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July 31, 2023
July 31st, 2023

Question: In art, what does it mean to work chiaroscuro or chiaro-scuro?

Yesterday’s Quiz answered below: In Britain, when one asks for two guineas, how much is that in modern money?
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History for 7/31/2023
Birthdays: Liberace, General George H. Thomas the "Rock of Chickamagua", Sebastian Sperling Kresge the founder of S.S. Kresge stores, Milton Friedman, Sherry Lansing, Geraldine Chaplin, Kurt Gowdy, Dean Cain, Leon “ Bull “Durham, Primo Levi, Fred Quimby, animator Ken Harris, Ted Cassidy who played Lurch in the Adams Family, Wesley Snipes is 61, and according to J.K. Rowling, today is the birthday of Harry Potter

1358- The Mayor of Paris Etienne Marcel was killed trying to defend his city from the King of France’s royal army. Marcel tried to use the chaos of the English Hundred Years War to gain independence for Paris like the city-states of Italy. He governed the city with a bodyguard of Malletards, workmen who wielded huge two-handed sledgehammers instead of swords. After Marcel fell, Paris was governed by a royal appointee. There would be no Mayor of Paris until the Revolution in 1789. Today the Mayor of Paris is considered a direct step to the French Presidency.

1498- Christopher Columbus discovered Trinidad.

1620- The Pilgrims set sail for America. They were aiming for Virginia but washed up in Massachusetts instead. Comedian Eddie Izzard noted:” The Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth and landed in…. Plymouth! How convenient for them!”



1703- In London, writer Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) was made to stand in the public pillory for writing critical satires of the Her Majesties government and Church. The pamphlet was The Shortest Way with Dissenters.

1720- Height of the Great Plague of Marseilles- A bubonic plague of such ferocity hits the city that the regional parliament at Aix en Provence drew a line around the city and forbade anyone to enter or leave. Order within the city collapsed and the Bishop of Marseilles with his Jesuits took over the day-by-day functions. Everyday the Bishop, seated on a huge wagon of corpses pulled by convicts chanting the "Miserere' would lead a procession to church. Ahh, the good ole' days.. In later years people never forgot the heroism of the prelate. When the French Revolution ordered the despoiling of churches, the people of Marseilles refused to throw down the statue of their hero bishop.

1763- Battle of Bloody Bridge. British Captain Dalyell tried a surprise attack on Chief Pontiac’s camp to relieve the Indian siege of Fort Detroit. But Pontiac was forewarned. His warriors shot up Dalyell and his men. Pontiac slew the captain and ate his heart.

1776- Francis Salvador, a South Carolina plantation owner was killed in a skirmish with British troops. He became the first of the Jewish faith to die for American Independence.

1790- The U.S. Patent Office opened.

1793- THE BIRTH OF THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM IN AMERICA- Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson informed President George Washington of his intention to resign. Jefferson was frustrated with his endless feuds with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Adams. Although he told Washington he wished to retire to Monticello, in reality he planned to direct the strategy of his new opposition party the Democratic-Republicans. The party that became the Democratic Party was first called the Republicans, the term “democrat” was then seen as an insult. Jefferson called Hamilton’s Federalist party “the Monocrats” because he felt they had royal ambitions. From now on with few exceptions the U.S. President’s cabinet would not be a coalition of differing viewpoints but all from one party. The modern Republican Party would not be born until Lincoln’s time, 60 years in the future. Washington was appalled that his old friend and fellow Virginia planter Jefferson would take partisanship so far that he would desert his cabinet. George Washington thought political parties a bad idea because it encouraged people to put the needs of their party over the needs of their country.

1798- Admiral Horatio Nelson sighted Napoleon's fleet anchored in the bay of Aboukir at the mouth of the Nile. Since it was too late that evening to fight, the one-eyed, one armed admiral ordered dinner to be served. Over port he told his captains; "Gentlemen, tomorrow I shall gain either a peerage, or a crypt in Westminster Abbey."

1813- The British invaded New York State at Plattsburgh.

1830- The Revolution of the Ten Days- King Charles X of France overthrown and replaced with his cousin Louis Phillipe d' Orleans as a constitutional monarch, The event was remembered by Delacroix in his painting "Liberty Leading the People". The Royal French Army was deliberately held back from suppressing the rebellion by their leaders. They were Napoleon’s old Generals Marmont and Soult. Honore Daumier liked to draw new King Louis Phillipe“ The Bourguois Monarch” as a fat pear in a top hat. Prince Metternich the premier of Austria correctly predicted this uprising would signal a new round of revolutionary ferment throughout Europe: ”When Paris Sneezes, Europe catches the cold.” King Louis Phillipe’s descendants, the D’Orleans branch of the Bourbon family, are the present heirs to the throne, should the French Nation ever desire a monarchy again.

1904- Russia completed the Trans-Siberian Railroad, linking the Ural Mountains and European Russia with the Pacific Coast.

1914- Europe spirals down into world war. The Czar of Russia changed his mind one more time and ordered the Russian Army to mobilize. He told his chief of staff ” You may smash your telephone now, for I will not change my mind again.” The French government decided to reject a last minute German warning to keep away from their coming war with Russia. France ordered general mobilization. 

The leader of the French Socialists and best hope for European peace, Jean Jaure' had helped diffuse a similar crisis the previous year by chairing a last minute international summit in Switzerland. This night Jean Jaure’ was sipping wine in a Paris café, when a bullet came through the window and killed him. Someone obviously didn’t want him to spoil the fun.

1914- Meanwhile in America the reaction to the war in Europe was THE WALL STREET PANIC OF 1914. American investors feared the coming war would cut off European markets for their goods and thus be disastrous for business. So many sell orders deluged the exchange that on the advice of Treasury Secretary MacAdoo and J.P. Morgan, Jr. the New York Stock Exchange closed down completely until December. 

Brokers began to meet in the street around Wall and Nassau streets and make deals anyway. These 'Gutter-Brokers" were the world's only open functioning stock market for several months. Ironically the war proved a boon to U.S. industry (stock in Dupont went up 400%) and caused the U.S. to supplant England as the world's largest creditor nation.

1917- The PASSCHENDALE OFFENSIVE also called the Third Battle of Ypres began- Field Marshall Sir Douglas "Whiskey Doug" Haig proved he learned nothing from the last 3 1/2 years of trench war by ordering a massed standing infantry attacks right into massed German machine guns. Even today the War Office is vague on the losses, but the estimate is between now and November, tens of thousands of young Britons and Canadians were slaughtered to move the front line 1/2 a mile. When hearing of the high casualties, Sir Douglas said:" Oh dear, have we really lost that many?" Poet Siegfrid Sassoon later wrote, “ I died in Hell, and they called it Paschendaele.”

1922- Ralph Samuelson invented water skis.

1930- Radio mystery show “The Shadow” premiered. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows…heh, heh, heh.” Orson Welles did the voice of the crime fighting Shadow for a year in 1937 for $185 a week.

1945- Still at the Potsdam conference, Pres. Harry Truman gave the orders to use the Super Cosmic Bomb (a-bomb) on Japan, but not before Aug 2nd, to see if Japanese peace overtures through the Swedish Embassy were sincere. He conferred with General Eisenhower in Europe, but Ike was against the idea:” It was unnecessary to use that thing on those people.”

1945- Allied authorities capture arch-collaborator Pierre Laval hiding in Austria. Laval was the premier and chief organizer of the pro-Nazi Vichy French government under Marshal Petain. He cooperated in the transporting of thousands of French Jews to Nazi death camps, and many others Frenchmen to slave labor camps. After a sensational trial Laval, tried to poison himself, but was nursed back to health long enough so he could hang.

1948- President Truman dedicated New York City’s second major airport Idlewild Field. In 1963 it was renamed JFK Airport.

1954- Steve Allen married Jayne Meadows.

1966- Birmingham Alabama held a massed rally to burn Beatles records after John Lennon casually joked that the Beatles had become more popular than Jesus.

1960- Elijah Mohammed set up the African-American movement the Nation of Islam, called by some the Black Muslims.
1962- Malaysian independence.

1968- Charles Schulz introduced Franklin, the first black character into his Peanuts comic strip.

1970- Black Tot Day- The British Navy officially ended its centuries old custom of giving a ships crew a ration of rum.

1971- Apollo 15 astronaut went for a drive on the surface of the moon in their land-rover.

1977- Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz had kept normally unflappable New York City in the grip of fear for one year. This night he killed his last victim. He was caught because of his Volkswagen beetle being illegally parked. When writing the ticket the policeman noticed the 44 cal. pistol sticking out of a paper bag on the seat. Berkowitz was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences and today says he is a born-again Christian and he doesn’t like to dwell on the past. While in Attica he made friends with Mark David Chapman, the murderer of John Lennon.

1992- Bebe’s Kids released, the first animated feature directed by an African American, Bruce W. Smith.

1992- The Robert Zemeckis’ comedy Death Becomes Her opened. With Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis. It is the first film that widely used the new digital matte technique to replace traditional optical printing.

1995- The Walt Disney Company bought the ABC Network, the Discovery Channel and ESPN.
1999- Premiere of Brad Bird’s movie The Iron Giant.

2006- Elderly Cuban dictator Fidel Castro handed over leadership to his brother Raul Castro and went into retirement.

2020- The Twitter accounts of famous people like former Pres Obama, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk were hacked for a sophisticated bitcoin scam. The person arrested was not a foreign agent or terrorist, but a 17 year old High School student from Tampa, Fla., named Graham Clark.

2022- George Jetson of the 1960s TV show The Jetsons was born. The show is set when George was age 40, in 2062.
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Yesterday’s Question: In Britain, when one asks for two guineas, how much is that in modern money?

Answer: About 2 Pounds, 10 Pence. A Guinea was a gold coin introduced in England in 1663. A quarter ounce of gold minded in a place in Africa called Guinea. It lost its significance when the currency was reformed in 1814, then again in 1971. But the name still pops up in slang.


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