and, in 2003, was named to the Toy Industry Association's "Century of Toys List." In its first 60 years Slinky has sold 300 million units'.
Awareness / Observance Days on: August 30
  • Animal and Pets
    • Holistic Pet Day: More
      Created by Coleen Paige of the Animal Miracle Foundation.
      - From Wikipedia (Holistic veterinary medicine): 'Holistic veterinary medicine is a type of veterinary medicine that uses alternative medicine in the treatment of animals. The philosophy of a holistic veterinarian emphasizes empathy and minimal invasiveness. Alternative therapies offered by a holistic veterinarian may include, but are not limited to, acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, ethnomedicine and chiropractic.

      Many veterinarians use different terms to convey what is meant by holistic. Alternative veterinary medicine, complementary veterinary medicine, and integrative veterinary medicine may be used as synonyms. All veterinary medicine may be considered holistic in that it considers all aspects of the animal patient in the context of its environment. The task force for complementary and alternative veterinary medicine for the American Veterinary Medical Association stresses that "There is only one veterinary medicine and only one standard by which it should be assessed. All treatments and modalities should be judged by the same criteria and held to the same standards. Descriptive terms such as holistic, conventional, traditional, alternative, integrative, or complementary do not enhance the quality of care provided and should not receive special consideration when judging the safety and efficacy of those treatments.".

      The usual meaning for holistic veterinarian is a veterinarian who specializes in one or more alternative or complementary treatments. In practice, holistic veterinary medicine incorporates, but is not limited to, acupuncture, botanical medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, massage therapy, and nutraceuticals. A veterinarian interested in alternative treatments may be a member of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. The modalities comprising h

      According to the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA), holistic medicine is humane. The techniques promoted in holistic medicine are minimally invasive, and incorporate patient well-being, lifestyle, and stress reduction. Holistic thinking is centered on love, empathy and respect. Use of blood tests, x-rays, and similar objective diagnostic techniques is minimalized in favor of sensitivity to the animal. Nearly every form of medicine and therapy used in alternative medicine for humans is also used in holistic veterinary medicine'.
    • International Whale Shark Day: More
  • Other
    • International Day of The Victims of Enforced Disappearances: More
      - From Wikipedia (International Day of the Disappeared):
      U.N. day.'l Day of the Disappeared on August 30 is a day created to draw attention to the fate of individuals imprisoned at places and under poor conditions unknown to their relatives and/or legal representatives. The impulse for the day came from the Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Detained-Disappeared (Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, or FEDEFAM), a non-governmental organization founded in 1981 in Costa Rica as an association of local and regional groups actively working against secret imprisonment, forced disappearances and abduction in a number of Latin-American countries.

      Work on secret imprisonment is an important part of the activities for a number of international bodies and organizations in the fields of human rights activism and humanitarian aid, including for example Amnesty International (AI), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The International Day of the Disappeared is an opportunity to highlight these institutions' work, increase public awareness, and to call for donations and volunteers.

      Of those agencies, the ICRC has additional privileges due to its special status as a non-governmental sovereign entity and its strict policy of neutrality. In some cases, the ICRC is the only institution granted access to specific groups of prisoners, thereby enabling a minimum level of contact and inspection of their treatment. For affected families, messages transmitted by the ICRC are often the only hint about the fate of these prisoners.

      On August 30, 2008 the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances, which gathers family member organizations and human rights organizations from around the world, joined hands for a global campaign event to promote the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance'.
Events in the past on: August 30
  • In 1901, Hubert Cecil Booth patents the motorized vacuum cleaner.
    From Wikipedia: 'The vacuum cleaner evolved from the carpet sweeper via manual vacuum cleaners. The first manual models, using bellows, were developed in the 1860s, and the first motorized designs appeared at the turn of the 20th century, with the first decade being the boom decade.

    In 1860 a carpet sweeper was invented by Daniel Hess of West Union, Iowa that gathered dust with a rotating brush and a bellows for generating suction. Another early model (1869) was the "Whirlwind", invented in Chicago in 1868 by Ives W. McGaffey. The bulky device worked with a belt driven fan cranked by hand that made it awkward to operate, although it was commercially marketed with mixed success. A similar model was constructed by Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1876. The company later added portable vacuum cleaners to its line of cleaning tools.

