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Today in History: 30 July

762 – City of Baghdad founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur, just north of ancient Baghdad

1419 – First Defenestration of Prague – Anti-Catholic Hussites storm Prague Town Hall and throw the judge, mayor, and several city council members out the windows. They die in the fall or are killed by the crowd outside

1729 – City of Baltimore founded

1775 – Captain James Cook with HMS Resolution safely returns to England at the end of his second voyage

1863 – President Abraham Lincoln issues “eye for eye” order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot

1864 – US Civil War, Siege of Petersburg: Union General Ambrose Burnside falls in an attack on Petersburg, Virginia, in the Battle of the Crater

1909 – French chemist Eugene Schueller founds L’Oreal with his new range of hair dyes

1928 – George Eastman shows first amateur color motion pictures to guests at his New York house including Thomas Edison

1935 – First Penguin books published, starting the paperback revolution

1945 – After delivering the atomic bomb across the Pacific, cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-58. 880 of the crew die, many after being attacked by sharks, inspiring the movie Jaws

1965 – US President Lyndon Johnson signs Medicare bill, which goes into effect in 1966

1985 – Discovery moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 51-I mission

2003 – The last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line in Mexico

Download Complete! –

1818 – Emily Bronte, English novelist

1863 – Henry Ford, American industrialist and auto maker

1890 – Casey Stengel, American Baseball HOF outfielder and manager

1941 – Paul Anka, Canadian-American singer and songwriter

1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American body builder, actor, and politician

1961 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor

1970 – Christopher Nolan, English film director

1981 – Hope Solo, American soccer player

Unrecoverable Error –

1718 – William Penn, English philosopher, Quaker, and founder of Pennsylvania

1898 – Otto von Bismarck, German chancellor

2007 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish stage and film director

2023 – Paul Reubens, American comic actor and screenwriter

The Funnies:

Quote of the Day

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YouTube Song of the Day

Comic of the Day

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Mouseover: Buildings constructed from softer materials were damaged by chili pepper impacts to the storm’s high Richter-Fujita-Scoville-Mohs hardness rating.

Explain XKCD 2965: Chili Tornado Quake - explain xkcd

Image Credit: XKCD xkcd: Chili Tornado Quake

Inspirobot Sometimes Controversial Inspirational Quote of the Day:

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In case you missed it, you can find yesterday’s out of this world Spark by @Lonny6654 over here….

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Due to the limitations of technology at the time, these books were all broadcast in black and white…

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Who played the punch bug game?

What weaknesses?

Here is some Fuel for your day.

@jameswalker20 @gurugabe1 @Panda-Marie @chrisdavis8

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1975: Former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, under mysterious circumstances.
1956: The phrase “In God we trust” legally became the national motto of the United States.
1966: The Troggs take their signature hit, “Wild Thing,” to #1
1999: “The Blair Witch Project” released in theaters
1976: Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner wins Olympic decathlon

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@HulkSmash @panda-marie @lamocon @jameswalker20 @shreddie @jemjules @cooperjs1 @ismoonastar @ich-ni-san @agentofpork

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Inspirobot knows about my Claw habit. It’s getting scary.

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Which sounds better, vice or weakness? haha

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Your video remdinded me of https://youtu.be/BNCEFn7E34s?feature=shared

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Type 1 is the correct name for it

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I thought they were just Beetles. The newer fat ones are definitely not Beetles…

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Technically the name ‘Beetle’ stuck, there was also the type 1302 & 1303 before the type 1

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Paperback Revolution sounds like some kind of Beatles (not Beetles) song mashup.

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I cannot find what I would call an “authoritative” source for this. I went to the 6th page of a Google search and found many, many “On this day” sources, but not one reference I would call “proof”.

10 pretend cyber-bucks to anyone who can point to “proof”.

I’m not saying it didn’t happen, just that my Google Fu has failed to find evidence.

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1909 – French chemist Eugene Schueller founds L’Oreal with his new range of hair dyes

I had no clue that L’Oreal has been around for so long. Talk about a successful cosmetic brand!

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Does Cornell count as proof? Check out War Department. General Order No. 252. Washington: July 31, 1863 in the following link:

https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/lincoln/exhibition/question/index.html

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Good find and a good source. Using “General Order No. 252” as the search, I was also able to find other good sources to corroborate.

As far as proof of the original statement, “President Abraham Lincoln issues “eye for eye” order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot”, I would say it is proof that it’s mostly true.

The original order appears to have been motivated by mistreatment of slaves turned soldier, but the order itself was not race specific, nor method specific.

Exact text:

It is therefore ordered, that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war.

I’d say that was worth 10 pretend cyber-bucks. :moneybag:

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Woohoo! I’m rich!! :dollar::money_mouth_face:

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You can buy yourself half a pack of gum now.

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QotD:

The Seven Commandments of Animalism are a set of rules that form the basis of the animal government in Animal Farm by George Orwell:

  • Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy
  • Whatever goes on four legs or has wings is a friend
  • No animal shall wear clothes
  • No animal shall sleep in a bed
  • No animal shall drink alcohol
  • No animal shall kill any other animal
  • All animals are equal

Until the power-hungry pigs bastardize the last one into: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”

What if my dreams are to go after the weaknesses of humans, Mr. Bot?

@HulkSmash: Punch Buggy, Slug Bug, Magic Bus (two punches).

Vice/Weakness: Vice is something that one does intentionally even though I know is it wrong or bad for me. Weakness would be I ate too much of my favorite food, or stayed up all night watching the Olympics. I can see where a vice is also a weakness, but I don’t see a weakness being a vice.

I like it @gurugabe1. If the wheels start spinning, then the legs can free it. Also reminds of me the movie Rampage.

@Panda-Marie @chrisdavis8

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A F50,000 tornado can put an egg through a barn door, two barn doors if one of them is open. They call it “Humpty’s Revenge” takes long draw of a Manitoba 100

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