Post by farmgal on Jul 26, 2012 23:00:50 GMT -5
July 27 is the 209th day of this leap year in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 157 days remaining until the end of the year.
Days until Election Day, Tuesday November 6, 2012: 102
Countdown until Obama leaves Office www.obamaclock.org/
U.S. Debt Clock: www.usdebtclock.org/
1302 Battle of Bapheus: decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithynia for Turkish conquest.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bapheus
1549 The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reaches Japan.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier
1586 Sir Walter Raleigh brings first tobacco to England from Virginia. In July 1586, some of the Virginia colonists returned to England and disembarked at Plymouth smoking tobacco from pipes, which caused a sensation. William Camden, a contemporary witness, reports that "These men who were thus brought back were the first that I know of that brought into England that Indian plant which they call Tabacca and Nicotia, or Tobacco" Tobacco in the Elizabethan age was known as "sotweed."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tobacco
1663 The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation_Act#The_Navigation_Acts
1775 Benjamin Church began his service as the first Surgeon General of the Continental Army. Benjamin Church (August 24, 1734 - 1776) was the first Surgeon General of the Continental Army July 27, 1775 - October 17, 1775. Church's loyalty to the American Revolution fell under suspicion, and he was forced from office in public disgrace, convicted of communicating with the enemy.In July 1775, Church had sent a cipher letter addressed to Major Cane, a British officer in Boston. The letter was intercepted and was sent to Washington in September. It was decoded and found to contain an account of the American forces before Boston, but contained no disclosures of great importance. It contained, however, a declaration of Church's devotion to the Crown and asked for directions for continuing the correspondence.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Church
1778 American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant – British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Ushant
1789 The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_State
1794 French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Robespierre
1837 US Mint opens in Charlotte, NC. In 1836, construction on the Charlotte Mint began, with it opening for business on July 27, 1837. Only raw gold was processed and refined until March 28, 1838, when the first $5 gold half eagle was struck in Charlotte. Later that year the $2 1/2 quarter eagles were minted, and a small gold dollar began production in 1849. All gold coinage coming from this mint has a "C" mint mark to distinguish it from other sister mints now in operation. Over $5 million in gold coins were issued by the Charlotte Mint.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mint
1862 Sailing from San Francisco, California to Panama City, Panama, the SS Golden Gate catches fire and sinks off Manzanillo, Mexico, killing 231.
1865 Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rawson,_Chubut
1866 The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart's Content, Newfoundland.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable
1880 African-American inventor A.P. Abourne was awarded a patent for refining coconut oil.
1880 Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand – Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan. Under the leadership of Ayub Khan, the Afghans defeated two brigades of British and Indian troops under Brigadier-General George Burrows, though at a high price: between 2,050 and 2,750 Afghan warriors were killed, and probably about 1,500 wounded. British and Indian forces suffered 969 soldiers killed and 177 wounded.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maiwand
1884 The first electrically propelled street-car line in the U.S. was begun in direct competition with horse-cars at Cleveland, Ohio, on the Bentley-Knight system. In the same year, the first practical system in the U.S. of conveying electricity from overhead wires to a motor on the car by a trolley, or small groved pulley on the end of a flexible pole extending above the roof of the car, was made in Kansas City, Mo. Improvements in the apparatus made by Sprague in 1888 led to the first American installation of a large scale electrically propelled street-car system at Richmond, Va. The earliest commercially successful application of electricity to the traction of street-cars was made at Lichterfelde, near Berlin, by Siemens and Halske in 1881
1888 The first electric automobile, designed by Philip W. Pratt, was demonstrated in Boston, a tricycle powered by six Electrical Accumulator Company cells, weighing 90 pounds.
