August 16th is

National Airborne Day *

∞

Roller Coaster Day *

Rum Day

Tell a Joke Day

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Dominican Republic – Restoration Day

Gabon – Féte de l’Indépendance

India – De Jure Transfer Day  *

Italy – Siena, Tuscany:
Il Palio (bareback horse race)

Tunisia – Tunis: (thru August 23)
Carthage International Festival

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On This Day in HISTORY

1384 – Hongwu Emperor Dong of Ming China hears case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting over them (equal to act of destroying stamped government documents – by law necessitated one hundred floggings), but he pardons them

MORE! For Queen Victoria, Auguste Rodin and Vladimir Putin, click

1743 – Bare-knuckle boxer Jack Broughton codifies first boxing rules in England

1842 – U.S. government took over mail delivery in NYC from the city dispatch post.

1858 – Queen Victoria sends telegram to President Buchanan via trans-Atlantic cable

1870 – Fred Goldsmith demonstrates the curve ball isn’t an optical illusion

1880 – Auguste Rodin commissioned to sculpt a large doorway for Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Inspired by Dante, he worked on the ‘Gates of Hell’ for the next 37 years

1885 – LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented a wooden roller coaster *, but “Russian Mountains” had been built since the 17^th century, beginning near Saint Petersburg, out of ice with wooden supports which were 70 to 80 feet high with a 50◦ drop.

1896 – George Carmack discovers gold in the Alaskan Klondike

1904 – Construction begins on New York’s Grand Central Station

1908 – The ‘Young Turks’ Ottoman Empire Commission of Union and Progress announces universal reforms respecting rights of all, regardless of race or religion

1923 – Carnegie Steel employees get the eight-hour workday

1930 – First British Empire Games, now British Commonwealth Games, held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

1937 – Harvard University adds traffic engineering and administration graduate courses.

1940 – The first official U.S. Army parachute jump (see also 2001)

1954 – First issue of Sports Illustrated published

1960 – Cyprus granted independence from Britain

1962 – De Jure Transfer Day * – French-controlled sectors of India agitated to become part of the independent Republic of India. In 1956, a treaty of cession was signed, but it was not ratified by the French parliament until 1962. On August 16, 1962, India and France exchanged instruments of ratification giving India full sovereignty over the former French territories.

1966 – The Monkees first single “Last Train to Clarksville” is released

1977 – Elvis Presley dies in Memphis TN

1984 – U.S. Jaycees vote to admit women as full members

1995 – Bermuda voters reject independence from Great Britain

1999 – Vladimir Putin confirmed as Russian prime minister

2001 – President George W Bush designated August 16 as National Airborne Day to honor the nation’s airborne forces. In 2009, the U.S. Senate recognized August 16th as National Airborne Day in Senate Resolution 235

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Visuals

• Paratroopers
• International Flags
• ‘La Porte l’Enfer’ – Rodin’s ‘Gates of Hell’
• NYC Grand Central Station -Reutters photo
• 1930 British Empire Games programme – Philip Barker
• Cover of first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine