LeBron is going home
When LeBron James signed the deal that resulted in his spending the last four seasons as a member of the Miami Heat, this is an indicator of how the city of Cleveland reacted:
Now, July 11, 2014, this is going on in Miami:
Things do come full circle. Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers posted this letter to the team's website back in 2010 when LeBron announced his departure:
"Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;
"As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.
"This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.
"Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.
"The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.
"There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.
"You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.
"You have given so much and deserve so much more.
"In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:
"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE"
"You can take it to the bank.
"If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.
"Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.
"Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.
"This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become.
"But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.
"The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.
"Just watch.
"Sleep well, Cleveland.
"Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day....
"I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:
"DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue.... "
Dan Gilbert
Majority Owner
So the "Big Three" of Miami will not reunite next season. Cleveland instantly improves. The only news on the Lakers horizon is that they may be about to acquire Jeremy Lin. Looks like another playoff-free year for the Lakers this coming season. Sigh.
* * *
I'm guessing most of you have never had to use the services of ACE, the payday lender who paid a $10 million settlement to resolve allegations of illegal practices on their part. Here's how they work. You write the lender a check in the amount you want to borrow. Most have a cap of $300. The fee is deducted from the cash amount paid to you. With a fee of 15%, you write the check for $300, postdated to your next payday. They hand you $255 in cash and deposit your check on payday.
The thing is, it doesn't matter if you borrow the money the day after your last payday, or the day before payday; the fee is still 15%. The annualized interest rate for this loan would be 460% (that's $300 * 4.6 = $1,380). It seems smaller because you only paid the $45, but if you borrowed the $300 at that rate for a year, you'd pay that $1,380 plus the original $300 back over the course of a year.
Don't think that Cashcall is any better. They will let you repay that loan of $2,500 over a four year period, but at an annual interest rate of 99%. You will borrow $2,500 and four years later have paid over $10,000 back to Cashcall. They will make three times the amount they lent you, and that assumes you make all the payments on time. Miss one payment and the late charges start piling up.
How do I know all of this? There was a time between October of 2004 and August of 2006 when I was very low on funds because I was only working occasionally and I was enrolled in school to finish my undergrad degree. I used the services of both a payday lender and Cashcall at one point. I knew the costs of a Cashcall loan but I needed more than the $900 or so I could muster by visiting three payday lenders and I needed it for about four weeks. Knowing I'd have more than enough to repay the loan, I bit the bullet, called Cashcall and would up paying over $250 for one month of interest on a loan of $2,500.
You have to be careful about loans and lending things. There's something called The Rule of 72. That was how interest was calculated on one car loan I once took out. I was dealing with a dealership that insisted I had to close the sale on that Saturday or lose the very favorable pricing I was getting. So I finally sighed and signed. Monday I pushed the loan through my credit union at a much lower rate of interest and I had a check two days later. I went to Ford Motor Credit to pay off the loan I'd taken out to buy the car. They charged me a full month's interest for the four days the loan was open. I nearly went ballistic, but quickly realized there was no way out. I vowed then and there to never again buy a Ford.
Caveat emptor, my friends. Read and heed before you sign.
* * *
The NY Post ran a piece on the inappropriateness of sending "pink slips" to captains serving in combat zones. If the Army could wait to deliver those notices until these officers return home from the current deployment; and still give them the same amount of time before they are involuntarily separated from active duty, then that would be true. But I believe the Army's hands are tied as to how many months after an officer is notified that he or she is being separated due to a Reduction In Force (RIF).
I don't think the basics of this system have changed all that much from the time I was in the military. I remember two people I encountered who were victims of a RIF. One was a guy I met at my first assignment. He worked at the base's Education Office and he helped me get tuition assistance to pay for my college courses. Turned out he had spent more than 10 years on active duty as a Captain. But he was passed over for promotion to Major and was given a choice. Since he'd spent more than ten years on active duty, he could choose to enlist as a Staff Sergeant and serve out the years he would need to reach retirement eligibility. As a Captain. That's what he did. On the first day of the first month after he hit 20 years of service, he retired and began to receive a Captain's retirement pay. The system protected his retirement benefits.
