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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

AUGUST 12TH

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Today is Tuesday, August 12, the 225th day of 2008.
There are 141 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:
  • On August 12, 1944, during World War II, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.
On this date:
  • In 1867, President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
  • In 1898, fighting in the Spanish-American War came to an end.
  • In 1953, the Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.
  • In 1960, the first balloon satellite, the Echo 1, was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
  • In 1962, one day after launching Andrian Nikolayev into orbit, the Soviet Union also sent up cosmonaut Pavel Popovich; both men landed safely Aug. 15.
  • In 1978, Pope Paul VI, who had died Aug. 6 at age 80, was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.
  • In 1981, IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150.
  • In 1985, the world's worst single-aircraft disaster occurred as a crippled Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people.
  • In 1988, the controversial movie "The Last Temptation of Christ," directed by Martin Scorsese, opened in nine cities despite objections by some Christians who felt the film was sacrilegious.
  • In 2000, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-man crew were lost during naval exercises in the Barents Sea.
Ten years ago:
  • Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.2 billion as restitution to Holocaust survivors to settle claims for their assets.
Five years ago:
  • Liberia's leading rebel movement agreed to lift its siege of the capital and vital port, allowing food to flow to hundreds of thousands of hungry people.
One year ago:
  • A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church, killing a pastor and two worshippers. (Suspect Eiken Elam Saimon is charged with murder.)
  • Crooner, talk show host and game show producer Merv Griffin died in Los Angeles at age 82.
  • Tiger Woods captured the PGA Championship to win at least one major for the third straight season and run his career total to 13.
Today's Birthdays:
  • Former Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., is 83.
  • Actor George Hamilton is 69.
  • Actress Jennifer Warren is 67.
  • Rock singer-musician Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 59.
  • Singer Kid Creole is 58.
  • Jazz musician Pat Metheny is 54.
  • Actor Sam J. Jones is 54.
  • Actor Bruce Greenwood is 52.
  • Country singer Danny Shirley is 52.
  • Pop musician Roy Hay (Culture Club) is 47.
  • Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is 45.
  • Actor Peter Krause is 43.
  • Tennis player Pete Sampras is 37.
  • Actor Michael Ian Black is 37.
  • Actress Rebecca Gayheart is 36.
  • Actor Casey Affleck is 33.
  • Rock musician Bill Uechi (Save Ferris) is 33.
  • Actress Maggie Lawson is 28.
  • Actress Dominique Swain is 28.
  • Actress Imani Hakim ("Everybody Hates Chris") is 15.
Thought for Today:
"Regrets are as personal as fingerprints."
Margaret Culkin Banning, American writer (1891-1982).


"Let's all be careful out there!"