    The next improvement came in 1898, when John S. Thurman of St. Louis, Missouri, submitted a patent (US No. 634,042) for a "pneumatic carpet renovator". This was a gasoline powered cleaner although the dust was blown into a receptacle rather than being sucked in, as in the machine now used. In a newspaper advertisement from the St. Louis Dispatch, Thurman offered his invention of the horse-drawn (which went door to door) motorized cleaning system in St. Louis. He offered cleaning services at $4 per visit. By 1906 Thurman was offering built-in central cleaning systems that used compressed air, yet featured no dust collection. In later patent litigation, Judge Augustus Hand ruled that Thurman "does not appear to have attempted to design a vacuum cleaner, or to have understood the process of vacuum cleaning".

    The motorized vacuum cleaner was invented by Hubert Cecil Booth of England in 1901. As Booth recalled decades later, that year he attended "a demonstration of an American machine by its inventor" at the Empire Music Hall in London. The inventor is not named, but Booth's description of the machine conforms fairly closely to Thurman's design, as modified in later patents. Booth watched a demonstration of the device, which blew dust off the chairs, and thought that "...if the system could be reversed, and a filter inserted between the suction apparatus and the outside air, whereby the dust would be retained in a receptacle, the real solution of the hygienic removal of dust would be obtained." He tested the idea by laying a handkerchief on the seat of a restaurant chair, putting his mouth to the handkerchief, and then trying to suck up as much dust as he could onto the handkerchief. Upon seeing the dust and dirt collected on the underside of the handkerchief, he realized the idea could work.

    Booth created a large device, driven by an internal combustion engine. Nicknamed the "Puffing Billy", Booth's first petrol-powered, horse-drawn vacuum cleaner relied upon air drawn by a piston pump through a cloth filter. It did not contain any brushes; all the cleaning was done by suction through long tubes with nozzles on the ends. Although the machine was too bulky to be brought into the building, its principles of operation were essentially the same as the vacuum cleaners of today. He followed this up with an electric-powered model, but both designs were extremely bulky, and had to be transported by horse and carriage. The term "vacuum cleaner" was first used by the company set up to market Booth's invention, in its first issued prospectus of 1901.

    Booth initially did not attempt to sell his machine, but rather sold cleaning services. The vans of the British Vacuum Cleaner Company (BVCC) were bright red; uniformed operators would haul hose off the van and route it through the windows of a building to reach all the rooms inside. Booth was harassed by complaints about the noise of his vacuum machines and was even fined for frightening horses. Gaining the royal seal of approval, Booth's motorized vacuum cleaner was used to clean the carpets of Westminster Abbey prior to Edward VII's coronation in 1901. The device was used by the Royal Navy to improve the level of sanitation in the naval barracks. It was also used in businesses such as theatres and shops, although the device was too large to be feasibly used as a domestic appliance.

    Booth received his first patents on 18 February and 30 August 1901. Booth started the BVCC and refined his invention over the next several decades. Though his "Goblin" model lost out to competition from Hoover in the household vacuum market, his company successfully turned its focus to the industrial market, building ever-larger models for factories and warehouses. Booth's company, now BVC, lives on today as a unit of pneumatic tube system maker Quirepace Ltd.

    The American industry was established by the New Jersey inventor David T. Kenney between 1903 and 1913. Membership in the Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers' Association, formed in 1919, was limited to licensees under his patents'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1922, The New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded the song 'Tiger Rag'.
    From Wikipedia: '"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time. In 2003, the 1918 ODJB recording of "Tiger Rag" was placed on the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

    The tune was first recorded on 17 August 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jass Band for Aeolian-Vocalion Records (the band did not use the Jazz spelling until later in 1917) and released as B1206, "Tiger Rag One-Step Written and Played by Original Dixieland Jass Band", backed with "Ostrich Walk". The Aeolian Vocalion sides did not sell well, as they were recorded in a vertical format becoming obsolete at the time which could not be played successfully on most contemporary phonographs.

