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Almanac - Wednesday July 31, 2024

Avocado
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Flickr Creative Commons
Avocado

Today is Wednesday, the 31st of July of 2024,

July 31 is the 213th day of the year

153 days remain until the end of the year.

53 days until autumn begins

97 days until Election Day

The sun will rise in San Francisco at 6:13:14 am

and sunset will be at 8:18:14 pm.

We will have 14 hours and 5 minutes of daylight today.

The solar transit will be at 1:15:44 pm.

Water temperature in San Francisco Bay today is 65.8°F.

The first low tide was at 2:51 am at -0.33 feet

The first high tide will be at 9:56 am at 4.66 feet

The next low tide at 2:11 pm at 3.31 feet

and the final high tide at Ocean Beach tonight will be at 8:07 pm at 6.64 feet

The Moon is currently 16.1% visible

It’s a Waning Crescent

We will have a New Moon in 4 days on Sunday the 4th of August of 2024 at 4:13 am

Today is….

National Avocado Day

National Cotton Candy Day

National Jump for Jelly Beans Day

National Mutt Day

National Raspberry Cake Day

National SPAM Day

Shredded Wheat Day

Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day

World Ranger Day

Today is also….

Lā Hae Hawaiʻi Day

Sovereignty Restoration Day (Hawaiian sovereignty movement)

Martyrdom Day of Shahid Udham Singh in Haryana and Punjab states in India

Treasury Day in Poland

And Warriors' Day in Malaysia

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share your special day with….

1867S. S. Kresge, American businessman, founded Kmart (d. 1966)

1875Jacques Villon, French painter (d. 1963)

1886 – Fred Quimby, American animation producer (d. 1965)

1912 – Milton Friedman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)

1918 – Hank Jones, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2010)

1919 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster and actor (d. 2006)

1919 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (d. 1987)

1923Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-American songwriter and producer, founded Atlantic Records (d. 2006)

1931 – Kenny Burrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1932Ted Cassidy, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1979)

1939 – Susan Flannery, American actress

1944Geraldine Chaplin, American actress and screenwriter

1946Gary Lewis, American pop-rock musician

1952 – Faye Kellerman, American author

1958 – Mark Cuban, American businessman and television personality

1959Stanley Jordan, American guitarist, pianist, and songwriter

1962 – Wesley Snipes, American actor and producer

1965 – J. K. Rowling, English author and film producer

….and on this day in history….

781 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: Sixth day of the seventh month of the first year of the Ten'o (天応) era).

1703Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.

1777 – The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."

1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

1874Patrick Francis Healy became the first African-American inaugurated as president of a predominantly white university, Georgetown University.

1991 – The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.

1992 – The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.

2006Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.

2007Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

2012Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.

Kevin Vance created a program of folk music for KALW, A Patchwork Quilt, in October 1991. He grew up in Berkeley during the 1960s and '70s and spent his years learning in public schools, community colleges, bookstores, libraries, and non-commercial radio stations, as well as from the people around him. When he's not on the radio, then he's selling books, taking care of his family, listening to music, entering stuff into a computer, or taking a class.