On this day in history...

[Layyouss]

On This Day: August 10

This is the 223rd day of the year.

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

Ecuador: National Day / Independence Day.

Feast day of St. Lawrence of Rome.

Events

1792 - King Louis XVI was taken into custody by mobs during the French Revolution. He was executed the following January after being put on trial for treason.

1809 - Ecuador began its fight for independence from Spain.

1821 - Missouri became the 24th state to join the Union.

1846 - The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the U.S. Congress. The "Nation's Attic" was made possible by $500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson.

1856 - In Louisiana, a hurricane came ashore and killed about 400 people.

1859 - In Boston, MA, the first milk inspectors were appointed.

1869 - The motion picture projector was patented by O.B. Brown.

1881 - Thomas Edison's exhibit opened the Paris Electrical Exhibition.

1885 - The first electric streetcar, to be used commercially, was operated in Baltimore, MD, by Leo Daft.

1914 - Austria-Hungary invaded Russia.

1921 - Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio.

1927 - Mount Rushmore was formally dedicated. The individual faces of the presidents were dedicated later.

1944 - U.S. forces defeated the remaining Japanese resistance on Guam.

1945 - The day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced they would surrender. The only condition was that the status of Emperor Hirohito would remain unchanged.

1947 - William Odom completed an around-the-world flight. He set the solo record by completing the flight in 73 hours and 5 minutes.

1948 - On ABC, "Candid Camera" made its TV debut. The original title was "Candid Microphone."

1949 - In the U.S., the National Military Establishment had its name changed to the Department of Defense.

1954 - Construction began on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

1965 - In Austin, TX, a fire burned part of the 20th floor of the 27-story University of Texas main building. A collection that contained items once owned by escape artist Harry Houdini and circus magnate P. T. Barnum were damaged by smoke and water.

1969 - Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered. Members of the Charles Manson cult committed the crimes one day after the killing of Sharon Tate and four other people.

1973 - Arnold Palmer did not make the cut for the final two rounds of the PGA Golf Championship. It was the first time in his career.

1977 - The "Son of Sam," David Berkowitz, was arrested in Yonkers, NY. Berkowitz, a postal employee, had shot and killed six people and wounded seven others.

1981 - Pete Rose hit a single and broke the National League all-time hit record with his 3,630 hit.

1988 - U.S. President Reagan signed a measure that provided $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were interned by the U.S. government during World War II.

1991 - In Phoenix, AZ, nine Buddhists were found slain in their temple. Two teenagers were arrested for the crime.

1993 - A massive deficit-reduction bill was signed into law by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

1994 - In Germany, three men were arrested after being caught smuggling plutonium into the country.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton claimed presidential immunity when he asked a federal judge to dismiss, at least for the time being, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Corbin Jones.

1995 - Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing.

1995 - Michael Fortier plead guilty in a plea-bargain agreement. The agreement required that he testify for the prosecution in the Oklahoma City Federal building bombing trial.

1995 - Norma McCorvey, "Jane Roe" of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, announced that she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

1999 - Near an India-Pakistan border area an Indian fighter jet shot down a Pakistani naval aircraft. Sixteen people were killed.

2003 - Ekaterina Dmitriev and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were married. Malenchenko was about 240 miles above the earth in the international space station. It was the first-ever marriage from space.

2006 - In Great Britain, 24 people were arrested for their roles in a plot to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the United States. In Pakistan, 7 people were arrested for their roles in the same plot.


Births

1874 - Herbert Clark Hoover, 31st President of the United States of America (1929-1933).

1928 - Jimmy Dean (Seth Ward), American Grammy Award-winning singer; sausage maker.

1928 - Eddie Fisher, American singer.

Deaths

1896 - Otto Lilienthal, German aeronautical pioneer.

[Layyouss]

August 10: Quote of the day

We stand on the edge of a new frontier.
- John F. Kennedy, on this inauguration as U.S. President, 1961


August 10: Song Quote

I'm in love, yet I don't know if I can face the night
I'm in tears, and the crying that I do is for you
- Aerosmith, Angel

August 10: Quote about Music

"... guitarists shouldn't get too riled up about all of the great players that were left off of 'Rolling Stone Magazines' list of the Greatest Guitar Players of all Time' ... Rolling Stone is published for people who read the magazine because they don't know what to wear ..."
- Joe Satriani

[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.

