Today is: August 6

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

Celebration of Peace Day - This day is dedicated to learning about justice and peace and to celebrate life. The day was formerly sponsored by National Peace Day Celebrations and now continues to be observed in many communities.

Electric Chair Day - On this day in 1890, the electric chair was used for the first time to execute convicted murder William Kemmler at Auburn State Prison in New York.

Hiroshima Day - More than 140,000 people were killed on this day in 1945, when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. This was the first such bomb to be exploded on a populated area.

National Gossip Day - Celebrated on the birthday of gossip columnist Luella Parsons. Sponsor: The Life of the Party.

Peace Day - Observed on the day the first atomic bomb was exploded on a populated area.

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Born on this Day

• 0317:Flavius Julius Constantius, Eastern Roman Emperor
  
  

• 1504: Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury. As the second Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury (1559-1575), he tried to set limits to reformers' doctrines. He was against Puritanism, calling it "mutinous individualism."
  
  

• 1605: Bulstrode Whitelocke, English republican lawyer, politician
  
  

• 1644: Louise de la Valliere
  
  

• 1651: Francois de S. Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambrai from 1695 to 1715.
  
  

• 1697: Charles VII, Holy Roman emperor (1742-45).
  
  

• 1807: Thomas Atkinson, episcopal prelate and Bishop of North Carolina. He was instrumental in reuniting northern and southern churches after the Civil War.
  
  

• 1809: Lord Alfred Tennyson, poet laureate of England.
  
  

• 1821: Anglican hymn writer, Edward H. Plumptre ("Rejoice, ye pure in heart")
  
  

• 1881: Sir Alexander Fleming, discovered penicillin (Nobel 1954)
  
  

• 1881: Actor Leo Carrillo (The Cisco Kid, Pancho Villa Returns, One Night in the Tropics, Phantom of the Opera)
  
  

• 1883: Scott Nearing, American sociologist, pacifist, author.
  
  

• 19??: Dennis Parker (Jeff and Sheri Easter)
  
  

• 1910: Movie director Charles Crichton ("A Fish Called Wanda")
  
  

• 1911: Lucille Ball , comedian, actor. TODAY's BONUS HISTORY FACT
  
  

• 1917: Robert Mitchum, actor.
  
  

• 1922: Entrepreneur Sir Freddie Laker
  
  

• 1928: Andy Warhol (Warhola) (filmmaker, pop artist "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.")
  
  

• 1930: Actress-singer Abbey Lincoln
  
  

• 1938: Actor-director Paul Bartel ("Eating Raoul")
  
  

• 1938: Actor-director Peter Bonerz
  
  

• 1943: Actor Michael Anderson Junior
  
  

• 1945: Ken Norton, heavyweight boxer.
  
  

• 1950: Actor Dorian Harewood
  
  

• 1951: Actress Catherine Hicks
  
  

• 1952: Rock singer Pat McDonald (Timbuk 3)
  
  

• 1956: Actress Stepfanie Kramer
  
  

• 1958: Rhythm-and-blues singer Randy DeBarge
  
  

• 1964: Country singers Peggy and Patsy Lynn
  
  

• 1965: David Robinson (Olympic Gold Medalist: 1992 basketball Dream Team)
  
  

• 1968: Country singer Lisa Stewart
  
  

• 1972: Singer Geri Halliwell (formerly of the Spice Girls)
  
  

• 1976: Actress Soleil Moon Frye       
         
  
  

Events in History on this day
  

• 0258: St. Sixtus II, pope from 257 to 258, died. He was beheaded while celebrating services in a cemetary.
  
  

• 0523: St. Hormisdas, pope from 514 to 523, died. He effected the union of Orthodox and Catholic churches.
  
  

• 1162: Death of Ramon Beringer, Count of Barcelona and husband of Petronilla, Queen of Castile
  
  

• 1181: Supernova observed by Chinese & Japanese astronomers
  
  

• 1187: Beirut falls to Saladin
  
  

• 1221: St. Dominic, Spanish founder of the Order of Friar Preachers (Dominicians), died at about the age of 50. The Dominician Order combines the contemplative life of the monk with the active work of the evangelist.
  
  

• 1223: Coronation of Louis VIII as King of France
  
  

• 1458: Calixtus III, pope from 1455 to 1458, died.
  
  

• 1480: Alfonso of Portugal cedes Canary Islands to Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain by the Treaty of Alcova
  
  

• 1514: Marriage of Margaret of England, widowed Queen of Scotland, to the Earl of Angus
  
  

• 1623: Death of Anne Shakespeare, nee Hathaway
  
  

• 1628: Execution of Johannes Junius of Bamberg, as a witch.
  
  

• 1630: Francis Higginson dies. He was a nonconformist Anglican clergyman. He settled in Salem, Mass. and drew up a church covenant and a confession of faith.
  
  

• 1787: The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began to debate the articles contained in a draft of the United States Constitution.
  
  

• 1801: Presbyterian evangilist Barton W. Stone called a week-long evangelical meeting in Kentucky. 25,000 people attended.
  
  

• 1806: The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis the First abdicated.
  
  

• 1825: Bolivia declared its independence from Peru.
  
