The Almanac
Today is Monday, Aug. 29, the 242nd day of 2016 with 124 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 English philosopher John Locke in
1632; author/poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1809; Henry Bergh,
founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, in 1813; automotive inventor Charles Kettering in 1876; actor
Barry Sullivan in 1912; actress Ingrid Bergman in 1915; jazz
saxophonist Charlie Bird Parker in 1920; British filmmaker Richard
Attenborough in 1923; jazz/pop singer Dinah Washington in 1924;
filmmaker William Friedkin ( The Exorcist ) in 1935 (age 81); U.S. Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., Republican nominee for president in 2008, in 1936
(age 80); actor Elliott Gould in 1938 (age 78); TV personality Robin
Leach ( Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous ) in 1941 (age 75);
entertainer Michael Jackson in 1958; actor Rebecca De Mornay in 1959
(age 57). On this date in history: In 1533, Atahualpa, last of the Inca
rulers, was strangled under orders of Spanish conqueror Francisco
Pizarro. The Inca Empire died with him. In 1949, the Soviet Union
exploded its first atomic bomb at a remote test site at Semipalatinsk
in Kazakhstan. In 1965, U.S. astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles
Conrad landed safely to end the eight-day orbital flight of Gemini 5.
In 1973, U.S. District Judge John Sirica ordered U.S. President Richard
Nixon to turn over secret Watergate tapes. Nixon refused and appealed
the order. In 1994, Israel and the PLO signed an agreement to shift
West Bank administrative functions to the Palestinian National
Authority. In 2004, the Summer Olympics came to a close in Athens,
Greece. The United States won the most medals, 103, 35 of them gold,
led by swimmer Michael Phelps who took home six gold and two bronze
medals. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore on the Gulf Coast,
inflicting severe damage in New Orleans and along the coastlines of
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Katrina killed more than 1,800
people and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage. In 2007, the
U.S. Census Bureau reported that the median household income in the
United States was $48,201 in 2006, an increase of about $800 from the
previous year. In 2009, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who died
Aug. 25 after a 15-month battle with brain cancer, was buried at
Arlington National Cemetery near his brothers John and Robert. In 2011,
the Nepalese Parliament, where no political party had a majority,
elected a Maoist, Babuarm Bhattarai, as prime minister after the
parties failed to form a consensus government. In 2012, India's Supreme
Court upheld the death sentence of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab for his
role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people and
wounded more than 200. Kasab was hanged in November. In 2013, the
National Football League denied any wrongdoing but said it would do the
right thing and pay $765 million to settle lawsuits brought by
thousands of former players who developed concussion-related brain
injuries. In 2014, Britain raised its terrorism alert level to severe
because of the actions of extremist groups in Iraq and Syria and
knowledge that many British citizens were fighting on the side of
militants. A thought for the day: To give someone a piece of your heart
is worth more than all the wealth in the world. -- Michael Jackson .
