PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR AUGUST 1

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *1192*, English regent *Richard the Lionheart* lands on
Jaffa and defeats the army of Islamic leader *Saladin*.

***

On this day in the year *1619*, a few weeks after having been traded for a
shipload of food by a desperate Dutch slave-trader, the very first Africans
to ever touch American soil land in Jamestown, Virginia. Unfortunately,
they were such a hit with the slave-owning classes (who previously had been
content to own native Americans and English paupers), rush orders were soon
being placed for millions more. The rest, as they say, is history.

***

On this day in *1914*, Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of *World
War I*. The Swiss Army mobilizes because of World War I.

***

On this day in *1944*, the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation
breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.

***

On this day in *1957*, the United States and Canada form the North American
Air Defense Command, better known as*NORAD*.

***

On this day in *1966*, some crazy emmeffer by the name of *Charles
Whitman* climbs
a bell tower and kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin
before being killed by the police.

***

On this day in *1966*, purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes
official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

***

On this day in *1972*, the *Washington Post* reports that a $25,000
cashier's check earmarked for the Comittee to Re-Elect the President
(CREEP) was discovered in the bank account of one of the men caught
burglarizing a Democratic office in the Watergate building. It's the Post's
first Watergate story, and it's also the beginning of *the end*
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/chronology.htm>
 for*President Nixon*.

***

On this day in *1980*, a politician by the name of *Vigdís Finnbogadóttir* is
elected President of Iceland, becoming the world's first democratically
elected female head of state!

***

On this day in *1981*, MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and
airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by *The Buggles*.

***

The combined efforts of *Captain J. T. Kirk* and *T.J. Hooker* weren't
enough to save *William Shatner*'s wife when he found her, face down in the
bottom of the family pool on this day in 1999. And yes, he DID call 911,
or, as he calls it: "Nine..... one-one!"
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