TODAY IN HISTORY

July 2

1298		An army under Albert of Austria defeats forces led by Adolf of Nassua.
1625		The Spanish army takes Breda, Spain, after nearly a year of siege.
1644		Oliver Cromwell crushes the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor.
1747		Marshall Saxe leads the French forces to victory over an Anglo-Dutch force under the Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of Lauffeld.
1776		The Continental Congress resolves that the American colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."
1822		Denmark Vesey is executed in Charleston, South Carolina, for planning a massive slave revolt.
1858		Czar Alexander II frees the serfs working on imperial lands.
1863		The Union left flank holds at Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg.
1881		Charles J. Guiteau fatally wounds President James A. Garfield in Washington, D.C.
1926		Congress establishes the Army Air Corps.
1937		American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappears in the Central Pacific during an attempt to fly around the world.
1961		Novelist Ernest Hemingway commits suicide at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
1964		President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law.
1967		The U.S. launches Operation Buffalo in Vietnam.
1976		North and South Vietnam are officially reunified.
1980		President Jimmy Carter reinstates draft registration for males 18 years of age.

TRIVIA

The Velvet Revolution led to the dissolution of what nation?
(click below for the answer)

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THE FIRST WORD

cames

But he is best known for his leaded-glass windows—those that are designed by cutting glass into patterns and then putting the pieces together with metal strips called cames.

Cames comes from a similar Scottish word that means "frame," especially one for a pane of glass.

CRAZY BEADS

PIX OF THE DAY

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

SPACE

A Super Moon's Halo 
Image Credit & Copyright: Luis Argerich Explanation: A Full Perigee Moon rose as the Sun set last Sunday. At its closest to Earth it was, by just a bit, the year's brightest and largest Full Moon also known as a Super Moon. Seen from Punta Piedras, Argentina and the mouth of the Rio de La Plata, near Buenos Aires, the Super Moon's light created this magnificent circular lunar halo. Still, the size of a lunar halo is determined by the geometry of six sided water ice crystals in planet Earth's high, thin clouds. The crystals deflect the rays of moonlight more strongly through a minimum angle of 22 degrees. So this halo has an inner radius of 22 degrees, just like the halos of the less-than-super moons. Even more common than a Super Moon, beautiful 22 degree halos can be spotted at any time of year.

AROUND THE ROOM

THE FUTURE OF ROTARY

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

A British couple are being terrorized by a rat in their toilet. Margaret and Keith Woods say the rodent has emerged from their loo numerous times, even though they now flush repeatedly before sitting down. “We are petrified to go to the toilet,” Margaret said. Just the other day, Margaret said, she flushed, opened the lid, and “it was rearing its ugly head.” The water company has apologized, saying sewer work is probably to blame. The Woods family, meanwhile, has named the now-familiar rat “Roland.”

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TODAY IN HISTORY

July 1

96		Vespasian, a Roman army leader, is hailed as a Roman emperor by the Egyptian legions.
1543		England and Scotland sign the Peace of Greenwich.
1596		An English fleet under the Earl of Essex, Lord Howard of Effingham and Francis Vere capture and sack Cadiz, Spain.
1690		Led by Marshall Luxembourg, the French defeat the forces of the Grand Alliance at Fleurus in the Netherlands.
1777		British troops depart from their base at the Bouquet river to head toward Ticonderoga, New York.
1798		Napoleon Bonaparte takes Alexandria, Egypt.
1838		Charles Darwin presents a paper on his theory of evolution to the Linnean Society in London.
1862		Union artillery stops a Confederate attack at Malvern Hill, Virginia.
1863		In the first day's fighting at Gettysburg, Federal forces retreat through the town and dig in at Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill.
1867		Canada, by the terms of the British North America Act, becomes an independent dominion.
1876		Montenegro declares war on the Turks.
1898		American troops take San Juan Hill and El Caney, Cuba, from the Spaniards.
1942		German troops capture Sevestapol, Crimea, in the Soviet Union.
1945		The New York State Commission Against Discrimination is established–the first such agency in the United States.
1950		American ground troops arrive in South Korea to halt the advancing North Korean army.
1961		British troops land in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.
1963		The U.S. postmaster introduces the zip code.
1966		The U.S. Marines launch Operation Holt in an attempt to finish off a Vietcong battalion in Thua Thien Province in Vietnam.

AND I QUOTE

“Political power does not rest with those who cast votes; political power rests with those who count votes.”-Joseph Stalin

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