    Their second recording of the tune on 25 March 1918 for Victor Records, 18472-B, backed with "Skeleton Jangle" as the A side, on the other hand, was a smash national hit and established the tune as a jazz standard. The song was copyrighted, published, and credited to bandmembers Nick LaRocca, Eddie Edwards, Henry Ragas, Tony Sbarbaro, and Larry Shields in 1917. Harry DaCosta later wrote lyrics to the instrumental when it became a million-seller and a No. 1 national hit for The Mills Brothers in 1931.

    While the exact details are unclear, it seems that at least something similar to "Tiger Rag" or various strains of it were played in New Orleans before the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded it. How close these were to the Band's recording is a matter of speculation. The Band's record seems to have helped solidify a standard version or head arrangement of the number, although one strain in the Band's recordings (just before the famous "hold that tiger" chorus) is almost invariably left out of later recordings and performances of the number'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1963, The Moscow–Washington hotline between the leaders of the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union goes into operation.
    From Wikipedia: 'The Moscow–Washington hotline (formally known in the United States as the Washington-Moscow Direct Communications Link) is a system that allows direct communication between the leaders of the United States and the Russian Federation. This hotline was established in 1963 and links the Pentagon with the Kremlin (historically, with Soviet Communist Party leadership across the square from the Kremlin itself). Although in popular culture known as the "red telephone", the hotline was never a telephone line, and no red phones were used. The first implementation used Teletype equipment, and shifted to fax machines in 1986. Since 2008, the Moscow–Washington hotline is a secure computer link over which mes

    Several people came up with the idea for a hotline. They included Harvard professor Thomas Schelling, who had worked on nuclear war policy for the Defense Department previously. Schelling credited the pop fiction novel Red Alert (the basis of the film Dr. Strangelove) with making governments more aware of the benefit of direct communication between the superpowers. In addition, Parade magazine editor Jess Gorkin personally badgered 1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and buttonholed the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev during a U.S. visit to adopt the idea. During this period Gerard C. Smith, as head of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, proposed direct communication links between Moscow and Washington. Objections from others in the State Department, the U.S. military, and the Kremlin delayed introduction.

    The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis made the hotline a priority. During the standoff, official diplomatic messages typically took six hours to deliver; unofficial channels, such as via television network correspondents, had to be used too as they were quicker.

    During the crisis, the United States took nearly twelve hours to receive and decode Nikita Khrushchev's 3,000-word initial settlement message – a dangerously long time. By the time Washington had drafted a reply, a tougher message from Moscow had been received, demanding that U.S. missiles be removed from Turkey. White House advisers thought faster communications could have averted the crisis, and resolved it quicker. The two countries signed the Hot Line Agreement in June 1963 - the first time they formally took action to cut the risk of starting a nuclear war unintentionally'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 1993, On CBS-TV 'The Late Show with David Letterman' premiered.
    From Wikipedia: 'Late Show with David Letterman is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the Late Show franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated and CBS Television Studios. The show's music director and leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, was Paul Shaffer. The head writer was Matt Roberts and the announcer was Alan Kalter. Of the major U.S. late-night programs, Late Show ranked second in cumulative average viewers over time and third in number of episodes over time. In most U.S. markets the show aired from 11:35 p.m. to 12:37 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, and recorded Monday through Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m., and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The second Thursday episode usually aired on Friday of that week.

    In 2002, Late Show with David Letterman was ranked No. 7 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. As host of both Late Night and Late Show for more than 30 years, Letterman surpassed Johnny Carson as the longest running late-night talk show host in 2013. That same year, Late Night and Late Show were ranked at #41 on TV Guide's 60 Best Series of All Time.

    In 2014, Letterman announced his retirement and the final episode of Late Show aired on May 20, 2015. After Letterman's final Late Show, instead of airing reruns of the show or having guest host episodes of Late Show, CBS opted to put the show on hiatus in between Letterman and Colbert and instead aired reruns of scripted dramas in the 11:35 pm time slot over the summer with the branding CBS Summer Showcase. The show was then succeeded by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 2002, Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum merged to create ConocoPhillips. The new company was the third largest integrated energy company and the second largest refining company in the U.S.
    From Wikipedia: 'ConocoPhillips Co. is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States. It is the world's largest independent pure-play exploration and production company and is a Fortune 500 company. ConocoPhillips was created through the merger of American oil companies Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum Co. on August 30, 2002. In 2012, ConocoPhillips' spun off its downstream assets as a new, and separate company, Phillips 66'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  • In 2013, The film '12 Years a Slave' based on the memoir by Solomon Northup, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch premieres at the Telluride Film Festival. It won Best Picture in 2014.
    From Wikipedia: '12 Years a Slave is a 2013 period drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave narrative memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before his release. The first scholarly edition of Northup's memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account and concluded it to be accurate. Other characters in the film were also real people, including Edwin and Mary Epps, and Patsey.