  

• 1890: Denton "Cy" Young pitched his first major-league baseball game. See Today's History Focus
  
  

• 1890: Convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in the electric chair as he was put to death at Auburn State Prison in New York.
  
  

• 1926: Warner Brothers premiered its "Vitaphone" sound-on-disc movie system in New York.
  
  

• 1926: Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first American woman to swim the English Channel, in about 14 and a-half hours.
  
  

• 1930: 41-year-old New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater mysteriously disappeared. He was never seen nor heard from again and was declared legally dead in 1939.
  
  

• 1940: Columbia Records cut the prices of its 12-inch classical records. The records were priced to sell at $1. Within two weeks, RCA Victor followed thereby ending a record-buying slump brought on by disinterested consumers.
  
  

• 1942: Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint session of Congress, telling lawmakers that despite Nazi occupation, her people's motto remained, "No surrender."
  
  

• 1945: During World War Two, the United States dropped an atomic bomb (named "Little Boy") on Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 140,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare (at 8:15 EDT).
  
  

• 1952: Satchel Paige, at age 46, became the oldest pitcher to complete a major-league baseball game. Paige shutout the Detroit 1-to-0 in a 12-inning game.
  
  

• 1962: Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
  
  

• 1965: President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
  
  

• 1969: Willie "Pops" Stargell, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit the first fair ball to completely sail out of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Stargell's blast measured 506 feet from home plate.
  
  

• 1978: Pope Paul the Sixth died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80.
  
  

• 1981: Firefighters in Indianapolis, Indiana, returned from the scene of a false alarm to find their own firehouse ablaze. Station 14 was extensively damaged from a grease fire.
  
  

• 1984: Carl Lewis won his second gold medal of the 1984 Summer Olympics, this one in the long jump.
  
  

• 1985: Tens of thousands of Japanese and foreigners gathered in Hiroshima to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing.
  
  

• 1986: William J. Schroeder died after living 620 days with the "Jarvik Seven" artificial heart.
  
  

• 1987: President Reagan's new Central America peace initiative ran into problems as the US and Nicaragua openly disagreed on procedures for a negotiated settlement.
  
  

• 1988: Iraq's president said his country would agree to a cease-fire with Iran provided the Iranians promised to hold direct talks immediately after the truce took effect.
  
  

• 1989: Jaime Paz Zamora was inaugurated as president of Bolivia.
  
  

• 1990: The U.N. Security Council ordered a worldwide embargo on trade with Iraq to punish the Baghdad regime for invading Kuwait.
  
  

• 1990: The president of Pakistan dismissed Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her government, alleging rampant corruption, and declared a state of emergency.
  
  

• 1991: Veteran CBS-TV newsman Harry Reasoner died in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 68.
  
  

• 1991: The Justice Department joined forces with the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue in fighting a federal judge's order to keep two abortion clinics in Wichita, Kansas, open.
  
  

• 1992: President Bush granted full diplomatic recognition to the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia, the same day Britain's Independent Television News showed videotape of emaciated detainees at a pair of Serb prison camps.
  
  

• 1992: Americans led by Carl Lewis swept the long jump at the Barcelona Summer Olympics, while Kevin Young won the 400 hurdles and Mike Marsh the 200 meters.
  
  

• 1993: The US Senate joined the House in passing President Clinton's budget plan, 51-to-50, with a tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President Al Gore.
  
  

• 1993: Louis Freeh won Senate confirmation to be director of the FBI.
  
  

• 1993: Morihiro Hosokawa was elected the new prime minister of Japan by the country's lower house of Parliament.
  
  

• 1993: Congress completed action on a $6.2 billion flood relief package.
  
  

• 1994: In Wedowee, Alabama, an apparent arson fire destroyed Randolph County High Schools, which had been the focus of tensions over the principal's stand against interracial dating.
  
  

• 1995: Thousands of people in Hiroshima, Japan, set glowing lanterns afloat in rivers, capping a day of tributes on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing.
  
  

• 1995: Police in Colombia captured Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, the reputed co-leader of the Cali drug cartel.
  
  

• 1996: Officials announced the Air Force had punished 16 officers in connection with the crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 34 others the previous April..
  
  

• 1997: Korean Air Flight 801 crashed into a hillside a short distance from Guam International Airport, killing 228 of the 254 aboard the Boeing 747.
  
  

• 1997: Ending years of impassioned rivalry, Apple Computer and Microsoft agreed to share technology in a deal giving Microsoft a stake in Apple's survival.
  
  

• 1998: Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky spent 8 1/2 hours testifying before a grand jury about her relationship with President Clinton.
  
  

• 1998: The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee voted to cite Attorney General Janet Reno for contempt of Congress for her refusal to turn over reports recommending that she seek an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund-raising.
  

• 1999: In Canton, Texas, a 36-year-old woman who faces lifelong heart problems she blames on the diet drug combination fen-phen was awarded $23.3 million in the first such lawsuit to reach a jury. (The case was settled for less than a tenth of that amount during an appeal.)
  

• 1999: Tony Gwynn became the 22nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits.
  

• 2000: Workers at Verizon, the nation's largest local telephone company, went on an 18-day strike over working conditions and union representation.
  
  

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