The other officer was one I actually worked with. He was an aircraft maintenance officer and a good one. He knew how to get his men to get the job done. But he wasn't considered a "good officer" by his peers and supervisors in the things that they felt mattered most. He refused to join the Officer's Club and as a result his performance reports were less favorable than his peers. When we served in the same unit, he refused to shave his moustache. Regulations may have permitted a limited moustache, but one of the commanders pretty high up in our chain of command made it very clear he did not want his officers to have moustaches.
He hadn't reached ten years in service before he was passed over for Captain the final time, and therefore had to get out of the service. I believe they offered him a chance to enlist as an NCO and he would get credit for time served toward retirement; however, he would retire with enlisted rather than officer pay. He refused. The Air Force lost a good man.
Budgets rule the RIF system. It isn't a personal thing. That doesn't make a RIF any easier to deal with.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The one who is the big loser in the LeBron returns to Cleveland drama is Dwayne Wade. He gave up a lot of money to try to stay in Miami with the rest of the Big Three.
It's nice of Hugh Hefner to reach out to Kendra Wilkinson in the wake of reports her husband was cheating on her.
Is it really a big deal that Jennifer Lopez was twerking on stage? She was once a "Fly-Girl" after all.
Prince Fielder is in the top 50 hitters all-time in MLB when measuring by at-bats per home run, and he's one of only two people in that group who are still playing and 30 years old or younger. He might look a little out of shape on the cover of ESPN the Magazine's Body issue, but he isn't morbidly obese, or too fat to be photographed.
Kudos to "Big Hoss" from the reality show Pawn Stars for losing almost 200 lbs.
So should Khloe Kardashian be surprised that her soon to be ex-husband, Lamar Odom cheated on him prior to their separation? There's lots of infidelity in the NBA. Then there are people like A. C. Green, who was renowned for being a virgin for his entire pro career. I can't picture a number of players being unfaithful, Kurt Rambis being the first who springs to mind. But it is clear lots of pro athletes cheat. My question is, how long will Kanye West be able to resist the temptation of music groupies?
I wouldn't want to touch a nine foot python someone found under a car's hood either. The snake caused a woman's car to stall and once the snake was in the hands of a cop, she refused to touch it.
Pau Gasol is almost certainly not going to be in Lakers purple, gold and white next season. It isn't a horrible thing, but he's a nice guy and an excellent player.
The eight year old girl who turned in her parents for smoking, growing and selling pot; raises interesting questions. Pot should be legal, but where it isn't, should parents do it in front of a child? Should they be blowing the smoke from their joint into the mouth of a family pet (which they did to their dog)?
Very sad to read about the death of Charlie Haden. RIP.
Vladimir Putin was really generous in writing off that $32 billion that Cuba owed Russia. It isn't like they were ever going to collect.
Good thing I'm not planning to travel to Russia. They've banned the uttering of my favorite Russian profanity. I said it aloud once in the back of a taxi and the driver, a Russian émigré laughed loudly. He said I sounded Russian.
I feel bad that a "religious" college expelled a female student who married another woman, but she did sign a document promising to adhere to a religious covenant. More on this tomorrow.
* * *
July 11th in History:
472 – After being besieged in Rome by his own generals, Western Roman Emperor Anthemius is captured in the St. Peter's Basilica and put to death.
911 – Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy.
1174 – Baldwin IV, 13, becomes King of Jerusalem, with Raymond III, Count of Tripoli as regent and William of Tyre as chancellor.
1302 – Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch) – a coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the king of France's royal army.
1346 – Charles IV, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, is elected King of the Romans.
1405 – Ming admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time.
1476 – Giuliano della Rovere is appointed bishop of Coutances.
1576 – Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.
1616 – Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.
1735 – Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
1740 – Pogrom: Jews are expelled from Little Russia.
1750 – Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire.
1789 – Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille.
1796 – The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
1798 – The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
1801 – French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
1804 – A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
1833 – Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed.
1848 – Waterloo railway station in London opens.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Stevens; Confederate forces attempt to invade Washington, D.C.
1882 – The British Mediterranean Fleet begins the Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt as part of the Anglo-Egyptian War.
1889 – Tijuana, Mexico, is founded.
1893 – The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.
1893 – A revolution led by the liberal general and politician, José Santos Zelaya, takes over state power in Nicaragua.
1895 – Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology to scientists.
1897 – Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.
1906 – Murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in the United States, inspiration for Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy.
