So, it's the last day of the first week of the 8th month, 219th day of the year . ... man oh man how calendar obsessive am I on a summer Saturday morning. Just getting my bearings. Does it in any way matter that Billie Burke, Mata Hari, and Garrison Keillor share this as a birthday? No. That on 7 Aug 1942, the horrific Battle of Guadalcanal began? Only in that in the remembering we honor the sacrifices, acknowledge the sufferings on the way to the cosmic catharsis three years off in the future.. On the 7th of August, A.D. 79, I reckon that Pompeiians and Herculaneumistas were going about their business, preparing and eating their meals, pondering their futures. No way to know what's around the corner. It's a curious time of year, summer past its zenith. September, time of new beginnings, lurking around the corner.