[Layyouss]

On This Day: August 11

Today is Monday, August 11, 2008. This is the 224th day of the year, with 142 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day:

In 1851, the Indiana General Assembly passed an act "to encourage agriculture," which also included the formation of a State Board of Agriculture. The primary goal of the Board was to create the first Indiana State Fair. In 1852, Indiana became the 6th state to begin holding a state agricultural fair. The first Fair, held in what is now Military Park in downtown Indianapolis, was an amazing success. The Fair was held in response to the aspirations of Governor J.A. Wright and others who believed that, "to make two blades of grass grow where one had formerly grown, to increase the crop yields, to preserve the soil fertility was a very worthy thing and almost a sacred duty." The State Fair has been located in Indianapolis for the majority of its 145-year existence, but other Indiana cities hosted the event in the 1800s. Lafayette (1853), Madison (1854), New Albany (1859), Fort Wayne (1865), and Terre Haute (1867) hosted the Fair before it was moved to Voss Farm in Indianapolis. The gates opened at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on East 38th Street for the first time on September 19, 1892.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Attracta or Araght, St. Clare of Assisi, St. Tiburtius, St. Susanna, St. Equitius, St. Alexander of Comana, St. Lelia, St. Blane, St. Gerard of Gallinaro, and St. Gery or Gaugericus.
Chad: Independence Day.
Zimbabwe: Heroes' Day.


Events

1860 - The first silver mill in America to be successful began. The mill was in Virginia City, NV.

1874 - A patent for the sprinkler head was given to Harry S. Parmelee.

1877 - The two moons of Mars were discovered by Asaph Hall, an American astronomer. He named them Phobos and Deimos.

1896 - Harvey Hubbell received a patent for the electric light bulb socket with a pull-chain.

1909 - The American ship Arapahoe became the first to ever use the SOS distress signal off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC.

1924 - Newsreel pictures were taken of U.S. presidential candidates for the first time.

1934 - Alcatraz, in San Francisco Bay, received federal prisoners for the first time.

1941 - The Atlantic Charter was signed by U.S. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

1942 - During World War II, Pierre Laval publicly announced "the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war."

1945 - The Allies informed Japan that they would determine Emperor Hirohito's future status after Japan's surrender.

1951 - The first major league baseball game to be televised in color was broadcast. The Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves 8-1.

1954 - Seven years of fighting came to an end in Indochina. A formal peace was in place for the French and the Communist Vietminh.

1956 - Abstract artist Jackson Pollack died in an automobile accident in East Hampton, NY.

1962 - Andrian Nikolayev, of the Soviet Union, was launched on a 94-hour flight. He was the third Russian to go into space.

1965 - Riots and looting took place in the Watts section of Los Angeles, CA. During the week that followed 34 people were killed. In addition, over 1,000 were injured, 3,000 were arrested and over $40 million in damage was done.

1965 - The U.S. conducted a second launch of "Surveyor-SD 2" for a landing on the Moon surface test.

1971 - Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins got his 500th and 501st home runs of his major league baseball career.

1975 - The U.S. vetoed the proposed admission of North and South Vietnam to the United Nations. The Security Counsel had already refused to consider South Korea's application.

1984 - Carl Lewis won his fourth gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics.

1984 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan was preparing for his weekly radio broadcast when, during testing of the microphone, the President said of the Soviet Union, "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that I just signed legislation that would outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

1984 - The Cincinnati Reds honored major league All-Star and Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench by retiring his uniform (#5).

1988 - Dick Thornburgh was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the next attorney general. He succeeded Edwin Meese III.

1990 - Egyptian and Moroccan troops joined U.S. forces in Saudia Arabia to help protect from a possible Iraqi attack.

1991 - Edward Tracey, an American, was released by Shiite Muslim kidnappers. He had been held for nearly five years. Jerome Leyraud was also released. Leyraud, a Frenchman, had been kidnapped three days earlier.

1991 - The space shuttle Atlantis ended its nine-day journey by landing safely.

1992 - In Bloomington, MN, the Mall of America opened. It was the largest shopping mall in the United States.

1994 - The Tenth International Conference on AIDS ended in Japan.

1994 - A U.S. federal jury awarded $286.8 million to about 10,000 commercial fishermen for losses as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

1995 - All U.S. nuclear tests were banned by President Clinton.

1995 - A federal investigation was opened concerning the deadly siege at Ruby Ridge, ID, in 1992. The investigation was to find out whether FBI officials approved a "shoot on sight" order.

1997 - U.S. President Clinton made the first use of the line-item veto approved by Congress, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills.

1998 - British Petroleum became No. 3 among oil companies with the $49 billion purchase of Amoco. It was the largest foreign takeover of a U.S.

2002 - US Airways announced that it had filed for bankruptcy.

2002 - Jason Priestly crashed his car during practice for a race in the Infiniti Pro Series. He suffered a spinal fracture, a moderate concussion, a broken nose, facial lacerations and broken bones in both feet.

2003 - Charles Taylor, President of Liberia, flew into exile after ceding power to his vice president, Moses Blah.

2003 - In Kabul, NATO took command of the 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.



Births

1807 - David Atchison, American politician, organizer of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company.
1861 - James Bryan Herrick, American physician who isolated sickle-cell anemia.
1921 - Alex Haley, American Pulitzer Prize-winning author.


Deaths

1919 - Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist.
1956 - Jackson Pollock, American painter.
2006 - Mike Douglas, American actor and talk show host, on his 81st birthday.