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Saturday, August 02, 2008

AUGUST 2ND



Today is Saturday, August 2, the 215th day of 2008. There are 151 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:
  • On August 2, 1776, members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.
On this date:
  • In 1790, the enumeration for the first United States census began; the final total was 3,929,214.
  • In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.
  • In 1876, frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory.
  • In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco.
  • In 1927, four years after becoming president, Calvin Coolidge issued a written statement to reporters: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."
  • In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's complete takeover.
  • In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.
  • In 1943, during World War II, Navy boat PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands.
  • In 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox suffered light damage from North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.
  • In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)
Ten years ago:
  • Cyclist Marco Pantani of Italy won the Tour de France, which had been marred by a doping scandal.
  • Ventriloquist Shari Lewis died in Los Angeles at age 65.
Five years ago:
  • Saddam Hussein's two elder sons and a grandson were buried as martyrs near the deposed Iraqi leader's hometown of Tikrit, where insurgents afterward attacked U.S. troops with three remote-controlled bombs.
  • Liberian President Charles Taylor agreed to cede power.
One year ago:
  • Mattel apologized to customers as it recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.
  • A Marine Corps squad leader was convicted at Camp Pendleton, Calif., of murdering an Iraqi man during a frustrated search for an insurgent. (Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III was sentenced to 15 years in prison.)
  • Two small Russian submarines completed a voyage below the North Pole where they planted the country's flag on the Arctic Ocean floor.
Today's Birthdays:
  • Former Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., is 86.
  • Actor Peter O'Toole is 76.
  • Country singer Hank Cochran is 73.
  • Rock musician Garth Hudson (The Band) is 71.
  • Movie director Wes Craven is 69.
  • Singer Kathy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 65.
  • Actor Max Wright is 65.
  • Actress Joanna Cassidy is 63.
  • Actress Kathryn Harrold is 58.
  • Singer Andrew Gold is 57.
  • Actor Butch Patrick ("The Munsters") is 55.
  • Singer Mojo Nixon is 51.
  • Actress Victoria Jackson is 49.
  • Actress Apollonia is 49.
  • Actress Cynthia Stevenson is 46.
  • Actress Mary-Louise Parker is 44.
  • Rock musician John Stanier is 40.
  • Writer-actor-director Kevin Smith is 38.
  • Actor Edward Furlong is 31.
  • Rock musician Devon Glenn is 28.
  • Actress Hallie Eisenberg is 16.
Thought for Today:
"A man who does not lose his reason over certain things has none to lose."
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German dramatist (1729-1781).



"Let's all be careful out there!"