    The film was directed by Steve McQueen. The screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard are all featured in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held.

    12 Years a Slave received widespread critical acclaim, and was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets. It proved to be a box office success, earning over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million. The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black producer ever to have received the award and the first black director to have directed a Best Picture winner. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the Best Film and the Best Actor award for Ejiofor'.
    - At Wikipedia: More
    - On YouTube: More
  II.
Henry's Heads Up! - previous days social media post (updated daily)

<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):


* 'National Toasted Marshmallow Day'. . Sponsored by the National Confectioners Association. - From Wikipedia (Marshmallow): 'marshmallow is a sugar-based confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a spongy consistency, molded into small cylindrical pieces, and coated with corn starch. Some marshmallow recipes call for eggs. This confection is the modern version of a medicinal confection made from Althaea officinalis, the marshmallow plant.

Marshmallow probably first came into being as a medicinal substance, since the mucilaginous extracts come from the root of the marshmallow plant, Althaea officinalis, which was used as a remedy for sore throats. Concoctions of other parts of the marshmallow plant had medical purposes as well. The root has been used since Egyptian antiquity in a honey-sweetened confection useful in the treatment of sore throat. The later French version of the recipe, called pâte de guimauve (or guimauve for short), included an egg white meringue and was often flavored with rose water.

The use of marshmallow to make sweets dates back to ancient Egypt, where the recipe called for extracting sap from the plant and mixing it with nuts and honey. Another pre-modern recipe uses the pith of the marshmallow plant, rather than the sap. The stem was peeled back to reveal the soft and spongy pith, which was boiled in sugar syrup and dried to produce a soft, chewy confection.

A popular camping or backyard tradition in the United Kingdom, North America, New Zealand and Australia is the roasting or toasting of marshmallows over a campfire or other open flame. A marshmallow is placed on the end of a stick or skewer and held carefully over the fire. This creates a caramelized outer skin with a liquid, molten layer underneath. According to individual preference, the marshmallows are heated to various degrees—from gently toasted to a charred outer layer. Often, the latter is achieved by igniting the marshmallow. The toasted marshmallow can either be eaten whole or the outer layer can be removed and consumed separately and the rest of the marshmallow toasted again.

S'mores are made by placing a toasted marshmallow on a slab of chocolate which is placed between two graham crackers. These can then be squeezed together to cause the chocolate to start to melt.

The traditional marshmallow recipe uses powdered marshmallow root, but most commercially manufactured marshmallows instead use gelatin in their manufacture. Vegetarians and vegans avoid gelatin, but there are versions which use a substitute non-animal gelling agent such as agar. In addition, marshmallows are generally not considered to be kosher or halal unless either their gelatin is derived from kosher or halal animals or they are vegetarian.

Marshmallow creme and other less firm marshmallow products generally contain little or no gelatin, which mainly serves to allow the familiar marshmallow confection to retain its shape. They generally use egg whites instead. Non-gelatin, egg-containing versions of this product may be consumed by ovo vegetarians. Several brands of vegetarian and vegan marshmallows and marshmallow fluff exist'.
[The Hankster says] Did you read it. Use for medicinal purposes. A marshmallow a day will keep the ... , no it won't. More likely will not keep the dentist away.


<> Other holidays / celebrations


* 'Frankenstein Day'. Birthday of Mary Shelley on August 30 1797. She wrote 'Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus' when she was 18 years old. - From Wikipedia (Mary Shelley): 'Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53.

Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish her husband's works and for her novel Frankenstein, which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley’s achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826), and her final two novels, Lodore (1835) and Falkner (1837). Studies of her lesser-known works, such as the travel book Rambles in Germany and Italy (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1829–46), support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary Shelley's works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practised by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin'.
[The Hankster says] Written by an 18 year old girl. Heck hath no fury ...


