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stargazer wrote: It was a warm summer evening and it seemed like it took forever for Neil Armstrong to finally come down the ladder.

Yeah, my Dad also saw it and he remembers it being a long wait too.

I saw it on tv at someone else's place, but not live.
I listened to either the landing or the moonwalk, can't recall which.
I do remember that it was during the school day and we were listening on our classroom speaker - and we all cheered when the big event happened.

And 50 years ago today (July 24), the Apollo 11 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific to end their successful lunar mission.

Hard to believe it's been two years, but on this date in 2017 a total solar eclipse crossed the US from west to east, allowing millions the opportunity to see one of nature's most spectacular sights. I had the pleasure of watching it with a bunch of NarniaWebbers.

The next good opportunity for North Americans comes April 8, 2024, when totality crosses Mexico, the US from Texas to Ohio, and then into Ontario. If you have a chance, it's worth traveling to see.

Also on this date, in 1883, several strong tornadoes hit the then-small town of Rochester, Minnesota, causing lots of damage, some fatalities, and injuries. The state had few hospitals outside of the Twin Cities then, and the Mayo brothers decided to tend the wounded in a makeshift hospital that eventually grew into the Mayo Clinic. And that's how tornadoes led to the presence of a world-class medical facility in the farm fields of southern Minnesota. You can read more here.

On this date in 1883, the Krakatoa volcano erupted and killed approximately 40,000 people!

OK, I should have found a happier event.

It's 28 August, and on this day in 1963, Martin Luther King made his famous "I have a Dream" speech.

Well me hearties, it be nearly that special time of year again, known across the world as International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Now is the time for all humans to unleash their inner pirattitude! It be also the time to get free food at Long John Silver's, because... they share their name with a fictional pirate and they like fun promotional stuff. Krispy Kreme used to do it too, but they quit because of the existence of "modern pirates"... and probably also because they couldn't afford to give out that many free donuts in a day.
Avast! Belay! Keep a weather eye on yer calendars, and plan yer festivities for September 19th!*


*Yes, I do get into it a bit.

YEEESS! *catches leaves joyfully*.
We've been having an increasing number of cool breezes lately, so it's getting easier to get into it!
Now is the time for all long sleeves to rise from their summer slumbers!

604 years ago today, the English army of archers, foot soldiers and knights under King Henry V defeated a vastly superior French army of knights, heavy cavalry and mercenaries in the spectacular battle of Agincourt. You know, the one where the king talked about "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers, etc." (At least if you believe Shakespeare.

502 years ago yesterday, Martin Luther nailed up the 95 Theses on the door of his local church, which questioned the practices of the medieval church and sparked what would would be known as the Protestant Reformation. Happy Reformation Day!( Yes, you can eat candy to celebrate this too! )

Happy Reformation to you, Cleander!

I had forgotten about it until my sister had posted something on Facebook.

~Wunder

Happy Guy Fawkes Day! Haul out the fireworks and bonfire:

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

Happy Guy Fawkes Day to you too, aileth!!


Alas and alack, it seems, for some reason,
That I'd failed to remember it.
For though it's the season for gunpowder treason,
It isn't that hard to forget!


Thanks for reminding me! *Bustles downstairs to grab some festive explosives and Guy Fawkes effigy*

This weekend marks the dates of several weather-related historical events.

First, "Galloping Gertie," Washington State's original Tacoma Narrows bridge, collapsed on November 7, 1940, just months after opening. Winds blowing through the Narrows set up harmonic resonances as soon as it opened, and the nickname stuck. The video of its collapse (less the music and newsreel-type narration) was something of a standard in science classes when I was in school.

What I learned only recently is that the very same storm moved east across the Rockies and became the Armistice Day Blizzard of November 10-12, which blew across the Midwest, causing 145 deaths from varied causes like a train crash and 3 shipwrecks on Lake Michigan. Many hunters froze, being caught out in shirtsleeves (temperatures ahead of the storm were unseasonably hot, pushing 70F/21C) when freezing rain, snow, and wind struck without warning (forecasting then was not what it is now). Some locations in Minnesota received over 2 feet (600mm) of snow, setting single-storm records that would stand until the Halloween Blizzard of 1991.

Speaking of shipwrecks, one of the most well-known ones in recent years came on November 10, 1975, when the Edmund Fitzgerald was lost on Lake Superior when "the gales of November came early." All 29 hands were lost. This was news in states around the Great Lakes, but it certainly became part of popular lore via Gordon Lightfoot's ballad.

Today in 1963, two very important people died. One was shot in a car in Houston, Texas. The other died in his bed from a serious illness.
The one was John F. Kennedy.
The other was C.S. Lewis.
RIP, Jack. (They were both nicknamed Jack! How 'bout that! )