This Day in History

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August 5

1100 – Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.

1305 – William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.

1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

1620 – The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.

1689 – One thousand five hundred Iroquois attack the village of Lachine in New France.

1763 – Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run: British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.

1816 – The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds's new invention of the first working electric telegraph as "wholly unnecessary", preferring to continue using the semaphore.

1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).

1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging.

1874 – Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom.

1888 – Bertha Benz (wife of Karl Benz) drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.

1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.

1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.

1941 – World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.

1944 – World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.

1949 – The Mann Gulch fire kills 13 firefighters in Montana.

1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.

1958 – Herbert Hoover eclipses John Adams as having the longest retirement of any former U.S President until that time. Hoover would live another six years. His record 31 years 7 months 16 days retirement has since been eclipsed by Jimmy Carter.

1965 - Jan Berry of Jan and Dean was accidentally knocked off a camera car and broke his leg on the first day of filming a new film Easy Come, Easy Go. Several other people were also hurt, causing Paramount to cancel the movie entirely.

1968 - American country guitarist Luther Perkins died at the age of 40 as a result of severe burns and smoke inhalation. Perkins fell asleep at home in his den with a cigarette in his hand. He was dragged from the fire unconscious with severe second and third degree burns. Perkins never regained consciousness.

1975 - Drummer Sandy West and guitarist Joan Jett formed the first ever all female heavy rock band after being introduced by producer Kim Fowley. The Runaways released four studio albums.

1981 – President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

1983 - Crosby Stills Nash & Young member David Crosby was sentenced to five years in jail in Texas for cocaine and firearms offences. Crosby had slept through most of his trial.

2009 - Steven Tyler was airlifted to hospital after falling off stage during a gig at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The 61-year-old Aerosmith singer fell from a catwalk onto a couple of fans, he suffered neck and shoulder injuries. About 30 minutes after the accident, guitarist Joe Perry came out to tell the crowd that the remainder of the show had been cancelled.

2010 – The Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) below the ground for 69 days.

2012 – The Oak Creek shooting took place at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people; the perpetrator was shot dead by police.

Births

1862 – Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man); 1906 – John Huston; 1911 – Robert Taylor; 1914 – Parley Baer; 1930 – Neil Armstrong; 1934 – Wendell Berry, Vern "The Voice" Gosdin♪ ♫; 1940 – Roman Gabriel; 1943 – Sammi Smith♪ ♫; 1945 – Loni Anderson; 1946 – Erika Slezak; 1947 – Rick Derringer♪ ♫; 1951 – Samantha Sang♪ ♫; 1955 – Eddie Ojeda; 1956 – Maureen McCormick; 1960 – David Baldacci; 1961 – Mark O'Connor; 1961 – Tim Wilson♪ ♫; 1962 – Patrick Ewing; 1964 – Adam Yauch (Beastie Boys' 'MCA'); 1968 – Terri Clark♪ ♫; 1982 – Lolo Jones; 1986 – Paula Creamer

Deaths

1881 – Spotted Tail; 1955 – Carmen Miranda; 1962 – Marilyn Monroe; 1968 – Luther Perkins♪ ♫; 1983 – Judy Canova; 1984 – Richard Burton; 1992 – Jeff Porcaro♪ ♫(Toto); 2000 – Sir Alec Guinness; 2002 – Chick Hearn

[infinite monkey]

I like these, with the links and pictures.

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August 7

Today marks the approximate midpoint of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and of Winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

936 – Coronation of King Otto I of Germany.

1679 – The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the south-eastern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.

1782 – George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.

1794 – U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.

1858 – The first Australian rules football match is played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College.

1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.

1930 – The last confirmed lynching of blacks in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana. Two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed.

1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.

1947 – Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.

1955 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, sells its first transistor radios in Japan.

1959 – The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design, and was minted until 2008.

1962 – Canadian-born American pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey is awarded the U.S. President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her refusal to authorize thalidomide.

1970 – California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.

The Goose Lake International Music Festival was held in Leoni, Michigan. Over 200,000 fans attended the three day festival.

1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently.

1979 – Several tornadoes strike the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and the surrounding communities.

