GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, August 02, the 211th day of 2017 with 154 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 5:36 and sunset is @ 8:03. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Jupiter, Saturn & Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Neptune, Uranus & Venus.

ON THIS DAY IN: 1776 – Members of the Continental Congress began adding their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. 

1791 – Samuel Briggs and his son Samuel Briggs, Jr. received a joint patent for their nail-making machine. They were the first father-son pair to receive a patent. 

1824 – In New York City, Fifth Avenue was opened. 

1858 – In Boston and New York City the first mailboxes were installed along streets. 

1861 – The United States Congress passed the first income tax. The revenues were intended for the war effort against the South. The tax was never enacted. 

1887 – Rowell Hodge patented barbed wire. 

1892 – Charles A. Wheeler patented the first escalator. 

1921 – Eight White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series. 

1926 – John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the first showing of the Vitaphone System. The system was the combining of picture and sound for movies. 

1938 – Bright yellow baseballs were used in a major league baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. It was hoped that the balls would be easier to see. 

1939 – Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the U.S. to have an atomic weapons research program. 

1939 – U.S. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act. The act prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns. 

1943 – The U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, sank after being attacked by a Japanese destroyer. The boat was under the command of Lt. John F. Kennedy. 

1945 – The Allied conference at Potsdam was concluded. 

1964 – The Pentagon reported the first of two North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1983 – U.S. House of Representatives approved a law that designated the third Monday of January would be a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The law was signed by President Reagon on November 2.

1987 – “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was re-released. The film was 50 years old at the time of its re-release. 

1990 – Iraq invaded the oil-rich country of Kuwait. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had driven down oil prices by exceeding production quotas set by OPEC. 

1995 – China ordered the expulsion of two U.S. Air Force officers. The two were said to have been caught spying on military sights.