Author Archives: Linda

August 31 is:

National Trail Mix Day

Trail mix is a combination of dried fruit, grains, nuts, and sometimes chocolate, developed as a snack food to be taken along on outdoor hikes.
Trail mix is considered an ideal snack food for hikes, because it is tasty, lightweight, easy to store, and nutritious, providing a quick boost from the carbohydrates in the dried fruit and/or granola, and sustained energy from the mono- and polyunsaturated fats in nuts.
Many claim that trail mix was first invented in 1968 by two California surfers who blended peanuts and raisins together for an energy snack.
However, trail mix is also mentioned in Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel The Dharma Bums as the two main characters describe their planned meals in their preparation for a hiking trip.
The recipe for trail mix is most likely European in origin, where it has been known as a snack under various names in various countries since the 17th century.

From 2201 Fascinating Facts by David Louis, published by Greenwich House, New York, 1983

Birthday of the Roman Emperor, Commodos (Aug 31, 161). He collected all the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks he could find in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Colosseum where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers.

Anniversary of the death of John Bunyan (August 31, 1688), English preacher renowned for “Pilgrim’s Progress”

From Today in Science
In 1909, Benjamin Shibe recieved a U.S. patent on the cork center baseball (No. 932,911). In 1909, when a baseball stadium, Shibe Park in Philadelphia was built for the Philadelphia Athletics, it was named after him as their principal owner. Later, the stadium became Connie Mack Stadium, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies until 1971. A partner in the A.J. Reach sporting goods company, Shibe invented the machinery that made possible the manufacture of standard baseballs.

1950 – Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit four home runs in a single game off of four different pitchers.

August 31, 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in Paris.  Diana’s death was met with extraordinary public expressions of grief, and her funeral at Westminster Abbey on 6 September drew an estimated 3 million mourners and onlookers in London, and worldwide television coverage watched by 2.5 billion people.

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August 29 is:

More Herbs, Less Salt Day
National Chop Suey Day
Chop suey is a Chinese American dish originating in the mid to late 19th century for Chinese immigrants in San Francisco.
Chop suey consists of small pieces of meat, chicken or shrimp stir-fried with celery, onions, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, mushrooms and/or other vegetables, and served over rice, usually with soy sauce.

Difference between Chop Suey and Chow Main:
What is chop suey?

While it has roots in southern China, chop suey is one of the most popular kind of dishes in Americanized Chinese food. While its specific definition can vary from chef to chef, chop suey almost always includes some kind of meat (beef, chicken, pork, or seafood) paired with vegetables and sometimes an egg. After that, there are a few other distinguishing features:

The Base: It’s typically served with rice as its base. You might occasionally see it with steamed noodles.
The Sauce: It’s topped with a thick, starch-based gravy.
The Variations: There are too many to count—basically, chop suey is a kind of dish, with little differences at every Chinese restaurant you go to.

Ok, then, what is chow mein?

Chow mein does share some similarities with chop suey: notably, it’s made with meat (chicken, beef, pork, seafood, or tofu), vegetables, and a sauce. Both are Chinese-American staples, but there are a few distinct differences. Here’s how to tell if what you’re eating is chow mein:

The Base: It’s crispy stir-fried noodles. In fact, this is the easiest way to spot the difference between chow mein and chop suey. If there’s rice, it’s chop suey. If there are noodles, it’s probably chow mein.
The Sauce: Soy sauce, never thickened.
The Variations: Sometimes, you’ll see this same dish, but with steamed noodles. This is often called lo mein.

Birthday of John Locke (August 29, 1632), English philosopher who wrote “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”. His arguments concerning liberty and the social contract later influenced the written works of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and other Founding Fathers of the United States. In fact, one passage from the Second Treatise is reproduced verbatim in the Declaration of Independence, the reference to a “long train of abuses.” Such was Locke’s influence that Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Bacon, Locke and Newton… I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences”.

1786 – Shays’ Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, began in response to high debt and tax burdens.

Birthday of Oliver Wendell Holmes (August 29, 1809), American poet, essayist, and novelist.

From Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts. New York, Bell Publishing Company, published in 1981:

Birthday of Charles F. Kettering, (August 29, 1876), American inventor, engineer and holder of 186 patents. He was a founder of Delco and head of research at General Motors. Among his most widely used automotive inventions were the electric starting motor and leaded gasoline. The electric automobile self-starter which was perfected in 1911 made it possible for women to drive without a male companion to crank the engine.

United States Air Force Academy opened in Colorado Springs, Colorado on this date in 1958.

August 29, 1990, Saddam Hussein declared that America couldn’t beat Iraq

August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina wreaks devastation in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. New Orleans is flooded. Responsible for the killing of an estimated 1,836 people and causing over $108 billion in damage.

August 28 is:

Race Your Mouse Day aka “Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day”.

National Cherry Turnovers Day
Darker cherries have higher antioxidant and vitamin levels than lighter ones.
On average, commercially grown cherry trees produce about 7,000 cherries annually.
Over 75% of the cherries sold in the U.S. come from Michigan.

Feast day of Saint Augustine of Hippo, patron saint of students for the priesthood. Famous for praying “Make me pure…but not yet.”

Birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (August 28, 1749), German poet and novelist, author of “Faust”

1830 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s new Tom Thumb steam locomotive raced a horse-drawn car, presaging steam’s role in U.S. railroads.

From Today in Science
In 1845, the first issue of the Scientific American was published by Rufus Porter (1792-1884), a versatile if eccentric Yankee, who was by turns a portrait-painter, schoolmaster, inventor and editor. While the paper was still a small weekly journal with a circulation less than 300, he offered it for sale. It was bought for $800 in July 1846 by 20-year-old Alfred Ely Beach (1826-1896) as editor, and Orson Desaix Munn (1824-1907). Together, they built it over the years into a great and unique periodical. Their circulation reached 10,000 by 1848, 20,000 by 1852, and 30,000 by 1853.

August 28 – 1963: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place; this is  where Martin Luther King, Jr. made his “I Have a Dream” speech for Civil Rights in the United States.

From Today in Science
In 1837, pharmacists John Lea and William Perrins of Worcester, England began the manufacture of Worcester Sauce. Its origin was accidental. The two Worcestershire chemists (pharmacists) whose names are on the bottle were asked to make a sauce using a recipe Lord Marcus Sandys, governor of Bengal, had brought from India. The result had a harsh, unpalatable taste. The batch was stored in their cellar, forgotten for a year. At that time, after an aging process, a chance tasting for the sauce was now tasty. Upon selling the new savory sauce, they found a sustained demand, and by 1843 they sold 14,500 per year. The exact ingredients remain a trade secret, but are known to include molasses, tamarins, onions, cloves, chillies and shallots from various countries around the world.

U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, (D) from South Carolina, began a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator. He changed political parties to become a Republican in 1964 because of his opposition to the Civil Rights Act and his support of Barry Goldwater.

1968 Police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago, Illinois, as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.

August 26 is:

Women’s Equality Day
National Dog Day

National Cherry Popsicle Day

In 1905 in San Francisco, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was mixing a white powdered flavoring for soda and water out on the porch. He left it there, with a stirring stick still in it. That night, temperatures reached a record low, and the next morning, the boy discovered the drink had frozen to the stick, inspiring the idea of a fruit-flavored ‘Popsicle’, a portmanteau of soda pop and icicle.
Eighteen years later in 1923, Epperson introduced frozen pop on a stick to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Belmar, New Jersey. Seeing that it was a success, in 1924 Epperson applied for a patent for his “frozen confectionery” which he called “the Epsicle ice pop”. He renamed it to Popsicle, allegedly at the insistence of his children.

From Today in Science
In 1883, Mount Krakatoa, an island volcano in the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia), erupted with violent explosions that destroyed two thirds of the island. It produced huge tsunami waves that swept across the immediate region, killing an estimated 36,000 people. These waves were powerful enough to cross the Indian Ocean and travel beyond Cape Horn. The most powerful blast was the most violent known in human history—it was loud enough to be heard in Australia. The shockwave was registered by barometers in England. The huge amount of volcanic dust thrust high into the stratosphere eventually traveled around the world. The dust blocked sunlight causing temperature drops, highly coloured sunsets, and chaotic weather patterns for several years afterwards.

1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution took effect, giving women the right to vote.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

From Today in Science
In 1959, the Morris Mini-Minor was introduced by the British Motor Corporation. The car, popularly known as the Mini, remains successful over five decades later. It became a landmark in automotive design because it was only 10 ft long, yet seated four passengers, and one of the lowest priced cars on the market. Its innovative designer, Alec Issigonis, saved space by mounting the engine transversely which eliminated the interior space taken up by a transmission tunnel. Issigonis believed that “when you’re designing a new car for production, never, never copy the opposition.” and created a vehicle that carried the greatest payload in the smallest practical space. It had all-independent suspension, good fuel economy, fast acceleration, maneuverability and ease of parking.

1970 – The new feminist movement, led by Betty Friedan, led a nation-wide Women’s Strike for Equality. The strike primarily focused on equal opportunity in the workforce, political rights for women, and social equality in relationships such as marriage.

1980 – After John Birges planted a bomb at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada; the FBI inadvertently detonated the bomb during its disarming. John Birges Sr. was convicted of having made the bomb, and wanted to extort $3 million from the casino after having lost $750,000 there. He later died in prison in 1996, at the age of 74.

August 25 is:

Kiss and Make Up Day
National Whiskey Sour Day To make a whiskey sour: Combine 1 oz lemon juice with 1 oz sugar and 2 oz water to make the “sour mix”.
Then combine 1 1/2 ounces whiskey (or bourbon, Scotch, Canadian whiskey, or Irish whiskey) with 4 ounces of the sour mix. Pour over crushed ice and garnish with one maraschino cherry and a slice of orange.