1987 – Lynne Cox becomes first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union, a distance of ~2.5 miles.

1989 – U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.

1997 - Garth Brooks played to the largest crowd ever in New York's Central Park. An estimated 1 million people attended the live concert with an additional 14.6 million viewing live on HBO.

1998 – The United States embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.

2008, Elvis Presley's peacock jumpsuit, was sold at auction for $300,000, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia ever sold at an auction. The white outfit with a plunging V-neck and high collar featured a blue-and-gold peacock design, hand-embroidered on the front and back and along the pant legs.

Births

1560 – Elizabeth Báthory; 1876 – Mata Hari; 1884 – Billie Burke; 1903 – Louis Leakey; 1926 – Stan Freberg; 1927 – Carl Switzer ('Alfalfa' in Our Gang); 1928 – James Randi (magician); 1935 – Rahsaan Roland Kirk; 1942 – Tobin Bell ('Jigsaw' in the Saw movies), Garrison Keillor, B. J. Thomas♪ ♫; 1944 – John Glover, Robert Mueller (former director FBI); 1950 – Rodney Crowell♪ ♫; 1954 – Jonathan Pollard (spy); Wayne Knight ('Newman' on Seinfeld); 1958 – Bruce Dickinson(Iron Maiden); 1960 – David Duchovny; 1966 – Jimmy Wales(co-founded Wikipedia); 1975 – Charlize Theron

Deaths

1817 – Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours; 1957 – Oliver Hardy (Laurel & Hardy); 1970 – Jonathan P. Jackson (involved in the above-noted 1970 courtroom hostage situation); 1989 – U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland; 1999 – Brion James (Bladerunner); 2004 – Red Adair; 2005 – Peter Jennings; 2013 – Margaret Pellegrini (one of the last three Munchkins)

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August 8

1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.

1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.

1709 – Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the king of Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal.

1863 – American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).

1885 – More than 1.5 million people attend the funeral of Ulysses S. Grant in New York City.

1946 – First flight of the Convair B-36, the world's first mass-produced nuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft, with the longest wingspan of any military aircraft, and the first bomber with intercontinental range.

1960 - 16-year old Brian Hyland went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini', it made No.8 in the UK.

1963 – Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes.

1969 – At a zebra crossing (crosswalk) in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the photo that becomes the cover of the Beatles album Abbey Road.

1974 – President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.

1981 - MTV broadcast its first stereo concert with REO Speedwagon who performed in Denver, Colorado, having just released the album Hi Infidelity and the hit singles, ‘Keep On Loving You,’ ‘Take It On the Run’ and ‘Don’t Let Him Go.’

1989 – Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.

1992 - A riot broke out during a Guns N' Roses and Metallica gig at Montreal stadium when Metallica's show was cut short after singer James Hetfield was injured by pyrotechnics. Guns N' Roses took the stage but frontman Axl Rose claimed that his throat hurt, causing the band to leave the stage early. The cancellation led to a riot by the audience who overturned cars, smashed windows, looted local stores and set fires.

1996, KISS appeared at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio on their 192 date Alive World Tour. During this show a fan threw his fake leg on stage, which all the members signed and handed back to him.

2000 – Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence.

2008 – A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others.

Births

1839 – Nelson A. Miles; 1879 – Bob Smith (co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous), Emiliano Zapata; 1884 – Sara Teasdale; 1891 – Adolf Busch; 1896 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; 1907 – Benny CarterAttachment 57522; 1919 – Dino De Laurentiis; 1921 – Webb Pierce♪ ♫, Esther Williams; 1922 – Rory Calhoun, Rudi Gernreich (created the Monokini); 1926 – Richard Anderson ('Oscar Goldman' in The Six Million Dollar Man); 1929 – Ronnie Biggs (committed The Great Train Robbery, on his 34th birthday); 1930 – Terry Nation, Jerry Tarkanian; 1932 – Mel Tillis♪ ♫; 1937 – Dustin Hoffman; 1938 – Connie Stevens♪ ♫; 1939 – Phil Balsley♪ ♫(The Statler Bros); 1940 – Dennis Tito; 1944 – Michael Johnson♪ ♫; 1947 – Larry Wilcox ('Jon Baker' in CHiPs); 1949 – Keith Carradine; 1950 – Liberty DeVitto(Billy Joel), Willie Hall; 1951 – Mohamed Morsi; 1952 – Anton Fig(longtime drummer for David Letterman's house band); 1952 – Robin Quivers (The Howard Stern Show); 1953 – Nigel Mansell; 1955 – Branscombe Richmond (Renegade, Walker Texas Ranger); 1958 – Deborah Norville; 1961 – The Edge (aka Dave Evans)(U2); 1961 – Bruce Matthews (NFL), Rikki Rockett;(Poison); 1973 – Scott Stapp♪ ♫(Creed); 1976 – JC Chasez♪ ♫('N Sync); 1976 – Drew Lachey♪ ♫(98 Degrees)

