Quote of the day

I’ve always believed the process of making up poems is listening. If I don’t have silence, I can’t hear things. You get distracted by bulls….  – Sam Hunt who celebrates his 73rd birthday today.

July 4 in history

836  Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples.

993  Saint Ulrich of Augsburg was canonized.

1054  A supernova was observed by the Chinese  the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri.

1120  Jordan II of Capua was anointed as prince after his infant nephew’s death.

1187  The Crusades: Battle of Hattin – Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.

1253  Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeated Guy of Dampierre.

1456 The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) began.

1534 Christian III was elected King of Denmark and Norway.

1569  The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus signed the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1610  The Battle of Klushino between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish-Muscovite War.

1744  The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iriquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed.

1754 French and Indian War: George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.

1774  Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament’s Coercive Acts

1776  American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independencewas adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

1778 American Revolutionary War: Forces under George Clark captured Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

1790 George Everest, Welsh surveyor, was born (d. 1866).

1802  At West Point, New York the United States Military Academyopened.

1816  Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller, was born (d. 1899).

1817 Construction on the Erie Canal began.

1826 Stephen Foster, American songwriter, was born (d. 1864).

1827  Slavery was abolished in New York State.

1837  Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opened between Birmingham and Liverpool.

1840 The Cunard Line’s 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannialeft Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end.

1845 Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian, was born (d. 1905).

1845  Henry David Thoreau embarked on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond.

1855  In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, was published.

1862 Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell a story that grew into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.

1863 American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – Vicksburg, Mississippi surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege.

1863 A Confederate Army was repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.

1865  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published.

1868 Te Kooti escaped from the Chatham Islands.

1868  Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer, was born (d. 1921).

1872  Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, was born (d. 1933) .

1878 Thoroughbred horses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty ran a match race, immortalized in the song Molly and Tenbrooks.

1879  Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi was captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.

1881 In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opened.

1882 Louis B. Mayer, American film producer, was born (d. 1957).

1883 Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist, was born  (d. 1970).

1886 The people of France offered the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.

1886 – The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrived in Port Moody, British Columbia.

1887 The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joined Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.

1892  Western Samoa changed the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.

1894  The short-lived Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

1898 Gertrude Lawrence, English-born actress, was born (d. 1952).

1902 The NZ Boxing Association was formed.

1903 Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a ‘motor race’.

1910 African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocked out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.

1911 Mitch Miller, American musician, singer and record producer, was born (d. 2010).

1917 Manolete, Spanish bullfighter, was born (d. 1947).

1918 King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga was born (d. 2006).

1918  Ann Landers, American advice columnist, was born (d. 2002).

1918 – Abigail Van Buren, American advice columnist, was born.

1918 Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascended to the throne.

1918 – Bolsheviks killed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).

1924 Eva Marie Saint, American actress, was born.

1927  Neil Simon, American playwright, was born.

1927  First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

1934 Leo Szilard patented the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.

1939  Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, told a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth” as he announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1941  Nazi Germans massacred Polish scientists and writers in the captured city of Lwów.

1946 – Sam  Hunt, poet, was born.

1946  After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attained full independence from the United States.

1947  The “Indian Independence Bill” was presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries – India and Pakistan.

1950 The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.

1959  The 49-star flag of the United States debuted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1969  The Ohio Fireworks Derecho killed 18 people and destroyed more than 100 boats on Lake Erie.

1976  Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.

1982  Iranian diplomats kidnapping: four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.

1987  In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the “Butcher of Lyon”) was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1993  Sumitomo Chemical‘s resin plant in Nihama exploded killing one worker and injuring three others.

1997  NASA‘s Pathfinder space probe landed on the surface of Mars.

2004 The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower was laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

2005  The Deep Impact collider hit the comet Tempel 1.

2006  Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission – Space Shuttle Discovery launched.

2006  North Korea tested four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2.

2008  Cross-strait charter direct flight between mainland China and Taiwan started.

2009 – The Statue of Liberty‘s crown reopened to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

2009 – The first of four days of bombings on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.

2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at theLarge Hadron Collider was announced at CERN.

