August 15. Better get your game on if you want to make the list for today...

927. The Saracens (Muslims) capture and destroy Taranto, Italy.

1483. Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel.

1519. Panama City, Panama, is founded.

1543. St. Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates take initial vows, leading to the founding of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

1824. Freed American slaves found Liberia.

1843. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace is dedicated in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in continuous use in the United States.

1914. The Panama Canal opens to traffic, with the first ship using the canal being the cargo ship Ancon. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the canal resulted in the deaths of over 21,000 Frenchmen who were involved in the project during French control (1880 to about 1900), and a further 5,600 US deaths during the US control and construction period (until 1914). The project also led to the recognition of the importance of the mosquito in spreading yellow fever, which had resulted in many of these deaths.

The advent of the Panama Canal revolutionized shipping by cutting the transit time from New York to San Francisco, for example, by more than half. It also led to regulation of the size of cargo ships, as the maximum size ship that could transit the canal became known as Panamax. US Navy ships were also built with Panamax limitations in mind, as the two widest ships ever to transit the canal to this day are two North Carolina class battleships.

Ships too large to fit, such as US Navy supercarriers and supertankers, are known as Post Panamax.

1944. As part of the Allied assault on fortress Europe, Operation Dragoon is launched this day, a large amphibious assault on Southern France which opens up new avenues for Allied forces to bring pressure to bear on German forces as well as a new avenue to bring supplies forward to Allied troops.

1948. South Korea is established south of the 38th parallel.

1971. President Nixon completes the break off the gold standard.


1977. The Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University receives a signal bearing many expected hallmarks indicative of extra-terrestrial life. The researcher who recorded the signal circles it and writes "WOW" next to it, giving it its name of the Wow Signal. Efforts to find additional similar signals have been unsuccessful to date.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Wow_signal.jpg

August 16

1780. Following the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, and a strategic redirection by the British to the Southern colonies, the British troops of Lord Cornwallis inflict a serious defeat on the Revolutionary Army under the command of General Horatio Gates, in the Battle of Camden. The loss was total -- Gates had lost his entire army, effectively, with 2,000 casualties (1,000 of which were prisoners), his entire baggage train and his cannon. Gates, humiliated and ineffectual, was removed from command, which was instead given to Nathaniel Greene.

1930. The first sound color cartoon, Fiddlesticks, is released.

1954. The first edition of Sports Illustrated is published.

1960. USAF Captain Joseph Kittinger parachutes out of an airplane at 102,800 feet of altitude, setting three records to this day -- highest altitude jump, free fall and highest speed of a human without an aircraft (estimated at 614 mph). He would go on to serve three combat tours in Vietnam, fly 483 missions, be shot down, and captured and imprisoned by the NOrth Vietnamese for 11 months in the "Hanoi Hilton".

August 17

1806. Robert Fulton's first American steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world and leading -- some 15 years later -- to a fascinating and critical Supreme Court case involving Cornelius (Commodore) Vanderbilt, Daniel Webster, Robert Livingstone (signer of the Declaration of Independence) that I hope to write about in the near future.

1943. The American (under General Patton) and British (under Field Marshal Montgomery) arrive in Messina, Sicily, completing the Allied conquest of the island. This is the memorable scene in Patton.

The real footage is a bit different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFc9h5Efqq8

1998. President Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with Monica Lewinsky.

August 18

1587. Virginia Dare becomes the first child of English colonists to be born in America, at the Roanake Colony.

1920. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women's suffrage, is ratified.

August 19

43 BC. Octavian, later Caesar Augustus, compels the Senate to elect him Consul.

1812. In the opening months of the War of 1812, when America was still winning such few victories (nearly all at sea) that she would enjoy for the duration, the USS Constitution met the HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia. The British ship opened fire as soon as she was within range, but her guns did little damage to the heavy live oak hull of the Constitution. The Constitution, conversely, withheld fire until the two ships were at nearly point blank range, at which time she fired a double broadside of grape and round shot. The ships continued firing indiscriminately, but the Constitution had all the advantages, and the Guerriere soon became a floating hulk, and struck her colors. She was so thoroughly massacred that she wasn't worth salvaging, and the next day she was burned. During the battle, with many British shots bouncing uselessly off the hull, a sailor on the Constitution reportedly exclaimed "Huzzah, her sides are made of iron!" And thus her nickname, Old Ironsides, was given.

For those particularly interested in arcane early US Navy matters, I strongly recommend the book Six Frigates, which goes into detail regarding the construction of the first six frigates by the US, pursuant to an act passed in 1794. I will give a very brief recap of the most salient facts here, for those who want a thumbnail.

Particularly noteworthy, here is the fine job performed by Joshua Humphreys, the naval architect who designed those six frigates. First, by design the six ships, though "frigates", were much larger and heavier than comparable European frigates, which typicallyc arried 38 guns. The US frigates were rated for 44 guns, but sometimes carried 50 or more, and were often a mix of 24 pounder and 32 pound cannon, as opposed to the lighter 18 pounders that British ships such as Guerriere carried. The "pounds" refers to the weight of teh shot (the solid metal ball) that the cannon fired, and when comparing firepower the total weight that a ship could fire was critical.

