Monthly Archives: August 2020

August 21, 1993

On August 21, 1993, the ‘Mars Observer’, a robotic space probe launched by NASA went dark three days prior to orbital insertion around Mars. It was supposed to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field. But… Continue reading

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August 20, 1968

On August 20, 1968, the second and the fastest of the Byers’ brothers, David Byers, was born thereby subjecting the world to the little known, but still hilarious comedic duo, David and Joel Byers, the “Hey ya’ll, watch… Continue reading

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August 19, 1900

On August 19, 1900, the only cricket match of the Summer Olympics began. I say began, because it took two days to complete. There were only two teams competing, England and France, as no other countries had athletes dull enough to… Continue reading

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August 18, 2022

On August 18, 2004, Donald Trump unveiled his board game called, of course, “Trump the Game”. In this game the players bought and sold real estate, purchased lavish items and made billion-dollar deals. In 2022, two years after… Continue reading

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August 17, 1985

On August 17, 1985, 1,400 meatpackers walked off the job at a Hormel plant in Austin, MN. Hormel had frozen wages since 1977 and then in 1985 demanded that the union workers take a 23% pay cut. The workers said no and… Continue reading

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August 16, 1858

On August 16, 1858, telegraphed messages were sent over the newly laid trans-Atlantic cable between Britain’s Queen Victoria and US President James Buchanan. The first messages were the usual, flowery prose between 19th Century… Continue reading

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August 15, 1977

On August 15, 1977, the “Big Ear”, Ohio State’s radio telescope in Delaware received a possible alien radio signal from deep space that has since been called the “Wow” radio signal. Unknown to the general public, the CIA has been… Continue reading

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August 14, 1281

On August 14, 1281, Kublai Khan failed at his second attempted invasion of Japan. Once again his warriors were defeated by the Japanese and forced back to their ships, where a typhoon rose up and sunk all… Continue reading

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August 13, 2019

On August 13, 2019, WHO (the World Health Organization) reported that the number of measles cases tripled worldwide in 2019 with 364,808 reported, compared to 129,239 in 2018. WHO did say that this significant increase can be… Continue reading

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August 12, 1955

On August 12, 1955, US President Eisenhower raised the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an hour. Contrary to the voices of the John Birch Society and other conservative Republican leaders, this raising of the minimum wage did not… Continue reading

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