Crabs and Beer!

On this day in 1947, reports were broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico.

By 1947, the United States had launched thousands of top-secret Project Mogul balloons carrying devices to listen for Soviet atomic tests. These high-altitude balloons carried a series of highly sensitive microphones to detect Soviet nuclear tests. On June 4, researchers at Alamogordo Army Air Field in New Mexico launched a long train of these balloons; they lost contact with the balloons and balloon-borne equipment within 17 miles (27 km) of the ranch managed by W. W. “Mac” Brazel near Corona, New Mexico, where a balloon array subsequently crashed. Later that month, Brazel discovered tinfoil, rubber, tape, and thin wooden beams scattered across several acres of the ranch.

With no phone or radio, Brazel was initially unaware of the ongoing flying disc craze. When Brazel visited Corona, on July 5, his uncle Hollis Wilson suggested his debris could be from a “flying disk”. The next day Brazel drove to Roswell, New Mexico, and informed Sheriff George Wilcox of the debris he had found. Wilcox called Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF). RAAF was home to the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, the only unit at the time capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The base assigned Major Jesse Marcel and Captain Sheridan Cavitt to return with Brazel and gather the material from the ranch.

On July 8, RAAF public information officer Walter Haut issued a press release stating that the military had recovered a “flying disc” near Roswell. After station director George Walsh broke the news over Roswell radio station KSWS and relayed it to the Associated Press, his phone lines were overwhelmed. Media interest in the case dissipated soon after a press conference where General Roger Ramey, his chief of staff Colonel Thomas DuBose, and weather officer Irving Newton identified the material as pieces of a weather balloon.

Roswell Daily Record. July 8, 1947

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Here’s George Thorogood…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyhJ69mD7xI

On this day in 1928, the first loaf of sliced bread was sold by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri. Their product, “Kleen Maid Sliced Bread”, proved to be a success. Otto Frederick Rohwedder (July 7, 1880 – November 8, 1960) was an American inventor and engineer who created the first automatic bread-slicing machine for commercial use.

St. Louis baker Gustav Papendick bought Rohwedder’s second bread slicer and set out to improve it by devising a way to keep the slices together at least long enough to allow the loaves to be wrapped. After failures trying rubber bands and metal pins, he settled on placing the slices into a cardboard tray. The tray aligned the slices, allowing mechanized wrapping machines to function.

W.E. Long, who promoted the Holsum Bread brand, used by various independent bakers around the country, pioneered and promoted the packaging of sliced bread, beginning in 1928. In 1930, Wonder Bread, first sold in 1925, started marketing sliced bread nationwide.

The phrase “the greatest thing since sliced bread” is a common idiom used to praise an invention or development. A writer for The Kansas City Star wrote that “the phrase is the ultimate depiction of innovative achievement and American know-how.”

This photograph depicts a “new electrical bread slicing machine” in use by an unnamed bakery.

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Apparently not for everyone…

Bethan’s Rock is a small grey stone on display at Poole Museum in Poole, England. It was donated to the museum in 2019 by a five-year-old girl named Bethan, and it has since attracted significant attention on social media and become the museum’s most famous object. – Wikipedia

This is one of my Patsy Cline favorites…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gzthI-oltM

On this day in 1885, 9-year-old Joseph Meister was badly bitten by a rabid dog. After consulting with physicians and obtaining their assistance, Louis Pasteur agreed to vaccinate the boy with his rabies vaccine, which he had successfully used to prevent rabies in dogs. This was done at some personal risk for Pasteur, since he was not a licensed physician and could have faced prosecution for treating the boy.

Over 11 days, Meister received 13 inoculations, each inoculation using viruses that had been weakened for a shorter period of time. ^Three months later he examined Meister and found that he was in good health. Pasteur was hailed as a hero and the legal matter was not pursued.

Studio portrait of Louis Pasteur

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Art meme

today is the birthday, in 945, of Rik Elswit, guitarist, with American rock band Dr Hook who had the 1970s hits ‘The Cover of Rolling Stone’, ‘A Little Bit More’, ‘When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman’ and ‘Sylvia’s Mother’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVXVO_vF2Io

On this day in 1775, George Washington takes command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He directed the successful siege of Boston and commanded the Continental Army until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, in which Britain officially recognized American independence. Washington disbanded his army, giving a farewell address to his soldiers on November 2. He oversaw the evacuation of British forces in New York and was greeted by parades and celebrations.

He served the whole time without pay but was reimbursed for his expenses. In early December 1783, Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern and resigned as commander-in-chief soon after.

The earliest authenticated portrait of George Washington shows him wearing his colonel’s uniform of the Virginia Regiment from the French and Indian War. The portrait was painted about 12 years after Washington’s service in that war, and several years before he would reenter military service in the American Revolution. Oil on canvas.

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Here’s Eddie Cochran with his Summertime Blues…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti38LFY7x1Y

On this day in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools and public accommodations, and employment discrimination. The act is considered one of the most significant legislative achievements in American history.

The legislation was proposed by President John F. Kennedy in June 1963, but it was opposed by filibuster in the Senate. After Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed the bill forward. The United States House of Representatives passed the bill on February 10, 1964, and after a 72-day filibuster, it passed the United States Senate on June 19, 1964. The final vote was 290–130 in the House of Representatives and 73–27 in the Senate.

Segregated water fountains In Wilmington, North Carolina

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Victor Willis, the lead singer of the Village People who also co-wrote many of the group’s high-camp disco-era hits, including “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man,” died on Monday. He was 74. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k