Today is: August 7

Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:1

August is:

Children's Vision and Learning Month National Back-to-School Month National Inventors' Month Science / Medicine / Technology Book Month Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month

Name of Jesus Feast Day

National Lighthouse Day

Purple Heart Birthday - On this day in 1782, George Washington established the Order of the Purple heart at Newburg, New York.

Tightrope Walking Day - In 1974, Philippe Petit, a French stuntman, walked a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Born on this Day

• 1598: Georg Stiernhielm, the "Father of Swedish poetry"
  
  

• 1779: Carl Ritter, the German joint founder of modern geographical science.
  
  

• 1823: Rufus C. Burleson, Baptist clergyman and president of Baylor University and founder of Waco University.
  
  

• 1783: John Heathcoat, invented lace-making machinery
  
  

• 1885: Actress Billie Burke (The Wizard of Oz, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Father of the Bride, Topper)
  
  

• 1868: The composer Granville Bantok was born
  
  

• 1886: Louis Alan Hazeltine, invented the neutrodyne circuit, making commercial radio possible.
  
  

• 1876: The World War I Dutch spy and courtesan known as Mata Hari (Margaret Gertrude Zelle) TODAY's BONUS HISTORY FACT
  
  

• 1890: American author, Kirby Page
  
  

• 1903: British archaeologist and anthropologist Louis Leakey
  
  

• 1904: American statesman and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Ralph J. Bunche
  
  

• 1911: Film director Nicholas Ray
  
  

• 1921: Karel Husa, the Czech composer was born.
  
  

• 1925: Songwriter Felice Bryant
  
  

• 1926: Writer-producer Stan Freberg
  
  

• 1929: Former baseball player Don Larsen. In 1956, he became the first, and only, pitcher to hurl a perfect game in World Series play. The Yankees won the series over the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-3.
  
  

• 1937: Bluesman Magic Slim
  
  

• 1939: Actress Verna Bloom
  
  

• 1939: Singer Ron Holden
  
  

• 1942: Humorist Garrison Keillor
  
  

• 1942: Singer B.J. (Billy Joe) Thomas
  
  

• 1943: Singer Lana Cantrell
  
  

• 1944: Actor John Glover
  
  

• 1944: Actor David Rasche
  
  

• 1945: Football hall-of-famer Alan Page
  
  

• 1950: Country singer Rodney Crowell
  
  

• 1954: Actress Caroline Aaron
  
  

• 1955: Actor Wayne Knight
  
  

• 1958: Rock singer Bruce Dickinson (formerly of Iron Maiden).
  
  

• 1958: Marathon runner Alberto Salazar
  
  

• 1960: Actor David Duchovny ("The X-Files")
  
  

• 1963: Jazz musician Marcus Roberts
  
  

• 1965: Country singer Raul Malo (The Mavericks)
  
  

• 1967: Actress Charlotte Lewis
  
  

• 1971: Actress Sydney Penny
  
  

• 1975: Actress Charlize Theron ("Devil's Advocate")       
         
  
  

Events in History on this day
  

• 0461: Execution of Majorian, Roman Emperor
  
  

• 0768: Stephen III was named pope. He served until 772.
  
  

• 1106: Death of Henry IV, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor
  
  

• 1316: John XXII, born Jacques d'Euse, was elected pope. He served until 1334. He put the papal finances on a sound basis and strengthed the hierarchy.
  
  

• 1391: A mob frees the arrested ringleaders of Barcelona's ghetto fire
  
  

• 1495: Diet of Worms abolishes private warfare in Holy Roman Empire
  
  

• 1547: St. Cajetan of Thiene died. He was the co-founder of the Oratory of Divine Love.
  
  

• 1566: UFO's are sighted over Basel, in Switzerland? I don't know about this one, but that's what sources say.
  
  

• 1635: Death of Freidrich von Spee, reformist theologian
  
  

• 1782: The Order of the Purple Heart was established by Gen. George Washington to honor Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers. It was re-instituted in 1932 to recognize those wounded in action.
  
  

• 1789: The US War Department was established by Congress.
  
  

• 1814: Pope Pius VII restored Jesuits to full legal validity.
  
  

• 1882: The famous feud between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky broke out. By the time it ended, about 100 men, women and children had been either killed or wounded.
  
  

• 1883: An intense hailstorm killed 21 head of cattle near Gray, Iowa.
  
  

• 1888: Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received a patent for the revolving door.
  
  

• 1912: The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president.
  
  

• 1912: The career of Serge Prokofiev took a great leap forward when the 21-year-old composer played the solo role in his First Piano Concerto. Moscow audiences mostly liked it.
  
  

• 1928: New bills, one third smaller than previously, were issued by the U.S. Treasury Dept.
  
  

• 1934: The US Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling striking down the government's attempt to ban the controversial James Joyce novel "Ulysses."
  
  

• 1941: Television station WNBT, Channel 4 in New York City, broadcast the first audience participation show. Studio guests played charades as part of the fun.
  
  

• 1942: U.S. Marines launched America's first offensive in World War II, landing on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal.
  
  

• 1947: The balsa wood raft "Kon-Tiki," which had carried a six-man crew 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef in a Polynesian archipelago.
  
