July 8

Today in History
• 951 - Paris is founded
• 1099 - First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march around Jerusalem
• 1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage
• 1654 - 1st Jewish colonist arrive in U.S. (Jacob Barsimson in Manhattan)
• 1663 - King Charles II of England grants a charter to Rhode Island
• 1693 - NYC authorizes 1st police uniforms in American colonies
• 1776 - John Nixon gave 1st public reading of Decleration of Independence in Philadelphia
• 1796 - U.S. State Department issues 1st American passport


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• International Skinny Dip Day
• Math 2.0 Day
• National Blueberry Day
• National Chocolate with Almonds Day
• National Freezer Pop Day
• National Ice Cream Sundae Day
• National SCUD Day
• National Video Game Day

Birthdays
• 1528 - Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy/governor of Netherland
• 1545 - Don Carlos, son of Spanish King Philip II
• 1808 - Mindon, King of Burma (1853-1878)
• 1819 - Francis Leopold McClintock, British naval officer and explorer
• 1826 - Robert Kingston Scott, American governor of South Carolina (1868-1872)
• 1830 - Frederick William Seward, United States Assistant Secretary of State
• 1831 - John Pemberton, American pharmacist (inventor of Coca-Cola)
• 1838 - Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, inventor, rigid dirigibles