December 7 is:
International Civil Aviation Day
Letter Writing Day
National Cotton Candy Day
Pearl Harbor Day – 1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor – The Imperial Japanese Navy carried out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine Air Forces at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. A day that President F.D.Roosevelt called “a date which will live in infamy”.
All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. All but one (Arizona) were later raised, and six of the eight battleships were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded.
Publication of Federalist Paper #18: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union written by James Madison in 1787. Federalist #18 continues the subject of the insufficiencies of the Articles of Confederation. Madison continues the discussion begun by Hamilton in Federalist #15. This paper describes two Greek confederacies of antiquity that were similar to the current confederacy and how they failed. He concludes that political organizations like that formed under the Articles dissolve because of conflict among the States not from conflicts with the national governing body.
Delaware admission day (1787) first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution
- Capital: Dover
- Nickname: Diamond State/First State
- Bird: Blue hen chicken
- Flower: Peach blossom
- Tree: American Holly
- Motto: Liberty and Independence
See our page Delaware for more interesting facts and trivia about Delaware.
American outlaw Jesse James committed his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri in 1869.
Instant replay makes its debut during an American Army–Navy football game on December 7, 1963.
1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, was launched. The crew took the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they left the Earth.
Christmas Music:
Several years ago I worked on a project to celebrate the music in my life. Nothing says Christmas like the carols and songs heard only at this time of year. Here’s today’s sample:
Lyrics can be printed by using the File->Print Preview Commands. They will print in black ink with no images.) No music has been embedded.
Per Wikipedia:
Sleigh Ride” is a light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. He formed the idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and finished it in February 1948. Its first performance was by the Boston Pops Orchestra, with Arthur Fiedler conducting, on May 4, 1948. Anderson also made additional parts and arrangements for wind band and piano.
The earliest recordings were made before lyrics were added to Anderson’s instrumental composition: it was first recorded in 1949 by Fiedler and the Boston Pops. As a 45 rpm version issued on red vinyl, “Sleigh Ride” was a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal and has become one of the orchestra’s best-known works.
In 1950, publisher Mills Music commissioned Mitchell Parish to write lyrics, describing riding in a sleigh and other wintertime activities.
The Ronettes recorded a cover of “Sleigh Ride” in 1963 for Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You, which was commercially successful in the United States and featured in various media. The song has since been associated with the Christmas and holiday season.
Biographer Steve Metcalf said, “‘Sleigh Ride’… has been performed and recorded by a wider array of musical artists than any other piece in the history of Western music.”
Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
Ring ting tingling too
Come on, it’s lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you,
Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling “Yoo hoo,”
Come on, it’s lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you.
Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,
Let’s go, Let’s look at the show,
We’re riding in a wonderland of snow.
Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,
It’s grand, Just holding your hand,
We’re gliding along with a song
oOf a wintry fairy land.
Our cheeks are nice and rosy
And comfy cozy are we
We’re snuggled up together
Like two birds of a feather would be
Let’s take that road before us
And sing a chorus or two
Come on, it’s lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you.
There’s a birthday party
At the home of Farmer Gray
It’ll be the perfect ending a perfect day
We’ll be singing the songs
We love to sing without a single stop,
At the fireplace while we watch
The chestnuts pop. Pop! pop! pop!
There’s a happy feeling
Nothing in the world can buy,
When they pass around the chocolate
And the pumpkin pie
It’ll nearly be like a picture print
By Currier and Ives
These wonderful things are the things
We remember all through our lives!
Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
Ring ting tingling too
Come on, it’s lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you,
Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling “Yoo hoo,”
Come on, it’s lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you.
Tidbits of History, December 3
December 3 is:
National Peppermint Latte Day
Make a Gift Day
National Roof over Your Head Day
First Sunday of Advent, the first season of the Christian church year which leads up to Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin phrase
“Adventus Domini”, meaning arrival of the Lord.