[Rors]

On This Day : August 12

Today is Tuesday, August 12, 2008. This is the 225th day of the year, with 141 days remaining in 2008.


Fact of the Day: flood

"Floods are caused by rivers overflowing their banks or by high tides and strong winds blowing ocean waters onto land. They can occur in the spring when melting snow and ice from winter makes rivers unusually high. They can occur when hurricanes raise the tides and the winds and also accompany tsunamis. Torrential rain, as experienced in the Midwest in 1993, can do tremendous amounts of damage. The Mississippi is one of the three great rivers -- including Egypt's Nile and China's Yellow River -- that floods regularly. Floods can collapse or burst dams, fracture pipelines, and wash away homes. Some countries experience terrible floods because they are in low-lying coastal areas as in the Netherlands and Bangladesh."



Holidays

Feast day of St. Porcarius and his Companions, St. Jambert, archbishop of Canterbury, St. Euplus, and St. Murtagh or Muredach.

Thailand: Birthday of the Queen.
United Nations: International Youth Day.



Events

1676 - In colonial New England, King Philip's War effectively ended when Philip, chief of the Wampanoag Indians, was assassinated by a Native American working for the English.

1851 - Isaac Singer was granted a patent on his sewing machine.

1877 - Thomas Alva Edison completed the model for the first phonograph.

1896 - Gold was discovered near Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada.

1898 - Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States.

1898 - An armistice ended the Spanish-American War.

1908 - Henry Ford's first Model T rolled off the assembly line.

1935 - President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Bill.

1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.

1960 - The first successful communications satellite, Echo I, was put into Earth's orbit to relay voice and TV signals.

1961 - East Germany begins construction of the Berlin Wall

1966 - The last tour for the Beatles began in Chicago; and John Lennon apologized for boasting that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ.

1972 - The last American combat ground troops left Vietnam.

1990 - Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex discovered: fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovers three huge bones jutting out of a cliff near Faith, South Dakota. They turn out to be part of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its discoverer.

1992 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was concluded between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, creating the world's wealthiest trade bloc.

2000 - The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea after the hull was damaged by a series of explosions; all 118 crew members died.

Lebanon Related Events

1976 - Syrian backed Christian militias completed their siege of the Tell al-Za'tar Palestinian camp in Lebanon leaving some 2000 people killed.

1982 - Israel staged heavy bombardment of Beirut. The UN Security council expressed its most serious concern about continued military activities in Lebanon, particularly in and around Beirut.

1991 - A letter from Lebanese kidnappers was made public; it offered to trade the release of Western hostages for the freedom of “all detainees” worldwide.

2005 - Lebanon freed the radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri, hours after Britain declared he would not be allowed to return to its shores.

2006 - Israel staged wide-ranging airstrikes and sent commandos into the Hezbollah heartland as the UN raced to begin enforcing its new cease-fire blueprint and stop the heavy fighting still raging in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the militant organization would abide by the UN cease-fire resolution but would keep fighting as long as Israeli troops remained in southern Lebanon. Israel lost 24 soldiers, including five on a helicopter shot out of the air by guerrillas.

2006 - The UN Security Council adopted a resolution seeking a "full cessation" of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, offering the region its best chance yet for peace after a month of fighting that has killed more than 800 people and inflamed Mideast tensions.



Births

1781 - Robert Mills, American architect of Washington Monument, National Portrait Gallery, U.S. Treasury Building.
1881 - Cecil B. DeMille, American movie producer and director.
1911 - Cantinflas, Mexican circus clown, acrobat and actor.
1930 - Porter Waggoner, American country music singer, songwriter.



Deaths

1827 - William Blake, English poet and painter.
1964 - Ian Fleming, English novelist who created the character James Bond.
1982 - Henry Fonda, American stage and film actor.
2007 - Merv Griffin, television host and businessman.

[Rors]

August 12, 1877

Entertainment: Edison develops the phonograph
Thomas Edison describes the fundamentals of the phonograph to an assistant and instructs him to construct one. Edison had discovered the principles behind the phonograph when trying to invent a telegraph repeater. In the process, he developed a cylinder covered with foil that made sounds when played by a needle. Edison patented the phonograph six months later.