1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

1835 – The New York Sun perpetrated the Great Moon Hoax.. In a series of six articles, the paper reported that life and civilization had been discovered on the Moon.

Birthday of Bret Harte (August 25, 1836), American poet and novelist, famous for “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”

On August 25, 1914 – World War I: The library of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, was deliberately destroyed by the German Army. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable volumes and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts were lost.

The United States National Park Service was created on August 25, 1916. At that time there were nine major parks including Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, and Sequoia. Today there are 59 national parks and the Park Service employs 22,000 people. The Park Service oversees Parks, Monuments, Historic Sites, Recreation Areas, Trails, Seashores, and National Reserves.

World War II: Paris was liberated by the Allies in 1944. Hitler had ordered that Paris “must not fall into the enemy’s hand except lying in complete debris”.

In 1973, the first scan was made using CAT (Computer Assisted Tomography).

2017 – Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2004. Over the next few days, the storm causes catastrophic flooding throughout much of eastern Texas, killing 106 people and causing $125 billion in damage.

August 24 is:

Vesuvius Day
Hug Your Boss Day
National Peach Pie Day Peaches were once known as Persian apples.

August 24 in the year 79: long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash. An estimated 20,000 people died.

In 1682 William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania. William Penn was granted the province of Pennsylvania by King Charles II in 1681, he asked for and later received the lands of Delaware from the Duke of York. Penn had a very hard time governing Delaware because the economy and geology resembled those of the Chesapeake Bay colonies more than that of Pennsylvania. The lowland areas were developed for tobacco plantations and dependent on enslaved Africans and African Americans for labor. Penn attempted to merge the governments of Pennsylvania and the lower counties of Delaware. Representatives from each area clashed strongly and, in 1701 Penn agreed to allowing two assemblies to be elected and conduct their separate affairs. Delawareans would meet in New Castle, and Pennsylvanians would gather in Philadelphia.

1814 – British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and during the burning of the city, the White House, the Capitol and many other buildings were set ablaze.

From Wikipedia

The Capitol was noted by many contemporary travelers to be the only building in Washington “worthy to be noticed.” Thus, it was a prime target for the invaders, both for its aesthetic and symbolic value. After looting the building, the British found it difficult to set the structure ablaze, owing to its sturdy stone construction. Soldiers ended up gathering furniture into a heap and igniting it with rocket powder, which did the trick. Among the casualties of the destruction of the Capitol was the Library of Congress, the entire 3,000 volume collection was destroyed.   Several surrounding buildings in Capitol Heights also caught fire. After the war, Thomas Jefferson would sell his own personal library to the government (in order to pay personal debts) to re-establish Congress’ library.

In 1869, the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron was issued to Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, N.Y. (No. 94,093).

Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989.

On August 24th, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefined the term “planet” such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.

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August 23 is:

National Spongecake Day
National Cuban Sandwich Day
A Cuban sandwich is a variation of a ham and cheese sandwich that originated in cafes catering to Cuban workers in Key West and Ybor City, Tampa; two early Cuban immigrant communities in Florida. It is believed by some that the sandwich was a common lunch food for workers in both the cigar factories and sugar mills of Cuba during the 1870’s. When the cigar industry in Florida shifted to Tampa in the 1880’s, the sandwich quickly appeared in workers’ cafés.

Many say a “true” Cuban sandwich, starts with Cuban bread. The loaf is sliced into lengths of 8–12 inches, lightly buttered or brushed with olive oil on the crust, and cut in half horizontally. A coat of yellow mustard is spread on the bread. Then sliced roast pork, glazed ham, Swiss cheese, and thinly sliced dill pickles are added in layers. Sometimes the pork is marinated in mojo and slow roasted. (Mojo is the name, or abbreviated name, of several types of sauces, varying in spiciness, consisting primarily of olive oil, local pepper varieties, garlic, paprika, cumin or coriander, and other spices.)

August 23, 1775, King George III delivered his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St. James’s stating that ‘the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.’

Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declared itself an independent state under the name of Franklin in 1784; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.

Anniversary of the death of Rudolph Valentino (August 23, 1926), Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla, silent movie idol, died in NY at age 31. On August 15, 1926, Valentino collapsed at the Hotel Ambassador in New York City. He was hospitalized and an examination showed him to be suffering from appendicitis and gastric ulcers, which required an immediate operation. Despite surgery, Valentino developed peritonitis. On August 18 his doctors gave an optimistic prognosis. However, on August 21 he was stricken with a severe pleuritis relapse that developed rapidly in his left lung due to his weakened condition.

1931 – Birthday of Barbara Eden of “I Dream of Jeannie” fame.

Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon, August 23, 1966.

August 23, 1996, Osama bin Laden issued message entitled ‘A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.’