August 31st is
National Trail Mix Day
National Eat Outside Day
Love Litigating Lawyers Day *
We Love Memoirs Day *
International Overdose Awareness Day *
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MORE! Meriwether Lewis, Maria Montessori and Kurt Weill, click
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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
Arafat Day in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya,
Saudi Arabia, and the UAE
India – Rajasthan:
Teja Dasami-Bhadrapada Shukla Dashmi
(Teja Dasami martyrdom)
Kyrgyzstan – Independence Day
Malaysia –Hari Kebangsaan/ Merdeka Day
(National/Independence Day)
Moldova – Limba Noastra (Language Day)
Trinidad and Tobago – Independence Day
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In This Day in HISTORY
AD 12 – Caligula born, infamous Roman Emperor
1218 – Kurdish leader Al-Kamil becomes sultan of the Egyptian Ayyubid dynasty
1314 – King Haakon of Norway moves the capital from Bergen to Oslo
1422 – When English King Henry V dies suddenly of illness at age 36, during a military campaign in France, his 9-month-old son becomes Henry VI of England
1741 – Jean-Paul-Égide Martini born, French composer; his Plaisir d’amour was re-styled to become a big hit for Elvis Presley as “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You”
1775 – Agnes Bulmer born, English poet, author of one the longest epic poems in the English language, Messiah’s Kingdom, which took over nine years to complete
1803 – Meriwether Lewis leaves Pittsburgh PA in a keelboat to pick up William Clark and their recruits further down the Ohio River
1827 – Anna Bartlett Warner born, American author and hymnist; “Jesus Loves Me”
1834 – Amilcare Ponchielli born, Italian opera composer; La Gioconda
1842 – Mary Putnam Jacobi, American physician, author and suffragist, leading spokeswoman for women’s health during the Progressive Era, emphasis on scientific research rather than traditional or anecdotal evidence
1842 – Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin born, American publisher, journalist, suffragist and civil rights activist; editor of Women’s Era, the first newspaper published by and for African-American women, founder of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, co-founder of the American Woman Suffrage Association
1844 – Elizabeth Phelps Ward born, American author and feminist, challenges traditional religious beliefs and women’s roles, advocate for women’s clothing reform
1852 – John Neville Keynes born, English economist and philosopher; The Scope and Method of Political Economy (1891); father of John Maynard Keynes
1866 – Georg Jensen born, influential Danish silversmith and designer
1870 – Maria Montessori born, Italian physician and educator
1879 – Alma Schindler Mahler born in Vienna, composer, and wife successively of composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius and novelist Franz Werfel
1884 – George Sarton born in Belgium, American chemist and historian; pioneer in science history; he is the father of poet May Sarton
1885 – DuBose Heyward born, American author, noted for his novel Porgy, which was adapted to the stage by his wife, playwright Dorothy Heyward, and then as the George Gershwin musical production Porgy and Bess
1888 – Mary Ann Nichols is found murdered in London’s East End, presumed to be Jack the Ripper’s first victim
1895 – German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon
1897 – Thomas Edison patents his movie projector the Kinetoscope
1905 – Dore Schary born, American filmmaker, producer, writer and playwright
1907 – William Shawn born, editor of The New Yorker magazine for 35 years
1908 – William Saroyan born, American novelist and playwright
1913 – Helen Levitt born, American photographer, chronicled the streets of New York City with her camera
1918 – Alan Jay Lerner born, American librettist and lyricist for stage and screen
1919 – Amrita Preetam born, Indian poet and author, wrote in Punjabi and Hindi, a leading 20th century Punjabi-language poet; published 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, folk songs and her autobiography
1920 – First news program to be broadcast on the radio, in Detroit MI
1928 – Kurt Weill’s Die Dreigoschenoper (Threepenny Opera) premieres in Berlin
Threepenny Opera – Lotte Lenya as Pirate Jenny
1935 – Act prohibiting export of U.S. arms to belligerents signed by FDR
1936 – Marva Collins born, American educator and lecturer, founder of Westside Preparatory School in Chicago, Illinois, known for successfully providing a classical education to students from poverty and those often wrongly labeled as learning disabled
1939 – Frank Sinatra and the Harry James Band record “All or Nothing at All”
1943 – USS Harmon is commissioned, first U.S. Navy ship named after a black person, Leonard Roy Harmon, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross
1957 – The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the UK
1962 – Trinidad and Tobago become independent members of British Commonwealth
1964 – California officially becomes the most populous U.S. state
1965 – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development created by act of Congress
1980 – Poland’s Solidarity labor movement is born out of the Gdansk agreement ending a 17-day strike
1985 – “Night Stalker” killer Richard Ramirez is captured by East Los Angeles residents
1990 – East and West Germany sign treaty reconciling their political and legal systems
1991 – “Metallica” album climbs to #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart
1993 – First ‘Lawyer Appreciation Day’ not received favorably, so renamed ‘Love Litigating Lawyers Day.’ * These lawyers are hired to get justice when someone has done you wrong, such as personal injury cases
1994 – The IRA declares Northern Ireland cease-fire after 25 years of bloodshed
1994 – Russia ends its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics
1997 – Princess Diana, Dodi Al-Fayed and her driver are killed in Paris car crash while fleeing paparazzi
2001 – Sally Finn and Peter Streker start Overdose Awareness Day * as a local Salvation Army program in Australia to acknowledge the grief of bereaved families and support prevention programs. In 2012, the Australian Penington Institute expands the program and coordinates with efforts in other countries, now an International Day
2006 – Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police
2009 – Walt Disney Co. announces it is acquiring comic book giant Marvel Entertainment for US $4 billion
2010 – President Barack Obama ended the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed.
2013 – We Love Memoirs Day * is started by Victoria Tweed and Alan Parks, originators of the We Love Memoirs chat group on Facebook
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