This Day in History.

AUG. 1st

1929 U.S.A. Cows: A cow in Arkansas met with an unusual calamity while in its pasture.
It wasn’t lightening or hardware’s disease that killed it. Apparently it choked to death on the farmer’s lost wad of money. In this case being in the dough doomed the dense bovine.

1939 U.S.A. Alcatraz Crime Writers: Two prisoners from Alcatraz Penitentiary, whose crimes were all over the newspapers, became story writers themselves it seems. The Federal Bureau of Prisons received 173 entries in their short story contest and the criminal competitors sent in their stories from 14 different intuitions.

1981 U.S.A. MTV Debuts : MTV the music video cable channel whose original purpose was to "play music videos" launches. The first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

1900 China Boxer Rebellion: The Boxer Rebellion erupted and the Chinese were fighting the Europeans. U.S. troops were sent to help quell the violence. It appeared unclear who actually remained in charge in Peking, but, General Chafee’s strong U.S. cavalry filled the gap in international forces. European politicians wanted a full scale attack the last week of August, but, the U.S. to poised their military personnel to attack immediately.

1914 Germany Declaration Of War: Germany sent a declaration of war to the Russian minister of foreign affairs as the German army began mobilizing for war.

1929 U.S.A. Thomas Edison: A state-wide contest held in West Orange County, New Jersey held by Thomas Edison to determine who his next 49 proteges would be. The tough exam questions included knowledge about science, geography, history, chemistry, and personal ethics. One query asked if “… a lie (is) permissible and … if they would choose to become successful at the loss of happiness, comfort, reputation, pride, honor, health, money, or love.”

1936 Germany Olympic Games: Possibly one of the most controversial Olympic games of modern times opens in Berlin, Germany with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler. The Games of the XI Olympiad were used by Germany as a tool for propaganda. to promote their ideology, and its promotion of the superiority of the "Aryan Race" by only allowing Germans of "Aryan race" to compete for Germany.

1941 U.S.A. Willy's Jeep Introduced: Willy's Truck Company introduced the Jeep for the U.S. Army who were looking for a fast lightweight all terrain vehicle.

1944 Poland Polish Home Army: Following the sustained attack by the Red Army on German Nazi troops the Polish Home army begin the battle to liberate Warsaw from German control. The home army had been fighting the German invasion as an underground movement up to this day, but with the German troops already reeling from Russian attacks the Poles came out into the open to regain control for their beloved country.

1949 England Atlantic Pact:: After World War II strategies for the defense of Europe was to be discussed in London when U.S. chiefs of staff visited. Americans were expected to employ both financial and military support as well as equipment to prevent Soviet political aggression. The Atlantic Pact made up of European countries possessed 2 million troops, but their military budget had been severely curtailed due to reconstruction costs after the ravages of war. Already, The Cold War was shaping up.

1966 U.S.A. University Of Texas Shootings: Ex-Marine Charles Whitman with a stockpile of guns and ammunition on the observatory platform at a 300 foot tower at the University of Texas proceeds to shoot 46 people, killing 14 people and wounding 31. He had killed both his wife and mother the night before.

1968 UK Apple Records: The Beatles finish recording their first record "Hey Jude" for Apple Records part of Apple Corps Ltd which they had created earlier in the year, it is released on 26th August with the B side "Revolution".

1970 U.S.A. Soaring Inflation Worries: President Richard Nixon’s powers to freeze prices, wages, and interest rates were to be voted on in the house amid howls of foul play from Republicans. Soaring inflation prompted this move to give the president more executive powers.

1971 Space Apollo 15: During a moon safari on "lunar rover" astronauts David Scott and James Irwin have uncovered a rock (Genesis rock) believed to be about 4,500 million years old which may date back to the origin of the Moon.