1890 Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
1900 Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, "Hun" would be a disparaging name for Germans.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huns#20th_century_use_in_reference_to_Germans
1909 Orville Wright tests first US Army airplane, flying 1hr 12min. On July 27, he set a new duration record, flying for one hour and 12 minutes with Lieutenant Frank Lahm on board. This exceeded one of the Army's requirements-remaining aloft for one hour with a passenger on board. Orville flew the speed trial on July 30 with Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois on board. He had averaged 42.583 miles per hour (68.5 kilometers per hour)-surpassing the Army's 40 mile per hour (64.4 kilometer-per-hour) requirement and breaking yet another record. The Wrights qualified for a $5,000 bonus by flying two miles per hour (3.2 kilometers per hour) over the necessary speed. The first military flyer would cost the U.S. Army $30,000.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_Wright#Public_showing
1913 In Oxford, PA, the first Victorious Life Conference closed. Founder Robert C.McQuilkin, inspired by England's Keswick Movement, emphasized in these meetings an attainment of spiritual freedom from the power of every known sin.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Life_movement
pleasantplaces.biz/authors/mcquilkin_r.php
1914 Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Philippine government and because of this, most publications refer to him as the founder of the church. However, the official doctrines of the church profess that Jesus Christ is the founder of the INC and that Felix Manalo was the last messenger, sent by God to re-establish the Christian Church to its true, pristine form because the original church was apostatized. INC teaches that the apostate church is the Roman Catholic Church, and proclaims that Catholic beliefs shared by most Christians, such as the Trinity are proof of this apostasy. The church teaches that the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit are not biblical. As of 2010, the Executive Minister of Iglesia ni Cristo is Eduardo V. Manalo, the grandson of Felix Manalo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_ni_Cristo
1917 The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Passchendaele
1918 Socony 200, first concrete barge in US, launched to carry oil, NY. In 1918, "Socony 200", the first concrete barge, was launched into Flushing Bay, N.Y. The hull was constructed of concrete with steel-reinforcement by Fougner Concrete Shipbuilding Company. The Socony name is the acronym of the Standard Oil Company of New York, the owner. The barge, designed to carry oil, was 98 feet long, 31 feet wide and 9 1/2 feet deep. Increased structural weight as a disadvantage of concrete as a construction material is offset by the saving in cost of construction.
www.kipnotes.com/Shipping.htm
1919 The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Race_Riot
1921 Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar. In 1921, insulin was isolated at Toronto University by Canadians Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best. It proved an effective treatment for diabetes. While Banting had an established a surgical practise in London, Ontario, he conceived a technique which might permit isolation of the anti-diabetic component of the pancreas. By the time the summer had ended, he and Charles Best had isolated insulin.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Discovery
1926 A hurricane came inland near Daytona Beach, FL. The hurricane caused 2.5 million dollars damage in eastern Florida, including the Jacksonville area.
1929 The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Convention_(1929)
1931 A swarm of grasshoppers descended over Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, destroying thousands of acres of crops. Those who experienced it said it was not an exaggeration to say they were so thick that you could scoop them up in a scoop shovel. Motor travellers had to roll down the windshield to keep them from raining in on their feet. The grasshoppers had eaten the corn down to the ground, leaving not a stalk standing. Because egg pods are laid in the soil, but susceptible to fungal diseases of wet soil, survival of eggs is best during dry years. Outbreaks are often related to periods of drought.
1939 The temperature at Lewiston, ID, hit 117 degrees to establish an all-time record high for that location.
1940 The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wild_Hare
1941 Japanese troops occupy French Indochina.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Indochina#World_War_II
1942 World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.
1943 On a whim, and flying a single engine AT-6, Lieutenant Ralph O'Hair and Colonel Duckworth were the first to fly into a hurricane. It started regular Air Force flights into hurricanes.