* 'Slinky Day'. Invented in the 1940’s by Richard James. - From Wikipedia (Slinky): 'Slinky is a toy a precompressed helical spring invented by Richard James in the early 1940s. It can perform a number of tricks, including travelling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum, or appear to levitate for a period of time after it has been dropped. These interesting characteristics have contributed to its success as a toy in its home country of United States, resulting in many popular toys with slinky components in a wide range of countries

The toy was invented and developed by naval engineer Richard T. James in 1943 and demonstrated at Gimbels department store in Philadelphia in November 1945. The toy was a hit, selling its entire inventory of 400 units in ninety minutes. James and his wife Betty formed James Industries in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania to manufacture Slinky and several related toys such as the Slinky Dog and Suzie, the Slinky Worm. In 1960, James's wife Betty became president of James Industries, and, in 1964, moved the operation to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1998, Betty James sold the company to Poof Products, Inc..

Slinky was originally priced at $1, but many paid much more due to price increases of spring steel throughout the state of Pennsylvania, and has remained modestly priced throughout its history as a result of Betty James' concern about the toy's affordability for financially disadvantaged customers. Slinky has seen uses other than as a toy in the playroom: it has appeared in the classroom as a teaching tool, in wartime as a radio antenna, and in physics experiments with NASA. Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 2000. In 2002, Slinky became Pennsylvania's official state toy, and, in 2003, was named to the Toy Industry Association's Century of Toys List. In its first 60 years Slinky has sold 300 million units'.
[The Hankster says] Great toy for about an hour. After you made it do all that it could, the only alternative was to see how far it would stretch. Needless to say the toy did much less slinking after that.


<> Awareness / Observances:

o Animal and Pet:
* 'Holistic Pet Day'. Created by Coleen Paige of the Animal Miracle Foundation. - From Wikipedia (Holistic veterinary medicine): 'Holistic veterinary medicine is a type of veterinary medicine that uses alternative medicine in the treatment of animals. The philosophy of a holistic veterinarian emphasizes empathy and minimal invasiveness. Alternative therapies offered by a holistic veterinarian may include, but are not limited to, acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, ethnomedicine and chiropractic.

Many veterinarians use different terms to convey what is meant by holistic. Alternative veterinary medicine, complementary veterinary medicine, and integrative veterinary medicine may be used as synonyms. All veterinary medicine may be considered holistic in that it considers all aspects of the animal patient in the context of its environment. The task force for complementary and alternative veterinary medicine for the American Veterinary Medical Association stresses that There is only one veterinary medicine and only one standard by which it should be assessed. All treatments and modalities should be judged by the same criteria and held to the same standards. Descriptive terms such as holistic, conventional, traditional, alternative, integrative, or complementary do not enhance the quality of care provided and should not receive special consideration when judging the safety and efficacy of those treatments.

The usual meaning for holistic veterinarian is a veterinarian who specializes in one or more alternative or complementary treatments. In practice, holistic veterinary medicine incorporates, but is not limited to, acupuncture, botanical medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, massage therapy, and nutraceuticals. A veterinarian interested in alternative treatments may be a member of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. The modalities comprising h

According to the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA), holistic medicine is humane. The techniques promoted in holistic medicine are minimally invasive, and incorporate patient well-being, lifestyle, and stress reduction. Holistic thinking is centered on love, empathy and respect. Use of blood tests, x-rays, and similar objective diagnostic techniques is minimalized in favor of sensitivity to the animal. Nearly every form of medicine and therapy used in alternative medicine for humans is also used in holistic veterinary medicine'.


* 'International Whale Shark Day'.

o Other:

* 'International Day of The Victims of Enforced Disappearances'. U.N. day. - From Wikipedia (International Day of the Disappeared): 'l Day of the Disappeared on August 30 is a day created to draw attention to the fate of individuals imprisoned at places and under poor conditions unknown to their relatives and/or legal representatives. The impulse for the day came from the Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Detained-Disappeared (Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, or FEDEFAM), a non-governmental organization founded in 1981 in Costa Rica as an association of local and regional groups actively working against secret imprisonment, forced disappearances and abduction in a number of Latin-American countries.

