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Free and Candid Disquisitions is an anonymously published 1749 pamphlet written and compiled by John Jones, a Welsh clergyman of the Church of England. The work promoted a series of reforms to the church and the Book of Common Prayer that Jones hoped would allow the more Protestant and independent Dissenters to be reintegrated into the church. Jones's proposals included shortening the Sunday liturgies, removing Catholic ritual influences, and providing improved hymns and psalms. Several responding texts were written, both lauding and criticizing Jones's work. While the proposals were not accepted by the Church of England, Jones's suggested alterations to the prayer book and advocacy of privately published liturgies influenced several Dissenter liturgical texts and early editions of the American Episcopal Church's prayer book. The pamphlet remained a major influence on proposed liturgical changes in the Church of England until the 19th-century Tractarian movement. ( Full article...)

Oriana Skylar Mastro

• ... that Oriana Skylar Mastro (pictured), a Stanford political scientist, joined the U.S. Air Force as a PhD student to better understand military issues in the Asia Pacific?
• ... that the championship record was broken three times in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2024 World Athletics Relays?
• ... that in its centennial year, Anderson's Grocery was said to be one of only ten small U.S. groceries that were more than a hundred years old?
• ... that Israeli archer Mikaella Moshe competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics after having spent less than two years in the sport?
• ... that a third of London Underground stations have step-free access?
• ... that Olympic sprinter Filomenaleonisa Iakopo is also a competitive bodybuilder?
• ... that the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery faced criticism in 2014 when it did not allow a lesbian couple to be buried together?
• ... that three-quarters of Doctor Who's longest story are missing?
• ... that had Cambodian swimmer Apsara Sakbun declined her invitation to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics, her sister would have become an Olympian instead?

Ismail Haniyeh

• The United States, Russia, and their respective allies agree to a prisoner exchange of 26 people.
• Ismail Haniyeh (pictured), the political leader of Hamas, is assassinated in Tehran, Iran.
• Landslides in Wayanad, India, kill more than 180 people.
• In Gaelic football, the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship concludes with Armagh defeating Galway in the final.

August 3

Jesse Owens in the long jump at the 1936 Olympics

• 1347 – Hundred Years' War: The French town of Calais capitulated to English forces after an eleven-month seige, ending the Crécy campaign.
• 1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaimed a republic, which existed for ten days before Ottoman forces destroyed the town.
• 1936 – African-American athlete Jesse Owens won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, dashing Nazi leaders' hopes of Aryan domination at the games.
• 1971 – Fighting Dinosaurs, a fossil specimen featuring a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops in combat, was unearthed in the Djadochta Formation of Mongolia.
• 1997 – The Sky Tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere at 328 m (1,076 ft), opened in Auckland, New Zealand.