Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

July 20, 1916: in the Evening Star Washington DC newspaper: Rockefeller Institute will weed out the "subnormals" in Chicago...




"And all those who had gathered about the coffin removed their hats, feeling that they were standing in the presence of the illustrious dead—the object of the long search." So wrote General Horace Porter, United States Ambassador to France, who had devoted six years to locating and returning to America her first naval hero.
The Strange Search for John Paul Jones (July 1955)




July 20, 1956: "WHAT CIVIL DEFENSE DRILL?" The annual nationwide civil defense drill known as Operation Alert was held, along with the first daytime test of the emergency broadcasting system, CONELRAD.




July 20, 1959: This happens every summer in southern Utah...they got lucky.




July 20, 1969: Happy Moon Landing Day if you so believe!
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. This photo shows both astronauts on the Moon, with Armstrong reflected in the visor of Aldrin's helmet. Plus Front pages, July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 and Chappaquiddick...



Jodrell Bank telescope tracked Eagle lander onto the surface of the Moon


On the evening of July 20, 1969, an anonymous citizen placed a small bouquet of flowers on Kennedy's gravesite with a note that read, "Mr. President, the Eagle has landed."




But this one remains the clear media winner...


Anne Beatts [1947-2021] & Phil Socci [1953-2002] created the infamous Chappaquiddick-inspired VW ad. It appeared in "The National Lampoon Encyclopedia of Humor" (1973). VW sued and the case was quickly settled. Tony Hendra wrote about it in his memoir GOING TOO FAR (1987).

The text explained that Volkswagen's watertight construction—a selling point in genuine VW ads—would have prevented the 1969 drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne. Volkswagen of America began receiving outraged letters from readers who thought that VW itself was responsible for the ghoulish idea ("I will be damned if I will buy another Volkswagen after seeing an ad like the attached," wrote one customer).

VW responded with a $30 million damage suit against Lampoon, charging violations of trademark and copyright laws and defamation. Last week Lampoon agreed to withdraw all unsold copies of the magazine by Nov. 15 (450,000 were printed), to destroy the plate of the ad, and to run Volkswagen's statement on the incident in the magazine's January issue. It seemed only fitting that the Lampoon, which has thrived on necrological humor, would at last find itself forced to kill one of its own items.

Lampoon's Surrender

That time Billy Gray sued Leonard Maltin...


Part of the settlement required that Maltin publicly apologize for the 27-year-long defamation of character. He did so during a press conference on the morning of July 18, 1998.

Born January 13, 1938 in Los Angeles, Inventor of the F-1 guitar pick. He was just 12 years younger than Patricia Neal, who played his mother in The Day the Earth Stood Still. At age 12, Gray portrayed Native American athlete Jim Thorpe as a boy in the film "Jim Thorpe -- All American". That film was released in 1951, the same year as "The Day the Earth Stood Still".

Life Ain't Easy, Unless It's...

by Billy Gray & Friends.




The usual UK misleading headline. Temporal radiation sickness. Its symptoms are similar to illnesses described in the Bible after encounters with the "Ark of the Covenant". C'mon, this has been known for like 60 years in guarding top secret burn pits.


Area 51 staff ‘left with fatal diseases’ after guarding top secret project


Today is International Chess Day. This epic 1990 U.S. Marines recruiting commercial featuring a human chess match was in regular rotation in the early 1990s. The extravagant commercial was unique because it depicted combat—a feature not seen in recruiting ads at the time.