  

• 1948: A new Olympic Games record was set when 83,000 spectators attended the final day of track and field events held in London, England. Gate receipts totaled more than $2 million.
  
  

• 1954: England's Roger Bannister became the first man to run one mile in less than four minutes.
  
  

• 1959: The satellite Explorer-6 transmitted man's first view of the Earth from space.
  
  

• 1963: Jacqueline Kennedy became the first wife of a president to give birth while he was in the White House since the days of Grover Cleveland. The infant died two days later.
  
  

• 1964: Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on US forces.
  
  

• 1970: An attempt by black militant James David McClain to escape from his trial in Marin County, California, ended in a shootout with police that claimed the lives of McClain, two of three cohorts, and Judge Harold J. Daley, one of several hostages.
  
  

• 1970: Christine McVie joined "Fleetwood Mac" as the group's first female member. McVie was married to bass player John McVie. She quit touring with the group in 1991.
  
  

• 1972: Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Gomez and Early Wynn were among the eight players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
  
  

• 1974: French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. The stunt caused a massive traffic jam on the street -- 1,350 feet below.
  
  

• 1974: Musician Peter Wolf married actress Faye Dunaway in Beverly Hills, California.
  
  

• 1976: Scientists in Pasadena, California, announced that the "Viking One" spacecraft had found the strongest indications to date of possible life on Mars.
  
  

• 1981: After 128 years of publication, "The Washington Star" ceased operation, leaving only "The Washington Post" to serve the nation's capital.
  
  

• 1983: Some 675,000 employees represented by three unions went on strike against American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Contract agreements were reached in the following weeks, the last one on Aug. 28.
  
  

• 1984: The U.S. women's basketball team won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, defeating the South Korean team 85-55.
  
  

• 1985: Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth announced the end of a two-day strike by major league baseball players.
  
  

• 1986: The Soviet Union announced it had granted political asylum to Edward Lee Howard, a CIA agent who had disappeared in September 1985.
  
  

• 1987: The presidents of five Central American nations, meeting in Guatemala City, signed an eleven-point agreement designed to bring peace to their region.
  
  

• 1987: "Back to the Beach" opened at theaters across the country. The film reunited Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, who played middle-aged parents with rebellious kids.
  
  

• 1988: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati signaled his government's acceptance of Iraq's modified peace proposal aimed at bringing about a cease-fire in the Persian Gulf.
  
  

• 1989: A plane carrying Representative Mickey Leland of Texas, and 15 others disappeared during a flight in Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later with no survivors.)
  
  

• 1990: Desert Shield begin-US deploys troops to Saudi Arabia as President Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.
  
  
  

• 1991: The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed to authorize Iraq to sell as much as $1.6 billion in oil over six months to pay for food, humanitarian supplies and war reparations; however, Baghdad rejected the resolution.
  
  

• 1991: Court rules Manuel Noriega, may access some secret US documents.
  
  

• 1991: The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed to authorize Iraq to sell as much as $1.6 billion in oil over six months to pay for food, humanitarian supplies and war reparations. Iraq rejected the idea.
  
  

• 1992: The 39-nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva produced the final draft of a treaty to ban chemical weapons, ending 24 years of talks.
  
  

• 1992: Jennifer Capriati won the gold medal in tennis at the Barcelona Olympics, beating Steffi Graf.
  
  

• 1992: The luxury liner "Queen Elizabeth 2" ran aground off Massachusetts.
  
  

• 1993: The public got its first glimpse inside Buckingham Palace as people were given the opportunity to tour the London home of Queen Elizabeth the Second. (Proceeds from ticket sales were earmarked to help repair fire damage at Windsor Castle.)
  
  

• 1994: The Tenth International Conference on AIDS opened in Yokohama, Japan.
  
  

• 1995: Ten days before he was to be put to death for the murder of a police officer, black activist and radio reporter Mumia Abu-Jamal won a reprieve from the original trial judge in Philadelphia.
  
  

• 1996: NASA researchers formally presented their case for the existence of life long ago on Mars.
  
  

• 1996: More than six million America Online customers worldwide were left stranded when the system crashed for almost 19 hours.
  
  

• 1996: A flash flood at a Pyrenees mountain campsite in Spain claimed at least 86 lives.
  
  

• 1997: A Russian capsule on a fix-it mission docked gingerly with the crippled Mir space station, bringing a new crew charged with salvaging the orbiting outpost.
  
  

• 1998: The Federal Aviation Administration, in a follow-up to the probe of the 1996 explosion that destroyed TWA Flight 800, ordered the inspection of Boeing 747 fuel tanks.
  
  

• 1998: Terrorist bombs at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
  

• 1999: President Clinton, during a visit to his home state of Arkansas, made empty promises to devote the rest of his presidency to erasing poverty.
  

• 1999: The Southern Party held its inaugural rally in Flat Rock, N.C., pledging to work peacefully for a separate Southern nation. Wade Boggs became the first player to homer for his 3,000th hit.
  

• 2000: Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate; Lieberman was the first Jewish candidate on a major party's presidential ticket (and possibly the first honest candidate on the Democratic presidential ticket in more that 8 years).
  
  

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