1944 First British jet fighter used in combat (Gloster Meteor). The Gloster Meteor Mk. I made its first flight on 15th May, 1941. It had a maximum speed of 415 mph (667 km) and had a range of 1,340 miles (2,156 km). It was 41 ft 3 in (12.58 m) long with a wingspan of 43 ft (13.11 m) and armed with four 20 mm cannons. The Gloster Meteor Mk. I saw action for the first time on 27th July, 1944 against the V1 Flying Bomb. The Gloster Meteor Mk. III first appeared in January 1945 and took part in missions over Nazi Germany. However, by this time the Luftwaffe had been virtually destroyed and it never met the leading German fighters in combat.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Meteor
1942 Peggy Lee recorded her first hit record -- "Why Don’t You Do Right". Benny Goodman discovered Peggy Lee's vocalizing in the Buttery Room at a time when he was looking for a replacement for Helen Forrest. Miss Lee joined Goodman's band in July, 1941, when the band was at the height of its popularity, and for over two years she toured the United States with the most famous swing outfit of the day, playing hotel engagements, college proms, theater dates, and radio programs. Much of her present success Miss Lee credits to her apprenticeship with the big bands. In July, 1942, Peggy Lee recorded her first smash hit, "Why Don't You Do Right?" It sold over 1,000,000 copies and made her famous.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Don%27t_You_Do_Right%3F
1947 Yogi Berra starts record 148 game errorless streak. Berra led the American League in games caught and chances accepted eight times, and led the league in double plays six times. He is one of only four catchers to ever field 1.000 in a season (1958), and between July 28, 1957, and May 10, 1959, Berra set major league records by catching in 148 consecutive games and accepting 950 chances without making an error. Yogi was a master at calling pitches and handling a pitching staff. He caught two no-hitters by Allie Reynolds in 1951 and Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra
Comet 1 prototype at Hatfield, Hertfordshire in October 1949
1949 Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner. In 1949, the British De Havilland Comet, the world's first jet-propelled airliner, made its maiden flight in England. Before the time of the Comet today's speed and comfort standards did not exist. Commercial transport used piston engines and most planes were akin to WW2 aircraft. Flying was made difficult by the bad weather of low cruising levels; the cruising speed was reduced making long trips a tough and exhausting matter. The development of jet-engines in WW2 led to a new milestone in commercial air transport.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet
1953 Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 and ended with an armistice on July 27, 1953 (though no permanent peace treaty has ever been signed). In North Korea it is formally called the "Fatherland Liberation War." In the United States, the conflict at the time was sometimes officially called a police action, or the Korean Conflict, under the aegis of the United Nations rather than a war. Because of the prominence of World War II and the Vietnam War in American popular memory, the Korean War is sometimes known as "The Forgotten War."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#Armistice_.28July_1953_.E2.80.93_November_1954.29
1955 The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria#20th_century
1964 Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War#Lyndon_B._Johnson.27s_escalation.2C_1963.E2.80.931969
1973 Walter Blum becomes 6th jockey to ride 4,000 winners. Walter Blum won back-to-back American riding championships in 1963 and 1964. In his distinguished 22-year jockey career, he rode 4,382 winners. His 1,704 mounts in 1963 (including 360 firsts) were the second highest ever ridden in a single season. In 1974, his 4,000th winning mount made Blum only the sixth U.S. jockey ever to achieve that level.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Blum
1974 Watergate scandal: the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal#Final_investigations_and_resignation
1974 “Annie's Song" by John Denver topped the charts
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie%27s_Song
1976 Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed bribery scandals.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuei_Tanaka#Scandals
1981 6 year old Adam Walsh, son of John Walsh is kidnapped in Hollywood, Florida and is found murdered two weeks later.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Adam_Walsh
1983 Black July: 18 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
1984 Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb’s record for most singles in a career. Pete Rose collects his 3,053rd career single off Steve Carlton in the 7th inning of Montreal's 6-1 win over Philadelphia, passing Ty Cobb as baseball's all-time singles king.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Rose
1987 RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic_Inc#RMS_Titanic_Inc.
1988 Hot weather prevailed in the north central U.S. Williston, ND, reported a record high of 108 degrees. Thunderstorms produced severe weather in the eastern U.S., and in southeastern Texas. Richland County, SC, was soaked with up to 5.5 inches of rain.
1988 Radio Shack announces the Tandy 1000 SL computer. The Tandy 1000 was a line of more or less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation. The machine was geared toward home use and a modest budget, and it copied the IBM PCjr's 16-color graphics (PCjr's graphics were an extension of CGA video) and 3-voice sound, but didn't use the PCjr cartridge ports. As the Tandy 1000 outlasted the PCjr by many years these graphics and sound standards became known as "Tandy-compatible" or "TGA," and many software packages of the era listed their adherence to Tandy standards on the package.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_1000#Tandy_1000_SL.2C_SL.2F2.2C_TL.2C_TL.2F2.2C_TL.2F3
1989 Thunderstorms produced locally heavy rains in the southwestern U.S. Yuma, AZ, experienced their most severe thunderstorm of record. Strong thunderstorm winds, with unofficial gusts as high as 95 mph, reduced visibilities to near zero in blowing dust and sand. Yuma got nearly as much rain in one hour as is normally received in an entire year. The storm total of 2.55 inches of rain was a record 24 hour total for July. Property damage due to flash flooding and high winds was in the millions.
