The Almanac
Today is Friday, Aug. 26, the 239th day of 2016 with 127 to follow. The
moon is waning. 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 Virgo. They include British statesman Robert Walpole
in 1676; French scientist Antoine Lavoisier, the founder of modern
chemistry, in 1743; Lee De Forest, known as the father of radio, in
1873; Charlie Chan detective series author Earl Derr Biggers in 1884;
poet/novelist Christopher Isherwood in 1904; bacteriologist Albert
Sabin, discoverer of an oral vaccine for polio, in 1906; Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Mother Teresa in 1910; basketball Hall of Fame member
Tom Heinsohn in 1934 (age 82); Geraldine Ferraro, 1984 Democratic vice
presidential candidate and first woman to seek so high a position on a
major U.S. political party ticket, in 1935; voice actor/movie trailer
specialist Don LaFontaine in 1940; singer Leon Redbone in 1949 (age
67); crossword editor Will Shortz in 1952 (age 64); jazz musician
Branford Marsalis in 1960 (age 56); actor Melissa McCarthy in 1970 (age
46); actor Macaulay Culkin in 1980 (age 36); actor Chris Pine in 1980
(age 36). On this date in history: In 1920, eight days after it was
ratified, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect
-- giving women the right to vote. In 1964, Democrats nominated U.S.
President Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey. They won easily in
November. In 1974, Charles Lindbergh died at the age of 72. In 1978,
Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected the 263rd pope and chose the name
John Paul I. He died 33 days later. In 1996, a court in South Korea
sentenced former President Chun Doo-hwan to death for the coup that put
him in power. Chun's death sentence was commuted in 1997. In 2003, the
U.N. Security Council denounced as a grave violation of human rights
the killings of Kuwaiti prisoners, believed to be in the hundreds, by
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime. In 2004, a leader in the U.S.
Army panel investigating prisoner abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison
said the team had discovered serious misconduct and a loss of moral
values. In 2007, wildfires, all believed to be the act of arsonists,
killed at least 59 people and destroyed thousands of acres of crops and
forests in Greece. The fires were fanned by gale-force winds. In 2008,
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed decrees recognizing the
independence of Georgia breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Medvedev said granting them independence was an act of necessity and he
urged other nations to make similar diplomatic moves. In 2011, Japanese
Prime Minister Naota Kan resigned after a hectic 15 months that
included an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear disaster. He was
succeeded three days later by Yoshihiko Noda, the finance minister. In
2012, U.S. Republican officials, gathered in Tampa, Fla., for the
party's national convention, announced it would be delayed a day
because of Tropical Storm Isaac. In 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama
awarded the Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter for gallantry
in Afghanistan. In 2014, Palestinian militants and Israel agreed to end
seven weeks of hostilities that left more than 2,000 people dead. The
cease-fire was arranged in Egypt. A thought for the day: The moral test
of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the
children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those
who are in the shadow of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.
-- Hubert H. Humphrey .
