The Almanac
Today is Wednesday, Aug. 17, the 230th day of 2016 with 136 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 mathematician Pierre de
Fermat in 1601; frontiersman Davy Crockett in 1786; movie producer
Samuel Goldwyn in 1882; Jamaican black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey
in 1887; actor Monty Woolley in 1888; actor Mae West in 1893; Watergate
figure W. Mark Felt, known as Deep Throat, in 1913; actor Maureen
O'Hara in 1920 (age 96); U.S. spy plane aviator Francis Gary Powers in
1929; British poet laureate Ted Hughes in 1930; Nobel literature
laureate V.S. Naipaul in 1932 (age 84); actor Robert De Niro in 1943
(age 73); pop singer Belinda Carlisle in 1958 (age 58); novelist
Jonathan Franzen in 1959 (age 57); investigative journalist Eric
Schlosser in 1959 (age 57); actor Sean Penn in 1960 (age 56);
television commentator/former football Coach Jon Gruden in 1963 (age
53); tennis Hall of Fame member Jim Courier in 1970 (age 46). On this
date in history: In 1807, Robert Fulton began the first American
steamboat trip between Albany, N.Y., and New York City. In 1915, a
hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing 275 people. In 1978, Ben
Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman completed the first crossing
of the Atlantic Ocean by balloon, landing their helium-filled Double
Eagle II near Paris. In 1987, Rudolf Hess, Hitler's former deputy, was
found strangled in Berlin's Spandau Prison. He was 93. In 1996, the
Reform Party nominated Texas businessman Ross Perot for president. In
1998, addressing the American people, U.S. President Bill Clinton said
he had a relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky
that was not appropriate. In 1999, an earthquake in a densely populated
region of northwestern Turkey killed at least 17,000 people and injured
about 40,000. In 2001, Ford Motor Co. announced it would dismiss up to
5,000 of its salaried employees -- 10 percent of its managers and
engineers. In 2008, Iran reported it had tested a new rocket capable of
carrying a satellite into orbit. A thought for the day: I've learned
that something constructive comes from every defeat. -- Tom Landry .
