The phrase “Dog Days” conjures up the hottest, most sultry days of summer. The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days: the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. The rising of Sirius does not actually affect the weather (some of our hottest and most humid days occur after August 11), but for the ancient Egyptians, Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile’s flooding, so they used the star as a “watchdog” for that event. Since its rising also coincided with a time of extreme heat, the connection with hot, sultry weather was made for all time: “Dog Days bright and clear / indicate a happy year. / But when accompanied by rain, / for better times our hopes are vain.”
Every Year
1600s
1730s
- BORN 1731: SAMUEL HUNTINGTON (SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE)
- BORN 1738: JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY (PAINTER)
1810s
1860s
1870s
- BORN 1870: RICHARD BEDFORD BENNETT (11TH PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA)
- BORN 1878: GEORGE M. COHAN (COMPOSER)
1880s
1890s
1920s
- 1922: FRUIT GARDEN AND HOME MAGAZINE WAS PUBLISHED. THE PUBLICATION CHANGED ITS NAME TWO YEARS LATER TO BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
- BORN 1927: KEN RUSSELL (FILM DIRECTOR)
1930s
- BORN 1930: PETE FOUNTAIN (JAZZ MUSICIAN)
- BORN 1935: HARRISON SCHMITT (GEOLOGIST, ASTRONAUT, POLITICIAN)
- BORN 1937: TOM STOPPARD (WRITER)
1940s
1950s
1960s
- BORN 1962: THOMAS GIBSON (ACTOR)
- BORN 1962: TOM CRUISE (ACTOR)
- BORN 1964: YEARDLEY SMITH (ACTRESS)
- 1964: PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON SIGNED THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, WHICH PROHIBITED SEGREGATION IN PUBLIC PLACES
- BORN 1969: KEVIN HEARN (MUSICIAN)
1970s
1980s
- DIED 1986: RUDY VALLEE (MUSICIAN & ACTOR)
- 1988: THE USS VINCENNES SHOT DOWN AN IRANIAN PASSENGER PLANE OVER THE PERSIAN GULF, BELIEVING IT TO BE A HOSTILE FIGHTER. ALL 290 CIVILIANS ABOARD WERE KILLED
- DIED 1989: JIM BACKUS (ACTOR)
2000s
2010s
COURTESY www.almanac.com
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