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On This Day: August 15

Today is Friday, August 15, 2008. This is the 228th day of the year, with 138 days remaining in 2008.


Fact of the Day: Yukon

"The Yukon Territory is a triangle-shaped region of northwestern Canada that is 186,661 square miles, but has only 25,000 residents. It is bordered by the Northwest Territory, Alaska, British Columbia, and the Beaufort Sea. There are huge mountains of the Rocky Mountain system, wild forests, and much wildlife. Mount Logan (19,524 feet) is the highest mountain in Canada. There is gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper mining, fishing, and tourism. Gold made the Yukon famous when it was discovered by George Washington Carmack in Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River, in the 1896. Thousands set off for the territory to make their fortune. Whitehorse, in the south, is the capital and largest city. The Yukon was among the last areas of North America to be explored by nonnatives; two explorers for the Hudson's Bay Company first entered the region around 1840."


Holidays

Feast day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, St. Tarsicius, and St. Arnulf of Soissons.
Congo: National Day.
India: Independence Day.
Liechtenstein: National Day.
South Korea: Liberation Day.
Vatican City: Assumption Day.
Equatorial Guinea: Constitution Day.
Panama: Panama City Foundation Day.


Events

1057 - King Macbeth of Scotland was slain by Malcolm Canmore, whose father, King Duncan I, was murdered by Macbeth 17 years earlier.

1790 - Reverend John Carroll became the first Catholic bishop in the United States.

1865 - Sir Joseph Lister discovered the antiseptic process.

1911 - Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, Ohio introduced Crisco hydrogenated shortening.

1914 - The American-built Panama Canal was inaugurated with the passage of the U.S. vessel Ancon, a cargo and passenger ship.

1939 - "The Wizard of Oz" premiered in Hollywood, CA. Judy Garland became famous for the movie's song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

1944 - Allied forces landed in southern France during World War II.

1945 - Japan surrendered to the Allies, and this date is declared V-J Day.

1947 - India and Pakistan became independent after some 200 years of British rule.

1948 - The Republic of Korea was proclaimed.

1948 - The republic of South Korea was proclaimed.

1948 - CBS-TV inaugurated the first nightly news broadcast with anchorman Douglas Edwards.

1949 - In San Francisco, a stunt leap off the Golden Gate Bridge was performed for the first time.

1961 - East German workers began construction of the Berlin Wall.

1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York; over 400,000 attended.

1987 - $100 million in damage was done in the Chicago area when 13 1/2 inches of rain fell.

1992 - Four people were killed and 20 were injured in a shooting spree outside a club in Miami, FL.

1992 - Vietnam blamed Hollywood for creating the "myth" concerning the issue of U.S. servicemen still being held prisoner in Indochina.

1994 - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," was jailed in France after being captured in Sudan.

1998 - A car bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killed 29 people and injured 370.

2000 - Two hundred members of families separated by the Korean War were permitted to meet each other for the first time since then, half in South Korea and half in North Korea.

2001 - Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own - two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper.

2003 - A car bomb exploded, destroying the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel, a top hotel in the Jakarta, Indonesia; 14 people were killed and 150 were wounded.

2005 - Israel began withdrawing from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.

Lebanon Related Events

2006 - Aug 15, Israel began slowly withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over its captured territory as hopes were raised that a UN-imposed cease-fire would stick, despite early tests on its first day.
(AP, 8/15/06)


Births

1769 - Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France.
1771 - Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist.
1879 - Ethel Barrymore (Ethel Mae Blythe), often called the "First Lady of the American Theatre."
1888 - T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), English archaeologist, soldier, and writer.
1912 - Julia Child (McWilliams), American chef, author.
1925 - Rose Marie (Curley), American comedienne, actress.


Deaths

1935 - Will Rogers, American entertainer.
1935 - Wiley Post, American aviator.