1972 U.S.A. George Bush: Future President George W Bush, son of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, is suspended from flying with the Texas Air National Guard for missing an annual medical examination

1976 Germany F1 Crash Niki Lauda: Austrian born Formula 1 racing driver Niki Lauda became trapped inside his Ferrari after an horrific accident at the Grand Prix in Germany. He was trapped inside the burning car until other drivers managed to pull him from his burning Ferrari. Although he was out for some time with his injuries, in 1977 and 1984 he won the F1 World Championship again.

1994 U.S.A. Michael Jackson Marries: The king of pop and the daughter of the king of rock confirmed they were secretly married 11 weeks ago. Michael Jackson, 35, and Lisa Marie Presley, 26, announced in a statement

1997 U.S.A. Thyroid Cancer: The National Cancer Institute released information that nuclear testing during the 1950s could be a cause of thyroid cancer and as many as 10,000 to 75,000 people, exposed to the 1950's fallout as children, could develop thyroid cancer.

2000 U.S.A. Titanic: Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. on his own accord ruled that the R.M.S. Titanic Company, who had salvage rights to the Titanic, was banned from cutting into the sunken ship and plundering the artifacts. The salvage company apparently was searching for $300 million in lost diamonds and had sold chunks of coal from the famous ship wreck.

2000 UK Concern Over Petrol Prices: Concern in the UK is growing as petrol goes over the 80p per litre mark making the cost of petrol just over £3.00 per gallon or $5.85, (current US Price is $1.26 per gallon) motorists are unhappy that in the UK 75% of the cost of a gallon or more than £2.00 goes to taxes.

2001 U.S.A. Ban On Human Cloning: The United States House of Representatives votes to ban all human cloning but it is not voted into law as the Democratic led Senate votes against it.

2006 U.S.A. Califonia and UK agree On Climate Environment Deal: The United Kingdom and the state of California made a deal to reduce their impacts on the environment together. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reached the agreement after a visit by Blair to Long Beach.

2007 U.S.A. Minneapolis I35W Bridge Collapse: A Bridge crossing the Mississippi river on I35W in Minneapolis collapses with cars dropping the 50ft into the river, due to quick responses by emergency services only 13 people lost their lives in the tragedy.

2008 Brazil Amazon Rainforest: The president of Brazil launched a fund aimed at protecting the Amazon rainforest. Luis Inacio Lula de Silva created the fund to fight climate change and come up with alternatives to cutting down the forests. The fund will rely on international donations in order to reach its $21 billion goal.

August 1, 1942 - Happy Birthday Jerry Garcia!!!

What did folks breathe before O2 was discovered?

Aug. 3rd

1914 World War I Declaration Of War: Germany and France Declare war on the other signaling the beginning of the first World War

1918 Russia Germans Killed: Russian revolutionaries killed 700 Germans in a blast at Kiev, which indicates a terror campaign has started against the German oppressors.

1923 U.S.A. Calvin Coolidge Sworn In As President: Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president of the United States after learning that President Warren Harding had collapsed and died while visiting California the day before.

1931 U.S.A. Sheep In Texas: Old time sheep ranchers in San Angelo, Texas recall that the first sheep were brought into West Texas in 1875 by John Arden who drove the animals from California.

1940 England World War II: British troops hammered the Germans with air raids which the former claimed as “a smashing success”. Supplies, harbours, and airplane hangers were targeted in over 100 German cities.

1957 Cuba Fidel Castro: Rebel resistance and strikes were plaguing President Fulgenico Batista’s government in Cuba. Fidel Castro’s forces poured down from their secret mountain hide- out to fight with Batista’s troops. A news blackout was in effect.

1958 North Pole Nautilus: The US Nuclear Submarine Nautilus is the first undersea vessel to reach the Geographic North Pole.

1961 U.S.A. Arms Build Up During Cold War: President John F. Kennedy got approval from Congress to spend $958 million to purchase missiles, planes, and war ships to bolster the American military.

1970 U.S.A. Hurricane Celia: The catagory 3 hurricane "Hurricane Celia" makes landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas killing 15 in Texas and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.

1977 U.S.A. CIA and Mind Control: As of today the CIA has spent a total of $25 million over 25 years started in 1950 to study mind control and brainwashing. Research was done by Dr. D. Ewen Cameron on sensory deprivation, isolation, and his own methods of “psychic driving”. He did these experiments at McGill University in Montreal. The psychiatric patients that Cameron used as subjects were damaged for life.

1978 Lebanon Israel Bombs Southern Lebanon: Israel retaliates after Palestinian terrorists bomb a Tel Aviv market by sending in bombers to a guerrilla base southern Lebanon.

1978 Canada Commonwealth Games: The Queen opens the 11th Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada.

1981 U.S.A. Air Traffic Controllers Strike: 13,000 Air traffic controllers walked off the job today in hopes that the U.S. federal government would agree to their demands for better pay. President Ronald Reagan had warned them they would be fired if they went on strike and a short time later he did have them fired.

1982 U.S.A. Sodomy Arrest: Michael Hardwick is arrested for sodomy after a police officer observes him having sex with another man in his own bedroom in Georgia.
In 1986, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, ruling by a 5-4 vote that states could continue to treat certain types of consensual sex as criminal acts.

1989 Soviet Union Flight 007 Case Settled: Flight 007, a Korean Air Lines plane, shot down in Soviet territory six years ago killing all 269 passengers. After 6 years 137 family members won $50 million in damages. In court the jury deemed that the pilot was guilty of “wilful misconduct”.

1990 Great Britain Heat Wave: Great Britain is in the grips of a heat wave and the highest recorded temperature in modern recorded history is recorded at Nailstone, Leicestershire of 37.1C, or 99F, .
The 1990 record is broken during the August heat wave of 2003 when a temperature 38.5C or 101.3F was recorded Brogdale, Kent.

2003 U.S.A. Anglican Church Approves Gay Bishop: The Anglican Church has voted to approve the appointment of Mr Robinson an openly gay bishop who has lived with his male partner for 14 years.

2004 U.S.A. Savannah River Research Campus: Dr. Bill Summers, a key scientist looked on as dignitaries turned the sod on the Savannah River Research Campus which was built for researching hydrogen as an alternative fuel source.

2004 U.S.A. Statue of Liberty: The Statue of Liberty was reopened for tourists for the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks.

2006 Venezuela Saab Ends Arms Sales To Venezuela: Swedish defense company, Saab states that it will no longer sell arms to Venezuela after a United States embargo is put in place against Venezuela. The company had been selling arms to Venezuela for twenty years but decided to comply after the embargo banned any company that uses American parts from selling to Venezuela.

2008 China Olympic Torch: The Olympic torch passed through the Sichuan province of China on its way to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Games. The torch was originally scheduled to pass through in June but could not due to a large earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people in the province in May.

2009 Japan Trial By Jury Retried: Japan held the first jury trial since World War II. The introduction of a jury system after nearly sixty years of a very private justice system leads many to believe the judicial process will become more democratic and fair than in the past.

Aug. 4th

1892 U.S.A. Lizzie Borden:The parents of Lizzie Borden (Andrew and Abby Borden) were found murdered at their home in Massachusetts.

1913 U.S.A. Horse Injured: While Reverend W.W. Landrum, pastor of a black church in Louisville, Kentucky, preached his Sunday sermon a car smashed into a hapless horse outside the building. The tormented animal’s screams moved the pastor and his congregation to great pity and since a fountain to bathe the horse’s wounds in was not available, the church started to raise funds for a horse fountain to be built.

1923 U.S.A. Warren G. Harding: Warren G. Harding, former president of the United States, lay in a funeral train as people from all stations of life bared their heads and bowed. Some were in groups of hundreds, others in dozens. Military men were to escort Harding’s remains from the White House to Washington for the funeral. Harding’s remains were to lie in state at the White House.

