August 13^th is

Bowling Day

Filet Mignon Day

Garage Sale Day

International Lefthander’s Day

____________________________________________________________

WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Jewish: fast of Tisha B’Av begins at sundown

Central African Republic – Independence Day

Germany – Hildesheim:
M’era Luna Festival

India – Alleyppey, Kerala:
Nehru Trophy Snake Boat Races

Netherlands – Rotterdam:
Delfshaven Ketels aan de Kade
(historic marina food fest)

Tunisia – Women’s Day

United States –
New Bedford MA: Whaling Blues Fesitval
West Asheville NC: Riverfest
San Francsico CA: Found Footage Festival

____________________________________________________________

On This Day in HISTORY

1521 – Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez captures Tenochtitlan from the Aztecs

1792 –French Royal family imprisoned, King Louis XVI declared enemy of the people

1818 – Lucy Stone, abolitionist and women’s rights pioneer, is born

1876 – First day of premiere of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Bayreuth Festspielhaus

1898 – Carl Gustav Witt discovers first near-Earth asteroid, 433 Eros

MORE! For Alfred Hitchcock, “L’il Abner” and Taylor Swift, click

1889 – William Gray patents a coin-operated telephone

1899 – Alfred Hitchcock, UK film director and TV host, AFI Life Achievement honoree and 5-time Oscar nominee for suspense films like Rebecca and Rear Window, is born

1907 – The first taxicab begins operating in NYC

1918 – BMW established as a public company in Germany

1931 – The first U.S. community hospital is dedicated in Elk City OK

1934 – Welcome to Dogpatch! Al Capp’s comic strip “L’il Abner” makes its newspaper debut 

1942 – Disney’s Bambi premieres at Radio City Music Hall NYC

1961 – Berlin divided by barbed wire to stop refugee flight, precursor to Berlin Wall

1965 – Jefferson Airplane debuts at San Francisco’s Matrix Club

1967 – U.S. premier of  Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway

1973 – Nixon institutes Economic Stabilization Program wage and price controls

1976 – Left Handers International names August 13 as International Left Hander’s Day

1981 – President Reagan signs into law the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which cut corporate taxes, increased military spending, and slashed domestic programs. The Federal Deficit doubled from $20 trillion to $40 trillion. An Orrin Hatch-sponsored rider, the Adolescent Family Life Act, enabled federal money to be used for promotion of abstinence, and for religious instruction on sex in public school sex education classes. In 1987, the Supreme Court partially upheld an ACLU court challenge to AFLA, stopping the religious instruction on sex in public schools

1993 – U.S. Court of Appeals rules that Congress must save all e-mails

1996 – Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 3.0

1998 – Monument for 255 people killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall is dedicated

2012 – U.S. Release Taylor Swift’s single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

____________________________________________________________

Visuals

• Left Hander logo
• International flags
• Lucy Stone
• “‘L’il Abner” and family
• Berlin Wall Memorial