2013 – The Death of Hung Chung-chiu: A Republic of China Army corporal died under suspicious circumstances while serving a detention sentence during his enlisted service.

2015 – L&T Safety Day 2015 with the theme “Safe Way- Only Way : Building a Culture of Prevention

2015 – Tupou VI was officially crowned as the King of Tonga.

2016 – The  Juno probe arrived at Jupiter.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

July 4 in history

836  Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples.

993  Saint Ulrich of Augsburg was canonized.

1054  A supernova was observed by the Chinese  the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri.

1120  Jordan II of Capua was anointed as prince after his infant nephew’s death.

1187  The Crusades: Battle of Hattin – Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.

1253  Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeated Guy of Dampierre.

1456 The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) began.

1534 Christian III was elected King of Denmark and Norway.

1569  The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus signed the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1610  The Battle of Klushino between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish-Muscovite War.

1744  The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iriquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed.

1754 French and Indian War: George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.

1774  Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament’s Coercive Acts

1776  American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independencewas adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

1778 American Revolutionary War: Forces under George Clark captured Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

1790 George Everest, Welsh surveyor, was born (d. 1866).

1802  At West Point, New York the United States Military Academyopened.

1816  Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller, was born (d. 1899).

1817 Construction on the Erie Canal began.

1826 Stephen Foster, American songwriter, was born (d. 1864).

1827  Slavery was abolished in New York State.

1837  Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opened between Birmingham and Liverpool.

1840 The Cunard Line’s 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannialeft Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end.

1845 Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian, was born (d. 1905).

1845  Henry David Thoreau embarked on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond.

1855  In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, was published.

1862 Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell a story that grew into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.

1863 American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – Vicksburg, Mississippi surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege.

1863 A Confederate Army was repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.

1865  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published.

1868 Te Kooti escaped from the Chatham Islands.

1868  Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer, was born (d. 1921).

1872  Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, was born (d. 1933) .

1878 Thoroughbred horses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty ran a match race, immortalized in the song Molly and Tenbrooks.

1879  Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi was captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.

1881 In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opened.

1882 Louis B. Mayer, American film producer, was born (d. 1957).

1883 Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist, was born  (d. 1970).

1886 The people of France offered the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.

1886 – The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrived in Port Moody, British Columbia.

1887 The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joined Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.

1892  Western Samoa changed the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.

1894  The short-lived Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

1898 Gertrude Lawrence, English-born actress, was born (d. 1952).

1902 The NZ Boxing Association was formed.

1903 Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a ‘motor race’.

1910 African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocked out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.

1911 Mitch Miller, American musician, singer and record producer, was born (d. 2010).

1917 Manolete, Spanish bullfighter, was born (d. 1947).

1918 King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga was born (d. 2006).

1918  Ann Landers, American advice columnist, was born (d. 2002).

1918 – Abigal Van Buren, American advice columnist, was born.

1918 Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascended to the throne.

1918 – Bolsheviks killed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).

1924 Eva Marie Saint, American actress, was born.

1927  Neil Simon, American playwright, was born.

1927  First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

1934 Leo Szilard patented the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.

1939  Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, told a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth” as he announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1941  Nazi Germans massacred Polish scientists and writers in the captured city of Lwów.

1946 – Sam  Hunt, poet, was born.

1946  After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attained full independence from the United States.

1947  The “Indian Independence Bill” was presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries – India and Pakistan.

1950 The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.

1959  The 49-star flag of the United States debuted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1969  The Ohio Fireworks Derecho killed 18 people and destroyed more than 100 boats on Lake Erie.

1976  Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.

1982  Iranian diplomats kidnapping: four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.

1987  In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the “Butcher of Lyon”) was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1993  Sumitomo Chemical‘s resin plant in Nihama exploded killing one worker and injuring three others.

1997  NASA‘s Pathfinder space probe landed on the surface of Mars.

2004 The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower was laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

2005  The Deep Impact collider hit the comet Tempel 1.

2006  Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission – Space Shuttle Discoverylaunched.

2006  North Korea tested four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2.

2008  Cross-strait charter direct flight between mainland China and Taiwan started.

2009 – The Statue of Liberty‘s crown reopened to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

2009 – The first of four days of bombings on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.

