August 30th is
Frankenstein Day *
Slinky Day
National Grief Awareness Day *
Toasted Marshmallow Day
International Whale Shark Day *
U.N. International Day of the Disappeared *
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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
Cyprus – Zafir Bairam
(Victory Day)
East Timor – Consultation Day
Kazakhstan – Constitution Day
Peru – St. Rose of Lima
Turkey – Victory Day
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On This Day in HISTORY
1096 – Pope Urban II bans use of the deadly crossbow, on pain of excommunication, against fellow Christians; still allowed for use against non-believers, heretics and heathens
1681 – English King Charles II grants William Penn a royal charter for land in America to satisfy a debt owed to Penn’s father
MORE! Benedict Arnold, Mary Shelley, and Leona Helmsley, click
1780 – Benedict Arnold secretly promises to surrender West Point fort to the British
1797 – Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley is born, author of Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus. Frankenstein Day * honors her best-known work
1809 – Charles Doolittle Walcott discovers fossils near Burgess Pass, naming site the Burgess Shale
1835 – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, founded, named after British Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
1836 – Houston, Texas, founded, named after Sam Houston, hero of San Jacinto
1922 – New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded “Tiger Rag”
1928 – Independence of India League is established
1935 – Sylvia Earle born, oceanographer, pioneer in use of SCUBA gear, first woman to serve as chief scientist at NOAA, co-designer and builder of a submersible craft, the first to reach 3,000 foot depths, author Atlas of the Ocean: The Deep Frontier
1956 – In Louisiana, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opens
1963 – “Hotline” between Moscow and Washington goes into operation
1965 – Thurgood Marshall confirmed by U.S. Senate as the first black Supreme Court justice
1984 – Space shuttle Discovery lifts off for first voyage, deploys three communications satellites, with Judith A. Resnick aboard, who becomes second U.S. woman in space
1989 – Leona Helmsley, “Queen of Mean” hotelier, found guilty of income tax evasion
1990 – George H.W. Bush tells reporters a “new world order” could emerge from the Persian Gulf crisis
2010 – U.N. resolution establishes August 30 as International Day of the Disappeared *
2011 – The first National Grief Awareness Day * is started by Angie Cartwright on her mother’s birthday
2012 – Inaugural International Whale Shark Day – Whale Sharks have been added to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species
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Visuals
- Frankenstein lightning
- International flags
- Medieval illumination of crossbowmen
- Charles (left) with Sidney and Stuart Walcott at Walcott Quarry, 1913
- Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
- Whale Shark
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Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
shortfinals
Terry Welshans
ann li-summers
wordcloud9
Flowers For Socrates 
If Pope Urban II banned use of the crossbow on pain of excommunication, one has to wonder what he would have thought of the GAU-8 Avenger weapon that is mounted on the A-10 Warthog.
The green line is a laser target designator aimed at the Taliban sniper. Invisible to the naked eye, but visible to the camera. The A-10 pilot can see the laser light “twinkle” on the target in his gunsight. The bullets go almost three times the speed of sound, so they get to the target before you hear the distinctive sound of the latest iteration of Dr. Gatling’s invention.
http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=403_1204057873
Humans keep inventing stuff to make it easier to snuff out those we don’t like.
I’m sure he would have been fine with it as long as it was being used against non-Catholics. The crossbow was a major weapon during the Crusades.