In 2023the four Advent Sundays are December 3, December 10, December 17, and December 24th.
Traditionally Advent is commemorated by means of an Advent calendar or the lighting of the Advent wreath.
Anniversary of the First Text Message
On December 3, 1992, Neil Papworth, a 22 year old Canadian test engineer sent the first text message over the Vodafone GSM network to the cellphone of his colleague Richard Jarvis who was enjoying a staff Christmas party. The message simply read “Merry Christmas”.
Illinois Admission Day, Illinois became the 21st U. S. State in 1818
- Capital: Springfield
- Nickname: Land of Lincoln/Prairie State
- Bird: Cardinal
- Flower: Violet
- Tree: White Oak
- Motto: State sovereignty, national union
See our page Illinois for more interesting facts and trivia about Illinois.
In a State of the Union message of 1901, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt asked Congress to curb the power of trusts “within reasonable limits”.
Modern neon lighting was first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show in 1910.
December 3, Laurel and Hardy Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel and Hardy film, was released in 1927
The musical Camelot debuted at the Majestic Theater on Broadway in 1960. Cast included Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Roddy McDowall and Robert Goulet. Music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner.
1967 – At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a transplant team headed by Christiaan Barnard carried out the first heart transplant on a human (53-year-old Louis Washkansky). He survived 18 days.
1992 – UN Security Council Resolution 794 was unanimously passed, approving a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States to form UNITAF, with the task of establishing peace and ensuring that humanitarian aid was distributed in Somalia.
Christmas Music:
Several years ago I worked on a project to celebrate the music in my life. Nothing says Christmas like the carols and songs heard only at this time of year. Here’s today’s sample:
Lyrics can be printed by using the File->Print Preview Commands. They will print in black ink with no images.) No music has been embedded.
(Sorry, the Windows Media Player icon button no longer works)
“Jingle Bell Rock” was written by Bobby Helms and released in 1957. Brenda Lee recorded it in 1964 for her album “Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee” on the Decca label… The album reached No. 7 on the Billboard charts with the song “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”.
Jingle Bell Rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air.
What a bright time, it’s the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go gliding in a one-horse sleigh.
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet
That’s the jingle bell,
That’s the jingle bell,
That’s the jingle bell rock.
Tidbits of History, November 26
November 26 is:
National Cake Day
In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook became the first European to visit Maui in 1778. He was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
First streetcar railway in America starts operating (NYC) (12 cent fare) in 1832.
West Virginia was created in 1861 as a result of dispute over slavery with Virginia. West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key border state during the war. West Virginia was the only state to form by separating from a Confederate state, the first to separate from any state since Maine separated from Massachusetts and was one of two states admitted to the Union during the American Civil War (the other being Nevada).
“Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll was published in 1865.
The tomb of Tutankhamun was entered on November 26, 1922. Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.
Birthday of Charles Schulz (November 26, 1922), American cartoonist and creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.
100 of his thought provoking quotes can be found here.
A classic Thanksgiving tradition!
“Casablanca,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York on this date in 1942.
Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified Republican George W. Bush the winner over Democrat Al Gore in the state’s 2000 presidential balloting by 537 votes.
Tidbits of History, November 21
November 21 is:
National Adoption Day
World Television Day
164 BC – Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restored the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.
Birthday of Jean Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire), (November 21, 1694) French Enlightenment author, historian and philosopher. Author of “Candide”. Known for his wit and attacks on the established Church. He was a key figure in the European intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment.
North Carolina became the twelfth state in 1789:
- Capital: Raleigh
- Nickname: Tar Heel State
- Bird: Cardinal
- Flower: Flowering dogwood
- Tree:Pine
- Motto: To be rather than to seem
The State of North Carolina has 42 official state emblems including the state insect (European honey bee), gemstone (emerald), beverage (milk), dog (Plott hound) , vegetable (sweet potato), fruit (Scuppernong grape), folk dance (clogging), and sport (Nascar).