2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at theLarge Hadron Collider was announced at CERN.

2013 – The Death of Hung Chung-chiu: A Republic of China Army corporal died under suspicious circumstances while serving a detention sentence during his enlisted service.

2015 – L&T Safety Day 2015 with the theme “Safe Way- Only Way : Building a Culture of Prevention

2015 – Tupou VI was officially crowned as the King of Tonga.

2016 – The  Juno probe arrived at Jupiter.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

July 4 in history

836  Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples.

993  Saint Ulrich of Augsburg was canonized.

1054  A supernova was observed by the Chinese  the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri.

1120  Jordan II of Capua was anointed as prince after his infant nephew’s death.

1187  The Crusades: Battle of Hattin – Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.

1253  Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeated Guy of Dampierre.

1456 The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) began.

1534 Christian III was elected King of Denmark and Norway.

1569  The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus signed the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1610  The Battle of Klushino between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish-Muscovite War.

1744  The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iriquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed.

1754 French and Indian War: George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.

1774  Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament’s Coercive Acts

1776  American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independencewas adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

1778 American Revolutionary War: Forces under George Clark captured Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

1790 George Everest, Welsh surveyor, was born (d. 1866).

1802  At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opened.

1816  Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller, was born (d. 1899).

1817 Construction on the Erie Canal began.

1826 Stephen Foster, American songwriter, was born (d. 1864).

1827  Slavery was abolished in New York State.

1837  Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opened between Birmingham and Liverpool.

1840 The Cunard Line’s 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia left Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end.

1845 Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian, was born (d. 1905).

1845  Henry David Thoreau embarked on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond.

1855  In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, was published.

1862 Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell a story that grew into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.

1863 American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – Vicksburg, Mississippi surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege.

1863 A Confederate Army was repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.

1865  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published.

1868 Te Kooti escaped from the Chatham Islands.

1868  Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer, was born (d. 1921).

1872  Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, was born (d. 1933) .

1878 Thoroughbred horses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty ran a match race, immortalized in the song Molly and Tenbrooks.

1879  Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi was captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.

1881 In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opened.

1882 Louis B. Mayer, American film producer, was born (d. 1957).

1883 Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist, was born  (d. 1970).

1886 The people of France offered the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.

1886 – The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrived in Port Moody, British Columbia.

1887 The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joined Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.

1892  Western Samoa changed the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.

1894  The short-lived Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

1898 Gertrude Lawrence, English-born actress, was born (d. 1952).

1902 The NZ Boxing Association was formed.

1903 Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a ‘motor race’.

1910 African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocked out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.

1911 Mitch Miller, American musician, singer and record producer, was born (d. 2010).

1917 Manolete, Spanish bullfighter, was born (d. 1947).

1918 King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga was born (d. 2006).

1918  Ann Landers, American advice columnist, was born (d. 2002).

1918 – Abigal Van Buren, American advice columnist, was born.

1918 Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascended to the throne.

1918 – Bolsheviks killed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).

1924 Eva Marie Saint, American actress, was born.

1927  Neil Simon, American playwright, was born.

1927  First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

1934 Leo Szilard patented the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.

1939  Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, told a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth” as he announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1941  Nazi Germans massacred Polish scientists and writers in the captured city of Lwów.

1946 – Sam  Hunt, poet, was born.

1946  After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attained full independence from the United States.

1947  The “Indian Independence Bill” was presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries – India and Pakistan.

1950 The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.

1959  The 49-star flag of the United States debuted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1969  The Ohio Fireworks Derecho killed 18 people and destroyed more than 100 boats on Lake Erie.

1976  Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.

1982  Iranian diplomats kidnapping: four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.

1987  In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the “Butcher of Lyon”) was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1993  Sumitomo Chemical‘s resin plant in Nihama exploded killing one worker and injuring three others.

1997  NASA‘s Pathfinder space probe landed on the surface of Mars.

2004 The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower was laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

2005  The Deep Impact collider hit the comet Tempel 1.

2006  Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission – Space Shuttle Discoverylaunched.