1941 Russia Nazi Troops Within 50 miles of Kiev: Nazi troops marched within 50 miles of Kiev. Both Russians and Nazis reported catastrophic casualties in the 44 day battle. Hitler’s high commissioners boasted that 2,300 Soviets were dead, 71 tanks were captured, and 10,000 Russian soldiers were taken captive. Russia claimed that in a counteroffensive they killed 1,000 Nazis, and wrecked 100 tanks. Mussolini summed World War II up to his troops, “the line-up is now complete between the two worlds with Rome, Berlin, and Tokyo on one side and London, Washington, and Moscow, on the other.”

1944 Holland Anne Frank Captured: The Nazi Gestapo captures 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse.

1950 U.S.A. Polio Cases On The Increase: Both Snyder and Abilene in Texas had a total of six polio cases involving children recently, which indicates and upswing in this disease.

1964 U.S.A. Three Civil Rights Workers Bodies Found: Three civil rights workers (Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney) were found buried in a partially constructed dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. after disappearing more than a month before, police are investigating if members of the Ku Klux Klan are responsible.

1967 China Nuclear Worries Over China: The world’s nuclear fears were aroused when China exploded an H-bomb on June 17, 1966, under the presidency of Mao Tse-tung. An editorial a year later in The Ada Evening News focused on fear mongering about nuclear war and remembered the horrors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima 22 years before the Chinese got the bomb.

1972 U.S.A. Governor George Wallace: Arthur Bremer, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been found guilty of the shooting and attempted murder of White House hopeful Mr Wallace at a political rally in Laurel, Maryland on 15th May. He has been sentenced to 63 years in jail by a court in Maryland, USA. Mr Wallace, was paralyzed by the shots and three other people were injured in the incident.

1972 Philippines After Monsoon Hundreds Found Dead: Floodwaters finally recede revealing total devastation and hundreds dead. During July in the monsoon season nearly 70 inches of rain fell causing several dikes to fail and less than a week later, a typhoon dropped even more rain on the already saturated region causing more dikes throughout the area to fail causing many hundreds of thousands of acres to flood and leaving many dead and many more homeless, following on Cholera and typhoid epidemics broke out and because most of the crops had also been damaged food also became scarce .

1978 Lebanon Israeli Attack: An Israeli air attack on southern Lebanon occurred in retaliation for a Palestinian bombing of a Tel Aviv market place. The Israelis claimed that the Palestinian bomb contained nails and ball bearings, killing one and wounding 48.

1989 U.S.A. The Savings and Loan Crisis: The Savings and Loan crisis which involved more than 500 savings and loan associations led President George Herbert Bush to consider a $150 billion bail out in an unprecedented piece of legislature.

1999 U.S.A. ATM Usage Goes Down: The Bank News Network has discovered that there has been a drop in the usage of ATM machines. Angry consumers are annoyed by the service charges for ATM usage and there is a 2.9% decrease in ATM transactions. This is the first time in a decade that there has been a decrease.

2000 UK Queen Mother Celebrates 100 yrs old: Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother is celebrating her birthday and 100 years old.

2005 Pacific Ocean Russian Mini Sub Ask For Help: A Russian mini-submarine carrying seven Russians became caught on a part of the Russian secret coastal defense installation in the Pacific Ocean. The men were rescued three days later with help from a British remote-controlled vehicle that cut away the undersea cables that had snarled the mini-sub.

2006 U.S.A. Ford Recall: A total of 1.2 million Ford vehicles such as Econoline vans had defective cruise control switches that could overheat and cause fires. Ford vehicles were recalled from the periods of 1994-1996.

2006 Ukraine New Prime Minister: After a four month period of political deadlock, Viktor Yanukovych became Ukraine’s prime minister. The former leader had been forced out in 2004 believed in forming a closer bond with Russia and was elected by a clear majority of parliament.

2008 United States Morgan Freeman: Morgan Freeman, the academy award winning actor, was involved in a serious car accident on this day. Freeman and a passenger were airlifted to a hospital in serious condition.