1914 – Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.
1914 – USS Nevada (BB-36) is launched.
1919 – The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.
1920 – In the East Prussian plebiscite the local populace decides to remain with Weimar Germany.
1921 – A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect.
1921 – The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.
1921 – Former President of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.
1922 – The Hollywood Bowl opens.
1930 – Australian cricketer Donald Bradman scores a world record 309 runs in one day, on his way to the highest individual Test innings of 334, during a Test match against England.
1934 – Engelbert Zaschka of Germany flies his large human-powered aircraft, the Zaschka Human-Power Aircraft, about 20 meters at Berlin Tempelhof Airport without assisted take off.
1936 – The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
1940 – World War II: Vichy France regime is formally established. Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.
1943 – Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Volhynia) peak.
1943 – World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily – German and Italian troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily.
1947 – The Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France.
1950 – Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank.
1957 – Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismaili worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III.
1960 – France legislates for the independence of Dahomey (later Benin), Upper Volta (later Burkina) and Niger.
1960 – Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States.
1962 – First transatlantic satellite television transmission.
1962 – Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth.
1971 – Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.
1972 – The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.
1973 – Varig Flight 820 crashes near Paris, France on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 of the 134 on board. In response, the FAA bans smoking on flights.
1977 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1978 – Los Alfaques Disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists.
1979 – America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
1990 – Oka Crisis: First Nations land dispute in Quebec, Canada begins.
1995 – The Srebrenica massacre is carried out.
2006 – Mumbai train bombings: Two hundred nine people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.
2012 – Astronomers announce the discovery of Styx, the fifth moon of Pluto.
Famous Folk Born on July 11th:
Robert the Bruce
Tokugawa Mitsuki
Sarah Good
Frederick I of Prussia
John Quincy Adams
E. B. White
Reg Varney
Yul Brynner
Gene Adams
Harold Bloom
Admiral Frank Kelso
Giorgio Armani
Beverly Todd
Bruce McGill
Bonnie Pointer
Leon Spinks
Mindy Stirling
Sela Ward
Suzanne Vega
Lisa Rinna
Bridgitte Andersen
Lil' Kim
Nadya Suleman
Now, July 11, 2014, this is going on in Miami:
Things do come full circle. Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers posted this letter to the team's website back in 2010 when LeBron announced his departure:
"Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;
"As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.
"This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.
"Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.
"The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.
"There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.
"You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.
"You have given so much and deserve so much more.
"In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:
"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE"
"You can take it to the bank.
"If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.
"Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.
"Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.
"This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become.
"But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.
"The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.
"Just watch.
"Sleep well, Cleveland.
"Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day....
"I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:
"DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue.... "
Dan Gilbert
Majority Owner
So the "Big Three" of Miami will not reunite next season. Cleveland instantly improves. The only news on the Lakers horizon is that they may be about to acquire Jeremy Lin. Looks like another playoff-free year for the Lakers this coming season. Sigh.
* * *
I'm guessing most of you have never had to use the services of ACE, the payday lender who paid a $10 million settlement to resolve allegations of illegal practices on their part. Here's how they work. You write the lender a check in the amount you want to borrow. Most have a cap of $300. The fee is deducted from the cash amount paid to you. With a fee of 15%, you write the check for $300, postdated to your next payday. They hand you $255 in cash and deposit your check on payday.
The thing is, it doesn't matter if you borrow the money the day after your last payday, or the day before payday; the fee is still 15%. The annualized interest rate for this loan would be 460% (that's $300 * 4.6 = $1,380). It seems smaller because you only paid the $45, but if you borrowed the $300 at that rate for a year, you'd pay that $1,380 plus the original $300 back over the course of a year.
Don't think that Cashcall is any better. They will let you repay that loan of $2,500 over a four year period, but at an annual interest rate of 99%. You will borrow $2,500 and four years later have paid over $10,000 back to Cashcall. They will make three times the amount they lent you, and that assumes you make all the payments on time. Miss one payment and the late charges start piling up.
How do I know all of this? There was a time between October of 2004 and August of 2006 when I was very low on funds because I was only working occasionally and I was enrolled in school to finish my undergrad degree. I used the services of both a payday lender and Cashcall at one point. I knew the costs of a Cashcall loan but I needed more than the $900 or so I could muster by visiting three payday lenders and I needed it for about four weeks. Knowing I'd have more than enough to repay the loan, I bit the bullet, called Cashcall and would up paying over $250 for one month of interest on a loan of $2,500.