2006  North Korea tested four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2.

2008  Cross-strait charter direct flight between mainland China and Taiwan started.

2009 – The Statue of Liberty‘s crown reopened to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

2009 – The first of four days of bombings on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.

2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at theLarge Hadron Collider was announced at CERN.

2013 – The Death of Hung Chung-chiu: A Republic of China Army corporal died under suspicious circumstances while serving a detention sentence during his enlisted service.

2015 – L&T Safety Day 2015 with the theme “Safe Way- Only Way : Building a Culture of Prevention

2015 – Tupou VI was officially crowned as the King of Tonga.

2016 – The  Juno probe arrived at Jupiter.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Quote of the day

. . . The sun five minutes with us
came and left with a kiss.
We believe in miracles. That, love,
is all we have.  – Sam Hunt who celebrates his 70th birthday today.

Apropos of that Steve Braunias writes a Letter to Sam Hunt on his 70th Birthday.

July 4 in history

836  Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples.

993  Saint Ulrich of Augsburg was canonized.

1054  A supernova was observed by the Chinese  the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri.

1120  Jordan II of Capua was anointed as prince after his infant nephew’s death.

1187  The Crusades: Battle of Hattin – Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.

1253  Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeated Guy of Dampierre.

1456 The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) began.

1534 Christian III was elected King of Denmark and Norway.

1569  The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus signed the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1610  The Battle of Klushino between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish-Muscovite War.

1744  The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iriquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed.

1754 French and Indian War: George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.

1774  Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament’s Coercive Acts

1776  American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independencewas adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

1778 American Revolutionary War: Forces under George Clark captured Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

1790 George Everest, Welsh surveyor, was born (d. 1866).

1802  At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opened.

1810  The French occupied Amsterdam.

1816  Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller, was born (d. 1899).

1817 Construction on the Erie Canal began.

1826 Stephen Foster, American songwriter, was born (d. 1864).

1827  Slavery was abolished in New York State.

1837  Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opened between Birmingham and Liverpool.

1840 The Cunard Line’s 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia left Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end.

1845 Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian, was born (d. 1905).

1845  Henry David Thoreau embarked on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond.

1855  In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, was published.

1862 Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell a story that grew into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.

1863 American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – Vicksburg, Mississippi surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege.

1863 A Confederate Army was repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.

1865  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published.

1868 Te Kooti escaped from the Chatham Islands.

1868  Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer, was born (d. 1921).

1872  Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, was born (d. 1933) .

1878 Thoroughbred horses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty ran a match race, immortalized in the song Molly and Tenbrooks.

1879  Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi was captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.

1881 In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opened.

1882 Louis B. Mayer, American film producer, was born (d. 1957).

1883 Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist, was born  (d. 1970).

1886 The people of France offered the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.

1886 – The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrived in Port Moody, British Columbia.

1887 The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joined Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.

1892  Western Samoa changed the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.

1894  The short-lived Republic of Hawaii was proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

1898 Gertrude Lawrence, English-born actress, was born (d. 1952).

1902 The NZ Boxing Association was formed.

1903 Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a ‘motor race’.

1910 African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocked out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.

1911 Mitch Miller, American musician, singer and record producer, was born (d. 2010).

1917 Manolete, Spanish bullfighter, was born (d. 1947).

1918 King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga was born (d. 2006).

1918  Ann Landers, American advice columnist, was born (d. 2002).

1918 – Abigal Van Buren, American advice columnist, was born.

1918 Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascended to the throne.

1918 – Bolsheviks killed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).

1924 Eva Marie Saint, American actress, was born.

1927  Neil Simon, American playwright, was born.

1927  First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

1934 Leo Szilard patented the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.

1939  Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, told a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth” as he announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1941  Nazi Germans massacred Polish scientists and writers in the captured city of Lwów.

1946 – Sam  Hunt, poet, was born.

1946  After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attained full independence from the United States.

1947  The “Indian Independence Bill” was presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries – India and Pakistan.

1950 The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.

1959  The 49-star flag of the United States debuted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1969  The Ohio Fireworks Derecho killed 18 people and destroyed more than 100 boats on Lake Erie.