Deaths

1863 – Angus MacAskill (Scottish-Canadian giant)<--Interesting read.; 1984 – Richard Deacon; 1991 – James Irwin; 2004 – Fay Wray; 2005 – Barbara Bel Geddes; 2010 – Patricia Neal; 2013 – Karen Black, Fernando Castro Pacheco, Jack Clement♪ ♫; 2014 – Menahem Golan

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August 9

48 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus: Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.

1173 – Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete.

1854 – Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden.

1892 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.

1930 – Betty Boop makes her cartoon debut in Dizzy Dishes.

1936 - Games of the XI Olympiad: Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games.

1944 – The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.

1945 – World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. 35,000 people are killed outright, including 23,200-28,200 Japanese war workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.

1965 – Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.

1969 – Followers led by Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men's hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.

1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.

1980 - AC/DC scored their first UK No.1 album with Back In Black. It was the first AC/DC album recorded without former lead singer Bon Scott (who died on 19 February 1980 at the age of 33), and was dedicated to him. The album has sold an estimated 49 million copies worldwide to date, making it the second highest selling album of all time, and the best selling hard rock or heavy metal album, as well as the best selling album ever released by a band.

2006 – At least 21 suspected terrorists were arrested in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot that happened in the United Kingdom.

2014 – Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American male in Ferguson, Missouri, was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer, sparking protests and unrest in the city.

Births

1921 – Ernest Angley; 1927 – Daniel Keyes (Flowers For Algernon); 1939 – The Mighty Hannibal♪ ♫; 1942 – David Steinberg; 1943 – Ken Norton; 1944 – Sam Elliott; 1957 – Melanie Griffith; 1959 – Kurtis Blow♪ ♫; 1963 – Whitney Houston♪ ♫; 1967 – Deion Sanders; 1968 – Gillian Anderson ('Scully' on The X Files), Eric Bana; 1972 – Juanes♪ ♫; 1973 – Kevin McKidd (Grey's Anatomy); 1976 – Jessica Capshaw (Grey's Anatomy), Rhona Mitra, Audrey Tautou; 1982 – Tyson Gay

Deaths

1516 – Hieronymus Bosch; 1948 – Hugo Boss; 1962 – Hermann Hesse; 1969 – Jay Sebring, Sharon Tate, Steven Parent; 1975 – Dmitri Shostakovich; 1995 – Jerry Garcia; 2003 – Gregory Hines; 2006 – James Van Allen (Van Allen Radiation Belts; 2008 – Bernie Mac; 2010 – Ted Stevens; 2015 – Frank Gifford

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August 10

1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.

1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sank after sailing less than a nautical mile on her maiden voyage from Stockholm on her way to fight in the Thirty Years' War.

1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England is laid.

1776 – American Revolutionary War: Word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.

1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.

1932 – A 5.1 kilograms (11 lb) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.

1961 – First use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War by the U.S. Army.

1963 - 13 year-old Little Stevie Wonder started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Fingertips part II', making him the youngest singer to top the charts.

1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over a period of one year.

1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation.

1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: The head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted.

1987 - Wilson Pickett was found guilty by a New Jersey court of possessing a shotgun with intent to endanger life following his involvement in a fist fight in a bar.

1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.

2002 - Lisa Marie Presley married actor Nicolas Cage at a resort in Hawaii. The marriage was Presley's third. She was married previously to musician Danny Keough and pop star Michael Jackson. Cage filed for divorce four months later.

