The Almanac
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 16, the 229th day of 2016 with 137 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 French physicist Gabriel
Lippmann, inventor of color photography, in 1845; Amos Alonzo Stagg,
basketball and football Hall of Fame coach, in 1862; British
soldier/writer T.E. Lawrence ( Lawrence of Arabia ) in 1888; labor
leader George Meany in 1894; former Israeli Prime Minister/Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Menachem 88); actor Robert Culp in 1930; actor Julie
Newmar in 1933 (age 83); singer Eydie Gorme in 1928; football Hall of
Fame member/sports commentator Frank Gifford in 1930); TV personality
Kathie Lee Gifford in 1953 (age 63); actor Lesley Ann Warren in 1946
(age 70); actor Reginald VelJohnson in 1952 (age 64); film director
James Cameron ( Titanic, Avatar ) in 1954 (age 62); actor Jeff Perry in
1955 (age 61); actor Angela Bassett in 1958 (age 58); singer Madonna,
whose full name is Madonna Louise Ciccone, in 1958 (age 58); actor
Laura Innes in 1957 (age 59); actor Timothy Hutton in 1960 (age 56);
actor and Steve Carell in 1962 (age 54); Dixie Chicks singer Emily
Robison in 1972 (age 44). On this date in history: In 1812, British
forces foiled plans for a U.S. invasion of Canada by capturing the city
of Detroit. In 1896, the North Country gold rush began with the
discovery of gold in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory.
In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York of cancer at age
53. In 1954, the first edition of Sports Illustrated was published. In
1977, Elvis Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll, died of heart failure
at his home in Memphis at age 42. In 1987, a Northwest Airlines jet
bound for Phoenix crashed on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport,
killing 156 people. A 4-year-old girl, Celia Cichan, was the sole
survivor. In 2007, Jose Padilla, accused of plotting to explode a dirty
bomb in the United States, was convicted by a federal jury of
conspiracy to commit terror and giving material support to al-Qaida.
Padilla was sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison. In 2008,
American swimmer Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal in a
single Olympics in the Summer Games at Beijing. In 2009, John Yettaw, a
Missouri man convicted in Myanmar of illegally visiting political
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, serving a lengthy house-arrest
sentence, was allowed to leave the country. In 2010, off-road derby
supporters and opponents criticized a lack of safety precautions after
a crash during a 200-mile nighttime race in California's Mojave Desert
killed eight spectators in a crowd ringing the raceway. In 2012, the
Ecuadorean government said it was granting political asylum in its
London embassy to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, trying to avoid
extradition to Sweden to face questioning in a sexual assault
investigation. In 2013, the MV Thomas Aquinas ferry carrying nearly 700
people collided with a cargo ship and sank off the Philippines.
Authorities later said the accident killed about 60 people and many
others were reported missing. A thought for the day: Progress is a nice
word, but change is its motivator and change has enemies. -- Robert F.
Kennedy .