1990 The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day is celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence is moved to June 3.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus#Since_initial_independence
1990 The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying the Trinidad and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet as well as the staff at the television station hostage for 6 days.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaat_al_Muslimeen
1995 The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War_Veterans_Memorial
1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing: in Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. One woman (Alice Hawthorne) is killed, and a cameraman suffers a heart attack fleeing the scene. 111 are injured.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing
1997 About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria. In 1997, Algeria was at the peak of a brutal civil conflict that had begun after the military's cancellation of 1992 elections set to be won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). Two major Islamist guerrilla groups, Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and AIS, and several minor ones, were fighting the government. Larbaa was a major center for the FIS's armed wing, the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), which the GIA had recently declared war on; Mustapha Kartali, a former GIA chief who had split from him in 1995 and become head of the AIS's Katibat Errahamane brigade, was based in the area.
On the afternoon of 27 July 1997, the electricity went out. That night, a number of guerrillas armed with shotguns, knives, and sabres (30 according to The Economist, 100 according to Liberte) stormed into the area by night and started breaking into homes and cutting the residents' throats, killing men, women, and babies, and burning some victims alive. They also blew up their houses. About 50 people (most papers reported 47; Le Matin reported 58) were killed.
The massacre was presumed to be the work of the GIA. According to Robert Moore of The Observer as quoted by Ahmed Bouzid in Zmag: "in the village of Larbaa the attack took place 300 yards from a large barracks." The New York Times confirms that "the electricity had been cut in the town before the assault and the attack occurred close to an army barracks" (Roger Cohen, "Despite freeing of a militant, no letup in Algerian strife", The New York Times, 2 August 1997, as cited by Algeria-Watch).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_Zerrouk_massacre
2002 Ukraine airshow disaster: a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_airshow_disaster
2005 STS-114: NASA grounds the Space Shuttle, pending an investigation of the continuing problem with the shedding of foam insulation from the external fuel tank. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program#Accidents
2006 The Federal Republic of Germany is deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it is illegal to outsource flight surveillance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cberlingen_mid-air_collision#Recommendations_after_the_accident
CG renderings of N215TV (top) and N613TV (bottom)
2007 Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: news helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Phoenix_news_helicopter_collision
~~~~~~~~~~ Births ~~~~~~~~~~
1740 Jeanne Baré, French explorer (d. 1803)
1741 François Hippolyte Barthélémon, (d 23 Jul 1808) French Swedenborgian composer. Two of his manyworks later became hymn tunes: AUTUMN (Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus) and BALERMA (Oh, fora Closer Walk with God).
www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/r/t/barthelemon_fh.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Hippolyte_Barth%C3%A9l%C3%A9mon
1752 Samuel Smith, (d. 1839) United States Senator and Representative from Maryland, a mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, and a general in the Maryland militia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Smith_(Maryland)
1787 Thomas Say (d 10 Oct 1834 at age 47) American naturalist who was self-taught, yet often considered to be the founder of descriptive entomology in the United States. His taxonomic work was quickly recognized by European zoologists. Say was a founding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He was chief zoologist of Major Stephen Long's exploring expedition to the tributaries of the Missouri River in 1819 and in 1823 for the expedition to the headwaters of the Mississippi. During the 1819 expedition, Say first described the coyote, swift fox, western kingbird, band-tailed pigeon, Say's phoebe, rock wren, lesser goldfinch, lark sparrow, lazuli bunting, and orange-crowned warbler. His important work, American Entomology, remains a classic. He also wrote on paleontology and conchology.
