The Almanac
Today is Saturday, Aug. 13, the 226th day of 20164 with 140 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars
are Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Neptune. Those born on this date
are under the sign of Leo. They include social reformer Lucy Stone in
1818; sharpshooter Annie Oakley in 1860; Scottish inventor John Baird,
a pioneer in television technology, in 1888; actor Bert Lahr (Cowardly
Lion in The Wizard of Oz ) in 1895; actor Regis Toomey in 1898; actor
Charles Buddy Rogers in 1904; film director Alfred Hitchcock in 1899;
bandleader Skinnay Ennis in 1907; golf Hall of Fame member Ben Hogan in
1912; actor Neville Brand in 1920; former Cuban President Fidel Castro
in 1926 (age 90); actor Pat Harrington Jr. in 1929 (age 87); singer Don
Ho in 1930; former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders in 1933 (age
83); opera singer Kathleen Battle in 1948 (age 68); hockey Hall of Fame
member Bobby Clarke in 1949 (age 67); pop singer Dan Fogelberg in 1951;
actor/announcer Danny Bonaduce in 1959 (age 57); entrepreneur Kevin
Plank (Under Armour) in 1972 (age 44); Olympic gold medal speed skater
Shani Davis in 1982 (age 34). On this date in history: In 1889, William
Gray patented the coin-operated telephone. In 1930, Capt. Frank Hawkes
set an air speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 12
hours, 25 minutes. In 1947, more than 400 million people living in
Hindustan and Pakistan gained their independence from Britain. In 1961,
East Germany closed the Brandenburg Gate and prepared to start building
the Berlin Wall. In 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter was nominated for
a second term by the Democratic National Convention in New York. He
lost in November to Ronald Reagan. In 1990, singer/songwriter Curtis
Mayfield was left paralyzed when he was hit by a wind-blown lighting
rig on an outdoor stage in New York. He died in 1999. In 1994, North
Korea agreed to allow U.N. monitors to inspect a secret nuclear
laboratory. In 2004, the Summer Olympics opened in Athens, Greece, with
a record 202 countries and 10,500 athletes taking part. In 2008, Bill
Gwatney, chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party and a former
legislator, was shot to death in his Little Rock office. After a
30-mile chase, a suspect was killed by police in an exchange of
gunfire. A motive for Gwatney's killing was never determined. In 2012,
U.S. President Barack Obama told a campaign crowd in Iowa the result of
the 2012 presidential election will impact your lives and your
children's lives for decades to come. In 2013, Israel released 26
Palestinian prisoners as part of a deal to resume peace talks. In 2014,
Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos was among seven people
killed in a plane crash southeast of Sao Paulo. A thought for the day:
I think being a liberal, in the true sense, is being non-doctrinaire,
non-dogmatic, non-committed to a cause, but examining each case on its
merits. Being left of center is another thing; it's a political
position. -- Walter Cronkite .
