- 160th Day of 2012 / 206 Remaining
- 12 Days Until Summer Begins
- Sunrise:5:48
- Sunset:8:31
- 14 Hours 43 Minutes of Daylight
- Moon Rise:12:01am(sat)
- Moon Set:10:30am
- Moon’s Phase: 76 %
- The Next Full Moon
- June 3 @ 11:51am
- Full Buck Moon
- Full Thunder Moon
- Full Hay Moon
July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during this time. Another name for this month’s Moon was the Full Hay Moon.
- Tides
- High:1:46am/3:44pm
- Low:8:38am/9:13pm
- Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)
- This Year:15.80
- Last Year:28.51
- Normal To Date:23.70
- Annual Seasonal Average: 23.80
- Holidays
- Upsy Daisy Day
- Best Friend's Day
- Chicken Tetrazzini Day
- Snidely Whiplash Imitation Day
- National Jelly Doughnut Day
- World Ocean Day
- Shavuot / Feast of the Weeks-Judaism
- Pitcairners Arrival Day Anniversary/Bounty Day-Norfolk Island
- On This Day In …
- 0452 --- Italy was invaded by Attila the Hun.
- 0632 --- The Prophet Mohammed died in Medina.
- 0793 --- The Vikings raided the Northumbrian coast of England.
- 1783 --- Iceland’s Laki volcano blew its top and continued to spew lava for eight more months. This, one of the most violent of volcanic eruptions, killed 9,350 people and caused a famine which lasted until 1790.
- 1786 --- In New York City, commercial ice cream was manufactured for the first time.
- 1872 --- The penny postcard was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
- 1926 --- Babe Ruth blasted a home run over the right-field roof of Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The ball landed on Plum Street and rolled on the pavement, stopping 850 feet from home plate. No home run ball ever traveled farther.
- 1948 --- A hand-built aluminum prototype labeled "No. 1" becomes the first vehicle to bear the name of one of the world's leading luxury car manufacturers: Porsche. The Austrian automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche debuted his first design at the World's Fair in Paris in 1900. The electric vehicle set several Austrian land-speed records, reaching more than 35 mph and earning international acclaim for the young engineer. He became general director of the Austro-Daimler Company (an outpost of the German automaker) in 1916 and later moved to Daimler headquarters in Stuttgart. Daimler merged with the Benz firm in the 1920s, and Porsche was chiefly responsible for designing some of the great Mercedes racing cars of that decade. Porsche left Daimler in 1931 and formed his own company. A few years later, Adolf Hitler called on the engineer to aid in the production of a small "people's car" for the German masses. With his son, also named Ferdinand (known as Ferry), Porsche designed the prototype for the original Volkswagen (known as the KdF: "Kraft durch Freude," or "strength through joy") in 1936. During World War II, the Porsches also designed military vehicles, most notably the powerful Tiger tank. At war's end, the French accused the elder Porsche of war crimes and imprisoned him for more than a year. Ferry struggled to keep the family firm afloat. He built a Grand Prix race car, the Type 360 Cisitalia, for a wealthy Italian industrialist, and used the money to pay his father's bail. When Porsche was released from prison, he approved of another project Ferry had undertaken: a new sports car that would be the first to actually bear the name Porsche. Dubbed the Type 356, the new car was in the tradition of earlier Porsche-designed race cars such as the Cisitalia. The engine was placed mid-chassis, ahead of the transaxle, with modified Volkswagen drive train components. The 356 went into production during the winter of 1947-48, and the aluminum prototype, built entirely by hand, was completed on June 8, 1948. The Germans subsequently hired Porsche to consult on further development of the Volkswagen. With the proceeds, Porsche opened new offices in Stuttgart, with plans to build up to 500 of his company's own cars per year. Over the next two decades, the company would build more than 78,000 vehicles.
