Almanac for August 8

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for August 8: https://ko-fi.com/post/August-8-The-Edge-K3K61124EQ

Bummer August 8

August 8, 1965: American author Shirley Jackson dies at age 48 of cardiac arrest, possibly brought on by her alcoholism and use of a variety of prescription medicines.

August 8, 2010: More than 1,400 people in the Gansu region of China are killed by mudslides.

Almanac for August 7

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for August 7: https://ko-fi.com/post/August-7-Throwing-Muses-C0C5111SUU

Support Indies Tote Bag

Four of my audiobooks are having a first anniversary today:

Humpty Dumpty by Lewis Carroll

The Kiss by Kate Chopin

The Mummy's Foot

What Was It?

Bummer August 7

August 7, 1904: A flash flood near Pueblo, Colorado, washes a train off the tracks, killing 96 people.

August 7, 2016: 10-year-old son Caleb Schwab is killed while riding the Verrückt water raft ride at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The tallest such ride in the world at the time, the ride had a screen over the top, held in place with a series of metal support rings, to keep guests from accidentally flying off the ride in the event that the raft should become airborn. Caleb, who was riding on the front of a raft with two unrelated women riding on the back, struck the metal support ring and was decapitated when his raft became airborne. 

Almanac for August 6th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for August 6th: https://ko-fi.com/post/August-6th-N4N8106YR8

Artist Birthday: Geri Halliwell

Happy book birthday to this audiobook by Jonathan Swift that I published on August 6, 2025:

Bummer August 6

August 6, 1931: 28-year-old jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke dies of pneumonia and edema of the brain, possibly related to chronic alcoholism, in his Queens, New York, apartment. The excessive heat of the summer may have been another contributing factor.

August 6, 1945: The United States military drops the world’s first weaponized nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb immediately killed 80,000 people. Another 60,000 die later from the effects of radiation. 

August 6, 2001: 27 hospital patients being treated for various mental health disorders die when the Moideen Badusha Mental Home in Erwadi, India, catches fire. All of these patients are chained to their beds at night and therefore had no chance to escape from the fire. Many other patients are injured.

Almanac for August 5th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for August 5th: https://ko-fi.com/post/August-5th-M4M0106Y3M

Happy 1st anniversary to this audiobook, The Glass Dog by L. Frank Baum.

Artist Birthday: Yungblud

20th Century Fox, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Bummer August 5th

August 5, 1955: Hours after performing a song and dance number for The Jimmy Durante Show, 46-year-old Portuguese-Brazilian samba performer Carmen Miranda dies of a heart attack. Friends find her collapsed in the hall between her bedroom and the bathroom, clutching a mirror. Miranda, who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, apparently expired on her way to remove her makeup for the night.

August 5, 1981: In a sign of his administration’s hostility to workers’ rights causes, U.S. President Ronald Wilson Reagan fires more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who are on strike for more pay, a shorter work week, and safer workplace conditions. Technically it had been illegal for U.S. federal employees to strike since 1947, but Reagan is the first president to actually invoke the 1947 law.

August 5, 2005: Lee Seung Seop has been playing the online game Starcraft at an internet café in Taegu, South Korea, since August 3 when he slumps in his chair and falls to the floor. He dies of dehydration and exhaustion a few hours later in Taegu Fatima Hospital, having forgotten to eat, drink, and sleep for over 48 hours.

August 5, 2022: Actor Anne Heche ingests cocaine and fentanyl, gets into a car, and is involved in three vehicle accidents. She first strikes a garage with her car, causing minor damage, and leaves the scene of the accident. She then strikes another car; the driver of the second car is not injured. In the third, high-speed crash, Heche drives her car through the wall of a house, sparking a fire. 

Heche is trapped inside the vehicle for over 40 minutes while firefighters try to put out the house fire, which renders the home uninhabitable. Heche suffers severe burns and smoke inhalation, requiring her to be hospitalized and medically ventilated. She will be declared brain dead on August 11th and taken off life support on August 14th. 

Almanac for August 4

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for August 4: https://ko-fi.com/Post/August-4th-East-of-Eatin-H2H6106XM3

Bummer August 4th

August 4, 1875: Hans Christian Andersen dies, possibly suffering from liver cancer and never having recovered from injuries from falling out of his bed.

August 4, 1892: Andrew and Abby Borden are murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home by an assailant with a hatchet. Andrew’s 32-year-old daughter Elizabeth, called Lizzie, is the primary suspect in the murders. She is tried for the crime and acquitted. 

August 4, 1962: Marilyn Monroe dies, apparently by suicide, of an overdose of prescription sleeping medicine.

Almanac for August 3rd

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for August 3rd: https://ko-fi.com/post/August-3rd-Diane-Wakoski-U7U3106X14

Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: LaBrea Tar Pits

Bummer August 3rd

August 3, 1924: Author Joseph Conrad dies of a heart attack at age 66. 

August 3, 1959: More than 50 dock workers on strike are killed by police in the small African country of Guinea-Bissau. At the time, Guinea-Bissau is a colony of Portugal, and the dock workers’ strike threatens Portuguese political officials, who regard it as a sign of rebellion against Portuguese rule. Guinea-Bissau won’t win its independence from the European colonial power until 1973.

August 3, 1966: 40-year-old comedian Lenny Bruce is found dead of an apparently accidental morphine overdose.

August 3, 1983: Bruce Wayne Campbell, the glam rocker who performed under the stage name Jobriath, dies at the age of 36 of AIDS-related illness.

Almanac for August 2

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for August 2nd: https://ko-fi.com/post/August-2nd-Swimming-in-the-Afternoon-L3L1106W7N

Heavy-Duty Bookends Affiliate Link

Bummer August 2nd

August 2, 1923: The 29th U.S. president, Warren G. Harding, becomes the 3rd U.S. president to die in office from natural causes when he suffers a deadly heart attack in San Francisco. Following the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, he is the 6th U.S. president to die in office of all causes.

August 2, 1973: Approximately 50 people are killed when the Summerland indoor amusement park catches fire. The building’s ceiling is constructed using a transparent acrylic material, which melts, raining burning-hot liquid acrylic down on the victims of the fire.

August 2, 1997: William S. Burroughs dies, having had a heart attack the previous day.