2009 North Korea Clinton Diplomacy: Two American journalists (Euna Lee and Laura Ling), who had been arrested and imprisoned for illegal entry into North Korea earlier in the year are granted a pardon following a meeting between former president Clinton and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

(I added) 2011 USA President Barack Hussein Obama II Celebrates 50 yrs old: Barack Hussein Obama II is celebrating his birthday and 50 years old.

AUG. 5th

1901 Germany Dowager Empress Frederick of Germany: Victoria, Dowager Empress Frederick of Germany has become gravely ill and many royal dignitaries are rushing to her sickbed.

1920 U.S.A. Women’s’ Suffrage Movement: Senator Harding of Tennessee wired republican leaders to ask for support for the women’s’ suffrage movement in the legislature.

1934 U.S.A. Dust Bowl Years: Oklahoma experienced a ravaging drought with temperatures reaching 117 degrees, killing both animals and humans. Ten thousand people in this state are on federal relief because of the drought. The cotton crop was only in fair condition. Pastures, crops, and orchards were scorched. Two thousand five hundred livestock were being bought a day by the government to prevent them from starving, however 30,000 beasts have already succumbed.

1944 Poland Freedom Fighters: Polish freedom fighters liberate a German forced labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners, who join in a general uprising against the Germans.

1947 Great Britain Asks US For Another Loan: Impoverished by World War II, Britain was looking to America in 1948 for financial help. Winston Churchill offered the Labor party support in appealing to the U.S. for another loan. He accused the British government of wasting the pervious loan of $3,150,000 on nonessentials. Churchill pontificated, “There is no shame in one brave and faithful ally, deeply injured in the common struggle, asking for another to help him recover and stand upon his feet.”

1948 Ecuador Earthquake: A deadly 6.7 magnitude earthquake hits Ecuador killing 6,000 people and injuring another 20,000 . The quake hit high in the Andes Mountains, about 100 miles south of Quito.

1954 U.S.A. Terrible New Clothes Fashions: Col. John H. Dilley, a hardened warrior who distinguished himself in Africa during World War II, wasn’t scorned today because of his military advice. He was outspoken about his views on clothing worn by American women.

1957 U.S.A. "American Bandstand": "American Bandstand," which featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 chart music hosted by Dick Clark, makes its network debut on ABC. The show had been running as a local show since it was introduced on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV (Channel 6, now WPVI-TV) on October 7, 1952 and ran until the show ended in 1989.

1962 U.S.A. Marilyn Monroe: Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bedroom, the death was ruled a suicide, as a bottle of empty sleeping pills was found near Monroe's body.

1963 Soviet Union Test Ban Treaty: A partial nuclear test ban treaty was signed by the United States, Britain and Russia, the ban ends testing in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater.

1973 Greece Terrorist Bombing: Two Arab gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Black September take 35 hostages and open fire and throw grenades into a crowded passenger lounge at Athens airport killing 3 and injuring over 50 more.

1973 Cambodia American Bombing: Justice William O. Douglas issued a ban on the American bombing of Cambodia. However, it was overturned by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall hours later.

1975 England Dutch Elm Disease: Dutch elm disease has now destroyed more than three million trees in Britain and is continuing to spread according to Forestry Commission officials. The disease is believed to have spread from North America to Britain in infected imported timber.

1981 U.S.A. Air Traffic Controllers: Following the strike by Air traffic controllers for more pay and better working conditions President Ronald Reagan called the strike illegal and threatened to fire any controller who had not returned to work within 48 hours. He also declared a lifetime ban on the rehiring of any sacked strikers by the Federal Aviation Administration.

1983 U.S.A. At&T Broken Up: AT&T is broken down into seven regional companies ( often called Baby Bells ) following the government's anti-trust suit against AT&T in 1974, and after nearly a decade of legal wrangling, forced the phone behemoth to divest itself of companies that provided local service.