2003 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom, 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent, England. It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C).

Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in outer space.

Births

1814 – Henri Nestlé (yeah, that Nestle); 1874 – Herbert Hoover (31st POTUS); 1889 – Charles Darrow (created the board game Monopoly); 1898 – Jack Haley♪ ♫; 1902 – Norma Shearer; 1909 – Leo Fender (Fender guitars and amps); 1913 – Noah Beery Jr.; 1914 – Jeff Corey; 1923 – Rhonda Fleming; 1924 – Martha Hyer; 1927 – Vernon Washington; 1928 – Jimmy Dean♪ ♫(sausage guy), Eddie Fisher♪ ♫; 1931 – Tom Laughlin (I'm gonna take this right foot, and I'm gonna whop you on that side of your face...and you wanna know something? There's not a damn thing you're gonna be able to do about it.); 1933 – Keith Duckworth (founded Cosworth); 1940 – Bobby Hatfield♪ ♫(The Righteous Bros); 1943 – Jimmy Griffin♪ ♫(Bread); 1943 – Ronnie Spector♪ ♫; 1947 – Ian Anderson(Jethro Tull); 1952 – Daniel Hugh Kelly; 1959 – Rosanna Arquette; 1960 – Antonio Banderas, Kenny Perry; 1961 – Jon Farriss(INXS); 1967 – Riddick Bowe; 1968 – Michael Bivins♪ ♫(Bell Biv DeVoe); 1972 – Angie Harmon; 1997 – Kylie Jenner

Deaths

1932 – Rin Tin Tin; 1945 – Robert H. Goddard; 1963 – Estes Kefauver; 2008 – Isaac Hayes♪ ♫; 2013 – Eydie Gormé♪ ♫(Steve & Eydie); 2015 – Buddy Baker

[BigV]

Happy birthday Ian Anderson!

I heard Jethro Tull over the speakers at Safeway last night. Whoa.

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August 11

3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins.

1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.

1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.

1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.

1968 – The last steam hauled train runs on British Rail.

1972 – Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.

1984 – "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.

2003 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.

2006 – The oil tanker M/T Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.

2015 – For the first time in Major League Baseball history, all 15 home teams won their game. Prior to this happening, the record was 12 which was reached over a century ago in 1914.

Births

1794 – James B. Longacre; 1897 – Enid Blyton; 1920 – Mike Douglas; 1921 – Alex Haley (Roots); 1925 – Arlene Dahl; 1926 – Claus von Bülow; 1933 – Jerry Falwell; 1943 – Jim Kale(The Guess Who), Pervez Musharraf, Denis Payton♪ ♫; 1946 – John Conlee♪ ♫, Marilyn vos Savant; 1949 – Eric Carmen♪ ♫; 1950 – Erik Brann(Iron Butterfly); 1950 – Steve Wozniak; 1952 – Bob Mothersbaugh(Devo); 1953 – Hulk Hogan; 1954 – Bryan Bassett(Wild Cherry, Foghat, and Molly Hatchet), Joe Jackson♪ ♫; 1957 – Richie Ramone; 1965 – Embeth Davidtz, Viola Davis, Duane Martin, Shinji Mikami (created video game Resident Evil); 1967 – Joe Rogan; 1968 – Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad); 1978 – Chris Kelly♪ ♫(Kris Kross); 1983 – Chris Hemsworth

Deaths

1596 – Hamnet Shakespeare (Bill's boy); 1919 – Andrew Carnegie; 1937 – Edith Wharton; 1954 – Santo Trafficante, Sr. (mob boss); 1956 – Jackson Pollock; 1984 – Alfred A. Knopf, Sr.; 1988 – Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma from the Train); 1991 – J. D. McDuffie; 1994 – Peter Cushing; 1995 – Phil Harris♪ ♫ (the singer, not the captain of the Cornelia Marie); 1996 – Mel Taylor(The Ventures); 2006 – Mike Douglas; 2009 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver; 2011 – Jani Lane(Warrant); 2012 – Michael Dokes; 2014 – Robin Williams

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August 12

In the United Kingdom today is The Glorious Twelfth, marking the traditional start of grouse shooting season.

1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon: Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.

1676 – Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War.

1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.

1883 – The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

1898 – The Hawaiian flag is lowered from ʻIolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.

1944 – Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people were killed indiscriminately or in mass executions.

1953 – The first testing of a real thermonuclear weapon (not test devices): The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of "RDS-6s" (Joe 4), the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb.

1958 – Art Kane photographs 57 notable jazz musicians in the black and white group portrait "A Great Day in Harlem" in front of a Brownstone in New York City.

1964 – Charlie Wilson, one of the Great Train Robbers, escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom.

1968 - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played together for the first time when they rehearsed at a studio in Gerrard Street in London's West End. The first song they played was a version of 'The Train Kept A-Rollin.' They also played 'Smokestack Lightning' and a version of 'I'm Confused' (soon to become 'Dazed And Confused'). The first live dates they played were as The Yardbirds, and it was not until the following month when they started to use the name Led Zeppelin.

1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released.

1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.

1989 - The two day Moscow Music Peace Festival was held at Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Western Acts who appeared included Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Skid Row and The Scorpions. This was the first time that an audience had been allowed to stand up and dance at a stadium rock concert in the Soviet Union. Previous to this, all concerts had to be seated.

1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.

1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike. This will force the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

2000 – The Oscar-class submarine Kursk of the Russian Navy explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise.

During an outdoor gig in Mancos, California, as 38 Special were mid-set, the wind took hold of an overhead canopy and brought down ten tons of equipment onto the stage. The drum kit was completely crushed, but no one was seriously injured.

2015 – At least two massive explosions kill 145 people and injure nearly 800 in Tianjin, China.

Births

1773 – Karl Faber; 1856 – Diamond Jim Brady; 1860 – Klara Hitler (Adolf's mammy); 1881 – Cecil B. DeMille; 1907 – Joe Besser ('Joe' of The Three Stooges); 1910 – Jane Wyatt; 1925 – Norris & Ross McWhirter (co-founded the Guinness World Records); 1926 – John Derek, Joe Jones♪ ♫; 1927 – Porter Wagoner♪ ♫; 1929 – Buck Owens♪ ♫; 1930 – George $oro$; 1933 – Parnelli Jones; 1935 – John Cazale; 1939 – George Hamilton; 1949 – Mark Knopfler; 1954 – Pat Metheny; 1956 – Bruce Greenwood; 1961 – Roy Hay; 1963 – Sir Mix-a-Lot; 1971 – Rebecca Gayheart, Pete Sampras; 1975 – Casey Affleck; 1980 – Dominique Swain; 1988 – Tyson Fury; 1992 – Cara Delevingne

Deaths

30 BC– Cleopatra; 1827 – William Blake; 1861 – Eliphalet Remington (Remington Arms Co.); 1891 – James Russell Lowell; 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.; 1964 – Ian Fleming; 1982 – Henry Fonda; 1990 – B. Kliban; 1992 – John Cage♪ ♫; 2000 – Loretta Young; 2002 – Enos Slaughter; 2007 – Merv Griffin; 2009 – Les Paul; 2010 – Richie Hayward; 2014 – Lauren Bacall

[infinite monkey]

Hehheeee at sir mixalot smilie.

[glatt]

Quagga. Learned something new.

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August 13

1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Royal Navy defeats the Penobscot Expedition with the most significant loss of United States naval forces prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

1831 – Nat Turner witnesses a solar eclipse which caused the sky to appear a blue-green color, which he envisioned as a black man's hand reaching over the sun. Eight days later he and 70 other slaves kill between 55-65 whites in Southampton County, Virginia.

1868 – A massive earthquake near Arica, Peru, causes an estimated 25,000 casualties, and the subsequent tsunami causes considerable damage as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.

1898 – Spanish–American War: Spanish and American forces engage in a mock battle for Manila, after which the Spanish commander surrendered in order to keep the city out of Filipino rebel hands.

Carl Gustav Witt discovers 433 Eros, the first near-Earth asteroid to be found.

1906 – The all black infantrymen of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Regiment are accused of killing a white bartender and wounding a white police officer in Brownsville, Texas, despite exculpatory evidence; all are later dishonorably discharged. Their records were later restored to reflect honorable discharges but there were no financial settlements.

1918 – Women enlist in the United States Marine Corps for the first time. Opha May Johnson is the first woman to enlist, at the age of 39.

1942 – Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the "Development of Substitute Materials" project, better known as the Manhattan Project.

1942 – Walt Disney's fifth full-length animated film, Bambi, was released to theaters.

1952 - The original version of 'Hound Dog' was recorded by Big Mama Thornton. It would become the first hit for the song-writing team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

1961 – East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West.

1964 – Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans are hanged for the Murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom.

1965 - Jefferson Airplane made their live debut at San Francisco's Matrix Club. The photograph of the members of Jefferson Airplane that was featured on the front cover of their best-known album, Surrealistic Pillow (1967), was taken inside the Matrix.

1967 - Fleetwood Mac made their live debut when they appeared at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor.

1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker tape parade in New York City That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

1971 - John Lennon flew from Heathrow Airport to New York, he never set foot on British soil again.

1980 - Four masked robbers broke in to Todd Rundgren's New York house and proceeded to steal Hi-Fi equipment and paintings after tying the musician up.

1997 – The first episode of the American animated series South Park premiered on Comedy Central.

Births

1814 – Anders Jonas Ångström; 1860 – Annie Oakley; 1888 – John Logie Baird (invented the television, And there was much rejoicing.); 1895 – Bert Lahr; 1898 – Regis Toomey; 1899 – Alfred Hitchcock; 1902 – Felix Wankel (namesake of the Wankel (rotary) engine); 1904 – Buddy Rogers♪ ♫; 1912 – Ben Hogan; 1919 – Rex Humbard; 1920 – Neville Brand; 1926 – Fidel Castro; 1929 – Pat Harrington, Jr. ('Schneider' on One Day At A Time); 1930 – Don Ho♪ ♫(sang Tiny Bubbles); 1933 – Joycelyn Elders; 1951 – Dan Fogelberg♪ ♫; 1952 – Tom Davis ("Franken & Davis" from SNL); 1955 – Paul Greengrass (director Jason Bourne movie series); 1958 – David Feherty; 1959 – Danny Bonaduce (Danny Partridge on The Partridge Family); 1961 – Sam Champion; 1962 – John Slattery ('Roger Sterling' on Mad Men); 1963 – Valerie Plame (former CIA agent); 1964 – Debi Mazar; 1969 – Midori Ito (Japanese figure skater); 1970 – Elvis Grbac (NFL); 1971 – Patrick Carpentier

Deaths

1910 – Florence Nightingale; 1946 – H. G. Wells; 1971 – W. O. Bentley(founded Bentley Motors Limited); 1989 – Tim Richmond; 1995 – Mickey Mantle; 2004 – Julia Child; 2007 – Brooke Astor, Phil Rizzuto; 2010 – Edwin Newman; 2012 – Helen Gurley Brown; 2013 – Tompall Glaser♪ ♫; 2016 – Kenny Baker ('R2D2' in Star Wars)

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August 15

Today the U.K. observes Victory Over Japan Day.

1281 – Mongol invasion of Japan: The Mongolian fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a "divine wind" for the second time in the Battle of Kōan.

1812 – War of 1812: The Battle of Fort Dearborn is fought between United States troops and Potawatomi at what is now Chicago.

1843 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoli_Gardens

1914 – A servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright murders seven people and sets fire to the living quarters of Wright's Wisconsin home, Taliesin.

The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.

1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.

1939 – Thirteen Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. There are no survivors.

1941 – Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 07:12, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for espionage.

1945 – Effective surrender of Japan in World War II, Korea gains Independence from Japan.

1948 – The Republic of Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north.

1963 – Execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland.

1965 – The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.

1969 – The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in upstate New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.

1977 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.

2013 – The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivoran species found in the Americas in 35 years.

Births

1195 – Anthony of Padua; 1769 – Napoleon; 1824 – John Chisum; 1875 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; 1879 – Ethel Barrymore; 1885 – Edna Ferber; 1896 - Leon Theremin (invented the theremin); 1912 – Julia Child; 1923 – Rose Marie; 1925 – Mike Connors (Mannix), Bill Pinkney♪ ♫(The Drifters); 1933 – Bobby Helms ♫♪(Jingle Bell Rock); 1938 – Stephen Breyer (Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States); 1941 – Don Rich♪ ♫(Buck Owens' band The Buckaroos); 1944 – Linda Ellerbee; 1950 – Tommy Aldridge; 1952 – Chuck Burgi; 1954 – Stieg Larsson (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo & others); 1964 – Melinda Gates (Bill's main squeeze); 1968 – Debra Messing; 1970 – Anthony Anderson; 1972 – Ben Affleck; 1974 – Natasha Henstridge; 1978 – Kerri Walsh Jennings (volleyball player); 1989 – Joe Jonas (The Jonas Bros); 1990 – Jennifer Lawrence

Deaths

1057 – Macbeth, King of Scotland; 1621 – John Barclay; 1935 – Wiley Post, Will Rogers; 1951 – Artur Schnabel; 1967 – René Magritte; 1995 – John Cameron Swayze (as Timex spokesman, said "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking."); 2008 – Jerry Wexler♫♪

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August 16

1328 – The House of Gonzaga seizes power in the Duchy of Mantua, and will rule until 1708.

1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.

1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.

1913 – Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary.

1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. Chapman was the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game, the first being Doc Powers, in 1909.

1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating planes crash or disappear.

1930 – The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.

1942 – World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.

1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.

1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that held until 2012: High-altitude jump, free fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.

1962 – The famous lineup of The Beatles is formed when drummer Pete Best is discharged from the band, and Ringo Starr is brought on.

1969 - Hippie leader Abbie Hoffman was knocked offstage by Pete Townshend while attempting to make a political statement during The Who's set at Woodstock. Later, Townshend said he didn't know it was Hoffman at the time.

1975 - Peter Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis. The group auditioned more than 400 singers during the next 18 months before deciding that Phil Collins, who had been the drummer for Genesis since 1970, could front the band.

1977 – Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock and Roll", was officially pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, after he was found unresponsive on the floor of his Graceland bathroom.

1989 – A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market.

1997 - On the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death over 30,000 fans descended on Memphis Tennessee for a 10-minute mourning circuit circling his grave. A poll found that almost a third of the fans were keeping an eye out for him in the crowd.

2008 – The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423 m), at the time becoming the world's highest residence above ground-level.

Births

1888 – T. E. Lawrence; 1892 – Hal Foster (created comic strip Prince Valiant); 1892 – Otto Messmer (co-created Felix the Cat); 1920 – Charles Bukowski; 1924 – Fess Parker; 1928 – Eydie Gormé♪ ♫, Eddie Kirkland♪ ♫; 1930 – Robert Culp, Frank Gifford; 1933 – Julie Newmar; 1939 – Billy Joe Shaver♪ ♫; 1940 – Bruce Beresford; 1945 – Bob Balaban; 1946 – Lesley Ann Warren; 1948 – Barry Hay♪ ♫(Golden Earring); 1953 – Kathie Lee Gifford, James "J.T." Taylor♪ ♫(Kool & The Gang); 1954 – James Cameron; 1957 – Laura Innes (ER); 1958 – Madonna♪ ♫, Angela Bassett; 1960 – Timothy Hutton; 1962 – Steve Carell; 1963 – Christine Cavanaugh (voice of 'Dexter' in Dexter's Laboratory); 1972 – Emily Robison(Dixie Chicks); 1975 – George Stults (7th Heaven)

Deaths

1705 – Jacob Bernoulli; 1888 – John Pemberton (invented Coca-Cola); 1899 – Robert Bunsen (Bunsen burner); 1938 – Robert Johnson; 1948 – Babe Ruth; 1949 – Margaret Mitchell (author Gone With The Wind); 1956 – Bela Lugosi; 1959 – William 'Bull' Halsey, Jr.; 1977 – Elvis Presley♪ ♫; 1989 – Amanda Blake ('Miss Kitty Russell' on Gunsmoke); 1993 – Stewart Granger; 2002 – Jeff Corey; 2003 – Idi Amin; 2005 – Vassar Clements; 2007 – Max Roach