1812 Thomas Clingman, American Confederate general (d. 1897)
1861 Cyrus Slvester Nusbaum (d 1937) born in Middlebury, Indiana. Ordained in 1886, he served as a pastor in Kansas and inspector of the American Red Cross in France during World War I. Later, he was a conference evangelist in the Midwest. He wrote and composed several hymns, including "Let Him Have His Way with Thee."
www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/i/s/hiswaywt.htm
www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/n/u/s/nusbaum_cs.htm
1870 Bertram Borden Boltwood (d 15 Aug 1927 at 57).
American chemist and physicist whose work on the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium was important in the development of the theory of isotopes. Boltwood studied the "radioactive series" whereby radioactive elements sequentially decay into other isotopes or elements. Since lead was always present in such ores, he concluded (1905) that lead must be the stable end product from their radioactive decay. Each decay proceeds at a characteristic rate. In 1907, he proposed that the ratio of original radioactive material to its decay products measured how long the process had been taking place. Thus the ore in the earth's crust could be dated, and give the age of the earth as 2.2 billion years
1899 Harl McDonald near Boulder Colorado, composer ( "The Santa Fe Trail", "The Rhumba") (d Mar 30, 1955)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harl_McDonald
1904 Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge (d 14 Jul 1966 at 62) American nuclear physicist who directed the first atom bomb test of the Manhattan Project in 1945.
1905 Leo Durocher, (d 1991) nicknamed Leo the Lip, American infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by a manager. A controversial and outspoken character, Durocher's career was dogged by clashes with authority, umpires (his 95 career ejections as a manager trailed only McGraw when he retired, and still rank fourth on the all-time list), and the press. Durocher was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Durocher
1908 Joseph Mitchell, American writer (d. 1996)
1913 George L. Street III (d 2000), submariner in the United States Navy. He received the Medal of Honor during World War II.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_L._Street_III
1916 Elizabeth Hardwick, American critic and novelist (d. 2007)
1916 Keenan Wynn, American actor (d. 1986)
1916 Skippy Williams, American musician and arranger (d. 1994)
1918 Leonard Rose, American cellist (d. 1984)
1922 Norman Lear, American TV writer and producer
1924 Vincent Canby, American film critic (d. 2000)
1927 Allen K. Breed (d 13 Dec 1999 at 72)
American engineer and inventor of the "ball-in tube" or electromechanical crash sensor (EMS). He formed Breed Corp. in 1961 to develop and manufacture safety and arming devices for the military. Later, he recognized that these safety devices could be applied toward the development of crash sensors for automotive airbag systems. Breed developed his first airbag sensor design in 1968. His persistence within the automotive industry and with Congress helped bring airbags to the forefront of the US automotive market in the early 1980s. In 1984 passive restraint led to the birth of the airbag industry.
1929 Harvey Fuqua, American singer and songwriter (d. 2010)
1931 Jerry Van Dyke, American actor
1932 Forest Able, American basketball player
1933 Nick Reynolds, American singer
1937 Don Galloway, American actor (d. 2009)
1938 Gary Gygax, (d 2008), American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson. Gygax has been described as the father of Dungeons & Dragons.[
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax
1942 John Pleshette, American actor
1942 Dennis Ralston, American former professional tennis player. He attended the University of Southern California (USC) and won NCAA championships under their legendary coach, George Toley. He was coached in his earlier years by the legendary tennis player, Pancho Gonzales. He was the highest-ranked American player at the end of three consecutive years in 1960s with his career-high singles ranking of World No. 5.
1944 Bobbie Gentry, American singer and songwriter ("Ode to Billie Joe")
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbie_Gentry
1948 Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Fleming
1948 Betty Thomas, American actor (Hill Street Blues) and director
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Thomas
1949 Maury Chaykin, American-born Canadian actor (d. 2010)
1949 Maureen McGovern, American singer and Broadway actress, well known for her premier renditions of the Oscar-winning songs "The Morning After" from the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure, and "We May Never Love Like This Again" from The Towering Inferno in 1974.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_McGovern
1952 Roxanne Hart, American actress
1955 Cat Bauer, American novelist
1956 Carol Leifer, American actress
1957 Bill Engvall, American comedian
1957 Matt Osborne, American wrestler
1959 Joe DeSa, American baseball player (d. 1986)
1959 Hugh Green, American football player
1962 Karl Mueller, American bassist (Soul Asylum) (d. 2005)
1963 Karrin Allyson, American Jazz vocalist
1964 Rex Brown, American bassist (Pantera)
1967 Juliana Hatfield, American musician (Blake Babies, Some Girls)
1967 Sasha Mitchell, American actor
1967 Kellie Waymire, American actress (d. 2003)
1968 Tom Goodwin, American baseball player
1969 Triple H, American wrestler
1972 Jill Arrington, American sports reporter
1972 Maya Rudolph, American actress and comedian
1973 Cassandra Clare, American author
1973 Abe Cunningham, American drummer (Deftones)
1975 Shea Hillenbrand, American baseball player
1975 Alex Rodriguez, American baseball player
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Rodriguez
1979 Shannon Moore, American wrestler
1980 Nick Nemeth, American wrestler
1981 Susan King Borchardt, American basketball player
1983 Blair Redford, American actor
1984 Taylor Schilling, American actress
1984 Kenny Wormald, American dancer and actor
1985 Lou Taylor Pucci, American actor
1986 Courtney Kupets, American gymnast, best known for her 2003 and 2004 all-around national championships (with Carly Patterson as co-champion in 2004); her membership on the 2002 and 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and 2004 Olympic teams; and her individual bronze medal on the uneven bars at the 2004 Olympics.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtney_Kupets
1986 DeMarre Carroll, American basketball player
1987 Jacoby Ford, American football player
1987 Jordan Hill, American basketball player
~~~~~~~~~~ Deaths ~~~~~~~~~~
432 Pope Celestine I
1749 John Sergeant Konkapot, chief of the Mahicans of Massachusetts, came to a hard decision. Since he could not hope to defeat the white invaders who were pressing on his lands, he would join them. His tribe would become Christians. In 1734, he asked for missionaries.
