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Hollywood Sign / #BlackLivesMatter / World Cup

Hollywood Sign / #BlackLivesMatter / World Cup

On This Day (July 13): Your quick daily trip back in time.

Fatih Taskiran
July 13, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

🗓️ Time Machine

-1772

Captain James Cook begins his second voyage to the South Seas aboard HMS Resolution to search for Terra Australis.

-1832

Source of Mississippi River discovered by American geographer Henry Schoolcraft.

-1835

Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson filed for a patent for his screw propeller design.

-1870

Prussian King Wilhelm I sends the "Emser Depeche" (Ems Telegram) to Otto von Bismarck, who publishes an edited version to offend the French, starting the Franco-German War.

-1923

The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles. It originally reads "HOLLYWOODLAND," but the last four letters were dropped after renovation in 1949.

-1930

1st-ever football World Cup competition begins in Uruguay.

-1966

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement) in New York City.

-2013

The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter first appears, sparking a movement.

-2024

Former US President Donald Trump survives an assassination attempt at an outdoor campaign rally in rural Butler, Pennsylvania. Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired 6 to 8 shots, killing one spectator, critically wounding two, and hitting Trump in the ear with a bullet before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.

💬 Final Words

❝

I should have never switched from Scotch to martinis.

Humphrey Bogart

📓 Your History

Tim, one of our devoted readers, sent us this story about how the train wreck Snopshot touched on his life and music. You can send us any interesting stories about Flashback that resonated with you. We're thrilled to publish it and learn from each other.

Being a piano player, I thought I'd share with you that Scott Joplin (the King of Ragtime) wrote the "Crush Collision March" in 1896, inspired by these somewhat wacky events that were being staged at the time.

The piece features piano "sound effects" (dissonance, double notes that are close together, crashing sounds) throughout the piece. I've played and taught it many times. I always include the history of the piece when introducing it.