Just Completed

I've just completed my Encyclopedia of Trivia blog about the Big Bang. Did you know after the big bang only hydrogen and helium along with trace amounts of lithium and beryllium were created. The other 86 elements found in nature were all created by nuclear reactions inside stars; Check out my entry here.  

On This Day August 31

12 The Roman emperor Caligula was born Gaius Caesar.in Antium (modern day Anzio) on August 31, 12AD. His Roman general father, Germanicus Caesar was the adopted son of Tiberius. The infant Gaius traveled with his parents among the legions of Rome and the soldiers were amused when he wore a miniature soldier costume He was soon given his nickname "Caligula" (or Caligulae), meaning "Little Soldier('s boots)" in Latin, after the small boots he wore as part of his costume.

Emperor Caligula, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. By Louis le Grand

161 Roman emperor Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus was born on August 31, 161 in Lanuvium, near Rome. He was the son of the reigning emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and Aurelius' first cousin, Faustina the Younger, the youngest daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. Commodus ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His accession as emperor in 180 was the first time a son had succeeded his father since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79.

1422 Henry V of England was prematurely aged due to living the hard life of a soldier. After he caught dysentery at the Siege of Meaux in May 1422 Henry's health steadily deteriorated in the following months. He died at the Chateau of Bois de Vincennes in France  on the morning of August 31, 1422 leaving as heir his nine month old son Henry. 

WANT MORE ON THESE DAYS? CHECK OUT MY ONTHATDAY BLOG. HERE'S A LINK.

On This Day July 31

1965 Harry Potter author Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born July 31, 1965 in Chipping Sodbury, near Bristol, England. The original concept for Harry Potter came to Rowling in 1990 on a Manchester to London train that was delayed for four hours. She was staring out of the train's window of the train when the idea, plot and characters came to her.

1970 The association of rum with the Royal Navy began in 1655, when the British fleet captured the island of Jamaica. With the easy availability of domestically produced rum, the British substituted the daily ration of liquor from French brandy to a half-a-pint of rum. The rum ration was issued daily to Royal Navy sailors at noon and 5pm or 6pm with a call of "Up spirits!"  July 31, 1970: Black Tot Day marked the last day of the UK Royal Navy's officially sanctioned rum ration.

1971 Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin were history's first moon riders. They took their lunar dune buggy for a two-hour drive on the surface of the moon on July 31, 1971.

WANT MORE ON THESE DAYS? CHECK OUT MY ONTHATDAY BLOG. HERE'S A LINK.