1999 U.S.A. Mark McGwire: Mark McGwire hit his 500th home run today at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

2001 U.S.A. President George W. Bush : President George W. Bush got a deluxe, six-hour physical carried out by 14 doctors his first since taking office. Apart from having a few skin lesions removed, the physicians deemed him to be in excellent health and liable to stay that way for the rest of his presidency.

2006 U.S.A. Serial Shooter Killers Arrested: Phoenix, Arizona police have arrested two suspects in connection with the Serial Shooter Murders responsible for six murders and at least 29 other shootings in the Phoenix area. The suspects have been identified as Dale S. Hausner and Samuel John Dieteman.

2006 Turkey Tigris River Dam: Turkey began building a dam on the Tigris river on this day.

2007 Iraq U.S. Soldier Trial For Rape Conviction: Jesse Spielman, a United States soldier convicted of playing a role in the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl and her family in Iraq was sentenced to 110 years in prison.

2007 Israel Holocaust Survivors Protest: Holocaust survivors and other protesters demonstrated in front of the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office on this day. The protesters demanded more state sponsored aid from the government for holocaust survivors.

AUG. 8th.

1910 Spain Uprising Quelled: In San Sebastian, uprisings against the Spanish government ruled by King Alfonso XIII were quelled by cavalry, infantry, and other military men. A large bull fight took place on this day, however, some priests shouted, “Death to Spain! Long live the Pope!” One hundred and fifty people were arrested and the rest took flight.

1921 Ship Sinks Off Alaska: Off the coast of Alaska, the ship Alaska bound for San Francisco met with tragedy. In the fog the ship hit a rocky ledge twice. The boilers blew up as a result, blowing a lot of its passengers off the decks and out into the icy ocean.

1929 U.S.A. Graf Zeppelin: The airship Graf Zeppelin began its world tour today from Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA.

1937 Canada Wife Beating IS Legal: In Hamilton, Ontario a man who was charged with beating his wife was deemed to be within his legal rights. Canadian judge, William McLeary cited the English Common Law made in 1879 which stated that a man has a right in certain cases to “chastise or confine” his wife.

1942 U.S.A. Operation Pastorius: Six Members who were part of Operation Pastorius are executed in the electric chair at the District of Columbia jail. Operation Pastorius was a failed plan by German Nazi's to sabotage American economic targets including hydro-electric plants, railway stations, and other key US targets, they were landed in the US by German U-Boats in June and the plan failed because two of the saboteurs (Dasch and Burger) decided they did not wish to proceed with the plan and informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1949 Ecuador Earthquake: Ecuador was rocked by a devastating earthquake in 1949, killing 4,600 people and doing an estimated 20 million dollars damage. To add to the tragedy a plane on a mission of mercy crashed and killed 34 more people.

1956 U.S.A. First State Bank Tuscola: In Tuscola, the First State Bank was burned out, but immediately re-opened the very next morning in a feed store. When the bank opened in 1912 customers made their deposits through chicken wire, this bank had survived the Great Depression when lesser banks went under and fire did not interrupt business much.

1956 Belgium Coal Mine Fire Marcinelle: A fire in a coal mine in Marcinelle, Belgium leaves 262 miners dead.
U.S.

1962 U.S.A. Polio Mass Immunizations: A polio scare brought a decree from the Taylor-Jones County health authorities to do a mass immunization of all residents and encourage surrounding counties to do likewise. According to a spokesperson from the Medical Society, “The Sabin vaccine gives immunity to polio, whereas the Salk vaccine prevents paralytic polio.” They decided that the Sabin vaccine was the best, since it is given orally, not like the Salk vaccine which has to be injected.

1963 Great Britain "The Great Train Robbery": The date of "The Great Train Robbery" in United Kingdom when thieves held up a train carrying the Royal Mail and stole 120 mail sacks , the mail sacks contained cash and gems valued in excess of 7 Million.

1974 U.S.A. Nixon Resigns: Richard Nixon Announces his resignation following the Watergate Scandal During a nationally televised broadcast.