See our page North Carolina for more interesting facts and trivia about North Carolina.
In 1922, Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia took the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator.
Former First Lady Florence Harding died of renal failure on November 21, 1924, at Marion, Ohio, U.S., wife of President Warren G. Harding.
1942 – Tweety Bird, aka Tweety Pie, debuted in “Tale of Two Kitties”
On Nov. 21, 1995, the Presidents of three rival Balkan states (Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia) agreed to make peace in Bosnia, (the Dayton Agreement) ending nearly four years of terror and ethnic bloodletting that left a quarter of a million people dead in the worst war in Europe since World War II.
Tidbits of History, November 16
November 16 is:
National Fast Food Day
During the early 1900s, the hamburger was thought to be polluted, unsafe to eat, and food for the poor. Street carts, not restaurants, typically served them.
There are more than 300,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S. alone
From Today in Science
In 1620, the first corn (maize) found in the U.S. by British settlers was discovered in Provincetown, Mass., by sixteen desperately hungry Pilgrims led by Myles Standish, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, and Edward Tilley at a place they named Corn Hill. The food came from a previously harvested cache belonging to a local Indian tribe. This corn provided a much needed supply of food which saw the Pilgrims through their first winter in the New World. A commemorative plaque placed on Corn Hill quotes in part “And sure it was God’s good providence that we found this corn for else we know not how we should have done.”
1849 – A Russian court sentenced writer Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group. At the last moment, a note from Tsar Nicholas I was delivered to the scene of the firing squad, commuting the sentence to ten years’ hard labor in Siberia. Dostoevsky’s seizures, which may have started in 1839, increased in frequency in Siberia, and he was diagnosed with epilepsy. On his release, he was forced to serve as a soldier, before being discharged on grounds of ill health. He survived until 1881. Dostoevsky was the author of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov.
Oklahoma became the United States 46th state on November 16, 1907
- Capital: Oklahoma City
- Nickname: Sooner State
- Bird: Scissor-tailed flycatcher
- Flower: Mistletoe
- Tree: Redbud
See our page Oklahoma for more interesting facts and trivia about Oklahoma.
Trivia:: Although the film, Oklahoma, was initially to have been shot on location in the title state, the producers opted to shoot elsewhere, apparently because the oil wells would be a distraction for exterior scenes. Location shooting was done mostly in Nogales, Arizona. The corn field in the opening number as well as the reprise song, “Surrey With the Fringe On Top” was shot at the historic Canoa Ranch in Green Valley, Arizona. The train station used in the “Kansas City” routine was located in Elgin, Arizona.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music” opened on Broadway in 1959.
In 2010, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel was convicted on 11 of 13 charges related to financial misconduct, prompting fellow lawmakers to censure the 80-year-old New York Democrat. Despite the ethics violations, Rangel was re-elected in 2012 and 2014.
Tidbits of History, November 11
Nov 11 is:
Young Readers Day
National Sundae Day
November 11 – At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. The Allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration of their war dead and continue to do so by marking a 1–2 minute silence at 11 am on November 11 each year. The time of the remembrance is also known as the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
End of World War I related observances:
Armistice Day (New Zealand, France, Belgium and Serbia)
Independence Day, commemorates the anniversary of Poland’s assumption of independent statehood in 1918 (Poland)
Remembrance Day (United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia and Canada)
Veterans Day, called Armistice Day until 1954, when the holiday was rededicated to be in honor of American military, naval, and Air Force, veterans. (United States)
Forty-one Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachusetts, signed a compact calling for a “body politick” in 1620.
Birthday of Abigail Smith Adams (November 11, 1744), wife of John Adams, second President of the United States; first lady from 1797-1801. Mother of John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United States. John Adams was a prolific writer of letters. He exchanged more than 1100 letters with his wife, Abigail. Most have been preserved in archives.
