The two photos are: 1) a close up of the "Castle Rock" and 2) downtown Castle Rock, Colorado with the rock in the background. My brother in law and his family live in this town.

The Town of Castle Rock is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Douglas County, Colorado, United States.[4] Castle Rock is located about 35 miles (56 km) south of Denver and 40 miles (64 km) north of Colorado Springs on the Interstate 25 corridor just east of the front range of the Rocky Mountains. The town is the center of the burgeoning urbanization of the county. Castle Rock is named after a small prominent butte just north of the town, clearly visible from Interstate 25. Public access is provided to climb to the top of the rock. Castle Rock is on East Plum Creek, a small stream which periodically floods. As of 2005, the city is estimated to have a total population of 35,745.[5] Castle Rock is now the 19th most populous municipality in the State of Colorado.

Castle Rock was founded in 1874 when the eastern Douglas County border was redrawn to its present location. Castle Rock was chosen as the county seat because of its central location.
The region in and around Castle Rock was originally home to Native Americans of the Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes. They occupied the land between the Arkansas and South Platte Rivers. White settlers were drawn by rumors of gold and by land opened through the Homestead Act of 1862.
One of the first settlers in the area near today's Castle Rock was the original homesteader, Jeremiah Gould. He owned about 160 acres (0.65 km²) to the south of "The (Castle) Rock." At that time, the settlement consisted of just a few buildings for prospectors, workers, and cowboys. In 1874 Jeremiah Gould donated 120 acres (0.49 km²) to the new town that was also now home to the Douglas County government. For the beginning the six streets named Elbert, Jerry, Wilcox, Perry, Castle and Front were laid out to build the actual town of Castle Rock. The Courthouse Square was defined and about 77 lots, each 50 by 112 feet (34 m), were auctioned off for a total profit of US$3,400.00 - a lot of money at that time!
It was not gold that put Castle Rock onto the map. The discovery of Rhyolite stone made the reason to build a settlement that would become Castle Rock.
A new train depot brought the Denver and Rio Grande Railway to the area. The depot building now houses the Castle Rock Historical Museum on Elbert Street, where visitors can see history of how Castle Rock changed over the years. Castle Rock currently encompasses about 35 square miles (91 km²), with a population of more than 42,000 [6] in town and 70,000 in the surrounding area.
Until cancelled in 2007, The International, a PGA Tour tournament, was held every August in Castle Rock at the Castle Pines Golf Club.

Today' Jumble (7/30/08):

AVUME = MAUVE; NEMOD = DEMON; TEENIC = ENTICE; WHAIGE = AWEIGH

CIRCLED LETTERS = MADNENCAGH

When the banker shed his suit for sweats, he felt like a ---

CHANGED MAN

Today is National Cheesecake Day.

Other things on this day in history:

1419 - First Defenestration of Prague.
1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
1608 - At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs. This was to set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next one hundred years.
1619 - In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
1629 - An earthquake in Naples, Italy kills 10,000 people.
1729 - Baltimore, Maryland is founded.
1733 - First Freemasons lodge opened in what will become the United States.
1756 - Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly-built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.
1811 - Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua, Mexico.
1825 - Malden Island discovered.
1863 - Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of the Crater - Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
1866 - New Orleans's Democratic government ordered police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.
1871 - The Staten Island Ferry Westfield's boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.
1930 - In Montevideo, Uruguay win the first Football World Cup.
1932 - Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first Academy Award winning cartoon and first cartoon short to use Technicolor, premieres.
1945 - World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis (CA-35), killing 883 seamen.
1953 - Rikidōzan holds a ceremony announcing the establishment of the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance.
1954 - Elvis Presley makes his debut as a public performer.
1956 - A Joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.
1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
1966 - England national football team win 1966 FIFA World Cup beating West Germany 4-2 in the Final
1969 - Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with U.S. military commanders.
1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission - David Scott and James Irwin on Apollo Lunar Module module, Falcon, land with first Lunar Rover on the moon.
1971 - An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Japan killing 162.
1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court.
1975 - Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.
1980 - Vanuatu gains independence.
1990 - The first Saturn automobile rolls off the assembly line.
1997 - Eighteen lives are lost in the Thredbo Landslide in New South Wales, Australia.
2002 - The accounting law referred to as "The Sarbanes Oxley Act" was signed into law by United States President George W. Bush.
2003 - In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
2006 - World's longest running music show Top of the Pops broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
2006 - At least 28 Lebanese civilians, including 16 children, were killed when Israel Air Force attacked a building in Qana in what is called the Second Qana massacre.

