August 25th is
Banana Split Day *
Kiss and Make Up Day
National Park Service Day *
Second-Hand Wardrobe Day
Whisky Sour Day
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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
Bangladesh and India– Sri Krishna Jananti/Janmashtami
(birthday of Lord Krishna)
Nepal – Gaura Parba
(3-day festival for Krishna,
Shiva, Parvati and Ganesh)
North Korea – Day of Songun
(inspection of Seoul Ryu Kyong Guards)
Saint Barts – Feast of St. Louis
Uruguay – Día de la Independencia
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On This Day in History
1543 – First Europeans arrive in Japan
1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers
MORE! Banana Splits, ‘Great Moon Hoax’ and Bruce Springsteen, click
1814 – British troops destroy the U.S. Library of Congress during the War of 1812
1835 – “The Great Moon Hoax” – The New York Sun runs a satirical series, “reprinted” from the long-defunct Edinburgh Journal of Science, claiming sightings through a telescope of life on the moon, including unicorns, two-legged beavers, bat-like humanoids, rushing rivers and lush vegetation. Most readers believe the stories are true, including some scientists from Yale University, who show up at the Sun wanting to see the “science journal”
1894 – Kitasato Shibasaburō discovers bubonic plague’s infectious agent, publishes his findings in The Lancet
1904 – (Exact date unconfirmed) David Strickler, apprentice pharmacist in Latrobe PA, invents the Banana Split *
1914 – The German Army deliberately destroys the Catholic University of Leuven library. Hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable books and Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts are lost
1916 – The Organic Act of 1916 creates the National Park Service * as part of the Department of the Interior
1918 – Leonard Bernstein, composer-conductor, is born
1945 – Chinese Communist Party supporters kill U.S. intelligence officer John Birch
1948 – House Un-American Activities Committee, first-ever televised congressional hearing: “Confrontation Day” between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss
1950 – President Harry Truman orders U.S. Army to seize control of the nation’s railroads to avert a strike
1975 – Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run album released
1998 – Dolly Parton releases Hungry Again album
2012 – NASA Voyager 1 spacecraft is first man-made object to enter interstellar space
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Visuals
- National Park Service Centennial logo
- International flags
- ‘Life on the Moon’ hoax lithograph NY Sun 1835
- Yellowstone Park souvenir 1916 – first U.S. National Park
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I’ve always wondered how many people have gotten speeding tickets while listening to Springsteen’s “Born to Run”.
LOL Pete – I’m sure there are lots of them!
Many years ago I was friends with an Arkansas state trooper. He told me he pulled over a car going 30 MPH over the speed limit. The driver had an excuse that was definitely a first. The said he was listening to Flight of the Bumblebee on the radio. Great excuse, but did not get him out of a ticket.
Until I looked it up just now, I had no idea the Trans-Siberian Orchestra had recorded it. This is different, to say the least. Remind me to never listen to this while driving.
Come to think of it, you should never listen to ANYTHING by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra while driving.
Good idea – not music to drive by for sure!