Birthday of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (November 11, 1821) , Russian novelist famed for “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Crime and Punishment”
Former slave Nat Turner, who had led a violent insurrection, was executed in Jerusalem, Va. in 1831.
Birthday of George Patton, (Nov. 11, 1885), the famous World War II American military officer.
Washington State Day, 1889, forty-second state
- Capital: Olympia
- Nickname: Evergreen State
- Bird: Willow goldfinch
- Flower: Coast rhododendron
- Tree:Western Hemlock
- Unofficial Motto: “Al-ki”, meaning “by and by” in Chinook Jargon
See our page on Washington for more interesting facts and trivia about the state of Washington.
Anniversary of the burial of the Unknown Soldier at the Tomb of the Unknowns in 1921 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The tomb is guarded by soldiers of the United States Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment. The first 24-hour guard was posted on midnight, July 2, 1937. The Tomb of the Unknowns has been guarded continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since that time. Inclement weather, terrorist attacks, etc, do not cause the watch to cease.
Everything the guards do is a series of 21, which alludes to the 21-gun salute.
The Sentinel does not execute an about face, rather they stop on the 21st step, then turn and face the Tomb for 21 seconds. They then turn to face back down the mat, change the weapon to the outside shoulder, mentally count off 21 seconds, then step off for another 21 step walk down the mat. They face the Tomb at each end of the 21 step walk for 21 seconds. The Sentinel then repeats this over and over until the Guard Change ceremony begins.
The U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Binh to the South Vietnamese army, symbolizing the end of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War in 1972.
Tidbits of History, November 8
November 8 is:
National Cappuccino Day
International Day of Radiology
Book Lovers Day. Put aside your Kindle or Nook…read a real book!
Dunce Day, the anniversary of the November 8, 1308 death of Duns Scotus, medieval scholar. He is generally considered to be one of the three most important philosopher-theologians of the High Middle Ages; the others being Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham. Later philosophers in the sixteenth century were less complimentary about his work, and accused him of sophistry. This led to his name, “dunce” (which developed from the name “Dunse” given to his followers in the 1500s) to become synonymous for “somebody who is incapable of scholarship”.
Birthday of Edmund Halley (November 8, 1656), English astronomer for whom Halley’s comet is named.
1887 –John Henry “Doc” Holliday, who fought on the side of the Earp brothers during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 6 years earlier, died of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
Montana Admission Day, 1889 forty-first state
- Capital: Helena
- Nickname: Treasure State
- Bird: Western meadowlark
- Flower: Bitterroot
- Animal: Grizzly Bear
- Tree: Ponderosa Pine
- Motto: Gold and silver
See our page Montana for more interesting facts and trivia about Montana.
1892
Former President Grover Cleveland beat incumbent Benjamin Harrison, becoming the first president to win non-consecutive terms. The second was Donald Trump just a few days ago. Grover Cleveland was President #22 and #24. Donald Trump is #45 and #47.
While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered the X-ray in 1895.
Birthday of Margaret Mitchell (November 8 1900), American novelist, author of “Gone With the Wind”. She died at age 49 after being stuck by a drunk driver while crossing Peachtree Street in Atlanta.
Tidbits of History, November 2
Quote
November 2 is:
All Soul’s Day, a religious day of remembrance of all the souls of the faithful departed.
Day of the Dead, The second day of Day of the Dead or El Dia de los Muertos celebration. (Mexico)
Plan Your Epitaph Day as one way to celebrate the “Day of the Dead”, a Mexican holiday to commemorate All Soul’s Day.
National Deviled Egg Day Eggs prepared this way started with the Ancient Romans but weren’t called “deviled” until the eighteenth century.
According to Corey Williams, December 13, 2019; Yahoo Lifestyle:
Though they weren’t prepared the same way they are now, eggs that had been boiled and seasoned were a popular appetizer among the elite members of Roman society. The dish was so common that it inspired the phrase “ab ova usque ad mala, which literally means “from eggs to apples, or from the beginning of a meal to the end.