The two pictures are from my current place of residence in Coventry, Rhode Island. The house is the General Nathaniel Greene Homestead. The other is of Lake Tiogue which is only about a half mile from my house.

Coventry is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 33,668 at the 2000 census.

Coventry was first settled in the early 18th century, when the town was part of Warwick. Since the area was so far away from the center of Warwick, the area that became Coventry grew very slowly. However, by 1741, enough farmers (about 100 families) had settled in the area that they petitioned the General Assembly of Rhode Island to create their own town. The petition was granted, and the new town was named Coventry, after a city in central England. For the rest of the 18th century, Coventry remained a rural town populated by farmers. Among the buildings that survive are the Waterman Tavern (1740s), the Nathanael Greene Homestead (1770), and the Paine Homestead (late 1600s/early 1700s). The oldest church in Coventry, Maple Root Baptist Church, dates from the end of the 18th century.
During the War of Independence, the people of Coventry were supporters of the patriot cause. Nathanael Greene, a resident of Coventry, rose through the ranks to become a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible; he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United States are named for him. By the end of the war, Greene was second in command in the US army after George Washington.
In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution came to Coventry with the building of the first mill in Anthony. Over the next century, the eastern end of town became very industrialized, with manufacturing centers being located in Anthony, Washington, Quidnick, and Harris villages. Many of the old factories still stand in the town, and the village centers (in particular Anthony and Quidnick) remain mostly intact. The demographics of the town also changed as these new mill villages were populated by French Canadian and Irish immigrants. By the end of the 19th century, almost one fourth of the population was born outside the US, and French was the primary language for many of the people in the eastern part of Coventry. Not all immigrants, however, worked in the factories. Census records from the late 19th century show that some of them owned farms.
By comparison, the western end of the town remained very rural, with the only centers of population being located at Greene and Summit, both being established as railroad stations on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad.

Today's Jumble (7/29/08):

DRUFA = FRAUD; MYPUB = BUMPY; PERUSH = PUSHER; NUTJAY = JAUNTY

CIRCLED LETTERS = DBUSHAN

What a single girl shouldn't look for when she's looking for this.

(A) HUSBAND

Today is National Lasagna Day, Rain Day (as if we haven't had enough in New England), Sock Puppet Day, and the Anniversary of NASA.

Other things on this day in history:

1014 - Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent savage treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of shock.
1030 - Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad - King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
1565 - Mary Queen of Scots, widowed, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1567 - James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
1588 - Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines - English naval forces under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeats the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
1693 - War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen - France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
1793 - John Graves Simcoe decides to build a fort and settlement at Toronto, having sailed into the bay there.
1830 - Abdication of Charles X of France.
1836 - Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
1847 - Cumberland School of Law founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, USA. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
1848 - Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt - In Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
1851 - Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
1858 - United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
1864 - American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.
1899 - The First Hague Convention is signed.
1900 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
1907 - Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp ran from August 1-9, 1907, and is regarded as the founding of the Scouting movement.
1920 - Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
1921 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1932 - Great Depression: In Washington, DC, U.S. troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans.
1937 - Tongzhou Incident
1945 - The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
1948 - Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad - After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin opened in London.
1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1959 - First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
1965 - Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
1967 - Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
1967 - At the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela was shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
1976 - In New York City, the "Son of Sam" kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
1981 - Marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.
1987 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build the tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
1987 - Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardene sign the Indo-Lankan Pact on ethnic issues.
1993 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquits accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
1996 - The controversial child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act (1996) is struck down as too broad by a U.S. federal court.
2005 - Astronomers announce their discovery of Eris.

A little bit on the town of West Warwick, Rhode Island, neighbor to Coventry, Rhode Island, where I live. The photo is of the War Memorial Park located on the grounds of the American Legion Post 2 in the village of Arctic.

West Warwick is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 29,581 at the 2000 census.
West Warwick was incorporated in 1913, making it the youngest town in the state. Prior to 1913, the town, situated on the western bank of the Pawtuxet River, was the population and industrial center of the larger town of Warwick. The town split because local Democrat politicians wanted to consolidate their power and isolate their section of town from the Republican dominated farmland in the east. Since then, the town of West Warwick has fallen on hard times after the collapse of the state's textile industry, while Warwick has gone on to be the state's second largest city and commercial center.

The area that is now the Town of West Warwick was the site of some of the earliest textile mills in the United States situated along the banks of the Pawtuxet River, North and South Branches. These small mill villages would play an important role in the early development of the textile industry in North America.
On February 20, 2003, The Station nightclub fire was caused by pyrotechnics used indoors during a Great White concert. The fire killed 100 patrons. The fire occurred in a single-story wooden building that was more than 70 years old. It had previously served as an Italian restaurant, and during World War II was a popular hangout for sailors from nearby Quonset Point Naval Air Station.

The following villages are located in West Warwick:
Arctic- Arctic is in the center of West Warwick, and is where most of the town municipal buildings are located.
Centerville
Clyde
Crompton
Jericho
Lippitt- Home to the historic Lippitt Mill, which was constructed in 1809
Natick- Natick is a neighborhood located in the northeast section of West Warwick, Rhode Island. It was originally a predominantly Italian neighborhood.
Phenix- Phenix is in the Northwest corner of the town, and was a mainly Portuguese area.
River Point- Riverpoint is home to the historic Royal Mills and is home to Horgan Elementary.
Wescott- Westcott is located in northern West Warwick, and was home to the Westcott train crossing.

Today's Jumble (7/28/08):

NORCO = CROON; YACKT = TACKY; RAFIAN = FARINA; LARBUT = BRUTAL

CIRCLED LETTERS = CONTCKNABUA

This takes some study before a big purchase.

(A) BANK ACCOUNT

Today is National Milk Chocolate Day, Accountant's Day, and Singing Telegram Day.

Other things on this day in history:

1540 - Thomas Cromwell is executed on order from Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
1586 - First potato arrives in Britain.
1609 - Bermuda is first settled, by survivors of the English Sea Venture, en route to Virginia.
1794 - Maximilien Robespierre is guillotined in Paris during the French Revolution.
1809 - Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera - Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force under Joseph Bonaparte.
1821 - Peru: José de San Martín declares independence from Spain.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church - The battle begins on this day when Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia.
1868 - The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is passed, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
1896 - The City of Miami is incorporated.
1914 - World War I - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after it failed to meet the conditions of an ultimatum it set on July 23 following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian assassin. This declaration leads to the outbreak of World War I.
1932 - US President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, DC.
1933 - The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Spain were established.
1942 - World War II: USSR leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into Russia. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so will be immediately killed.
1943 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah - The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
1945 - A US Army B-25 bomber accidentally crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 injuring 26.
1955 - The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France.
1957 - Heavy rain and mudslide occur at Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan, 992 killed.
1958 - Lord Jellicoe makes his maiden speech in the House of Lords.
1965 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
1973 - Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: 600,000 people attend what was for many years the largest musical concert in history, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway.
1976 - The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude flattens Tangshan, the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
1996 - Kennewick Man, the remains of a prehistoric man, was discovered near Kennewick, Washington.
1997 - Guatemala becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
2002 - Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, were rescued after 77 hours underground.
2005 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army (The PIRA) call an end to their thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
2005 - A tornado touches down in a residential area in south Birmingham, England, causing £4,000,000 worth of damages and injuring 39 people.
2008 - The historic Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier burns down.
2008 - NSW Swifts defeats Waikaito/Bay of Plenty Magic in the first ever Trans-Tasman ANZ Championship Grand Final.

