August 15 is:
National Lemon Meringue Pie Day
Birthday of Florence Harding (August 15, 1860), wife of Warren G Harding; first lady 1921-1923. News of the Teapot Dome scandal began to break as Harding and his wife were returning from a vacation in Alaska. Harding began to show signs of food poisoning and fatigue, developed pneumonia, and died suddenly. His wife, who some speculated had poisoned him, refused to permit an autopsy. After his death, Mrs. Harding burned his papers and correspondence, making a diligent effort to recover and destroy even personal letters he had written.
From Today in Science
Birthday of Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence, (also known as “Lawrence of Arabia,”) a British archaeological scholar. In two of his important projects, he collaborated with Leonard Woolley in the British Museum expedition excavating Carchemish, (1910-14) a Hittite city on the upper Euphrates; and in the survey of the Wilderness of Zin. Later he became best known as a military strategist, and author for his legendary war activities in the Middle East during WW I, and for his account of those activities in The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926). He died in England from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash near his home in Dorset.
From Today in Science
In 1911, Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, introduced Crisco, a hydrogenated shortening to provide an economical alternative to animal fats and butter. To emphasize the purity of the product, the Crisco can came inside an additional, removable over-wrap of white paper. Crisco, the first solidified shortening product made entirely of vegetable oil, was the result of hydrogenation, a new process which produced shortening that would stay in solid form year-round, regardless of temperature.
Birthday of Julia Carolyn Child (born McWilliams, (August 15, 1912),
American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
From Today in Science
In 1914, the Panama Canal was officially opened by an American ship sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The United States fomented a rebellion to get the land for this canal…encouraging Panamanians to break away from Colombia. Before the Panama Canal was built, sea trade had to go all the way around South America’s sometimes stormy Cape Horn. The Panama Canal crosses a small mountain range with a series of huge locks.
From Today in Science
Wiley Post and Will Rogers died in plane crash in Alaska:
Wiley Post was an American aviator, one of the most colorful figures of the early years of U.S. aviation. He set many records. Between 15-22 Jul 1933, Wiley Post completed the first round-the-world solo flight (15,596 miles) in his Lockheed Vega 5B single-engine aircraft Winnie Mae, in 7 days 18-hr 49-min. He had made an accompanied flight around the world in 1931. Wiley Post had made his first solo flight in 1926, the year he got his flying license (signed by Orville Wright) despite wearing a patch over his left eye which he had lost in an oilfield accident.
Will Rogers was an American cowboy, vaudeville performer, humorist, newspaper columnist, social commentator, and stage and motion picture actor. Some of his more famous quotes:
- “Don’t gamble”; take all your savings and buy some good stock, and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don’t go up, don’t buy it.”
- An ignorant person is one who doesn’t know what you have just found out.
- When I die, my epitaph or whatever you call those signs on gravestones is going to read: ‘I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.’ I am so proud of that I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved. And when you come to my grave you will find me sitting there, proudly reading it.
- I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.