You have to be careful about loans and lending things. There's something called The Rule of 72. That was how interest was calculated on one car loan I once took out. I was dealing with a dealership that insisted I had to close the sale on that Saturday or lose the very favorable pricing I was getting. So I finally sighed and signed. Monday I pushed the loan through my credit union at a much lower rate of interest and I had a check two days later. I went to Ford Motor Credit to pay off the loan I'd taken out to buy the car. They charged me a full month's interest for the four days the loan was open. I nearly went ballistic, but quickly realized there was no way out. I vowed then and there to never again buy a Ford.
Caveat emptor, my friends. Read and heed before you sign.
* * *
The NY Post ran a piece on the inappropriateness of sending "pink slips" to captains serving in combat zones. If the Army could wait to deliver those notices until these officers return home from the current deployment; and still give them the same amount of time before they are involuntarily separated from active duty, then that would be true. But I believe the Army's hands are tied as to how many months after an officer is notified that he or she is being separated due to a Reduction In Force (RIF).
I don't think the basics of this system have changed all that much from the time I was in the military. I remember two people I encountered who were victims of a RIF. One was a guy I met at my first assignment. He worked at the base's Education Office and he helped me get tuition assistance to pay for my college courses. Turned out he had spent more than 10 years on active duty as a Captain. But he was passed over for promotion to Major and was given a choice. Since he'd spent more than ten years on active duty, he could choose to enlist as a Staff Sergeant and serve out the years he would need to reach retirement eligibility. As a Captain. That's what he did. On the first day of the first month after he hit 20 years of service, he retired and began to receive a Captain's retirement pay. The system protected his retirement benefits.
The other officer was one I actually worked with. He was an aircraft maintenance officer and a good one. He knew how to get his men to get the job done. But he wasn't considered a "good officer" by his peers and supervisors in the things that they felt mattered most. He refused to join the Officer's Club and as a result his performance reports were less favorable than his peers. When we served in the same unit, he refused to shave his moustache. Regulations may have permitted a limited moustache, but one of the commanders pretty high up in our chain of command made it very clear he did not want his officers to have moustaches.
He hadn't reached ten years in service before he was passed over for Captain the final time, and therefore had to get out of the service. I believe they offered him a chance to enlist as an NCO and he would get credit for time served toward retirement; however, he would retire with enlisted rather than officer pay. He refused. The Air Force lost a good man.
Budgets rule the RIF system. It isn't a personal thing. That doesn't make a RIF any easier to deal with.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The one who is the big loser in the LeBron returns to Cleveland drama is Dwayne Wade. He gave up a lot of money to try to stay in Miami with the rest of the Big Three.
It's nice of Hugh Hefner to reach out to Kendra Wilkinson in the wake of reports her husband was cheating on her.
Is it really a big deal that Jennifer Lopez was twerking on stage? She was once a "Fly-Girl" after all.
Prince Fielder is in the top 50 hitters all-time in MLB when measuring by at-bats per home run, and he's one of only two people in that group who are still playing and 30 years old or younger. He might look a little out of shape on the cover of ESPN the Magazine's Body issue, but he isn't morbidly obese, or too fat to be photographed.
Kudos to "Big Hoss" from the reality show Pawn Stars for losing almost 200 lbs.
So should Khloe Kardashian be surprised that her soon to be ex-husband, Lamar Odom cheated on him prior to their separation? There's lots of infidelity in the NBA. Then there are people like A. C. Green, who was renowned for being a virgin for his entire pro career. I can't picture a number of players being unfaithful, Kurt Rambis being the first who springs to mind. But it is clear lots of pro athletes cheat. My question is, how long will Kanye West be able to resist the temptation of music groupies?
I wouldn't want to touch a nine foot python someone found under a car's hood either. The snake caused a woman's car to stall and once the snake was in the hands of a cop, she refused to touch it.
Pau Gasol is almost certainly not going to be in Lakers purple, gold and white next season. It isn't a horrible thing, but he's a nice guy and an excellent player.