- 1948 --- It was the beginning of the television era, and an actor, comedian, and vaudevillian named Milton Berle was the first host of Texaco Star Theater. He didn’t know it at the time, but he was destined to become TV’s first and biggest star. Others hosted the show during the summer, but Berle made the cut, becoming the permanent emcee, staying in the spotlight for another eighteen years. Milton Berle quickly became a national institution known as Mr. Television. He was undoubtedly responsible for selling millions of TV sets, ultimately making TV the most popular form of entertainment in America. People bought the new contraption just to see the zany comedian on Tuesday night on the NBC network. Shops, restaurants and streets emptied out throughout America as folks rushed home to see the Texaco Star Theater. The show’s format included the four Texaco Service Men singing the Texaco jingle which then worked into a musical introduction of Milton Berle. He would come on stage at this point, dressed in some outlandish costume. And the show went on... Berle would end each variety show (similar to an old-fashioned vaudeville variety hour) by singing his theme song, Near You.
- 1961 --- A major-league baseball record was set. Four Milwaukee Braves batters hit consecutive home runs in the seventh inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds.
- 1967 --- During the Six-Day War, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attack the USS Liberty in international waters off Egypt's Gaza Strip. The intelligence ship, well-marked as an American vessel and only lightly armed, was attacked first by Israeli aircraft that fired napalm and rockets at the ship. The Liberty attempted to radio for assistance, but the Israeli aircraft blocked the transmissions. Eventually, the ship was able to make contact with the U.S. carrier Saratoga, and 12 fighter jets and four tanker planes were dispatched to defend the Liberty. When word of their deployment reached Washington, however, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered them recalled to the carrier, and they never reached the Liberty. The reason for the recall remains unclear. Back in the Mediterranean, the initial air raid against the Liberty was over. Nine of the 294 crewmembers were dead and 60 were wounded. Suddenly, the ship was attacked by Israeli torpedo boats, which launched torpedoes and fired artillery at the ship. Under the command of its wounded captain, William L. McGonagle, the Liberty managed to avert four torpedoes, but one struck the ship at the waterline. Heavily damaged, the ship launched three lifeboats, but these were also attacked--a violation of international law. Failing to sink the Liberty, which displaced 10,000 tons, the Israelis finally desisted. In all, 34 Americans were killed and 171 were wounded in the two-hour attack. In the attack's aftermath, the Liberty managed to limp to a safe port. Israel later apologized for the attack and offered $6.9 million in compensation, claiming that it had mistaken the Liberty for an Egyptian ship. However, Liberty survivors, and some former U.S. officials, believe that the attack was deliberate, staged to conceal Israel's pending seizure of Syria's Golan Heights, which occurred the next day. The ship's listening devices would likely have overheard Israeli military communications planning this controversial operation. Captain McGonagle was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic command of the Liberty during and after the attack.
- 1974 --- The #1 U.S. country song was Dolly Parton’s "I Will Always Love You." She had written it to duet partner Porter Wagoner when she left to pursue a solo career. The song hit again in 1982 by Dolly, in 1992 by Whitney Houston, and in 1995 by Dolly and Vince Gill.
- 1988 --- Nippon Airways announced that bird collisions had decreased by 20% since it painted eyeballs on its jetliners.
- 2001 --- Marc Chagall's painting "Study for 'Over Vitebsk" was stolen from the Jewish Museum in New York City. The 8x10 painting was valued at about $1 million. A group called the International Committee for Art and Peace later announced that they would return the painting after the Israelis and Palestinians made peace.
- 2002 --- Serena Williams won the French Open, defeating her older sister, Venus, 7-5, 6-3.
- Birthdays
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Boz Scaggs
- Louisa Tetrazzini
- Barbara Bush
- Joan Rivers
- Jerry Stiller
- Keenan Ivory Wayans
- Kanye West
- Nancy Sinatra
- Julianna Margulies
- Sonia Braga
- Scott Adams
- Mick Hucknall
- Lindsay Davenport
- Derek Trucks
- Kim Clijsters
- Giovanni Domenico Cassini
- Robert Preston
- George Kirby
- Willie Davenport