1976 U.S.A. Legionnaire’s Disease: In Harrisburg, Philadelphia ten thousand legionnaires who attended a convention from July 21-24 were in a panic after the outbreak of a mystery disease among their ranks. Twenty-four persons have already died and 87 are ill. Doctors are completely baffled as to what virus or fungus could have caused this illness.

1988 Burma The Burmese 8888 Uprising: Students begin protesting for a return to democracy and are joined Burmese citizens from all walks of life, including Buddhist monks. The demonstrations were peaceful and spread from the Burmese capital to other cities in Burma. As the numbers of protesters grew Burma's military government leader Ne Win put military soldiers on the streets with orders, "That Guns were not to shoot upwards,", it is estimated that the soldiers killed in excess of 2,500 students and Buddhist monks before the uprising ended.

1991 Lebanon John McCarthy Released: John McCarthy a British journalist has been released after being held captive for more than five years by Islamic Jihad. The terrorist militant organisation are still holding a number of American and English hostages including Terry Anderson, Tom Sutherland and Terry Waite.

1992 Croatia Children's Charity Foundation: A Croatian relief foundation has had a flood of calls and donations lately. It started after a news reel showed a load of Croatian children get sprayed with bullets. Prior to this the Croatian Family Funds had received very little notice. However, many people now want to adopt a Croatian child from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

2000 U.S.A. Brush Fires Worst In 50 Years: As the number, intensity and area of the Western United States affected by brush fires increases to more than 1.5 million hectares burned making this the worst year for wild fires in 50 years.

2001 Bahamas Human Cloning: In the Bahamas a company called Clonaid has intimated that they might be cloning human beings. Clonaid argues that it is ethical to clone human genetic material and complications like congenital defects or fetal death do not scare Ms. Boisseller, president of the company. She will not confirm or deny whether a human has actually been cloned in her laboratory.

2001 U.S.A. Golden Hollywood Couple Divorce: Hollywood Golden Couple superstars Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise who have two adopted children, Isabella, 8, and Conor, 6, divorce.

2002 Brazil IMF Loan: The (IMF) International Monetary Fund has announced details of an additional $30 billion dollar loan to Brazil to help stabilize the economy, this is in addition to the $15 billion last year.

2006 Spain Hundreds of Morocco Migrants Arrested: A total of 383 migrants, mostly from Morocco, who hid in trucks and fairground rides were arrested in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa on this day. The migrants were headed for the Spanish mainland when they were intercepted by authorities.

2007 Guam Russians Restart Exercises Over Guam: Russia flew two bomber airplanes to Guam, an island that holds a large US military base on this day. The exercise was said to be the first of its kind since the Cold War ended. The US fighter pilots responded and the pilots exchanged smiles and visual contact.

2007 China Baijis Dolphin Possible Extinct: Scientists announced that a rare type of dolphin was like to be extinct. The Yangtze river dolphin, called Baijis, did not show up on researchers’ surveys of the river.

2008 China 2008 Summer Olympics Starts: Beijing marked the beginning of the 2008 Summer Olympic games with a large opening ceremony lasting four hours that included a light show and fireworks.

AUG. 9th

1902 England Edward VII: Edward VII, the son of Queen Victoria, was crowned as the new King Of England.

1904 U.S.A. Stagecoach: In Yellowstone Park a stagecoach was held up by a couple of young ladies on horseback who had been camping in the area. One was the daughter of a prominent New York newspaper man. The ladies, who were in disguise, got the passengers to give up their valuables, but it turned out that the hold up was a hoax.

1925 U.S.A. Ku Klux Klan Mass Meeting Washington: Ku Klux Klan members flooded Washington in the thousands in the summer of 1925 Pennsylvania Avenue was awash in white robes and official Klansmen asserted that they had met their quota of 50,000 marchers.