To “devi”l means to “combine a food with various hot or spicy seasonings such as red pepper, mustard, or Tabasco sauce, thereby creating a ‘deviled’ dish,” according to the Food Lover’s Companion, the definitive guide to all things food and cooking.
Birthday of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, (November 2, 1699), was an 18th-century French painter. He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic activities. Carefully balanced composition, soft diffusion of light, and granular impasto characterize his work. Influenced Manet and Cézanne. Examples of his work can be found at Wikiart.
Birthday of Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734), American pioneer, explorer, frontiersman. Mentalfloss.com has an interesting article “14 facts about Daniel Boone”. Worth a look.
Birthday of James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795), eleventh president of the United States. Polk was more interested in issues than people. He did everything himself rather than rely on others. He customarily rose at daybreak and worked until midnight. He said:
“No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.”
Birthday of Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865), twenty-ninth President of the United States. While president, Harding played golf, poker twice a week, followed baseball and boxing, and sneaked off to burlesque shows. His advisors were known as the “Poker Cabinet” because they all played poker together.
North Dakota Admission Day in 1889 thirty-ninth state
- Capital: Bismarck
- Nickname: Peace Garden State/Flickertail State/Sioux State
- Bird: Meadowlark
- Flower: Prairie Rose
- Tree: American Elm
- Motto: Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable
See our page for North Dakota for more interesting facts and trivia about North Dakota.
South Dakota Admission Day in 1889, fortieth state.
President Harrison directed Secretary of State to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first. No one really knows which state was admitted first but most historians just list the Dakota’s alphabetically so North becomes the 39th state and South the 40th.
- Capital: Pierre
- Nickname: Mount Rushmore State/Coyote State/Sunshine State
- Bird: Ring-necked pheasant
- Flower: Pasqueflower
- Tree: Black Hills spruce
- Motto: Under God the people rule
See our page for South Dakota for more interesting facts and trivia about South Dakota.
1947 Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose, on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.
The Cuban Adjustment Act entered force in 1966, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.
From Toay in Science
In 1988, a computer “worm” unleashed by a Cornell University graduate student, Robert T. Morris, began replicating wildly, clogging thousands of computers around the country. Intended as an experimental, self-replicating, self-propagating program, Morris soon discovered that the program was infecting machines at a much faster rate than he had anticipated. Computers were affected at many universities, military sites, and medical research facilities. When Morris realized what was happening he sent an anonymous message, instructing programmers how to kill the worm and prevent reinfection. However, because the network route was clogged, this message did not get through until it was too late. Morris, was later tried, fined and given probation.
Tidbits of History, October 31
October 31 is:
Halloween November 1 is celebrated as “All Saints’ Day”. Thus, the day prior (October 31st) is All Hallow’s Eve, “hallow” referring to saints. According to Wikipedia, “The traditional focus of All Hallows’ Eve revolves around the theme of using ‘humor and ridicule to confront the power of death.'”
Carve a Pumpkin Day – no surprise here
National Caramel Apple Day
Candy Apples were first introduced in Arabian cuisine. The reason was that fruit was candied to preserve it.
Soldiers in World War I slanged them “toffee apples.” Candy Apples are popular all over the world.
Everything from a Kool-Aid flavor to a nail-polish shade has been named candy apple red.
October 31, 1517 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther is believed to have nailed his 95 theses to Wittenberg Castle Church in Germany on this date.
Federalist Paper #2 was published on this date in 1787. John Jay authored the article which is entitled “Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence”. He continues the arguments Hamilton made in Paper #1 about the necessity of America remaining one nation. This was one of the main concerns of the authors of the Constitution – that the new nation would break apart into regional sections. Jay said:
This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest of ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.
To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection. As a nation we have made peace and war; as a nation we have vanquished our common enemies; as a nation we have formed alliances, and made treaties, and entered into various compacts and conventions with foreign states.