Work on secret imprisonment is an important part of the activities for a number of international bodies and organizations in the fields of human rights activism and humanitarian aid, including for example Amnesty International (AI), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The International Day of the Disappeared is an opportunity to highlight these institutions' work, increase public awareness, and to call for donations and volunteers.

Of those agencies, the ICRC has additional privileges due to its special status as a non-governmental sovereign entity and its strict policy of neutrality. In some cases, the ICRC is the only institution granted access to specific groups of prisoners, thereby enabling a minimum level of contact and inspection of their treatment. For affected families, messages transmitted by the ICRC are often the only hint about the fate of these prisoners.

On August 30, 2008 the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances, which gathers family member organizations and human rights organizations from around the world, joined hands for a global campaign event to promote the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance'.


<> Historical events on August 30


* 'In 1901, Hubert Cecil Booth patents the motorized vacuum cleaner. . - From Wikipedia: 'The vacuum cleaner evolved from the carpet sweeper via manual vacuum cleaners. The first manual models, using bellows, were developed in the 1860s, and the first motorized designs appeared at the turn of the 20th century, with the first decade being the boom decade.

In 1860 a carpet sweeper was invented by Daniel Hess of West Union, Iowa that gathered dust with a rotating brush and a bellows for generating suction. Another early model (1869) was the Whirlwind, invented in Chicago in 1868 by Ives W. McGaffey. The bulky device worked with a belt driven fan cranked by hand that made it awkward to operate, although it was commercially marketed with mixed success. A similar model was constructed by Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1876. The company later added portable vacuum cleaners to its line of cleaning tools.

The next improvement came in 1898, when John S. Thurman of St. Louis, Missouri, submitted a patent (US No. 634,042) for a pneumatic carpet renovator This was a gasoline powered cleaner although the dust was blown into a receptacle rather than being sucked in, as in the machine now used. In a newspaper advertisement from the St. Louis Dispatch, Thurman offered his invention of the horse-drawn (which went door to door) motorized cleaning system in St. Louis. He offered cleaning services at $4 per visit. By 1906 Thurman was offering built-in central cleaning systems that used compressed air, yet featured no dust collection. In later patent litigation, Judge Augustus Hand ruled that Thurman does not appear to have attempted to design a vacuum cleaner, or to have understood the process of vacuum cleaning

The motorized vacuum cleaner was invented by Hubert Cecil Booth of England in 1901. As Booth recalled decades later, that year he attended a demonstration of an American machine by its inventor at the Empire Music Hall in London. The inventor is not named, but Booth's description of the machine conforms fairly closely to Thurman's design, as modified in later patents. Booth watched a demonstration of the device, which blew dust off the chairs, and thought that ..if the system could be reversed, and a filter inserted between the suction apparatus and the outside air, whereby the dust would be retained in a receptacle, the real solution of the hygienic removal of dust would be obtained. He tested the idea by laying a handkerchief on the seat of a restaurant chair, putting his mouth to the handkerchief, and then trying to suck up as much dust as he could onto the handkerchief. Upon seeing the dust and dirt collected on the underside of the handkerchief, he realized the idea could work.

Booth created a large device, driven by an internal combustion engine. Nicknamed the Puffing Billy, Booth's first petrol-powered, horse-drawn vacuum cleaner relied upon air drawn by a piston pump through a cloth filter. It did not contain any brushes all the cleaning was done by suction through long tubes with nozzles on the ends. Although the machine was too bulky to be brought into the building, its principles of operation were essentially the same as the vacuum cleaners of today. He followed this up with an electric-powered model, but both designs were extremely bulky, and had to be transported by horse and carriage. The term vacuum cleaner was first used by the company set up to market Booth's invention, in its first issued prospectus of 1901.

Booth initially did not attempt to sell his machine, but rather sold cleaning services. The vans of the British Vacuum Cleaner Company (BVCC) were bright red uniformed operators would haul hose off the van and route it through the windows of a building to reach all the rooms inside. Booth was harassed by complaints about the noise of his vacuum machines and was even fined for frightening horses. Gaining the royal seal of approval, Booth's motorized vacuum cleaner was used to clean the carpets of Westminster Abbey prior to Edward VII's coronation in 1901. The device was used by the Royal Navy to improve the level of sanitation in the naval barracks. It was also used in businesses such as theatres and shops, although the device was too large to be feasibly used as a domestic appliance.