After negotiations, the Puritans responded by sending John Sergeant. John took a deep interest in the fortunes of this declining tribe who needed much more than spiritual assistance. One of his first efforts was to open a school for their children. When he returned east to complete his own education, he took two Mahicans with him to further theirs.
Then the Yale graduate returned to work among the Indians. At that time they lived as two bands many miles apart. He and his assistant Timothy Woodbridge were exhausted traveling between them. He suggested the two groups unite in a central location. In this way they founded Stockbridge, Massachusetts and he built the first house there.
The Massachusetts colonial government funded a school and a meeting house. Although the missionaries lived separate from the Indians, the town government did become integrated, with Indians and whites sharing power. Using English methods, the Indians harvested bumper crops. Interested Englishmen contributed funds for the success of the experiment.
However, unscrupulous whites began to seize land that was promised to the Indians in perpetuity. Among them was John's father-in-law. He had married Abigail Williams, daughter of the Rev. Ephraim Williams. Ephraim did much harm to the Mahicans.
John died on this day, July 27, 1749. With his passing, the Indians lost their champion and the terms of their settlement were increasingly violated. A general who was appointed to manage the town married John's widow and sold liquor to the Indians.
John is little remembered today. However, his legacy of concern for the Indians lived on when Jonathan Edwards took over the mission post for a few years.
But John's legacy found its most ardent expression in the young man who hoped to become the son-in-law of Jonathan Edwards. Many have heard of David Brainerd, the missionary to American Indians who died young but bequeathed a spiritual journal to posterity that has inspired dedication in countless later Christians. His inauguration as a missionary was owing to John Sergeant. John had visited Indians along the Delaware River and asked the Scottish Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) to send them a missionary. Brainerd was the result.
www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11630255/
1863 William Lowndes Yancey, American Confederate leader (b. 1813)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lowndes_Yancey
1876 Walter Channing at 90 (b 15 Apr 1786) U.S. physician and one of the founders of the Boston Lying-In Hospital (1832), brother of the clergyman William Ellery Channing; he was the first (1847) to use ether as an anesthetic in obstetrics and the first professor of obstetrics at Harvard University (1815)
1876 Albertus van Raalte, (b 1811) 19th-century pastor in the Reformed Church in America. He led the Dutch immigrants who founded the city of Holland, Michigan in 1846 and played an important role in establishing the school that would become Hope College.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_van_Raalte
1883 Montgomery Blair, (b. 1813), politician and lawyer from Maryland. Despite belonging to a prominent slaveholding family, Blair was an abolitionist and a loyal member of the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Blair
1901 Brooke Foss Westcott, 76, (b 12 Jan 1825 ) English N.T. scholar, serving as Bishop of Durham from 1890 until his death. In 1881, he and colleague F.J.A.Hort published the most precise critical text of the Greek New Testament ever compiled --still in use today.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Westcott
1903 Caroline (Lina) V. Sandell Berg, 71 (b Oct 3, 1832). Known as the 'Fanny Crosby of Sweden,' her most beloved hymns (in their English translation) include 'Day by Day' and 'Children of the Heavenly Father.'
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Sandell
www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/a/n/sandell-berg_kw.htm
1946 Gertrude Stein, (b. 1874)American writer, poet, and art collector who spent most of her life in France.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Stein
1948 Joe Tinker, (b. 1880) American Major League Baseball player and manager. He is best known for his years with the Chicago Cubs dynasty which won four pennants between 1906 and 1910; and for his feud with double play partner Johnny Evers. Tinker was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Tinker
1958 Claire Chennault, (b 1893) American military aviator. A contentious officer, he was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fight-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U.S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment. Chennault retired in 1937, went to work as an aviation trainer and adviser in China, and commanded the "Flying Tigers" during World War II, both the volunteer group and the uniformed units that replaced it in 1942. His family name is French[N 1] and is normally pronounced shen-auw. However, his family being Americanized, the name was instead pronounced "shen-AWLT."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Chennault
1962 James H. Kindelberger, American aerospace pioneer (b. 1895)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Kindelberger
1962 Conrad Arnold Elvehjem at 61 (b 27 May 1901).
American biochemist who identified that nicotinic acid was a vitamin which when absent from diet resulted in the disease pellegra. In 1937, working with dogs having the canine equivalent of pellegra (blacktongue), he showed that giving a dog 30 milligrams of nicotinic acid resulted in substantial improvement. Continuing doses to correct the diet deficiency led to complete recovery. It worked as well in humans. Niacin is one of the B vitamins. His later work was on the trace minerals such as zinc and cobalt which are essential to life as component parts of enzymes.
1963 Garrett Augustus Morgan at 86 (born 4 Mar 1877) Black-American inventor and businessman who established the Cleveland Call newspaper (1920), invented a hair straightening cream, woman's hat fastener, an automobile clutch, a safety hood breathing device (1912) which he improved as a gas mask used by some soldiers in WW I, and a traffic signal. By age 30, he had spent time working as a handyman and taught himself enough about repairing sewing machines to start a repair business. Two years later, he started a tailoring shop with 32 employees. He developed and was successful selling G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Cream to straighten hair. When he invented a traffic signal in 1922 (not the red-yellow-green lights type), several other traffic signals had already been previously patented by other inventors. He was nearly blind from 1943 due to glaucoma.«
1968 Charles Benjamin "Babe" Adams, (b 1882) American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1906 to 1926 who spent nearly his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Noted for his outstanding location control, his career average of 1.29 walks per 9 innings pitched was the second lowest of the 20th century; his 1920 mark of 1 walk per 14.6 innings was a modern record until 2005. He shares the Pirates' franchise record for career victories by a right-hander (194), and holds the team mark for career shutouts (47); from 1926 to 1962 he held the team record for career games pitched (481).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Adams
1981 William Wyler, German-born American film director (b. 1902)
1985 Howard Ellsworth "Smoky Joe" Wood, (b. 1889) professional baseball player. He played all or part of fourteen seasons in Major League Baseball. He played for the Boston Red Sox from 1908-15, where he was primarily a pitcher, for the Cleveland Indians from 1917-22, where he was primarily an outfielder. He is one of only 13 pitchers who won 30 or more games in one season (going 34–5 in 1912) since 1900.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoky_Joe_Wood
1987 Travis Jackson, (b 1903) American baseball shortstop. In Major League Baseball (MLB), Jackson played for the New York Giants from 1922 through 1936, winning the 1933 World Series, and representing the Giants in the MLB All-Star in 1934. After his retirement as a player, Jackson managed in minor league baseball through to the 1960 season.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Jackson
1988 Frank Zamboni, (b 1901) U.S. inventor whose most famous invention is the modern ice resurfacer, with his surname being registered as a trademark for these resurfacers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zamboni
1990 Bobby Day, (b 1928)singer, songwriter, best known songwriting efforts were "Over and Over" made popular by the Dave Clark Five in 1965 and "Little Bitty Pretty One" popularized by Thurston Harris in 1957, Clyde McPhatter in 1962 and the Jackson Five in 1972. However, Day is most remembered for his 1958 solo recording of the Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit, "Rockin' Robin", written by Leon Rene under the pseudonym Jimmie Thomas.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Day
1993 Reggie Lewis, American basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993. (b 1965)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Lewis
