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Just Plain Fun

This Day in History – August 9, 2011

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480 -BC- Persia defeats Spartan king Leonidas at Thermopylae 48 BC Caesar’s civil war: Battle of Pharsalus – Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt. 1173 Construction of the campanile of the cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete. 1483 Opening of the Sistine Chapel in Rome with the celebration of a Mass. 1638 Jonas Bronck of Holland becomes 1st European settler in the Bronx 1673 Dutch recapture NY from English; regained by English in 1674 1778 Capt Cook passes through Bering Strait 1786 1st ascent of Mt Blanc 1790 Columbia becomes 1st US flagged ship to voyage around the world 1803 1st horses arrive in Hawaii 1814 Indian Wars: the Creek sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving up huge parts of Alabama and Georgia. 1831 1st US steam engine train run (Albany to Schenectady, NY) 1842 US-Canada border defined by Webster-Ashburton Treaty 1848 Barnburners (anti-slavery) party merges with the Free Soil Party nominating Martin Van Buren for president 1893 1st US bowling magazine, Gut Holz, published in NY 1902 Edward VII of England crowned after death of his mother Victoria 1907 The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in southern England. 1923 NY State Golf Assoc formed 1930 Betty Boop debutes in Max Fleischer’s animated cartoon Dizzy Dishes 1936 Summer Olympic Games: Games of the XI Olympiad – Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympiad. 1942 Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement. 1944 The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time. 1945 US drops 2nd atomic bomb “Fat Man” on Japan destroys part of Nagasaki 1946 1st time all major-league baseball games (8) are played at night 1956 1st state-wide, state-supported educational TV network, Alabama 1965 Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the first and only country to date to gain independence unwillingly. 1965 A fire at a Titan missile base near Searcy, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers. 1969 Members of a cult led by Charles Manson brutally murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men’s hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent. 1970 Peruvian Airlines jet carrying 45 US exchange students explodes 1972 Rockwell receives NASA contract to construct the Space Shuttle 1973 USSR launches Mars 7 1974 Richard Nixon resigns presidency, VP Gerald Ford becomes 38th pres 1975 1st NFL game in Louisiana Superdome, Houston beats Saints 13-7 1988 Just 1 day after 8/8/88 NY’s daily number is 888 1988 Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial player transactions in ice hockey history, upsetting many Canadians so much that some considered him a “traitor” to his home country. 2001 US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells. 2006 At least 21 suspected terrorists were arrested in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot that happened in the United Kingdom. The arrests were made in London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in an overnight operation.]]]]> ]]>

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