Booth received his first patents on 18 February and 30 August 1901. Booth started the BVCC and refined his invention over the next several decades. Though his Goblin model lost out to competition from Hoover in the household vacuum market, his company successfully turned its focus to the industrial market, building ever-larger models for factories and warehouses. Booth's company, now BVC, lives on today as a unit of pneumatic tube system maker Quirepace Ltd.

The American industry was established by the New Jersey inventor David T. Kenney between 1903 and 1913. Membership in the Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers' Association, formed in 1919, was limited to licensees under his patents'.


* 'In 1922, The New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded the song 'Tiger Rag'. . - From Wikipedia: 'Tiger Rag is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time. In 2003, the 1918 ODJB recording of Tiger Rag was placed on the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

The tune was first recorded on 17 August 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jass Band for Aeolian-Vocalion Records (the band did not use the Jazz spelling until later in 1917) and released as B1206, Tiger Rag One-Step Written and Played by Original Dixieland Jass Band, backed with Ostrich Walk The Aeolian Vocalion sides did not sell well, as they were recorded in a vertical format becoming obsolete at the time which could not be played successfully on most contemporary phonographs.

Their second recording of the tune on 25 March 1918 for Victor Records, 18472-B, backed with Skeleton Jangle as the A side, on the other hand, was a smash national hit and established the tune as a jazz standard. The song was copyrighted, published, and credited to bandmembers Nick LaRocca, Eddie Edwards, Henry Ragas, Tony Sbarbaro, and Larry Shields in 1917. Harry DaCosta later wrote lyrics to the instrumental when it became a million-seller and a No. 1 national hit for The Mills Brothers in 1931.

While the exact details are unclear, it seems that at least something similar to Tiger Rag or various strains of it were played in New Orleans before the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded it. How close these were to the Band's recording is a matter of speculation. The Band's record seems to have helped solidify a standard version or head arrangement of the number, although one strain in the Band's recordings (just before the famous hold that tiger chorus) is almost invariably left out of later recordings and performances of the number'.


* 'In 1963, The Moscow–Washington hotline between the leaders of the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union goes into operation. . - From Wikipedia: 'The Moscow–Washington hotline (formally known in the United States as the Washington-Moscow Direct Communications Link) is a system that allows direct communication between the leaders of the United States and the Russian Federation. This hotline was established in 1963 and links the Pentagon with the Kremlin (historically, with Soviet Communist Party leadership across the square from the Kremlin itself). Although in popular culture known as the red telephone, the hotline was never a telephone line, and no red phones were used. The first implementation used Teletype equipment, and shifted to fax machines in 1986. Since 2008, the Moscow–Washington hotline is a secure computer link over which mes

Several people came up with the idea for a hotline. They included Harvard professor Thomas Schelling, who had worked on nuclear war policy for the Defense Department previously. Schelling credited the pop fiction novel Red Alert (the basis of the film Dr. Strangelove) with making governments more aware of the benefit of direct communication between the superpowers. In addition, Parade magazine editor Jess Gorkin personally badgered 1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and buttonholed the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev during a U.S. visit to adopt the idea. During this period Gerard C. Smith, as head of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, proposed direct communication links between Moscow and Washington. Objections from others in the State Department, the U.S. military, and the Kremlin delayed introduction.

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis made the hotline a priority. During the standoff, official diplomatic messages typically took six hours to deliver unofficial channels, such as via television network correspondents, had to be used too as they were quicker.

During the crisis, the United States took nearly twelve hours to receive and decode Nikita Khrushchev's 3,000-word initial settlement message – a dangerously long time. By the time Washington had drafted a reply, a tougher message from Moscow had been received, demanding that U.S. missiles be removed from Turkey. White House advisers thought faster communications could have averted the crisis, and resolved it quicker. The two countries signed the Hot Line Agreement in June 1963 - the first time they formally took action to cut the risk of starting a nuclear war unintentionally'.