So by design, the US frigates were bigger than European frigates, but they were also smaller than European "ships of the line" (74 guns, standard, but sometimes bigger). They could, however, outsail them, being much faster than the lumbering hulks of the line. Thus Humphreys, knowing the US could not match the Europeans in numbers of vessels, designed a frigate that could outfight European frigates, and successfully flee heavier ships of the line.

The construction materials of the US ships were also superior. One of the main features was that the ship employed in its construction wood from Southern Live Oak -- a wood that is very difficult to work. A particularly dense wood, it can weigh up to 75 pounds per cubic foot. The hull was 21 inches thick, whereas 18 inches was far more common.

Southern Live Oak are also particularly long-lived. The Angel Oak, on Johns Island, South Carolina, is estimated at 1,400 years of age.

A picture of a live oak:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Georgetown.jpg


The Constitution -- the oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ution_1997.jpg

1848. Though gold was discovered much earlier, the New York Herald announces the gold rush in California to the East Coast, setting off a massive migration from the East Coast to a sleepy insignificant town that will become San Francisco.

1953. The CIA backs the overthrow of the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh, and the Shah is reinstated. Mosaddegh was imprisoned for three years, then placed under house arrest until his death in 1967. The coup d'etat was done during and as a result of Cold War politics, but here in 2010 it appears to have been a colossal blunder as the rise of the current Islamic governed Iran is a direct result of both American interference (it was a rallying cry in the 1979 revolution) and the removal of a secular leader who may have led Iran down a different, more moderate, path.

1991. Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest in one of the more important of a series of events that led to the collapse of the old Soviet Union.

August 20

636. Arab forces conquer Syria and Palestine from the Byzantine Empire, marking the beginning of the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid spread of Islam outside of Arabia.

1882. Premier of the 1812 Overture, in Moscow.

1920. Founding of the National Football League.

1938. Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd and last Grand Slam, a record that still stands.

1988. A cease fire after eight years of continuous war is declared in the Iran-Iraq war. Presumably, Saddam Hussein waited a day or two before thinking about an easier opponent to pick on.

1991. Over 100,000 people rally in Moscow protesting the coup d'etat against Mikhail Gorbachev.

August 21

1192. Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Shogun of Japan, beginning the Kamakura Shogunate that would rule Japan for 150 years and, among other things, fend off two Mongol invasions.

1770. James Cook claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales. And I'd like to pause to note that while brave, intrepid and hardy, British and other explorers were stunningly boring in their selection of names for the places they found -- none moreso than the pilgrims who left Plymouth England and landed at Plymouth Massachusetts. :spock:

1863. Quantrill's Raiders raid Lawrence, Kansas, and commit what will become known as the Lawrence Massacre.

1968. Soviet Union dominated Warsaw Pact troops enter Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring.

1991. The coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

There's no doubt about that.... many times all they did is throw the word "New" in front of it... New York, etc....

EDIT: i guess i could have went with New South Wales lol

August 22

1831. Nat Turner's slave rebellion begins.

1864. The Red Cross is formed.

1902. President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first president to ride in an automobile.

1910. Korea is annexed by Japan, a relationship that would last until the end of WWII.

1941. German troops reach Leningrad. The siege, one of the longest and most costly in history, will begin in a month when the last land corridor to the city is cut.

1942. Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy, sealing their fate.

1968. Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogota, Columbia, the first visit by a Pope to South America.

1989. Nolan Ryan strikes out Ricky Henderson to become the first pitcher to achieve 5,000 strike outs.

That's a bit of an over-statement...no?

Yeah but can he throw a snowball through a guys jacket and still have the impact destroy a garage door in the distance?

Signed,
Randy Johnson

You seem to forget that I'm a charter member.


http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/153/3825.jpg

Today in history, 24 Aug 1944, Operation
Goodwood III: British carrier aircraft (33 Barracuda dive bombers, 10
Hellcat fighters, 5 Corsair fighters, 29 other fighters) from HMS
Indefatigable, Furious, and Formidable attacked German battleship
Tirpitz, scoring 2 hits.

http://a1.vox.com/6a00f48cdd980c0003...bdf1000e-500pi

August 23

79. On the Feast Day of Vulcan, the Roman God of fire, Mount Vesuvius begins to stir.

1305. William Wallace is executed by King Edward I.

1572. The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris. Six days after the wedding of the sister of King Charles IX to Henry of Navarre, a protestant (and future King Henry IV of France). Due to the wedding, an unusually large number of Huguenots were assembled in Catholic Paris, the murders lasted for weeks and resulted in the death of 3,000-5,000 protestants. The massacre was believed to be at the behest of Catherine d'Medici, the mother of the King, and cemented protestant hatred of Catholics throughout Europe.

1775. King George III declares the American colonies to be in an open state of rebellion against the British crown.

1784. Western North Carolina (now Eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state. It calls itself Franklin. After four years of being unable to join the United States as an independent state, it gives up the cause.

1939. Germany and Russia sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty. A secret codicil to the agreement provides for the division of the Baltic States, Poland, Finland and Romania between them.

1944. King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of General Antonescu. Romania switches from pro-Nazi to pro-Allies.

1990. East and West Germany announce their reunification, as of October 3.