Michaelangelo's David was unveiled in Piazza della Signoria, Florence, 1504

We're back from a brief study break with a resounding YES BY ALL MEANS, MORE THAN EVER, WEAR A SUMMER DRESS TODAY!

Lewis and Clark leave Pittsburgh, PA to begin their expedition west at 11am, 1803

YES.

Map of the Lewis and Clark expedition

Pittsburg, 1797

The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, the longest floating bridge in the world, opens connecting Seattle to Medina, Washington, 1963

YES.

Katharine McCormick was born, 1875

DEFINITELY wear a summer dress.


Katharine McCormick was an American biologist, suffragist, and philanthropist, who funded the research behind the first birth control pill in 1957.

Peggy Guggenheim was born, 1898 / 19th Amendment went into effect, 1920

Wear a dress!

Elizabeth Cady Stanton + Susan B. Anthony, 1900

Peggy Guggenheim in Paris, 1930

Peggy in Venice

Dorothea Tanning was born, 1910

You may wear a dress.

Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning

Thomas Edison acquired the patent for the Kinetoscope, the first motion picture exhibition device, 1891

No dresses today.

Kinetoscope

Sheet of images from Monkeyshines

Monkeyshines was an experimental film produced to test the Kinetoscope (and the first film shot in the U.S.).

Motown releases "Please Mr. Postman," by the Marvelettes, which would become its first #1 hit, 1961 / Hawaii becomes the 50th state of the union, 1959

No dress.

Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen was born, 1873

You knew you had to stop sometime. Not recommended for today.

Des Moines Art Center

Kleinhans Music Hall

Kleinhans Music Hall

The New York Herald announces the California Gold Rush to the east coast, 1848

Last chance of the work week to wear a dress.

San Francisco, 1851

French astronomer Jules Janssen discovered helium, 1868 / Patrick Swayze was born, 1952

Go for it.

The North River Steamboat (the first commercial steamboat) makes its first trip from New York to Albany, 1807

YES.

Also, the first animated cartoon, Fantasmagorie, is shown in Paris, France (1908, by Emile Cohl).

Sverre Fehn was born, 1924

Yes.

Ground broke for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge spanning from Brooklyn to Staten Island, 1959

If you're going to wear dresses for the next 4 days, go for it today. If you're going to miss one day, today is the one.



The longest suspension bridge at the time (longer than the Golden Gate Bridge by 60 feet), the Verrazano was Robert Moses's last big project as New York State Parks Commissioner and head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.

A Great Day in Harlem was taken, 1958

Yes.


The photograph, taken by Art Kane, shows 57 jazz musicians standing outside a brownstone at 17 East 126th St.  Count Basie, tired of standing, sat on the curb and was joined by neighborhood children.

Interactive photograph here.

Actress Heddy Lemar and composer George Antheil receive patent for frequency-hopping spread spectrum, the basis for Wi-Fi, 1942

Go for it.

One of the creators of Monopoly was born, 1889

No.

Charles Darrow

Alice Huyler Ramsey and 3 friends were the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, from New York City to San Francisco, 1909

Summer dress!


Ramsey (who attended Vassar College from 1903-1905) was the only driver. It took 59 days to travel the 3,600 miles (only 152 of which were paved). The women mostly navigated by following telephone poles. More here.

Lucille Ball was born, 1911 / John Stewart's last day

Summer dress.

- - - - -

In honor of John Stewart (and this blog): http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/99mwqo/even-stevphen---weather

The Beatles released their album Revolver, 1966

Yes.

Louis Vuitton was born, 1821

Yes, go for it.


LV was trunkmaker to Empress Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III, and then later founder of his own brand of leather goods.

Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th U.S. president after the death of President Harding, 1923

No.

Blue Moon today!

Yes - finish the week off strong.


Blue moon: the second full moon in a calendar month. The last was in August 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LeedsEaymE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqwSde_eEv4

Birthday of Giorgio Vasari (1511), Emily Bronte (1818), and Henry Moore (1898)

Warm enough, but don't expect your legs to catch much sun. Consider a day off.

The first transcontinental phone call took place between New York and San Francisco, 1914

Smallest dress! SF scorcher!

"Hello, Mr. Mayor. As Mayor of New York, which stands at the gateway of the East, I greet you, as Mayor of San Francisco, which stands at the gateway of the West. It is a long way to San Francisco, but I think that by the completion of the transcontinental telephone line our respective cities are now doubly joined together, first by the Panama Canal, which joins us tougher for the rapid passage of maritime commerce, and now by the telephone, which links us together by the power of the human voice."

. . . . .

In the line there are two physical and one phantom circuits and in each physical circuit there are two wires and 6,800 miles of hard drawn copper wire. There are 870 pounds of copper wire in each circuit mile and 2,960 tons in the entire line. The line crosses thirteen States and passes through Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, and Buffalo, with a branch that runs through Pittsburgh, Washington, and Philadelphia. In the main line there are 130,000 poles.

Vinnie Ream was the first and youngest (age 18) woman to receive an art commission from the U.S. government for a statue of Abraham Lincoln, 1866

Dress!

Bugs Bunny makes his debut in "A Wild Hare," 1940

Yes!

The Kitchen Debates, 1959

Close but no cigar.

Vice President Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have an impromptu date about the merits of communism vs. capitalism in a model American kitchen at the National American Exhibition National Exhibition in Moscow.

Excerpts from the New York Times taken from NPR:

"On political problems," the Soviet Premier said, "we will never agree with you. For instance, [Soviet statesman Anastas] Mikoyan likes very peppery soup. I do not. But this does not mean that we do not get along."

"You can learn from us, and we can learn from you," Mr. Nixon said. "There must be a free exchange. Let the people choose the kind of house, the kind of soup, the kind of ideas that they want."