August 12, 1964

Crime: Great Train robber escapes from prison
On August 12, 1964, Charlie Wilson, part of the gang who pulled off the 1963 Great Train Robbery, one of the biggest heists of its kind, escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England. Several men broke into the maximum-security facility to free Wilson, who remained on the loose until 1968. The so-called Great Train Robbery took place on August 8, 1963, when 15 masked men attacked the Glasgow to London Royal Mail train near Buckinghamshire, England. The thieves hauled off 120 bags of money totaling a record 2.6 million pounds


August 12, 2000

Disaster: Russian sub sinks with 118 onboard
A Russian nuclear submarine sinks to the bottom of the Barents Sea on this day in 2000; all 118 crew members are later found dead. The exact cause of the disaster remains unknown. On August 12, the Kursk was scheduled to fire a practice torpedo; at 11:29 a.m., before doing so, two explosions spaced shortly apart occurred in the front hull of the submarine and it plunged toward the bottom of the sea.
It was the largest attack submarine in the world, approximately three times the size of the largest subs in the United States Navy. Using $100 million, the best available technology and an international team of experts, the Kursk was raised on September 26, 2001, about a year after the accident.


Quote of the Day:
Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they don't like him.
- Marlene Dietrich

Quote about Music:
The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.
- Johann S. Bach, composer and organist

Song Quote:
I go 2 bed early every night so I can dream
Of another space and another time when U belonged 2 me
- Elisa Fiorillo, Love's No Fun

[Sirius]

On This Day: August 13

Today is Wednesday, August 13, 2008. This is the 226th day of the year, with 140 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day: renaissance

"The Renaissance is the name of an important artistic and scientific period that began about 1400 and went on for 200 years in Italy and, eventually, all of Europe. Renaissance means rebirth and this period was a time when scholars revived interest in learning and the arts of ancient Greece and Rome. People began to think of new ideas and develop art techniques, the sciences, architecture, and inventions. They looked for new lands and trade routes -- and their ideas and thirst for learning spread, especially through the new technology of printing. Important artists of the Renaissance were Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Cellini, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Important scientists were Copernicus and Galileo and philosophers were Machiavelli and Erasmus. Important writers were Montaigne, Shakespeare, and Cervantes. Columbus made his famous discoveries during this time. The most important philosophy developed was called humanism -- a new way of thinking that challenged the authority of the church and allowed scientists, artists, and scholars to produce their own ideas. The people of the Renaissance looked for new explanations, new ways of doing things, new interpretations of writings, new ways of building their homes and public buildings."

Holidays

Feast day of St. Simplician of Milan, St. Radegund, St. Wigbert, St. Pontian, pope, St. Benildus, St. Hippolytus of Rome, St. Narses Klaietus, St. Cassian of Imola, and St. Maximus the Confessor.

Central African Republic: Independence Day.

Tunisia: Women's Day.

Events

1521 - Present day Mexico City was captured by Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez from the Aztec Indians.

1704 - The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.

1792 - French revolutionaries took the entire French royal family and imprisoned them.

1784 - The United States Legislature met for the final time in Annapolis, MD.

1846 - The American Flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles, CA.

1867 - "Under the Gaslight", by Augustin Daly, opened in New York City, NY.

1876 - The Reciprocity Treaty between the U.S. and Hawaii was ratified.

1889 - A patent for a coin-operated telephone was issued to William Gray.

1907 - The first taxicab started on the streets of New York City.

1912 - The first experimental radio license was issued to St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, PA.

1931 - The first community hospital in the U.S. was dedicated in Elk City, OK.

1932 - Adolf Hitler refused to take the post of vice-chancellor of Germany. He said he was going to hold out "for all or nothing."

1934 - Al Capp's comic strip "L'il Abner" made its debut in newspapers.

1935 - The first roller derby match was held at the Coliseum in Chicago, IL.

1942 - Walt Disney's "Bambi" opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, NY.

1959 - In New York, ground was broken on the $320 million Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

1960 - "Echo I," a balloon satellite, allowed the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite to take place.

1961 - Berlin was divided by a barbed wire fence to halt the flight of refugees. Two days later work on the Berlin Wall began.

1978 - In a Palestinian area of Beirut, Lebanon, a bomb killed 100 people.

1979 - Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals got his 3,000th career hit.

1985 - The engagement of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenagger was announced.