The eight year old girl who turned in her parents for smoking, growing and selling pot; raises interesting questions. Pot should be legal, but where it isn't, should parents do it in front of a child? Should they be blowing the smoke from their joint into the mouth of a family pet (which they did to their dog)?
Very sad to read about the death of Charlie Haden. RIP.
Vladimir Putin was really generous in writing off that $32 billion that Cuba owed Russia. It isn't like they were ever going to collect.
Good thing I'm not planning to travel to Russia. They've banned the uttering of my favorite Russian profanity. I said it aloud once in the back of a taxi and the driver, a Russian émigré laughed loudly. He said I sounded Russian.
I feel bad that a "religious" college expelled a female student who married another woman, but she did sign a document promising to adhere to a religious covenant. More on this tomorrow.
* * *
July 11th in History:
472 – After being besieged in Rome by his own generals, Western Roman Emperor Anthemius is captured in the St. Peter's Basilica and put to death.
911 – Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy.
1174 – Baldwin IV, 13, becomes King of Jerusalem, with Raymond III, Count of Tripoli as regent and William of Tyre as chancellor.
1302 – Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch) – a coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the king of France's royal army.
1346 – Charles IV, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, is elected King of the Romans.
1405 – Ming admiral Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time.
1476 – Giuliano della Rovere is appointed bishop of Coutances.
1576 – Martin Frobisher sights Greenland.
1616 – Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.
1735 – Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
1740 – Pogrom: Jews are expelled from Little Russia.
1750 – Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire.
1789 – Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille.
1796 – The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
1798 – The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
1801 – French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
1804 – A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
1833 – Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed.
1848 – Waterloo railway station in London opens.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Stevens; Confederate forces attempt to invade Washington, D.C.
1882 – The British Mediterranean Fleet begins the Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt as part of the Anglo-Egyptian War.
1889 – Tijuana, Mexico, is founded.
1893 – The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kokichi Mikimoto.
1893 – A revolution led by the liberal general and politician, José Santos Zelaya, takes over state power in Nicaragua.
1895 – Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology to scientists.
1897 – Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.
1906 – Murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in the United States, inspiration for Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy.
1914 – Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.
1914 – USS Nevada (BB-36) is launched.
1919 – The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.
1920 – In the East Prussian plebiscite the local populace decides to remain with Weimar Germany.
1921 – A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect.
1921 – The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.
1921 – Former President of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.
1922 – The Hollywood Bowl opens.
1930 – Australian cricketer Donald Bradman scores a world record 309 runs in one day, on his way to the highest individual Test innings of 334, during a Test match against England.
1934 – Engelbert Zaschka of Germany flies his large human-powered aircraft, the Zaschka Human-Power Aircraft, about 20 meters at Berlin Tempelhof Airport without assisted take off.
1936 – The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic.
1940 – World War II: Vichy France regime is formally established. Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.
1943 – Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Volhynia) peak.
1943 – World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily – German and Italian troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily.
1947 – The Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France.
1950 – Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank.
1957 – Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismaili worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III.
1960 – France legislates for the independence of Dahomey (later Benin), Upper Volta (later Burkina) and Niger.
1960 – Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States.
1962 – First transatlantic satellite television transmission.
1962 – Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth.
1971 – Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.
1972 – The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.
1973 – Varig Flight 820 crashes near Paris, France on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 of the 134 on board. In response, the FAA bans smoking on flights.
1977 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1978 – Los Alfaques Disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists.
1979 – America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
1990 – Oka Crisis: First Nations land dispute in Quebec, Canada begins.
1995 – The Srebrenica massacre is carried out.
2006 – Mumbai train bombings: Two hundred nine people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.
2012 – Astronomers announce the discovery of Styx, the fifth moon of Pluto.
Famous Folk Born on July 11th:
Robert the Bruce
Tokugawa Mitsuki
Sarah Good
Frederick I of Prussia
John Quincy Adams
E. B. White
Reg Varney
Yul Brynner
Gene Adams
Harold Bloom
Admiral Frank Kelso
Giorgio Armani
Beverly Todd
Bruce McGill
Bonnie Pointer
Leon Spinks
Mindy Stirling
Sela Ward
Suzanne Vega
Lisa Rinna
Bridgitte Andersen
Lil' Kim
Nadya Suleman
posted by me at 8:27 PM
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