1976  Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.

1982  Iranian diplomats kidnapping: four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.

1987  In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the “Butcher of Lyon”) was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1993  Sumitomo Chemical‘s resin plant in Nihama exploded killing one worker and injuring three others.

1997  NASA‘s Pathfinder space probe landed on the surface of Mars.

2004 The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower was laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

2005  The Deep Impact collider hit the comet Tempel 1.

2006  Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission – Space Shuttle Discoverylaunched.

2006  North Korea tested four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2.

2008  Cross-strait charter direct flight between mainland China and Taiwan started.

2009 – The Statue of Liberty‘s crown reopened to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

2009 – The first of four days of bombings on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.

2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at theLarge Hadron Collider was announced at CERN.

2013 – The Death of Hung Chung-chiu: A Republic of China Army corporal died under suspicious circumstances while serving a detention sentence during his enlisted service.

2015 – L&T Safety Day 2015 with the theme “Safe Way- Only Way : Building a Culture of Prevention

2015 – Tupou VI was officially crowned as the King of Tonga.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Maintrunk Country Roadsong

Today’s contribution of poetry month is Maintrunk Country Roadsong by Sam Hunt from Time To Ride, published by Alister Taylor, 1975.

Maintrunk Country Roadsong

 

Driving south and travelling

not much over fifty,

I hit a possum . . . “Little

man” I muttered copping

down to second gear,

“I never meant you any harm”

 

My friend with me, he himself

a man who loves such nights

bright headlight nights, said

“Possums? just a bloody pest,

they’re better dead!”

He’s right of course.

 

So settling back, food down hard,

Ohakune, Tangiwai –

as often blinded by

the single headlight of

a passing goods train as by

any passing car –

 

Let the Midnight Special shine

its ever loving light on me:

they run a prison farm

somewhere round these parts;

men always on the run.

These men know such searchlight nights:

 

those wide shining

eyes of that young possum

full-beam back on mine,

watching me run over him . . .

“Little man

I never meant you any harm”

   – Sam Hunt –

Why did the chicken . . .

While searching for inspiration for this Saturday’s Smiles I came across an email giving answers to the old question, I’ve added a few more.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

 

Marilyn Waring: That’s a really sexist question. If it was a man crossing the road no one would ask why he was doing it.

 

Rachel Hunter: It’s sad when you feel like you have to cross the road because the rooster is always after younger chicks.

 

Sean Fitzpatrick: Full credit to the chicken. It was a road of two halves and rugby was the winner on the day.

 

Sam Hunt: So the chicken/crossed the road/ and also rode/ the cross. / Our nation’s boss/ the Southern Cross/ Now bears his/ PALTRY load.

 

Paul Holmes: And so. This chicken. It could be any chicken. Indeed. A chicken of the people. So to speak. Crossed the road. Or so we all thought. It now seems that the whole story. May have been invented. To boost. Interest in a new book. Published. Published I might add. Yes I might. Indeed published. By the very same chook. Tonight on Holmes. We investigate. The chook book crook.

 

David Farrar: I have 12 questions for the chicken . . .

 

Winston Peters: The people of New Zealand know I will not continue to sit idly by and let the media make unsubstantiated accusations about the chicken. Let me tell you that this matter will be fully tested in court and the people will have their say.

 

Jeanette Fitzsimons: If there were more cycle lanes it would be much safer for chickens to cross the road and they wouldn’t waste fossil fuels doing it.

 

Tariana Turia: The chicken’s mana entitles it to cross the road whenever and wherever it wants.  Our chickens are not required to provide a reason for their actions. It’s time the rednecks stopped chicken-bashing.

 

Helen Clark:  The Labour led government introduced a Welfare For Crossing Chickens Fund to enable all chickens to cross the road and escape the failed policies of the 80s and 90s.

 

Peter Dunne: It was the sensible thing to do.

 

Rodney Hide: Act will give all chickens vouchers which enable them to choose what road they want to cross, and we’ll sort out the RMA so it’s easier to build roads for them to choose.

 

John Key: The chicken was ambitious and National is ambitious for all chickens.