August 20th Fun Facts, Trivia and History |
August 20th History Highlights |
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NASA’s Viking 1 & 2 |
NASA’s Viking Project found a place in history when it became the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars and return images of the surface. Two identical spacecraft, each consisting of a lander and an orbiter, were built. Each orbiter-lander pair flew together and entered Mars orbit; the landers then separated and descended to the planet’s surface. The Viking 1 lander touched down on the western slope of Chryse Planitia (the Plains of Gold), while the Viking 2 lander settled down at Utopia Planitia. The Viking mission was planned to continue for 90 days after landing. Each orbiter and lander operated far beyond its design lifetime. Viking Orbiter 1 continued for four years and 1,489 orbits of Mars, concluding its mission on August 7, 1980, while Viking Orbiter 2 functioned until July 25, 1978. |
August 20th is… |
Bacon Lovers Day Chocolate Pecan Pie Day Lemonade Day Radio Day |
August 20th Birthday Quotes |
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H.P. Lovecraft ” I don’t sit back and count up what I’ve done. There’s just always something else to do. There’s always a challenge ahead.” ” If you want to sell a steak, you can’t just have the sizzle, you gotta have sauce.” “No, I’ve never thought that I was gay. And that’s not something you think. It’s something you know.” ” Don’t pressure yourself. Don’t worry about what others think you should do or what the societal “norm” is. Do what moves you and makes you smile and the good will follow. “Never be ashamed of what you feel. You have the right to feel any emotion that you want, and to do what makes you happy. That’s my life motto.” ” Educate yourself make your world view beggir, visualize wealth, and put yourself in the picture.” |
August 20th Birthdays |
1833 – Benjamin Harrison, American politician, 23rd President of the United States (died in 1901) 1890 – H.P. Lovecraft, American short story writer, editor, novelist (died in 1937) 1923 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (died in 1964) 1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter 1935 – Ron Paul, American politician, and physician 1942 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter and producer (died in 2008) 1943 – Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor 1946 – Connie Chung, American journalist 1948 – Robert Plant, English singer-songwriter 1949 – Phil Lynott, Irish singer-songwriter, Thin Lizzy (died in 1986) 1952 – Doug Fieger, American singer-songwriter, The Knack (died in 2010) 1954 – Al Roker, American news anchor, and television personality 1962 – James Marsters, American actor 1965 – KRS-One, American rapper and producer 1966 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist, and songwriter (died in 2004) 1970 – Fred Durst, American singer-songwriter 1974 – Misha Collins, American actor 1983 – Andrew Garfield, American-English actor 1992 – Demi Lovato, American singer-songwriter and actress |
August 20th History |
1000 – The foundation of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen. 1858 – Charles Darwin first published his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 1882 – Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuted in Moscow, Russia. 1910 – The Great Fire of 1910 burned 3 Million acres in Washinton, Idaho, and Montana. 1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK “Detroit News Radiophone” (now WWJ), began operations in Detroit, Michigan. 1926 – Japan’s public broadcasting company, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) was established. 1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood until 1975 – NASA launched the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars. 1977 – #1 Hit August 20, 1977 – September 30, 1977: The Emotions – Best of My Love 1977 – NASA launched the Voyager 2 spacecraft towards the outer solar system. 1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval. 2002 – Broadway Show – Hairspray (Musical) August 15, 2002 2014 – 72 people were killed in Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture by a series of landslides that were caused by a (typical) month’s worth of rain that fell in a single day. |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
While filming an episode of the West Wing, Martin Sheen put a cigarette out in the National Cathedral while in character – prompting the National Cathedral to ban filming inside the building. The Capital of Maldives is Male “No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.” – Abraham Lincoln Doritos could be made without the powder and taste exactly the same. It was left on because it was decided that the residue left on your fingers as part of the “Doritos experience.” Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing Macaroni and Cheese to the United States, in 1802. Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues #6 – Industry. “The man who said ‘I’d rather be lucky than good’ saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck.” – Chris Wilton in Match Point #moviequotes Jupiter’s moon Europa may have a similar chemical balance to Earth and has “the right conditions for life.” Oh sure, of ALL the places in the universe humans could move to, we pick the ONE place we were warned to avoid… Lasers were once the greatest scientific breakthrough in history, now we use them to play with cats. When the mummy of Pharaoh Ramesses II needed to be moved to Paris for restoration, it was issued an Egyptian passport that listed his occupation as “King (deceased)”. The mummy was received with the full military honors usually accorded to royalty. The Capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur Because telescopes work using mirrors, we’ll never know if there are any space vampires. |
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