1986 - United States Football League standout Herschel Walker signed to play with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

1989 - The wreckage of Texas Congressman Mickey Leland's plane was found a week after disappearing in Ethiopia. There were no survivors of the 16 passengers.

1990 - Iraq transferred $3-4 billion in bullion, currency, and other goods seized from Kuwait to Baghdad.

1990 - Magic Johnson announced the indefinite postponement of his wedding to fiancé Earletha Kelly.

1992 - Woody Allen began legal action to win custody of his three children. A judge ruled against Allen in 1993.

1992 - A gunmen dressed in military fatigues shot and killed three people and wounded four others before killing himself. The shootings took place in a plant nursery in Watsonville, CA.

1994 - It was reported that aspirin not only helps reduce the risk of heart disease, but also helps prevent colon cancer.

2004 - Lebanon criticized French efforts to ban the militant group Hezbollah's television station, saying the channel may be anti-Israeli but it is not anti-Semitic.

2006 - After a stormy debate, Israel's Cabinet approved a Mideast cease-fire, agreeing to silence the army's guns on Aug 14 at 8AM. The Israeli military embarked on a last-minute push to devastate Hezbollah guerrillas, rocketing south Beirut with at least 20 missiles. Israeli warplanes fired missiles into gasoline stations in the southern port city of Tyre, killing at least 12 people in those and other attacks. Hezbollah fired more than 150 rockets at northern Israel, killing an Israeli man. Two Israeli air raids on a village in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley killed at least seven people and wounded nearly two dozen.

Births

1818 - Lucy Stone, women's rights activist, who founded American Suffrage Association.

1860 - Annie Oakley (Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee), American sharpshooter, performer.

1888 - John Baird, Scottish television pioneer.

1899 - Alfred Hitchcock, British filmmaker, director.

1912 - Ben Hogan, American golf champion.

1926 - Fidel Castro (Ruz), Cuban revolutionary, leader.

Deaths

1995 - Mickey Mantle, Hall of Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees.

2004 - Julia Child, Emmy Award-winning chef and television personality.

[Rors]

On This Day: August 14


This is the 227th day of the year.


Fact of the Day: Social Security

The original Social Security Act established a permanent national old-age pension system through employer and employee contributions. The system was later extended to include dependents, the disabled, and other groups. Responding to the economic impact of the Great Depression, 5,000,000 old people in the early 1930s joined nationwide Townsend clubs, promoted by Francis E. Townsend to support his program demanding a $200 monthly pension for everyone over the age of 60. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered the matter and studied the recommendations of a committee he formed. In 1935, Congress enacted the Social Security Act, providing old-age benefits to be financed by a payroll tax on employers and employees.


Holidays

Feast day of St. Marcellus of Apamea, St. Fachanan, St. Athanasia of Aegina, St. Eusebius of Rome, and St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Pakistan: Independence Day.


Events

1457 - The first book ever printed was published by a German astrologer named Faust.

1784 - On Kodiak Island, Grigory Shelikhov, a Russian fur trader, founded Three Saints Bay, the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska.

1848 - The Oregon Territory was established.

1873 - The first issue of "Field and Stream" magazine was published.

1880 - The largest Gothic church in northern Europe, the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, was completed after 632 years of rebuilding.

1893 - France became the first country to introduce vehicle registration plates.

1900 - International forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.

1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter.

1945 - Japan announced its unconditional surrender in World War II. President Harry Truman announced that World War II was over.

1947 - Pakistan became independent of British rule.

1973 - The United States ended the "secret" bombing of Cambodia.

1997 - An unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.

2003 - A huge blackout hit the northeastern United States and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power; the power grid crash covered eight U.S. states from Michigan to Massachusetts and part of southeastern Canada, becoming the worst infrastructure collapse that the U.S. has ever suffered.

