On July 31:

1971 - The Apollo 15 astronauts drove a car on the Moon.

August 1, 1907 -- Worldwide Scout Movement Begins

Twenty boys from varying social backgrounds began a week of camping, observation, woodcraft, chivalry, lifesaving and patriotism on Brownsea Island in the Poole Harbour, southern England. The event was organised by Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell to test his ideas for the book Scouting for Boys. The event is regarded as the real origin of the worldwide Scout movement.

The centenial of this beginning is being celebrated at the 21st World Scout Jamboree with 40,000+ young people from around the world taking part in the 12-day event starting on the 27th of July and running through the 8th of August, in Hylands Park, Chelmsford, Essex in the south of England. Several activities are being held at Brownsea Island by the scouts at the Jamboree including a replica of that first camp.

21st World Scout Jamboree Website.

August 1, 1961 : Texans head for the thrills at Six Flags

On this day in 1961, amusement park lovers "head for the thrills" as
Six Flags Over Texas, the first park in the Six Flags chain, opens.
Located on 212 acres in Arlington, Texas, the park was the first to
feature log flume and mine train rides and later, the first 360-degree
looping roller coaster, modern parachute drop and man-made river
rapids ride. The park also pioneered the concept of all-inclusive
admission price; until then, separate entrance fees and individual
ride tickets were the standard. During its opening year, a day at Six
Flags cost $2.75 for an adult and $2.25 for a child. A hamburger sold
for 50 cents and a soda set the buyer back a dime.

The park, which took a year and $10 million to build, was the
brainchild of Texas real estate developer and oilman Angus Wynne Jr.,
who viewed it as a short-term way to make a buck from some vacant land
before turning it into an industrial complex. Wynne reportedly
recouped his personal investment of $3.5 million within 18 months and
changed his mind about the park's temporary status. With 17.5 million
visitors in its first 10 years, the park became the Lone Star State's
top for-profit tourist attraction. Today, average annual attendance at
the park is over 3 million.

One of Six Flags' unique aspects was that it wasn't just a random
collection of rides; it was developed around a theme: the history of
Texas. The park's name was a nod to the six flags that had flown over
the state at various times--France, Spain, Mexico, the Confederacy,
Texas and the United States. The park's rides and attractions were
grouped into six themed sections that represented the cultures of
these governments and enabled visitors to experience everything from
cowboy culture to Southern belles and pirates. Originally, the park
was to be called Texas Under Six Flags, before it was decided that
Texas should never be under anything.

Angus Wynne sold Six Flags in 1969 and in the coming years, the
company expanded and was resold. Today, Six Flags, Inc. is the world's
largest regional theme park company and owns and operates 30 theme,
water and zoological parks in North America. In 2005, almost 34
million people spent a combined 250 million hours at Six Flags parks.

August 2, 1964

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was an alleged pair of attacks by naval forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (commonly referred to as North Vietnam) against two American destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy. The attacks were alleged to have occurred on 2 August and 4 August 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The outcome of the incident was the passage by Congress of the Southeast Asia Resolution (better known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution), which granted Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by "communist aggression". The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for escalating American involvement in the Vietnam Conflict.

Later research, including a report released in 2005 by the National Security Agency, indicated that the second attack most likely did not occur, but also attempted to dispel the long-standing assumption that members of the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson had knowingly lied about the nature of the incident.

August 2, 1990 : Iraq invades Kuwait

At about 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq's tiny,
oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait's defense forces were rapidly overwhelmed,
and those that were not destroyed retreated to Saudi Arabia. The emir
of Kuwait, his family, and other government leaders fled to Saudi
Arabia, and within hours Kuwait City had been captured and the Iraqis
had established a provincial government. By annexing Kuwait, Iraq
gained control of 20 percent of the world's oil reserves and, for the
first time, a substantial coastline on the Persian Gulf. The same day,
the United Nations Security Council unanimously denounced the invasion
and demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal from Kuwait. On August 6, the
Security Council imposed a worldwide ban on trade with Iraq.

On August 9, Operation Desert Shield, the American defense of Saudi
Arabia, began as U.S. forces raced to the Persian Gulf. Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, built up his occupying army in Kuwait to
about 300,000 troops. On November 29, the U.N. Security Council passed
a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq if it failed to
withdraw by January 15, 1991. Hussein refused to withdraw his forces
from Kuwait, which he had established as a province of Iraq, and some
700,000 allied troops, primarily American, gathered in the Middle East
to enforce the deadline.

At 4:30 p.m. EST on January 16, 1991, Operation Desert Storm, the
massive U.S.-led offensive against Iraq, began as the first fighter
aircraft were launched from Saudi Arabia and off U.S. and British
aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. All evening, aircraft from the
U.S.-led military coalition pounded targets in and around Baghdad as
the world watched the events transpire on television footage
transmitted live via satellite from Iraq. Operation Desert Storm was
conducted by an international coalition under the supreme command of
U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf and featured forces from 32 nations,
including Britain, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

During the next six weeks, the allied force engaged in an intensive
air war against Iraq's military and civil infrastructure and
encountered little effective resistance from the Iraqi air force or
air defenses. Iraqi ground forces were helpless during this stage of
the war, and Hussein's only significant retaliatory measure was the
launching of SCUD missile attacks against Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Saddam hoped that the missile attacks would provoke Israel to enter
the conflict, thus dissolving Arab support of the war. At the request
of the United States, however, Israel remained out of the war.

On February 24, a massive coalition ground offensive began, and Iraq's
outdated and poorly supplied armed forces were rapidly overwhelmed. By
the end of the day, the Iraqi army had effectively folded, 10,000 of
its troops were held as prisoners, and a U.S. air base had been
established deep inside Iraq. After less than four days, Kuwait was
liberated, and the majority of Iraq's armed forces had either
surrendered, retreated to Iraq, or been destroyed.

On February 28, U.S. President George Bush declared a cease-fire, and
on April 3 the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 687, specifying
conditions for a formal end to the conflict. According to the
resolution, Bush's cease-fire would become official, some sanctions
would be lifted, but the ban on Iraqi oil sales would continue until
Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction under U.N. supervision.
On April 6, Iraq accepted the resolution, and on April 11 the Security
Council declared it in effect. During the next decade, Saddam Hussein
frequently violated the terms of the peace agreement, prompting
further allied air strikes and continuing U.N. sanctions.

In the Persian Gulf War, 148 American soldiers were killed and 457
wounded. The other allied nations suffered about 100 deaths combined
during Operation Desert Storm. There are no official figures for the
number of Iraqi casualties, but it is believed that at least 25,000
soldiers were killed and more than 75,000 were wounded, making it one
of the most one-sided military conflicts in history. It is estimated
that 100,000 Iraqi civilians died from wounds or from lack of adequate
water, food, and medical supplies directly attributable to the Persian
Gulf War. In the ensuing years, more than one million Iraqi civilians
have died as a result of the subsequent U.N. sanctions.