JULY 10 — 1913 Death Valley becomes hottest place on Earth; 1925 Monkey trial begins; 2014 Sin City Hustler becomes world’s longest monster truck
JULY 10
1913 Death Valley becomes the hottest place on earth.
Ever.
It was so hot chickens were laying omelets and cows were delivering powdered milk. 280 feet below sea level sigs the Mohave Desert, which routinely is in the triple digits about half the year. According to history.com, on this day in 1913 in Greenland Ranch, now known as Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, the town’s weather observation post read 134 degrees. The dang thermometer only went up to 135.
For a while, Death Valley was crowned the king of earthly hotspots, until El Aziz in Libya boasted a day of 136 degrees. So there! But when international atmospheric scientists took a closer look, they found Libya’s weather instruments faulty, and Death Valley was reckoned the hottest. It was so hot you could eat hatch Chile to cool your mouth off and the car was overheating before the keys even turned it on.
These days, if you want to check out Furnace Creek, you’ll find camping facilities and even a museum. It’s closed during the hottest days, just so you know.
1925 – The Monkey Trial begins.
…The trial of the century, as it was called. 24-year old high school teacher John Scopes of Dayton Tennessee was illegally teaching evolution being taught in schools, and his arrest made national headlines. In Dayton, the law, which had just recently been passed, made it a misdemeanor pun Isabel by fine to teach any theory that denies the story of the Devine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.” Scopes had the backup of the ACLU (American civil liberties union) as well as Clarence Darrow, who was famous for backing labor and radical figures as well as being an agnostic.
The state, on the other hand, had three time Democratic presidential candidate and Christian fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan. Ding Ding and it was on. Hundreds upon reporters lined the Rhea Country courthouse and crowds of people and vendors lined the streets outside, selling toy monkeys, bibles, hot dogs and lemonade. Actual monkeys were parading around the streets as well as a missing link named Jo Viens who was a real short dude with a big forehead and a jaw that stuck out.
According to pbs.org, Millions of guesses strung together,” is how Bryan characterized evolutionary theory, adding that the theory made man “indistinguishable among the mammals.” Darrow, in his attacks, tried to poke holes in the Genesis story according to modern thinking, calling them “fool ideas that no intelligent Christian on earth believes.” The jury found Scopes guilty of violating the law and fined him $100. Bryan and the anti-evolutionists claimed victory, and the Tennessee law would stand for another 42 years. But Clarence Darrow and the ACLU had succeeded in publicizing scientific evidence for evolution, and the press reported that though Bryan had won the case, he had lost the argument. The verdict did have a chilling effect on teaching evolution in the classroom, however, and not until the 1960s did it reappear in schoolbooks.
2014 — Sin City Hustler becomes the world’s longest monster truck.
It took a lot of work for Brad and Jen Campbell to design and construct this 32” long beast. It started with the framework of a limousine. They gutted it, then built a 2-chassis that extended through the entire length, , integrated roll cage, then came megasized shocks and tires. This had never been done before so it took Brad and Jen a lot of imagination to design it.
So far everyone who has ridden in the Sin City Hustler has had a po9sitive experience, be it old ladies high fiving each other, children screaming with joy and big dudes just giving the hellyeah thumbs up.
Best of all, Jen says, is making it into the Guinness Book of World Records, especially knowing she’d never be able to grow her fingernails as long as that guy or do 6,000 cartwheels, in her own words. You have to see it to believe it, and when you do, it will put a smile on your face.
1850 – His Accidency becomes President.
… Millard Fillmore, born in humble surroundings in 1800 in New York, grew up to become a lawyer and married Abigail Powers who used to be his teacher when he was a teenager. Fillmore worked his way up the political ranks in the Whig party and became VP under Zach Tailor who passed away early July 1850. Hence the nickname His Accidency.
Taylor opposed slavery but Fillmore was more interested in a slavery compromise. Fillmore face the issue of admitting California to the union as a free or slave state, passed the Fugitive Slave Act which made it a crime to try to help slaves who escaped their masters, and forced Native Americans into government reserves. Millions of Indians died of starvation, disease, and battle. He was defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce in the 1852 election. Fillmore opposed Lincoln during the Civil War and supported President Johnson during the Reconstruction.
He worked on various political committees the rest of his life and died in 1874.