1933 U.S.A. Cotton Crop: The cotton crop was 12,314,000 bales less than the year before and the price per bale dropped $1.50. Ten thousand three hundred and four acres of cotton had been ploughed under in a cotton reduction program making production 74.2% less than normal.

1936 Germany Jesse Owens: Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal as part of the US 4X100 meter relay team having already won the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin.

1941 U.S.A. Silk Stockings: Sometimes stocking up on scarce commodities doesn’t pay, as Mrs. E. Petero of Prospect Park found out.

1945 Japan Atom Bomb Dropped On Nagasaki: The United States dropped its second atomic bomb killing more than 70,000 people in Nagasaki, Japan. The first bomb had been dropped 3 days earlier on Hiroshima.

1952 U.S.A. Wife Murders Husband: Dan Webster Shattles was an ex-Marine with a femme fatale for a wife. On more than one occasion Mrs. Shattles shot at her husband. In 1949 she shot him on a street corner and caused superficial wounds.

1967 Vietnam American Helicopter Attack: In Vietnam a company of American helicopters attacked a North Vietnamese military tunnel and exchanged heavy fire. Three U.S. helicopters were shot down and two hit in the Song Re valley, some 330 miles from Saigon.

1969 U.S.A. Sharon Tate Found Murdered: Five people, including actress Sharon Tate, were found murdered in the wealthy Bel Air suburb of the city Los Angeles, California, Cult leader Charles Manson and several of his followers were later convicted of the killings.

1974 U.S.A. Gerald Ford: Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president of the United States after the Watergate Affair and President Richard Nixon resigns.

1978 U.S.A. Inflation: Inflation rates rose by 1.1% in just one month as well as steeply rising fuel costs. Gas and heating oil had increased in price dramatically. Gas prices this year exceeded the July 1978 prices by 38.9% and heating fuel was 51.8% higher. Yearly Inflation Rate for 1978 in the USA was 7.62% Yearly Inflation Rate for 1978 in Great Britain was 8.3% To put this in perspective 1975 Inflation UK was 24.2% and 1979 in USA was 11.2%

1979 Great Britain Brighton Nudist Beach Opens: Brighton on the south coast becomes the first major resort in Britain to officially set aside a 200-yard stretch of its beach for nudists, the nudist beach will be open to the public for next summer.

1987 Libya Col. Moanmmar Gadhafi: Italian sources claim that Col. Moanmmar Gadhafi, president of Libya tied the knot . His bride who is a daughter of oil baron Adnan Khashoggi, was 25 years old and named Nabila.

1994 U.S.A. O.J. Simpson Double Murder Trial: Amid fear that the O.J. Simpson trial would detract from the November election, the media frenzy continued. Simpson, a famous football player and T.V. personality was being tried for double murder.

1995 U.S.A. Jerry Garcia: Jerry Garcia the lead guitarist and vocalist of the rock band "The Grateful Dead." is found dead in his room at a rehabilitation clinic (Serenity Knolls Treatment Center) he had checked into earlier, the cause of death on the death certificate was "Heart Attack".

2006 U.S.A. Bruce Willis: Bruce Willis, a famous actor, is going to sue his childhood friend for one million dollars. Bruce DiMattia threatened to reveal damaging secrets about Willis unless the latter paid him $100,000 and bought him a new car. DiMattia lived in a house owned by Willis’ for free from 2002-2006. Willis employed DiMattia to manage his videos, photographs, and memorabilia.

2006 U.S.A. Lieberman Files To Run as Independent: The Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman officially filed to run for the Senate in the 2006 election as an independent after he lost his party’s primary.

2008 Georgia Violence Erupts: Further violence erupts in the South Ossetia region of Georgia when Russian military forces respond to perceived aggression by the Georgian army when it tried to take control of the Russian supported break away region of South Ossetia.

RIP Jerry Garcia 8.1.42 8.9.95

It all rolls into one
and nothing comes for free
There's nothing you can hold
for very long
And when you hear that song
come crying like the wind
it seems like all this life
was just a dream
Stella Blue