Question: In World War One, there were the Allies vs. the Grand Entente. Who were the Grand Entente?

Yesterday’s question answered below: Who said “ Man Proposes, God Disposes..”….?
-------------------------------------------------------------
History for 7/12/2012
Birthdays: Gaius Julius Caesar is 2,112 years old, Henry David Thoreau, Impressionist painter Eugene Boudin, Oscar Hammerstein, Kirsten Flagstad, Andrew Wyeth, Pablo Neruda, George Eastman, Milton Berle, Cheryl Ladd, Van Cliburn, Buckminster Fuller, George Washington Carver, Josiah Wedgewood- of Wedgewood china and pottery, Michelle Rodriguez, Richard Simmons, Krysty Yamaguchi, Bill Cosby is 75, Ben Burtt- George Lucas’ sound effects guru who created the sounds of Darth Vader and R2D2, is 64.

783AD – Queen Bertha "with the big feet" died, the wife of Frankish King Pippin III.

1174- King Henry II of England does public penance on his knees and allowed him self to be whipped for the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Thomas Beckett.

1290 - Jews were expelled from England by order of King Edward I Longshanks. Although some lived on in British society- Queen Elizabeth’s doctor Rodrigo Lopez was Jewish, They would not officially be allowed back for four hundred years, when Oliver Cromwell lifted the ban in the 1650’s.

1389- King Richard II appointed writer Geoffrey Chaucer to the choice job of Chief Clerk of the Kings Works at Westminster.

1543- Henry VIII marries his sixth and last wife Catharine Parr.

1562- Spanish monks burn hundreds of priceless books and scrolls of the ancient Mayan Civilization as works of the Devil.

1679 - Britain's King Charles II ratified the Habeas Corpus Act.

1690-THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE: William of Orange's English defeated his father-in-law James II Stuart's Irish army. Even though James mainly wanted his English crown back, this battle is seen as the last organized Irish resistance to British rule until the IRA campaigns of the twentieth century. Protestant Irish Orangemen see it as the victory that confirmed British rule in Ulster. It seems there were French Protestant (Huguenots) exiles among the English and French Catholic allies sent by Louis XIV among the Irish. These Frenchmen kept stubbornly fighting each other into the night long after the English and Irish had driven each other off the field.

1742- Battle of Bloody Marsh- As part of a larger European war, James Oglethorpe’s English colony in Georgia was attacked by a large Spanish force under Florida’s colonial governor Don Manuel de Montiano.

1776- During the American Revolution, the British 44 gun warships HMS Phoenix and HMS Rose showed how little they thought of George Washington’s puny rebel defenses, by boldly sailing right up to New York City, and shelling the town.

1789- At the Palais Royale in Paris, radical lawyer Camille DesMoulins climbed up on a table in front of the Café du Foy to address a crowd. The people of Paris had been seething since the king had brought Swiss and German mercenary regiments into the city to restore order. DesMoulin alleged that the true object of the King's foreign troops were to kill all Frenchmen who wanted freedom. For the first time the Parisian streets rang with the cry: "Aux Armes, Citoyens!" -to arms, citizens! A mob marched to the Place Vendomme where they showered the troops with rocks and bottles, until a volley from their guns dispersed them. The French Revolution would begin in two more days.

1794- At the siege of Calvi in Corsica, young Captain Horatio Nelson lost his right eye.

1808-With the encouragement of Governor Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis & Clark fame, the first newspaper west of the Mississippi is founded, The Missouri Gazette and Louisiana Advertiser.

1817- For the first time in many years America wasn’t at war with anyone and political feuding had died down. James Monroe was elected President in what was considered a decidedly low-key election. A Boston newspaper named the Columbian Sentinel described the climate of the times as “The Era of Good Feeling”. The name stuck.

1843- Mormon prophet Joseph Smith said God told him in a revelation that it’s okay to marry more than one wife.

1861- The McCandles Massacre, the most famous Western shootout until the OK Corral. James Hickock earns his nickname Wild Bill by killing ten desperadoes in a free for all with sixguns and bowie knives. Interviewed by Harpers Weekly Mr. Hickock said :”I was wild and I struck savage blows.”

1863-The NEW YORK CITY DRAFT RIOTS- Arguably the largest civil disturbance in American History. Poor immigrant laborers, sick of the Civil War and being forced into the army while rich men bought their way out, ran wild in the streets in three days of looting.

The riot was sparked by the opening of a new draft office on 46th St & 3rd Ave. They began calling names while by coincidence the first lists of the dead from the Battle of Gettysburg were being published. A mob of 15,000 attacked and burned the Draft Board offices and overwhelmed the police. Writer Herman Melville watching the flames from a rooftop said: “The Rats have taken over the City.” Newspaperman Horace Greely defended his New York World office with a small cannon in his lobby. The New York Times posted Gatling Guns on it’s roof and Wall St. banks boiled oil to drop from the rooftops like something out of the Middle Ages.

Labor history mentions that most of these laborers worked a 12-14 hour day, seven days a week. So fighting slavery seemed a moot point to them. The mob attacked well dressed men “There goes a three hundred-dollar man!” Modern apologists for the rich rather to focus on the racism of the mob. Indeed the Irish poor, targets of racism themselves, singled out black people as the cause of all their misfortunes and hanged many from lampposts. They even torched a black little girl’s orphanage. The children had to be escorted by bayonet wielding militia to a barge in the East River for safety.

N.Y. Governor Horatio Seymour, who’s own public contempt for Lincoln's policies help encourage the riots, had to borrow Union Army regiments from the battlefields to restore order in New York City.

1863- After the defeat at Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee's retreating army was pinned for awhile against the rain flooded Potomac River. As the surrounding Union army prepared to attack, a local minister went up to Yankee General Meade and protested fighting a battle on a Sunday. When Meade tried to reason with him, the minister replied:" As God's emissary I denounce the defiling of His day! Look ye to the heavens!" Almost as if on command a rainstorm burst out over their heads. Meade cancelled the attack.

1864- Jubal Early's Confederates tried to attack Washington D.C. Early didn’t think he could hold Washington but he was determined to loot and burn it and maybe in so doing draw Grant away from Richmond. Rebel skirmishers got as close as Georgetown, they could see the gleaming white dome of the US Capitol. Despite Union forces in the area being pathetically unprepared, Quartermaster General Meigs had to arm his accountants, and they bussed out hospital invalids with guns, they still managed to turn Early away.

President Lincoln went out to Fort Stevens near present day Walter Reade Medical Center to watch the fight. During the shooting Col. Oliver Wendell Holmes called out to the man in the $8 dollar stovepipe hat peering over the parapet:" Get down ya damn fool! You’re drawing fire. You wanna get us all killed?!" The last time a sitting U.S. President was under enemy fire.

1870- Celluloid film patented. The inventor had been trying to find a substitute for ivory billiard balls. Inventor George Eastman later perfected the sprocket and hole system of roll film for cameras, replacing the large glass plates.

1870- THE DISPATCH OF EMMS- The spark that ignited the Franco Prussian War, which caused the World Wars of the Twentieth Century. The Spanish had deposed their nymphomaniac Queen Isabella IX and the French and Germans each had a new candidate for the throne. When the Prussian (German) King Wilhelm removed his candidate to diffuse international tension the French Empress Eugenie pushed it by demanding an apology as well.

King Wilhelm was at the Baths at Emms when he got the demand for an apology. He wrote a short note refusing to meet the French ambassador. Wilhelm's chancellor Bismarck, who wanted a war with France to unite the separate states of Germany against their old enemy, intercepted the kings letter before it went out and rewrote it to be a real slap in the face. The furious French Empire declared war two days later, just as Bismarck had hoped.

1876- Gunfighter Wild Bill Hickock arrived in Deadwood South Dakota to prospect for gold, see some old friends like Calamity Jane, and play a little poker.

1901 – Baseball pitcher Cy Young wins his 300th game.

1906 – French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus was cleared of all charges of treason and espionage.

1914 – Young reform school graduate Babe Ruth makes his baseball debut, as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.

1928 - 1st televised tennis match.

1948 - 1st jets to fly across the Atlantic -6 RAF de Havilland Vampire bombers.

1949- The Chairman of IBM, Thomas Watson Sr., predicted that one day all the moving parts of machines would be replaced by electronics.

1960: The Etch-a-Sketch goes on sale. Frenchman Arthur Granjean, invented it. (he called it L’Ecran Magique, or “The Magic Screen”). After failing to get some of the bigger toy companies to bite, he sold his invention to the Ohio Art Company.

1962 – The Rolling Stones 1st performance at the Marquee Club, London. One band member named Elmo Lewis, changed his name to Brian Jones.

1979- Carmine "The Cigar" Galante, boss of the Gambino Mafia family, was blown away over coffee and spumoni at a small Brooklyn restaurant called Joe & Marys. He was finished off with a 45 cal. slug through the eye, his cigar still in his lips. The hit was ordered by Paul Castellano. Rupert Murdoch's New York Post set a new journalistic low when a reporter shimmied up a drainpipe and got a photo of the Don's bullet riddled body before the cops could throw a sheet over it. The Post put it in color on the front page.

1979- Disco Demolition Night. Chicago Fans could get into Comisky Park for 98 cents if they each brought a Disco record to burn. Thousands of records were thrown at the players like Frisbees while they were trying to play, so Chicago was forced to forfeit the game. “I love the Nightlife, I love the Nightlife…”

1984- Geraldine Ferrarro named the Vice Presidential running mate of Walter Mondale. They lose in a landslide to Reagan-Bush.

1990- TV series Northern Exposure premiered.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday’s question: Who said “ Man Proposes, God Disposes..”….?

Answer: Thomas A Kempis in his widely read book in 1441, On the Imitation of Christ. “"For the resolutions of the just depend rather on the grace of God than on their own wisdom; and in Him they always put their trust, whatever they take in hand. For man proposes, but God disposes…”

Quiz: Who said “ Man Proposes, God Disposes..”….?

Yesterday’s Quiz answered below: If you met one of the knights of the Crusade, and he said DEOS VOLT at you, what does that mean?
------------------------------------------------------------------
History for 7/11/2012
Birthdays: Scottish King Robert the Bruce, John Quincy Adams, Sir Thomas Bowdler, E.B. White, Yul Brynner- born Tadjhe Khan, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leon Spinks, Tab Hunter, Susan Vega, Giorgio Armani, Sela Ward, Kimberly “Little Kim’ Jones

480 a.d.- Today is the Feast of SAINT BENEDICT, the monk who established the first rules for monks, convents and abbeys. Before this people who wished to express Christian zeal renounced the world and ran off into the hills to become hermits. Benedict said “Idleness is the Enemy of the Soul” and encouraged his followers to serve the community- make jam, milk goats, whatever, just do something useful. He ordered that monks wear the same uniform cowl and do not eat animal flesh. In the same year the last Pagan schools of philosophy were being closed down, he established the first great monastery of Monte Cassino on the site of an old temple to Apollo.

1302-"Battle of the Golden Spurs" Battle of Courtai. In an unusual turn for the Middle Ages, French peasants defeat an army of noble knights and hang their golden spurs up in church.

1533- Pope Clement VII denounced King Henry VIII’s divorce, excommunicated him and pronounced his new marriage to Anne Boylen null and any offspring illegitimate.

1573- While plundering the Gulf Coast of Panama, Sir Francis Drake was taken by a friendly Cimmaroon ( African / Indian ) to a large tree from whose top he could simultaneously view the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Drake is inspired to take an oath to one day navigate the Pacific, the first Englishman to dare violate the Spaniards' Private Sea.

1573- After a long siege, the Dutch city of Haarlem fell to Spanish armies.

1708 The Battle of Oudenarde- Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy destroy the French army under Marshall Villeroi. The battle climaxed with one of the largest cavalry melees ever seen- 40,000 horsemen swirling, shooting, and chopping at each other. The French were so fixated on Marlborough the bogeyman that they made up a song about him "Marlbroucke se va' ton Guerre" -So 'Marlborough wants to fight?'. The tune was an old Crusader melody Richard the Lionheart was familiar with, and has come down to us as 'For he's a Jolly good fellow' .It was a very popular tune in France. Napoleon was known to whistle it in the midst of battle.

1798- The birthday of the U.S. Marine Band. Called the 'President's Own" it achieved world fame in 1881 under it's director John Philip Sousa.

1804 THE HAMILTON-BURR DUEL- The Vice President other than Dick Cheney to shoot someone while still in office. Aaron Burr shot and killed the former Secretary of the Treasury in a duel. The guy on the ten dollar bill.

Aaron Burr was a lieutenant under Alexander Hamilton during the Revolution, later in politics they became bitter foes. No one was sure what one word or incident sparked this duel, but they spent years ruining each others political schemes: Hamilton withheld support from Burr in the presidential election of 1800 even though they were in the same party, Burr arranged Hamilton would lose the race for governor of New York. Finally they couldn't stand each other any more. They rowed across the Hudson to have the duel in Weehawken New Jersey, this way the winner would only be wanted for murder in one state. The site was the same field that Hamilton's son had died in a duel three years earlier. Friends of Hamilton insist he deliberately shot wide as a gesture while Burr shot to kill. Burr said baloney, he was just nervous. Hamilton died the next day.

Amazingly, Burr was allowed to finish his term as Vice President, because there weren't any laws on what to do with a Vice President who kills somebody. He presided over Congress and even had dinner with President Jefferson – Old Tom didn't like Hamilton either. Aaron Burr never went to trial, but his political career was effectively finished.

1812- U.S. armies invade Canada- again.

1848 - London's Waterloo Station opened.

1855- An earthquake knocks down Los Angeles -again.

1906- Nordisk Films in Copenhagen founded.

1910- As the ship Montrose docked in Canada authorities arrested Mr H.H. Crippen for the murder of his wife back in Britain. Also arrested was his mistress Ethel disguised as a boy. It was the first time a wireless transatlantic message was used to catch a criminal.

1921- British Prime Minster David Lloyd George and Irish rebel leader Eamon De Valera announced a truce in the guerrilla war ravaging Ireland and the beginnings of peace talks.

1922- The first regular concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The natural amphitheater in Bolton Canyon called Daisy Dell, had been used for Easter morning services and some concerts before, but now on a regular basis. Dr Alred Hertz conducted several symphonies, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Rudolph Valentino were in the audience. It was then a wooden stage at the bottom of a grassy knoll. Frank Lloyd Wright’s bandshell was built in 1927.

1936- The Triboro Bridge project opens in New York City. A massive WPA project to link the various boroughs of New York by highways, it was begun in 1933 but delayed for years by corruption, and the fact that Franklin Roosevelt personally despised it's chief architect, Robert Moses. Moses had referred to the handicapped Roosevelt as a "gimp" and "half-man". FDR denied any federal money for the project until Moses was fired. Mayor Fiorello Laguardia used all of his personal charisma and friendship with FDR to keep the project moving. Robert Moses was not only retained but created other engineering marvels like Jones Beach and the World's Fairs of 1939 and 1964. The first Disney animatronic Mr. Lincoln, for a demonstration was programmed to say "How do you do, Mr. Moses."

1938- The radio show The Mercury Theater of the Air with Orson Welles and John Houseman premiered.

1942- First phase or the Battle of El-Alamein ends with Rommel’s Afrika Korps stopped just outside Cairo and the Suez Canal.

1943- "DEATH RIDE OF THE FOUTH PANZER ARMY" Climax of the Battle of Kursk. Tens of thousands of heavy tanks swirling around blowing each other up on the Ukranian steppeland. The Russians regard the Battle of Kursk as the real turning point of World War Two, because it was when the Red army took the full brunt of a giant "blitzkrieg" offensive and destroyed it. The Germans understood thereafter that they could no longer hope to win.

1943- OPERATION HUSKIE-During the invasion of Sicily American strategists decided to drop parachute troops behind German lines to trap them before they could evacuate to Italy. The first drop was successful, the second less so and today's was a complete disaster. For some reason ships of the U.S. Navy mistook the flying transports for the enemy and began shooting down their own planes. Planes full of paratroops of the 82nd Airborne crashed and burned and prematurely cut gliders that smashed into the ocean. Afterwards there was a news blackout and from then on parachute planes wing's were painted with three broad white 'invasion stripes' to prevent similar accidents. The secret was so well kept it’s still not mentioned in many popular histories of World War Two.

One C-47 transport that peeled off, and ran for base avoiding the carnage, contained Sergeant George Sito, who survived the war to sire me, your author.

1944- General Teddy Roosevelt Jr, the son of the old president, died of a heart attack while on campaign in France. He was the only general to go ashore with the first wave on D-Day.

1944- Despite being ill and frail, Franklin Roosevelt announced he would be a candidate for an unprecedented 4th term in office as President. After his death Congress passed the 22nd amendment forbidding any other President to have more than two terms.

1945- Napalm first used on Japanese positions in Luzon in the Philippines.

1952- The Republican Convention nominated Gen. Dwight Eisenhower to be their candidate for President. No body was sure until then what Eisenhower’s political affiliation was. Harry Truman wanted Ike to run as a Democrat in 1948. The nomination came as a great shock to the ambitions of the other republican World War Two hero, General Douglas MacArthur. He called Ike: “ He was the best damn orderly I ever had!”

1962-The Tellstar I satellite transmitted the first television images from France to USA.

1969 - Rolling Stones release "Honky Tonk Woman".

1970- “Mama Told Me Not to Come” by Three Dog Night hits #1 in the pop charts. The song was written by young composer Randy Newman.

1975- Chinese archaeologists excavating at the ancient site of XIAN discover an entire army of 6,000 terra cotta statues buried in formation with their chariots and cavalry. Each statue was an individual portrait. They were buried in 221 BC to protect the tomb of China's first emperor Chi Yuan Zsi, who’s name is where the name China came from.

1976- The K&E Company manufactured it’s last wooden slide rule, it’s place now being supplanted by calculators and soon personal computers.

1979- The world holds it’s breath and covers it’s head as the first U.S. space station SKYLAB falls from orbit. 77 tons of space debris in 500 pieces falling around Australia and the Indian Ocean. Luckily it didn’t hit any one although chunks were stuck in an office building in Perth.

1990- THE OKA INDIAN UPRISING- Mohawk Indians living in Quebec fight with police when Quebec authorities try to extend a golf course from 9 to 18 holes over their ancestral burial grounds. AK-47s, overturned cars, helicopter gunships and tear gas abound. One Quebec constable, a corporal Lemay was killed. Today there are more Mohawks living than there were in 1757.

1991- Disney announced it would enter into a deal with a Bay area digital offshoot of Lucasfilm named PIXAR. Ten hit films including Toy Story, Monsters Inc. Finding Nemo and UP! are the result.

1997- A fruitcake named Jonathan Norman was arrested for trying to break into Steven Spielberg’s home. He believed Spielberg “wanted to be raped”, and had on him chloroform, duct tape and S&M paraphernalia.
===================================
Yesterday’s Quiz: If you met one of the knights of the Crusade, and he said DEOS VOLT at you, what does that mean?

Answer: It means God Wills It.

Quiz: If you met one of the knights of the Crusade, and he said DEOS VOLT at you, what does that mean?

Yesterday’s Quiz answered below: What is a Basilisk?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History for 7/10/2012
Birthdays: John Calvin, Marcel Proust, James McNeill Whistler, Carl Orff, Camille Pissarro, Adolphus Busch the founder of Budweiser, George DiChirico, Jacky "Legs" Diamond, Arlo Guthrie, Jake LaMotta, Joe Shuster- one of the creators of Superman, Fred Gywnne, David Brinkley, Arthur Ashe, Camilla Parker Bowles, Jessica Simpson is 33

138AD- Death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian at age 62. Antoninus Pius became emperor after promising to adopt as his heir young Marcus Aurelius. Hadrian, although suffering a last lingering illness, had arranged that Antoninus would have no rivals by ordering the deaths of anyone even thinking of wanting to be emperor. He even ordered the suicide of his brother-in-law Servianus, who although ninety years old had sworn to outlive Hadrian.

1040 - Lady Godiva goes for a ride on horseback in the nude to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes on the poor.

1099- The magical-mystical knight of Spain Rodrigo de Bivar, called El Cid, died at the castle of Valencia. The Cid had taken a loosely written promise from King Alfonso of Castile that he could keep any territory he took from the Moors, and used it to build a private army. He used it to capture the city of Valencia and rule it as an independent prince. Nine years after his death, his wife Jimena surrendered Valencia to the Almohavid Moors. But the legend of El Cid Campeador, lived on.

1460 - Wars of Roses: Richard of York defeats King Henry VI at Northampton.

1554- The day after King Henry VIII’s sickly son Edward died at 15, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed as England’s’ Queen. This was a desperate gamble of powerful Protestant factions to keep Henry’s eldest daughter Mary from ascending the throne. Mary was a bigoted Catholic and made no secret her desire to punish all those who turned from the Roman Church. So they dug up Lady Jane, a niece with a thin claim on the throne. It didn’t work, Mary became queen, Lady Jane became headless.

1588- French philosopher Michel de la Montaigne spent one night in the Bastille prison. The Bordeaux native had arrived in Paris in the midst of the nasty political fight between Huguenots and Catholics and was arrested as a traitor. Queen Mother Catherine de Medici ordered his prompt release.

1649- ZBARAZH- Ukrainian Cossack rebel Bogdhan Khmeilnitski besieged Polish warlord Prince Jeremy Wisnoviecki with the aid of the Crimean Tatars under Tugai Bey. After a epic battle The Polish King Jan Casimir bribed the Crimean Khan into changing sides which forced Bogdan to make peace. But the peace confirmed Bogdan Khmeilnitski as the Hetman of an autonomous Cossack Ukraine. In 1654 Bogdan pledged allegiance to the Russian Czar in Moscow and the Ukraine would not be free of Russian rule until 1989. Cossacks sang: “Hey, Hey Tugai Bey! Tugai Bey is Mad To-Day!”

1815- After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, the allied armies occupying Paris start to squabble with one another. The Prussians (Germans) were disappointed they didn’t get to shoot Napoleon, burn Paris or do any other fun stuff. At least they wanted to blow up a Seine River bridge Nappy named for their humiliating defeat, the Pont du Jena. When the Duke of Wellington denounced this action as barbaric, General Von Gneisenau sneered: “you would do the same if there was a Pont du Yorktown here!” the big British defeat in the American Revolution. Wellington wouldn’t speak to von Gneisenau afterwards. The Prussians got to set off gunpowder charges but the bridge was built too solid and wouldn’t collapse, so they settled for renaming it the Pont du Louvre.

1832- President Andrew Jackson vetoed the charter of the Bank of the United States. Jackson felt a strong centralized bank would concentrate too much power away from the states and invite abuse, while proponents felt it was necessary to regulate banking like the Bank of England did. It was the most hotly debated issue of his presidency. He was roundly criticized as 'King Andrew Ist ' for defying Congress and public will. After several more decades of frequent financial panics and recessions, The Federal Reserve act of 1913 finally duplicated the same benefits as a national bank.

1873 - French poet Paul Verlaine wounded Arthur Rimbaud in a pistol duel.

1881 -Jesse James robbed his last bank, The Davis and Sexton Bank of Iowa. Then he changed his name to Mr. Howard and tried to live quietly with his wife Zerelda Mimms in Missouri.

1890- Wyoming became a state.

1892 - 1st concrete-paved street built in Bellefountaine, Ohio.

1925- THE SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL-Tennessee school teacher John Thomas Scopes went on trial for violating a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution to children. Scopes was defended by famed lawyer Clarence Darrow sent by the ACLU, the prosecutor was William Jennings Bryan. The trial evolved (forgive the pun) from a small claims misdemeanor to a debate on Charles Darwin’s theory itself. This day the media descended upon the little town of Dayton Tennessee, which had hoped to attract attention for its slumping economy. It was the first trial broadcast live on Chicago radio WGN nationwide. Hundreds of spectators attended from hillbillies with squirrel rifles, a chimpanzee in a suit called Mr. Joe Mendy to columnist H.L. Mencken, packing 4 bottles of bootleg scotch and a typewriter. Darrow humiliated Bryan in the debate but Scopes was found guilty anyway. The ban on teaching evolution remained in Tennessee until 1967.

1932- In a baseball game against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indian pitcher Eddie Rommel perfects the knuckleball pitch.

1940- THEIR FINEST HOUR- First German bombing raids over London known as the "Battle of Britain". The Luftwaffe's mission, in preparation for a Nazi amphibious invasion of England- Operation Sea Lion, was to destroy the RAF and British industrial and supply areas, mostly around southeast London. This is why today the areas east of the Tower of London have so many modern buildings. Despite being outnumbered by three to one, the RAF prevailed, prompting Churchill's famous: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much, owed by so many, to so few."

1941- Jazz great Jelly Roll Morton died at 50 in Los Angeles from complications of asthma. He liked to call himself the inventor of jazz. As debatable as that claim was, he was one of the first musicians to develop a personal solo style distinct from the rest of his band. His mother practiced voodoo in New Orleans and she told him the reason for his fame and fortune was because she had pledged his soul to the Devil. He spent his last hours in a panic with his wife anointing his head with Holy oil.

1943- Allied Armies hit the beaches in Sicily.

1950 - "Your Hit Parade" premieres on NBC (later CBS) TV.

1953- NIKITA KHRUSCHEV takes power in Moscow. After the death of Josef Stalin there was the inevitable shuffle of bureaucrats jockeying for top job. Commissars Bulganin, Malenkov and Molotov tried to hold power but the little bald Ukrainian with the big smile had the last laugh. At a secret meeting of the Presidium Khruschev arrested Laventi Beria, Stalin's dreaded chief executioner. Beria broke down and wept for his life before he was shot. Khruschev was more merciful with his other rivals: Bulganin was made manager of a Siberian power station, Molotov was made ambassador to Outer Mongolia. The colorful Comrade Khruschev held power until 1964.

1985 - Coca-Cola Co admits New Coke was a big mistake and announces it will resume selling old formula Coke.

1987- The environmental group Greenpeace first called attention to themselves by a large ship called the Rainbow Warrior used to enter atomic tests sites to protest. This day in Auckland Harbor, The Rainbow Warrior was sunk by a bomb placed on her hull by French commandos. The blast killed a photographer. Rainbow Warrior had been in the Pacific to protest France’s nuclear testing there. The Government of New Zealand determined the French were responsible. In the ensuing scandal the French Defense minister resigned and the commandos went to jail.

1987- The Brave Little Toaster premiered in theatres.

1979 - Chuck Berry sentenced to 4 months for $200,000 in tax evasion. The old rocker said:” It never fails, every ten years I wind up in jail for something.”

1991-Boris Yeltsin took the oath of office as first popularly elected President of Russia.

1992-A U.S. federal judge sentenced Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega to 40 years in prison for being a drug pusher, dictator and never returning the CIA washroom keys.
--------------------------------------------
Yesterday’s Quiz: What is a Basilisk?

Answer: A Medieval monster like a dragon, except this one was so ugly, just looking at it made you drop dead.

Quiz: What is a Basilisk?

Yesterday’s Quiz answered below: What does it mean when someone gets pilloried?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
History for 7/9/2012
Birthdays: Shopenhauer, Elias Howe, Ottorino Respighi, Nicholas Tesla, David Hockney, Samuel Elliot Morrison, Sir Edward Heath,, Kelly McGillis, Barbera Cartland, J.Paul Getty II, H.V. Kaltenborn, Daniel Guggenheim, John Tesch, Fred Savage, Chris Cooper, O.J.Simpson, Courtenay Love is 52, Debbie Sludge is 58, Brian Dennehy is 74, Tom Hanks is 56

586 BCE. -Jerusalem falls to Nebuchanessar II. He removed the Israelites to Babylon and the 'Babylonian Captivity' begins.

1540-Henry VIII had his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled. Because the match was made for political reasons, in contrast to Henry's other queens, she was not beheaded but had a nice quiet life afterwards.

1595 - Johannes Kepler theorized a geometric construction of the universe.

1686- The Treaty of the League of Augsburg. French king Louis XIV’s ambition to build his kingdom without a thought to who he offended, managed to unite most of Europe against him. Germany, Sweden, Spain, Holland, Austria and England all signed a secret alliance against France. Years ago these same nations were bitter enemies over religion, and kept apart by the diplomacy of Cardinal Richelieu. But Richelieu was long dead and even though Louis was a great catholic champion, even the Pope hated him. This treaty set the stage for the next forty years of European conflict.

1772- THE GASPEE’ INCIDENT- Another provocation leading to the American Revolution. Britain’s insistence her colonies trade through Britain exclusively made Americans a race of smugglers. Most New England businessmen had money tied up in ships doing illegal business. So when the captain of the Royal Navy ship HMS Gaspee’ was overly diligent in catching coastal smugglers, people were indignant. This day the Gaspee ran aground in the shoals off Rhode Island. That night a group of patriots seized the captain and crew and burned the ship. The next day the crew were released and everyone in the vicinity caught amnesia.

1776-The Declaration of Independence read out to Washington's army defending New York City. The people of New York celebrate by pulling down a large statue of King George III at Bowling Green. They melted the lead statue into 42,000 bullets. This was all done while knowing a huge British invasion fleet was just outside their harbor about to attack. The happy mobs also arrested suspected loyalist sympathizers including Mayor David Matthews and one of General Washington’s own bodyguard.

1815 -1st natural gas well in US is discovered.

1816- Happy Argentine Independence Day!

1864- Battle of the Monocacy. Jubal Early's Confederates threatened Washington D.C., to try and pull Grant away from his deathgrip on Richmond. This day they fought a large skirmish with Union forces in the area and resume their march towards the US Capitol.

1842 - Notary Stamp Law passes.

1910 - Walter Brookins becomes 1st to pilot an airplane up to an altitude of one mile!

1918- Depressed after his sweetheart Estelle married another man, writer William Faulkner left his Oxford Mississippi home to go to Canada and enlist in the RAF. He never saw combat, because World War One ended before his training was completed.

1940- VICHY- After the terrible defeat by the Germans, the remains of the French government sets up a Nazis puppet state with elderly Great War hero Marshal Phillipe Petain as it's president. Because Paris was occupied by the Nazis, they met in the mineral water resort town of Vichy. The Vichy Republic was born. To this day the debate rages in France whether Petain was a traitor or whether he sacrificed his honor to salvage what he could of France from the wreckage of the defeat. Remember the scene at the end of the film "Casablanca" when Claude Rains pours himself some mineral water, but when he sees the label says Vichy Water he tosses it into the trash.

1942- Anne Frank and her family go into hiding from the Nazis in the warehouse attic above her fathers office.

1943- Secret agent Jan Kauszka had been smuggled out of Europe so he could go to Washington. Today he told President Franklin Roosevelt that the Polish Underground Resistance (AK) had undeniable proof that Hitler’s secret plan was to murder all the Jews of Europe.

1945- Shortly before he boarded the battleship Augusta to travel to Potsdam to confer with Churchill and Stalin, US President Harry Truman fired his Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau. Henry had been FDR’s treasury head for 12 years, the longest serving cabinet officer since founding father Albert Gallatin. Henry Morgenthau masterminded FDR’s battle with the Depression, The New Deal, and financed the World War Two victory. But Truman chaffed at being lectured by old Roosevelt stalwarts. He now called Morganthau a "blockhead", idiot," and "he don’t know sh*t from apple-butter!"

1955 - "Rock Around Clock", arguably the first Rock and Roll song, hits #1 on Top 100 chart

1956 - Dick Clark's 1st appearance as host of American Bandstand.

1972-David Bowie first appeared as his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust.

1980 - Walt Disney's the "Fox & The Hound," released. The first film Walt Disney had no influence on. Although the film has brief screen credits, it marks the torch being passed from the Nine Old Men golden age generation to the modern generation of animators. A complete personnel roster would include Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Bill Kroyer, Don Bluth, Lorna Cook, Henry Sellick, Brad, Bird, Steve Hulett, John Musker, Jerry Reese, Glen Keane and many more.

1983- The Police’s single "Every Breath You Take" goes to #1.

1993- Industrial Light & Magic completes it’s transition to digital technology by shutting down it’s Anderson Optical Printer. The Optical Printer system of mattes had been the way Motion Picture visual effects had been done since Melies in 1909, but the Digital Revolution had changed everything.
-----------------------------------------------------
Yesterday’s Quiz: What does it mean when someone gets pilloried?

Answer: A pillory was a device designed so that an offender would be
immobilized by having his/her head and hands locked into it i.e the stocks. Then, as
the pillory was usually located outside, in a very public place, the
local population could gather and taunt the person being punished,
sometime hurling insults, sometimes hurling more (mud, garbage, even
excrement). As the pillory was mostly designed for public humiliation,
it was used for rather minor offenses and the time in the pillory was
limited.

The pillory is not used anymore, but the be pilloried has come to mean
being held up to public ridicule and harassment. ( Thanks FG)

Quiz: What does it mean when someone gets pilloried?

Yesterday’s question answered below: Who said: ” Shoot if you must, this old grey head...”…?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
History for 7/8/2012
B-Dazes: Jean de LaFontaine the creator of Puss & Boots, John D. Rockefeller Sr, Nelson Rockefeller, Kathe Kollwitz, Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin, Louis Jordan, Billy Eckstine, Steve Lawrence, Percy Grainger, Cynthia Gregory, Phillip Johnson, Kim Darby, Marty Feldman, Roone Arledge, Kevin Bacon is 54, Billy Crudup, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Angelica Huston, Raffi , Jeffrey Tambor is 68

951AD Happy Birthday Paris!. The Roman city of Lutetia-muddy place- was built on the site of a Gaulish village inhabited by a tribe called the Parisi. This date was when the Franks established a castle on the present day site of the Louvre. Despite Viking raids and floods the city slowly began to grow.

1099- The Crusaders try to storm the walls of Jerusalem but are repulsed. They decided it was God telling them they were unworthy of the Holy City because they were sinful. So they drove out their camp followers and marched barefoot around the walls of Jerusalem praying and chanting. The Egyptian mercenary defenders hadn't really understood yet what this Christian Jihad stuff was all about. So they thought it was all pretty funny. They liked to urinate on the Christian knight's heads from the walls.

1249 Death of King Alexander II "the Peaceful" of Scotland who strengthened
his throne by marrying into the English royal family –his wife was called Joan MakePeace. during his reign the existing border was established and his heraldic symbol, the Red Lion Rampant on a Yellow field, became the symbol of Scotland..

1386- The Battle of Sembach- Leopold of Austria discovers why you leave the Swiss alone and let them stay neutral. His army of knights were intent on chastising this land of uppity goat herders, but they were destroyed instead. They at first held off the raging Schwyzers with a wall of spears. But then legend has it that great hero and really big schwyzer Arnold von Winkelreid shouted "Brothers! Take care of my wife and children!" and gathered up a dozen enemy spear points and shoved them into his own chest. As he pulled them down with him, that opened a gap in the Austrian line that the Swiss swarmed through to victory. Duke Leopold was found in a ditch with a battleaxe in his face and two up his butt. The last two were more for insults sake.

1497 - Vasco da Gama departs for his trip to India by way of the Horn of Africa.

1673- William of Orange elected Stadholder of Holland while the country was fighting an Anglo French invasion. In electing him the Dutch chose an aristocratic prince over the republican party of the Great Pensioner Jacob De Witt. William was for no compromise with invaders, while De Witt favored a humiliating peace. De Witt was murdered by a mob. William called for national resistance and the Dutch opened their dykes and flooded the land around Amsterdam to stop the French army. William won and he eventually became King of England as well.

1755-THE BATTLE OF THE MONONGAHELA or BRADDOCKS DEFEAT- The French and Indian War, the North American installment of the greater European conflict known as the Seven Years War began. British General Braddock, marching to surprise French held Ft. Duquesne in western Pennsylvania, was ambushed on the Monongahela River by the French and their Indian allies. Out that far in the wilderness no one was sure if the war between France and England had even been declared, so it certainly was a surprise. Braddock and all the officers were killed except for a young militia captain named George Washington. Daniel Boone was also there as a young scout. After the war Ft. Duquesne became British and renamed it after Prime Minister William Pitt, so it became Pittsburgh.

1758- French general the Marquis de Montcalm with 3,000 men at Ft. Ticonderoga, New York, throw back a British attack of 15,000 under General Abercrombie.

1775- Before the Declaration of Independence was conceived, the more conservative members of the American Congress tried a compromise. They drafted an appeal to the King to resolve America’s differences with London and stay part of the British Empire. They called it the Olive Branch Petition. It was written by John Dickinson and carried to London by William Penn III. But King George’s blood was up with these unruly Yankees. He had just got the news of his redcoat troops getting shot up on Bunker Hill. So when this weenie appeal came he brushed it aside.

1776- The new Declaration of Independence was celebrated in Philadelphia with parties and parades. With great solemnity the Royal Coat of Arms was taken down from the State House judges bench and tossed on a bonfire. Congressman John Dickinson, who argued passionately against independence, nevertheless demonstrated his love for America by joining the Continental army fighting in New York.

1801- Touissaint L’Ouverture created a new constitution for the island of French Saint Dominique’, now called Haiti. Even though Haiti became only the second democratic republic in the Americas and Americans loudly called on all nations to assert their freedom, still the Founding Fathers could not bring themselves to support a Black Republic of former slaves.

1815- The British army occupied Paris after Waterloo. A camp of white tents set up in the Bois du Boulonge. The allied bayonets returned the fat elderly Bourbon king Louis XVIII to the throne in place of Napoleon.

1822- Poet Percy Shelley drowned when a storm sank his yacht the Simon Bolivar off Leghorn, Italy. His body was cremated but his heart was embalmed in lead and presented to his wife Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley. Lord Byron swam offshore during the cremation so they could observe Shelley's spirit rising to Heaven.

1835- The Liberty Bell cracked. It rang for the Declaration of Independence and was being rung for the death of Chief Justice John Marshall.

1838- THE TRAIL OF TEARS- Cherokee Removal Treaty goes into effect. President Andrew Jackson, Indian name: "Sharp Knife", forced the entire Cherokee Nation to evacuate Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. 17,000 people were marched to Oklahoma. One third died along the way. The token amounts paid for their land could not help their heartbreak at leaving their ancestral home. Large warriors would touch or kiss trees as they trudged away to the amusement of the soldiers. The Supreme Court ruled the harassment of the Cherokee Nation was unconstitutional but President Jackson ignored them. Jackson said:" Chief Justice Marshal has ruled, now let him try to enforce it." One Georgia man later said:" I fought through the Civil War and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered in the thousands, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever knew."

1889-The Wall Street Journal first published.

1889- The last great bareknuckle championship fight. John L. Sullivan defeated Jake Kilrain in Mississippi for a purse of $20,000. After 60 rounds one of Sullivan’s eyes was shut, he was covered with welts and blood was showing above his shoes. When his manager recommended declaring a draw, Sullivan said:" Hell no. I want to kill him!" He won at Sundown, after 75 rounds. Sullivan was one of the first flamboyant prizefighters and the first American fighter to declare himself Champion of the World. He’d travel from town to town building his legend:"I’m John L. Sullivan and I can lick any man in the house!" And he usually did.

1896- William Jennings Bryan"the Son of the Plains", electrifies listeners at the Democratic Convention with a speech denouncing the gold standard: "You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" Whether federal currency should be backed by gold or cheaper silver divided Americans along class lines. Modern people only recall Bryan as the attorney Clarence Darrow made look silly in the Scopes "Monkey Trials". But Bryan was a fiery populist orator and strong rogue political force who made several tries at the Presidency. He was a Ralph Nader with Pat Robertson and some Ethel Merman thrown in.

1907-The First Ziegfield Follies, staged on the roof of the New York Theater, now called the New Amsterdam Theater.

1911- Burbank incorporated as a city.

1918- A young American ambulance driver serving in Italy during the First World War gets badly wounded by shrapnel fire. His name was Ernest Hemingway. His long recovery and love affair with his nurse he later worked into his novel "A Farewell To Arms".

1922- Horn player Louis Armstrong left his hometown of New Orleans to go to Chicago and play in King Oliver’s Jazz band.

1932- THE DEPRESSION STOCK MARKET HITS ROCK BOTTOM - free falling since the Great Crash of October 1929, and compounded by the Harley-Smoot trade act of 1931, which started a trade war that killed off overseas exports. From a Dow Jones high in the Roaring Twenties of 262, today’s average hit bottom at 58. Only 720,278 shares exchanged. One local club wallpapered the bar with unsold bond certificates. The Bond market lost around ten million in value, Total output of heavy industries like steel production were working at only 12% of capacity. 25% of the U.S. workforce was unemployed, 50% of New York City, 80% of industrial cities like Detroit and Toledo. Top Wall Street securities firms like Morgan and Salomon Brothers encouraged "Apple Days"- one day a week for brokers to go on the street to sell apples to supplement their income. One songwriter wrote a song about the unpopularity of stock traders: " Please Don't Tell Mother I Work on Wall Street, She Thinks I Play Piano in a WhoreHouse. " The just completed Empire State Building was nicknamed the "Empty State Building." because there were no businesses to move into it. Yet President Herbert Hoover could only spout unrealistic slogans like "the economy is fundamentally sound" and "prosperity is just around the corner." Mt. Rushmore sculptor Judson Borglum said: "If you put a flower in Hoover's hand, it would wilt !"

1932- Tod Brownings disturbing movie "Freaks" about a family of circus sideshow performers, premiered. One of Us, One of Us!

1951- The first meeting of American, United Nations, North Korean and Chinese officials to discuss peace terms to end the Korean War. The talks dragged on for months and eventually signed as the Treaty of Panmunjom. At this first meeting the reds and allies noted little psychological victories. The North Koreans drove up in a captured American jeep. When the chief Communist negotiator General Nom Il wanted a smoke he pulled out a Russian cigarette. But after striking 14 Peoples Democratic Chinese matches he still couldn’t get it to light. So he was finally forced to light his cigarette by borrowing from the Americans a good old capitalist Zippo lighter.

1961-YEAH, BABY YEAH!! Upon arriving at Cliveden, Estate of Lord and Lady Astor, Britains Secretary for War Sir John Profumo was introduced to Christine Keilor, a 19 year old party girl swimming nude in the pool. Profumo and Lord Astor chased Christine around the pool trying to pull her towel away while bejeweled guests arrived for a party. It was bad enough that the married Profumo started a hot affair with Christine, but also her manager Stephen Ward was connected to an East German Communist spy ring. The Profumo Scandal brought down the MacMillan Tory Government in 1963.

1969 - Thor Heyerdahl and his raft Ra II landed in Barbados 57 days from Morocco. He was trying to prove ancient mariners could have traveled from Africa to the Americas using a ship made from papyrus reeds. It also may explain the phenomenon that some Egyptian mummies have been found to have traces of tobacco and chocolate in their stomachs.

1978- 100,000 rallied in Washington D.C. in support of the Equal Rights Amendment- the ERA.

1982- Walt Disney's TRON- the first film featuring computer graphics premiered. It only was about 20 minutes of actual CGI, and the computer images were still printed onto traditional animation cells and painted, but it was still a significant achievement. Remember in 1981 there were no off the shelf graphics software. The big deal at the time was that MAGI had just solved the "hidden Line" problem.

1998- An original 1477 William Caxton copy of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"
became the world's most expensive book when it was sold for £4,621,500 to
billionaire oil heir Paul Getty
-------------------------------------
Yesterday’s Quiz: Who said: ” Shoot if you must, this old grey head...”…?

Answer: It's from a poem The Ballad of Barbara Frietchie by John Whittier, about an incident during the Civil War when Stonewall Jackson passed by an old woman who refused to lower the Stars & Stripes. " Shoot if you must, this old gray head, but spare your countries flag! She said."