This is a picture of Thermopolis, Wyoming as viewed from Roundtop Mountain. I have a friend who is from there. Thermopolis is a town in Hot Springs County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,172. As might be expected from its name and the name of its county, Thermopolis is home to numerous natural hot springs, in which mineral-laden waters are heated by geothermal processes. It claims the world's largest mineral hot spring as part of Hot Springs State Park. The springs are open to the public for free as part of an 1896 treaty signed with the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian tribes.
Nearby East Thermopolis is home to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, a private organization that conducts paleontology digs in the area and maintains a visitor center.
The Hot Springs County Museum and Cultural Center has an eclectic collection of memorabilia from local pioneers circa 1890 through 1910. It plans to focus on Tim McCoy, who lived in Hot Springs County from 1912 to 1942, during which he built the High Eagle Ranch about 45 miles west of town. He worked for many years as an actor in what are now called B westerns, or lower-budget cowboy movies in Hollywood.

Today's Jumble (7/25/08):

DAMMA = MADAM; UGGEA = GAUGE; LENKER = KERNEL; BRUBRE = RUBBER

CIRCLED LETTERS = DGUNLUE

Although she was stuck up, her looks made him - - -

"UNGLUED"

Today is Systems Administrator Day. It is also Thread the Needle Day so I hope no one is left in stitches.

Other things on this day in history:

285 - Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler.
306 - Constantine I proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.
864 - Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings.
1139 - Battle of Ourique: The independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of León and Castile declared after the battle against the Almoravids.
1261 - The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, thus re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.
1536 - Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado found the City of Santiago de Cali.
1538 - The City of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil.
1547 - Henry II of France is crowned.
1567 - Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.
1593 - Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
1603 - James VI of Scotland is crowned first king of Great Britain.
1693 - Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, México.
1722 - Three Years War begins along Maine and Massachusetts border.
1755 - The decision to deport the Acadians takes place in Halifax. Thousands of Acadians are sent to the British Colonies in America, France and England. Some later moved to Louisiana, while others later resettled in New Brunswick.
1758 - Seven Years' War: The island battery at Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia is silenced and all French warships are destroyed or taken.
1759 - French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
1792 - The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French Royal Family is harmed.
1795 - The first stone of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is laid.
1797 - Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife Island (Spain).
1799 - At Aboukir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha.
1814 - War of 1812: Battle of Lundy's Lane - Reinforcements arrive near Niagara Falls for General Riall's British and Canadian forces and a bloody, all-night battle with Jacob Brown's Americans commences at 18.00; Americans retreat to Fort Erie.
1824 - Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua.
1837 - The first commercial use of an electric telegraph was successfully demonstrated by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone on 25 July 1837 between Euston and Camden Town in London.
1853 - Joaquin Murietta, famous Californio bandit known as "Robin Hood of El Dorado", is killed.
1861 - American Civil War: The Crittenden-Johnson Resolution is passed by the U.S. Congress stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
1866 - The U.S. Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (commonly called "5-star general"). Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.
1868 - Wyoming becomes a United States territory.
1869 - The Japanese daimyō begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869).
1894 - The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship.
1897 - Writer Jack London sails to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he will write his first successful stories.
1898 - The United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins with U.S. troops landing at harbor of Guánica, Puerto Rico [The land invasion, proper, began that day: Sea-based bombardment and shelling of the capital city of San Juan had been occurring since May 1898].
1907 - Korea becomes a protectorate of Japan.
1908 - Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.
1909 - Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine (Calais to Dover) in 37 minutes.
1917 - Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
1920 - Telecommunications: First transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place.
1925 - Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established.
1934 - Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.
1940 - General Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and make surrender illegal.
1943 - World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by his own Italian Grand Council and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
1944 - World War II: Operation Spring - One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.
1946 - Operation Crossroads: An atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini atoll.
1946 - At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team.
1952 - The U.S. non-incorporated colonial territory of Puerto Rico adopts a "constitution" of local-limited powers, approved by the United States Congress in contravention of then-current International Law.
1956 - 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.
1958 - The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou.
1959 - SR-N1 hovercraft crossed the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours.
1961 - John F. Kennedy speech emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.
1969 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This was the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war.
1973 - Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.
1978 - The Cerro Maravilla Incident occurs.
1978 - Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born.
1983 - Black July: 37 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo were massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.
1984 - Salyut 7 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
1993 - Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call Seven-Day War.
1993 - The St James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa.
1994 - Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948.
1995 - A gas bottle exploded in station Saint Michel of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). Eight were killed and 80 wounded.
1997 - K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first Dalit— formerly called "untouchable"— to hold this office.
2000 - Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic passenger jet, F-BTSC, crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 4 on the ground.
2007 - Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first woman president

This is a picture of a lightning storm in my home town of Gretna, Nebraska. I also put in a map so you can see where it is located (about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln). Here's a bit more about where I grew up:

Gretna is a city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 2,355 at the 2000 census. Gretna has the fastest rate of growth of any Nebraska city since 2000.