Birthday of John Keats (October 31, 1795), English Romantic poet trained as a surgeon. John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.
Nevada Admission Day, 1864 as the thirty-sixth state
- Capital: Carson City
- Nickname: Silver State/Sagebrush State/Battle born state
- Bird: Mountain bluebird
- Flower: Sagebrush
- Tree:Single leaf pinon
- Motto: All for our country
See our page for interesting facts and trivia about Nevada.
National Magic Day, honoring the skills of magicians and commemorating the death of the great Harry Houdini in 1926.
1941 After nearly 15 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota was completed; the colossal sculpture features the heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
1984 – Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, was shot dead by two Sikh security guards. Riots against the Sikh population started soon after.
From Today in Science
In 1992, the Vatican admitted erring for over 359 years in formally condemning Galileo Galilei for entertaining scientific truths such as the Earth revolves around the sun it, which the Roman Catholic Church long denounced as anti-scriptural heresy. After 13 years of inquiry, the Pope’s commission of historic, scientific and theological scholars brought the pope a “not guilty” finding for Galileo. Pope John Paul II himself met with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to help correct the record. In 1633, at age 69, Galileo was forced by the Roman Inquisition to repent and spent the last eight years of his life under house arrest. Galileo was a 17th century Italian mathematician, astronomer and physicist remembered as one of history’s greatest scientists.
The population of the world is said to have officially reached seven billion on this date in 2011. It was estimated to have reached 8.1 billion in 2024.
Tidbits of History, August 21
August 21 is:
Senior Citizen’s Day
National Spumoni Day In the United States, most spumoni will include a cherry layer with cherry bits, a layer of pistachio ice cream and a layer of chocolate.
National Sweet Tea Day
Thomas Sullivan ‘accidentally’ invented the teabag when he sent out tea samples in small silk pouches to customers in 1904. The pouches proved much less messy than raw tea leaves. The rest is history.
On August 21 in 1770 – James Cook formally claimed eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
Nat Turner was an African-American slave who led a two-day rebellion of slaves and free blacks in Southampton County, Virginia on August 21, 1831. Whites organized militias and called out regular troops to suppress the uprising. The rebellion was quashed within forty-eight hours. The rebellion caused the death of approximately sixty white men, women and children. In the aftermath of the revolt, forty-eight black men and women were tried on charges of conspiracy, insurrection, and treason. In total, the state executed 56 people, banished many more, and acquitted a few. …In the hysterical climate that followed the rebellion, close to 200 black people were killed by white militias and mobs. On November 5, 1831, Nat Turner was tried for “conspiring to rebel and making insurrection”, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia. Turner’s corpse was flayed, beheaded and quartered.
From Today in Science
On August 21, 1841, the first U.S. patent for a Venetian blind was issued to John Hampson of New Orleans, Louisiana on a “manner of retaining in any desired position the slats of Venetian Blinds” (No. 2223). It is said the first U.S. installation of Venetian blinds was in 1761 in St. Peter’s Church, Third and Pine streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By definition, a Venetian blind has horizontal slats, one above another.
1814 Benjamin Thompson, Count von Rumford died. American physician who invented the percolator, a pressure cooker and a kitchen stove. He is frequently credited with creating baked Alaska. When the American Revolutionary War began, Thompson was opposed to the uprising. He became a Loyalist and fled his New England home for Great Britain where he became an advisor to British military.
The first successful adding machine in the United States was patented by William Seward Burroughs on Aug 21, 1888.
Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles was founded in 1897.
Hawaii Statehood Day in 1959 Hawaii became the fiftieth state
- Capital: Honolulu
- Nickname: Aloha State/Paradise of the Pacific
- Bird: Nene (Hawaiin goose)
- Flower: Red Hibiscus
- Tree: Kukui (Candlenut tree)
- Motto: The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness
See our page Hawaii for more interesting facts and trivia about Hawaii.
1961 – Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes.