Time Will Tell: July 28th

Saturday, July 28, 2012

July 28th

July 28 is the 210th day of the year. There are 156 days remaining until the end of the year.

1586 Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe on Happy Hamburger Day. Coincidence? I think not.

1866 Metric system becomes a legal measurement system in U.S.

1868 14th Amendment is ratified to grant citizenship to ex-slaves and equal protection for all citizens.

1917 Silent Parade in New York City to protest murders of blacks in race riots. Honestly now, you know this is historic. When has a big group of black people ever been quiet?!?!?

1920 'Poor Little Ritz Girl" opens at the Central Theatre, NYC, marking the theatrical debut of the songwriting lovers Richard Rodgers (then 18) and Lorenz Hart (then 25)

1933 1st singing telegram is delivered to Rudy Vallee in New York City

1977 1st oil through the TransAlaska Pipeline System reaches Valdez, Alaska . . .I think we know where this is headed.

1996 Kennewick Man, the remains of a prehistoric man, is discovered near Kennewick, Washington.

2005 The Provisional Irish Republican Army (The PIRA) calls an end to their thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.

1844 Gerard Manley Hopkins, probably gay Irish poet and Jesuit Priest. Obsessed with handsome younger men. But he probably didn't do anything about it. Is he good? Yes. But keep a dictionary handy.

1909 Malcolm Lowry, English novelist and alcoholic. Best known for "Under the Volcano". His college roommate committed suicide when Lowry refused his advances. His first wife left him because gay men were always after him. Obviously, he had to beat the men off to keep them away from his pulchritude.