Gretna started shortly after the Burlington Railroad built a short line between Omaha and Ashland in the summer of 1886. Advent of the village of Gretna on this new laid rail line was the cue for the exit of the nearby trading post of Forest City, which had existed since 1856. In its day, Forest City, located 2.5 miles southwest of where Gretna now stands, was a flourishing and busy place, but it was doomed by the rail road which passed it by. The only marker that exists today to show the site of old Forest City is the cemetery (Holy Sepulcher) which is located a little the east of what was the center of activity in the settlement. Names that were prominent in the beginnings of Forest city were the families of William Langdon, John Thomas and John Conner.
The Lincoln Land Company, recognizing the potential of the site, surveyed and plotted the town site of Gretna in 1887. The village was incorporated by July 10, 1889. The name suggest Scotland's Gretna Green, the ancestral county of some of the earliest settlers.

Today's Jumble (7/24/08):

CHUGO = COUGH; LOCCI = COLIC; TADWYR = TAWDRY; VAHLIS = LAVISH

CIRCLED LETTERS = COCLADSH

What the tycoon resorted to when his assets were frozen.

COLD CASH

Today is Pioneer Day in Utah. And it is Amelia Earhart Day and Marvin the Martian Day. Here's Marvin.

Other things on this day in history:

1132 - Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.
1148 - Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
1411 - Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles on Scottish soil.
1487 - Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against ban on foreign beer.
1534 - French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and took possession of the territory in the name of the King Francis I of France.
1567 - Mary Queen of Scots is deposed and replaced by her 1 year old son James VI.
1701 - Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit.
1715 - A Spanish treasure fleet of 10 ships under admiral Ubilla leaves Havana, Cuba for Spain on July 24. Seven days later, 9 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida (some centuries later, treasure salvage is found from these wrecks).
1814 - War of 1812: General Phineas Riall advances toward the Niagara River to halt Jacob Brown's American invaders.
1823 - Slavery is abolished in Chile
1832 - Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by using Wyoming's South Pass.
1847 - After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City. Celebrations of this event include the Pioneer Day Utah state holiday and the Days of '47 Parade.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown - Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union army troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1866 - Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.
1901 - O. Henry is released from prison in Austin, Texas after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
1911 - Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu "the Lost City of the Incas".
1915 - Passenger ship Eastland capsizes in central Chicago, with the loss of 845 lives.
1923 - The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in the First World War.
1924 - The World Chess Federation FIDE is founded in Paris.
1927 - The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
1929 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it was first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers).
1931 - A fire at a home for aged people in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 48 people.
1935:
The world's first children's railway opens in Tbilisi, USSR.
The dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (44°C) in Chicago and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1937 - Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called "Scottsboro Boys."
1943 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1948 - Looney Tunes character Marvin the Martian makes his first appearance in the cartoon Haredevil Hare.
1950 - A V-2 rocket makes the first launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
1956:
At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25, 1946.
Khartoum University College is awarded university status becoming the University of Khartoum.
1959 - At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, US vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate."
1965 - Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are the targets of antiaircraft missiles in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other three sustain damage.
1966 - Michael Pelkey made the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping is now been banned from El Cap.
1967 - During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.
1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1972 - Bugojno group caught by Yugoslav security forces.
1974:
Watergate Scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus the Greek military junta collapses and democracy is restored.
1977 - End of a four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.
1982 - Heavy massive rain and mudslide occurred, some bridge destroyed at Nagasaki, Japan, 299 killed.
1983 - George Brett, batting for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".
1990 - Iraqi forces start massing on the Kuwait/Iraq border.
1998 - Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
2001 - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.
2002 - James Traficant is expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1.
2005 - Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France.
2007 - Libya frees all six of the Medics in the HIV trial in Libya.