July 9, 1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech

The Cross of Gold speech was delivered by William Jennings Bryan, a former United States Representative from Nebraska, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. In the address, Bryan supported bimetallism or "free silver", which he believed would bring the nation prosperity. He decried the gold standard, concluding the speech, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold".[1] Bryan's address helped catapult him to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination; it is considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history.

For twenty years, Americans had been bitterly divided over the nation's monetary standard. The gold standard, which the United States had effectively been on since 1873, limited the money supply but eased trade with other nations, such as the United Kingdom, whose currency was also based on gold. However, many Americans believed bimetallism (making both gold and silver legal tender) was necessary to the nation's economic health. The financial Panic of 1893 intensified the debates, and when Democratic President Grover Cleveland continued to support the gold standard against the will of much of his party, activists became determined to take over the Democratic Party organization and nominate a silver-supporting candidate in 1896.

Bryan had been a dark horse candidate with little support in the convention. His speech, delivered at the close of the debate on the party platform, electrified the convention and is generally credited with getting him the nomination for president. However, he lost the general election to William McKinley and the United States formally adopted the gold standard in 1900.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Gold_speech

July 9, 1981 – Donkey Kong, a video game created by Nintendo, is released.

Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング Donkī Kongu?) is an arcade game released by Nintendo in 1981. It is an early example of the platform game genre, as the gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main character across a series of platforms while dodging and jumping over obstacles. In the game, Jumpman (since renamed Mario) must rescue a damsel in distress, Lady (now named Pauline) from a giant ape named Donkey Kong. The hero and ape later became two of Nintendo's most popular characters.

The game was the latest in a series of efforts by Nintendo to break into the North American market. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's president at the time, assigned the project to a first-time game designer named Shigeru Miyamoto. Drawing from a wide range of inspirations, including Popeye, Beauty and the Beast and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the scenario and designed the game alongside Nintendo's chief engineer, Gunpei Yokoi. The two men broke new ground by using graphics as a means of characterization, including cut scenes to advance the game's plot, and integrating multiple stages into the gameplay.

Despite initial misgivings on the part of Nintendo's American staff, Donkey Kong proved a success in North America and Japan. Nintendo licensed the game to Coleco, who developed home console versions for numerous platforms. Other companies cloned Nintendo's hit and avoided royalties altogether. Miyamoto's characters appeared on cereal boxes, television cartoons, and dozens of other places. A lawsuit brought on by Universal City Studios, alleging Donkey Kong violated their trademark of King Kong, ultimately failed. The success of Donkey Kong and Nintendo's victory in the courtroom helped position the company to dominate the video game market from its release in 1981 until the late 1990s (1996-1999).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_(video_game)

July 9: National Sugar Cookie Day

Goodbye paper maps, hello iPad minis: Scott pilots test new 'electronic flight bags'

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE — There are two things you notice right off about the C-21A passenger jet under the command of Air Force Maj. Jared Detloff.

First, the cockpit that Detloff shares with his co-pilot is small and cramped -- as in sardines-in-a-can small and cramped.

Second, the space directly behind the cockpit is jammed with a mountain of printed maps, navigational charts and flight manuals -- nearly 50 pounds of paper that must be tossed out and replaced every two months as the maps and manuals are continuously updated.

Not surprisingly, Detloff and his fellow aviators at the 375th Operations Group jumped at the chance to serve as guinea pigs for an experimental Air Force program to see if an iPad mini tablet could replace the manuals and charts that make up the traditional paper-based flight bag.

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2013/07/07/2686018/goodbye-paper-maps-and-charts.html#storylink=cpy

Bee hives to occupy land owned by St. Louis, Lambert airport

Hundreds of thousands of honeybees soon will take flight near the newest runway at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
If only the same could be said for commercial jets.

The St. Louis Airport Authority approved a three-year lease with Robins Apiaries to keep bee hives on a 400-square-foot patch of land north of the third parallel runway, the underused landing strip that opened in 2006. The airport will collect $75 a year in rent.

Beekeeper Jim Robins, 76, said he was drawn to the airport location because of the plentiful supply of white dutch clover blooming near the runways and in what used to be Freebourn Park. There also aren’t any pesticides that could prove dangerous to bees, he said.

“I know the airport’s good because I’ve had bees next to the airport for a long time,” Robins said while tending to some of his hives last week in Maryland Heights.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride/811d6079-51aa-5947-8222-df94ebb78f0b.html

July 8: National Chocolate with Almonds Day

July 7: National Strawberry Sundae Day

July 7, 1928 Sliced bread is sold for the 1st time by the Chillicothe Baking Co of Chillicothe, MO

Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been pre-sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped".[1] This led to the popular phrase, "the greatest thing since sliced bread".

Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa, USA invented the first loaf-at-a-time bread-slicing machine. A prototype he built in 1912 was destroyed in a fire[2] and it was not until 1928 that Rohwedder had a fully working machine ready. The first commercial use of the machine was by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri, which produced their first slices on July 7, 1928.[3] Their product, "Kleen Maid Sliced Bread", proved a success. Battle Creek, Michigan has a competing claim as the first city to sell bread presliced by Rohwedder's machine; however, historians have produced no documentation backing up Battle Creek's claim.[4] The bread was advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped."

St. Louis baker Gustav Papendick bought Rohwedder's second bread slicer and set out to improve it by devising a way to keep the slices together at least long enough to allow the loaves to be wrapped.[2] After failures trying rubber bands and metal pins, he settled on placing the slices into a cardboard tray. The tray aligned the slices, allowing mechanized wrapping machines to function.[5]

W.E. Long, who promoted the Holsum Bread brand, used by various independent bakers around the country, pioneered and promoted the packaging of sliced bread beginning in 1928.[6] In 1930 Wonder Bread, first sold in 1925, started marketing sliced bread nationwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread

CVC rejects Rams' request to upgrade Dome

ST. LOUIS • Regional leaders have officially closed the door on a $700 million upgrade to the Edward Jones Dome, ushering in a new stage of negotiations with the St. Louis Rams.

This week, officials charged with running the Dome formally rejected — as long expected — the Rams’ proposal to overhaul the football stadium.

Kathleen “Kitty” Ratcliffe, president of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, sent a letter to the Rams to say the agency is “not in a position” to pay for a $700 million renovation.

In a separate letter, Jim Shrewsbury, chairman of the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, said it would not be “prudent” to make the improvements recommended by arbitrators earlier this year.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/regional-leaders-reject-rams-request-to-upgrade-edward-jones-dome/article_483935ed-ddd2-57a4-8cb6-24a1bdf37d1b.html

July 6: National Fried Chicken Day