1995 Miklós Rózsa, (b 1907) Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany (1925 – 1931), and active in France (1931 – 1935), England (1935 – 1940), and the United States (1940 – 1995), with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953.[1] Famous for his nearly one hundred film scores, he nevertheless maintained a steadfast allegiance to absolute concert music throughout what he called his "double life."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikl%C3%B3s_R%C3%B3zsa
1995 Rick Ferrell, (b 1905) American professional baseball player, coach, scout and executive.[1] He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1929 to 1947 for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators. Ferrell was regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball during the 1930s and early 1940s. His 1,806 games played as a catcher set an American League longevity record which stood for more than 40 years. An eight-time All-Star, Ferrell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Ferrell
1999 Sweets Edison, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1915)
2000 Gordon Solie, American wrestling commentator (b. 1929)
2001 Leon Wilkeson, American guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (b. 1952)
2003 Vance Hartke, (b 1919) Democratic United States Senator from Indiana from 1959 until 1977.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vance_Hartke
2003 Bob Hope, (b. 1903) English-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the U.S. armed forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel.[2] Throughout his long career, he was honored for his humanitarian work. In 1996, the U.S. Congress declared him the "first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces." Bob Hope appeared in or hosted at least 199 USO shows.[3]
Hope's career spanned 60 years (1934 to 1994), and included over 70 films and shorts. He also had many stage appearances, and a large number of television roles. He had a great interest in sport, including golf, boxing, and football—owning a small stake in the Cleveland Indians for most of his professional life. He was married to Grace Troxell from 1933 until 1934, and to Dolores Hope from 1934 until his death.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope
2006 Maryann Mahaffey, (b 1925) served on the Detroit City Council from 1973 until 2005, from 1990 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2005 as council president. She was the second-to-last white female city council president of Detroit. Sheila Cockrel was the last. She was also the last president under Detroit's "strong council" form of government. She died on July 27, 2006 from leukaemia, aged 81.
In both terms as council president, she proved to be a very controversial leader. It was under her that a majority of Detroit's public housing projects were shut down - most notably, the Brewster-Douglas projects in 2004, which are still vacant- and the city's crime and abandonment rates almost tripled. However, she oversaw redevelopment of several inner-city neighborhoods, and championed construction along the Woodward Corridor.
She was a Professor Emerita at the School of Social Work at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she taught from 1965 to 1990. She had an undergraduate degree from Cornell College in Iowa and an MSW from the University of Southern California.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryann_Mahaffey
2010 Maury Chaykin, American-born Canadian actor (b. 1949)
2010 Jack Tatum, (b. 1948) American football safety who played ten seasons from 1971 through 1980 for the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL). He was popularly known as "The Assassin." He was voted to three consecutive Pro Bowls (1973–1975) and was a member of one Super Bowl-winning team in his nine seasons with the Raiders.
Holidays and observances
Christian Feast Day:
Aurelius and Natalia and companions of the Martyrs of Córdoba, put to death during the reign of Abd ar-Rahman II, Emir of Córdoba
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelius_and_Natalia
Pantaleon
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pantaleon
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (Roman Martyrology)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sleepers
July 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Saints
Holy Greatmartyr and Healer Panteleimon (305)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panteleimon
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Clement of Ohrid, Bishop of Greater Macedonia; and Saints Sabbas, Angelar, Nahum, and Horasdus, disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius (916)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Ohrid
Saint Anthusa, Abbess of Mantinea in Asia Minor and her 90 monastic sisters (8th century)
Blessed Nicholas Kochanov, Fool-for-Christ at Novgorod (1392)
Saint Iosaph of Moscow, metropolitan (1555)
Martyr Christodulus (1777)
Saint Manuel, monk
Other commemorations
Repose of Pulcheria of Viatka, Abbess of Nativity Convent (1890)
Commemoration of the canonization of Saint Herman of Alaska (1970)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Herman_of_Alaska
www.daysuntil.com/Election-Day/index.html
www.amug.org/~jpaul/jul27.html
www.scopesys.com/cgi-bin/today2.cgi
www.christianity.com/churchhistory/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_27_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics)
www.hymntime.com/tch/index.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_27