Lebanon Related Events

2006 - Aug 13, After a stormy debate, Israel's Cabinet approved a Mideast cease-fire, agreeing to silence the army's guns on Aug 14 at 8AM. The Israeli military embarked on a last-minute push to devastate Hezbollah guerrillas, rocketing south Beirut with at least 20 missiles. Israeli warplanes fired missiles into gasoline stations in the southern port city of Tyre, killing at least 12 people in those and other attacks. Hezbollah fired more than 150 rockets at northern Israel, killing an Israeli man. Two Israeli air raids on a village in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley killed at least seven people and wounded nearly two dozen.
(AP, 8/13/06)

2006 - Aug 14, Israeli soldiers killed six Hezbollah fighters in three skirmishes in Lebanon after the UN-imposed cease-fire took effect. The clashes came as Lebanese civilians defied an Israeli travel ban and streamed back to their homes in war-ravaged areas. Lebanese, Israeli and UN officers met on the border to discuss the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the region. Lebanon said nearly 791 people were killed since the fighting began. Israel said 116 soldiers and 39 civilians were killed in fighting or from Hezbollah rockets in the 34-day war.
(AP, 8/14/06)


Births

1777 - Hans Christian Oersted, Danish scientist, who discovered electromagnetism.
1886 - Arthur J. Dempster, Canadian-American physicist.
1915 - Max Klein, American painter; invented "paint by numbers."
1941 - David Crosby (David Van Cortland), American musician, songwriter.
1945 - Steve Martin, American Emmy Award-winning comedy writer, comedian, actor, author.


Deaths

1951 - William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher.

[Rors]

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.

[Rors]

August 15, 1939

Entertainment:The Wizard of Oz premieres

MGM's The Wizard of Oz opens at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Crowds thronged the theater to catch glimpses of Hedy Lamarr, Orson Welles, and other stars who attended the show.

The 101-minute-long film has remained a classic since its release. In 1956, an estimated 45 million people tuned in to watch the movie's debut on television as part of the Ford Star Jubilee. The movie spawned two sequels, including Journey Back to Oz (1974), an animated film featuring the voice of Judy Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli, and Return to Oz (1985). A remake with an African American cast, The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, was released in 1978 with music arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones.

The movie is still one of America's top-selling videocassettes and was one of the first 25 films to be put on the National Film Registry, which is reserved for culturally or historically significant movies.


August 15, 1945

Lead Story: Hirohito announces unconditional surrender

On this day in 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces the news of his country's unconditional surrender in World War II over a radio broadcast to the Japanese people.
On the afternoon of August 14, a Japanese radio broadcaster told the public that Emperor Hirohito would soon make an Imperial Proclamation announcing the defeat. The following day at noon, Hirohito went on the radio himself, blaming Japan’s surrender on the enemies' use of "a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which is incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives." The emperor was not only a political leader in Japan; he was also revered as a near-god, and many Japanese did not fully accept the news of defeat until they heard him speak those unthinkable words.



Quote of the Day
There is nothing like a good dose of another woman to make a man appreciate his wife.
- Clare Boothe Luce

Song Quote
We'll put out to sea and we'll perfect our chemistry
By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity
- Beach Boys, Kokomo

Quote About Music
Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul.
- Johann S. Bach, composer and organist

[Nadnoud]

On This Day : August 16

This is the 229th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: reiki

"Reiki is a complementary therapy based on an ancient healing system rediscovered in the 20th century by a Buddhist monk, Mikao Usui, in Japan. It involves a therapist putting his or her hands on or very close to a patient to boost the patient's natural invisible energy fields (reiki means 'universal life force'). It is often used as an adjunct to other therapies and is said to be helpful for many conditions. It is pronounced RAY-kee."


Holidays

Feast day of St. Stephen of Hungary, St. Armel, and St. Arsacius.

Dominican Republic: Restoration of the Republic (1863).

Events

1777 - American forces won the Revolutionary War's Battle of Bennington (Vermont).

1777 - France declared bankruptcy.

1812 - Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.

1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain's Queen Victoria exchanged messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line.

1896 - Gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.

1906 - Earthquakes erupted in San Francisco, California, and Valparaiso, Chile.

1954 - "Sports Illustrated" was first published by Time Incorporated.

1960 - Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus.

1962 - Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, handed drummer Pete Best his walking papers.

1965 - The Watts riots ended in south-central Los Angeles after six days.

1984 - The U.S. Jaycees voted to admit women to full membership in the organization.

Births

1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, American basketball and football Hall-of-Famer, coach.

1894 - George Meany, American, first president of the AFL-CIO.

1913 - Menachem Begin, Israeli Prime Minister.

1958 - Madonna (Louise Veronica Ciccone), American entertainer, singer.


Deaths

1948 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Hall of Fame and popular professional baseball player.

1977 - Elvis Presley, popular American singer died at Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

2003 - Idi Amin, former dictator of Uganda.