* 'In 1993, On CBS-TV 'The Late Show with David Letterman' premiered. . - From Wikipedia: 'Late Show with David Letterman is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the Late Show franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated and CBS Television Studios. The show's music director and leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, was Paul Shaffer. The head writer was Matt Roberts and the announcer was Alan Kalter. Of the major U.S. late-night programs, Late Show ranked second in cumulative average viewers over time and third in number of episodes over time. In most U.S. markets the show aired from 11:35 p.m. to 12:37 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, and recorded Monday through Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m., and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The second Thursday episode usually aired on Friday of that week.

In 2002, Late Show with David Letterman was ranked No. 7 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. As host of both Late Night and Late Show for more than 30 years, Letterman surpassed Johnny Carson as the longest running late-night talk show host in 2013. That same year, Late Night and Late Show were ranked at #41 on TV Guide's 60 Best Series of All Time.

In 2014, Letterman announced his retirement and the final episode of Late Show aired on May 20, 2015. After Letterman's final Late Show, instead of airing reruns of the show or having guest host episodes of Late Show, CBS opted to put the show on hiatus in between Letterman and Colbert and instead aired reruns of scripted dramas in the 11:35 pm time slot over the summer with the branding CBS Summer Showcase. The show was then succeeded by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015'.


* 'In 2002, Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum merged to create ConocoPhillips. The new company was the third largest integrated energy company and the second largest refining company in the U.S. . - From Wikipedia: 'ConocoPhillips Co. is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States. It is the world's largest independent pure-play exploration and production company and is a Fortune 500 company. ConocoPhillips was created through the merger of American oil companies Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum Co. on August 30, 2002. In 2012, ConocoPhillips' spun off its downstream assets as a new, and separate company, Phillips 66'.


* 'In 2013, The film '12 Years a Slave' based on the memoir by Solomon Northup, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch premieres at the Telluride Film Festival. It won Best Picture in 2014. . - From Wikipedia: '12 Years a Slave is a 2013 period drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave narrative memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before his release. The first scholarly edition of Northup's memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account and concluded it to be accurate. Other characters in the film were also real people, including Edwin and Mary Epps, and Patsey.

The film was directed by Steve McQueen. The screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard are all featured in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held.

12 Years a Slave received widespread critical acclaim, and was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets. It proved to be a box office success, earning over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million. The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black producer ever to have received the award and the first black director to have directed a Best Picture winner. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the Best Film and the Best Actor award for Ejiofor'.

 III.
Top Song & Movie 50 years ago today (last updated Aug 28 2016 next Sep 3 28 2016

No. 1 song

  • Sunny - Bobby Hebb
    - On YouTube: More
    - At Wikipedia: More
    'Summer in the City' has been displaced by 'Sunny', which will hold the no. 1 spot until Sep 3 1966, when 'Sunshine Superman = Donvan', takes over.
    '"Sunny" is a song written by Bobby Hebb. It is one of the most performed and recorded popular songs, with hundreds of versions released. BMI rates "Sunny" number 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century."

    Hebb wrote the song in the 48 hours following a double tragedy on November 22, 1963, the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Hebb's older brother Harold was stabbed to death outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by both events and many critics say that those events and critically the loss of his older brother inspired the lyrics and tune. According to Hebb, he merely wrote the song as an expression of a preference for a "sunny" disposition over a "lousy" disposition following the murder of his brother.

    Events influenced Hebb's songwriting, but his melody, crossing over into R and B (#3 on U.S. R and B chart) and Pop (#2 on U.S. Pop chart), together with the optimistic lyrics, came from the artist's desire to express that one should always "look at the bright side"; a direct quote from the author. Hebb has said about "Sunny": "All my intentions were to think of happier times and pay tribute to my brother – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low. After I wrote it, I thought 'Sunny' just might be a different approach to what Johnny Bragg was talking about in 'Just Walkin' in the Rain.'"'.

Top movie

  • Fantastic Voyage
    - 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 Sep 4 1966 when, 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (returns)', takes over.- From Wikipedia: 'Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby. The film is about a submarine crew who shrink to microscopic size and venture into the body of an injured scientist to repair the damage to his brain. The original story took place in the 19th century and was meant to be a Jules Verne–style adventure with a sense of wonder. Kleiner abandoned all but the concept of miniaturization and added a Cold War element. The film starred Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, and Donald Pleasence'.
  IV.
Today in the Past (reference sites): August 30
   V.
This month August 2016 (updated once a month - last updated - August 30 2016)

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

  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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