August 15th is
Chauvin Day *
Check (Your Pet’s) Chip Day *
National Relaxation Day *
Lemon Meringue Pie Day
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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Feast Day: Assumption Day, the Virgin Mary bodily taken up to Heaven upon her death
Bangladesh – National Mourning Day
Canada – Yukon: Discovery Day
Congo Republic – Féte Nationale
Costa Rica – Mothers’ Day
Equatorial Guinea –
Día de la Ley Fundamental
India – Independence Day
Liechtenstein – National Day
North Korea – Liberation Day
Samoa – Father’s Day
South Korea – Kwang Bok Jul
(Independence Day)
Tokelau – Father’s Day
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On This Day in HISTORY
1281 – Kublai Khan’s Mongolian fleet destroyed by “divine wind” in Battle of Kōan against the Japanese
1519 – Ciudad de Panamá is founded
1769 – Napoleon Bonaparte born in Corsica, future self-crowned Emperor of France
1790? – Nicolas Chauvin * possible French soldier, so blindly devoted to his idol Napoleon and all things French that chauvinism was coined from his name, originally meaning over-zealously patriotic and disdainful of all other nations. Now used to describe anyone insisting on superiority of whatever they espouse by disparaging its opposite. There is no birth record for him, so he may be apocryphal. Napoleon’s birthday was chosen as Chauvin Day to remind us that anything taken to extremes becomes ridiculous
MORE! for the Tivoli Gardens, Julia Child and Led Zeppelin, click
1824 – Marquis de Lafayette arrives in NY to begin an American tour
1843 – Tivoli Gardens opens in Copenhagen, Denmark
1848 – M. Waldo Hanchett patents the dental chair
1877 – Thomas Edison writes the president of the Telegraph Company suggesting that “hello” would be a more appropriate greeting than “ahoy” when answering the telephone
1912 – Julia Child, future author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, is born
1914 – Panama Canal officially openes to commercial traffic. SS Ancon is first ship to pass through canals
1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed in a plane crash in Alaska
1947 – India is split into independent nations of India and Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes first Governor-General of Pakistan
1948 – Republic of Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north
1960 – Republic of the Congo becomes independent from France
1961 – East German workers begin construction on Berlin Wall
1969 – Woodstock Music and Art Fair draws over 400,00 people
1971 – Bahrain becomes independent from the UK
1973 – U.S. military stops bombing Cambodia
1979 – Led Zeppelin releases their album In Through the Our Door
1985 – Fourth-grader Sean Moeller founds National Relaxation Day *, saying in a Des Moines Register interview that cleaning and real work are not part of relaxation
1986 – U.S, Senate approves economic sanctions against South Africa
1994 – U.S. Social Security Administration becomes an independent agency, separating from Department of Health and Human Services
2001 – Astronomers announced discovery of first solar system outside our own after discovery of two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper
2013 – The Smithsoniam announces discovery of the olinguito, first new carnivoran species found in the Americas since 1978
2015 – The American Veterinary Medical Association designates August 15 as
Check the Chip Day *:
https://www.avma.org/Events/pethealth/Pages/Check-the-Chip-Day.aspx
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Visuals
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- International flags
- 1600s map of future Central America
- Tivoli Gardens at night, Copenhagen
- Olinguito in tree
- Logo for “Check the Chip Day”
Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
shortfinals
Terry Welshans
ann li-summers
wordcloud9
Flowers For Socrates 
Many people don’t know that Will Rogers and his pilot, Wiley Post, were killed at the northernmost place on the North American continent. They were taking off from Walakpi lagoon near Point Barrow, Alaska when the engine quit at low altitude. The plane stalled and went straight into the water, killing both men. Here is a newsreel from that time.
Thanks for the newsreel footage – really sad story.
We could sure use some of Will Rogers wonderful wit about the daily news this election season.
Just noticed that this ON THIS DAY is my 200th posting at Flowers for Socrates – my how time flies when you’re having fun!
Chuck
I guess “airworthy” is a relative term.
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I can’t believe I missed Lemon meringue pie day. Hope I don’t miss coconut meringue pie day.
Also just discovered every time I try to spell the word “meringue” I misspell it.
Hi pete –
I couldn’t find a Coconut MERINGUE Pie Day, but National Coconut CREAM Pie Day is May 8.
I trip up on Meringue too.
I tried to make a lemon merengue pie once, but it was a disaster. It tasted like a sweaty shoe with Latin seasoning.
Pete,
Great minds and all that. I had exactly the same thought about airworthiness. On the other hand, they did fly the thing for long distances without too much incident.
I’ve never tried to make lemon or coconut pies, Publix does just fine, although one year I was given a box of Key limes. And when life hands you Key limes, you make Key Lime pie(s). In this case, three of them. Very rich, very good and surprisingly does not take much lime juice to make a pie. Store bought crust though. I learned my lesson on that a long time ago.