Happy Birthday Wiffle Ball! You first wiffed into our life on this date in 1953.
Today is Friday, August 14, 2020, the 226th day of the year. 139 days remain until the end of the year, and a mere 81 days until presidential elections (if civilization survives).
- Sunrise: 6:25am
- Sunset: 8:03pm ...giving us 13 hours and 40 minutes of daylight. 30% of the waning crescent moon will be visible, setting at 4:54pm.
Tides at the Golden Gate
- Low: 2:53am/2:22pm
- High: 10:19am/8:27pm
Special celebrations & commemorations today…
- Independence Day - Pakistan
- Flag Day - Paraguay
- Oued Ed-Dahab Day- Morocco
- V.J. Day - US
- Montserrat Annual Pilgrimage - Montserrat
- Military Marriage Day
- National Navajo Code Talkers Day
- World Calligraphy Day
- World Lizard Day
- St. Werenfrid's Day, patron of vegetable gardens
- National Creamsicle Day
On this day in…
1805 - A peace treaty between the U.S. and Tunis was signed on board the USS Constitution.
1848 - The Oregon Territory was established.
1880 - The Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany was completed after 632 years of rebuilding.
1896 - Gold was discovered in Canada's Yukon Territory. Within the next year more than 30,000 people rushed to the area to look for gold.
1900 - An international force, consisting of eight nations, lifted the siege of Peking. It was the end to the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreigners.
1935 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. The act created unemployment insurance and pension plans for the elderly.
1941 - The U.S. Congress appropriated the funds to construct the Pentagon (approximately $83 million). The building was the new home of the U.S. War Department.
1941 - U.S. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter. The charter was a statement of principles that renounced aggression.
1945 - It was announced by U.S. President Truman that Japan had surrendered unconditionally. The surrender ended World War II.
1947 - Pakistan became independent from British rule.
1953 - The whiffle ball was invented.
1959 - The first meeting was held to organize the American Football League.
1962 - A U.S. mail truck was held up in Plymouth, MA. The robbers got away with more that $1.5 million dollars.
1969 - British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
1973 - The U.S. bombing of Cambodia ended. The halt marked the official end to 12 years of combat in Indochina by the U.S.
1992 - The U.S. announced that emergency airlifts of food to Somalia would begin. The action was being taken to stop mass deaths due to starvation.
1995 - Shannon Faulkner became the first female cadet in the history of The Citadel, South Carolina's state military college. She quit the school less than a week later.
1998 - A U.S. federal appeals court in Richmond, VA, ruled that the Food and Drug Administration had no authority to regulate tobacco. The FDA had established rules to make it harder for minors to buy cigarettes.
2000 - Valujet was ordered to pay $11 million in fines and restitution for hazardous waste violations in the crash that killed 110 people in 1996.
2000 - It was announced that Charles Grodin would be joining CBS' "60 Minutes II" as a commentator.
2015 - In Havana, Cuba, the U.S. Embassy was re-opened after being closed 54 years earlier.
If today’s your birthday, you share it with…
- Ernest Thayer 1863
- John Brodie 1935
- Dash Crofts 1940 - Singer
- David Crosby 1941 - Singer, musician
- Connie Smith 1941
- Steve Martin 1945 - Actor comedian
- Susan St. James 1946 - Actress ("Kate and Allie," "McMillan and Wife")
- Larry Graham 1946 - Musician (Sly and the Family Stone)
- Danielle Steel 1947 - Author
- Gary Larson 1950 - Creator of "The Far Side"
- Terry Adams (NRBQ) 1950
- James Horner 1953
- Jackee Harry 1956
- Earvin "Magic" Johnson 1959 - Basketball player
- Marcia Gay Harden 1959 - Actress
- Sarah Brightman 1960 - Singer
- Susan Olsen 1961 - Actress ("The Brady Bunch")
- Emanuelle Beart 1965
- Halle Berry 1966 - Actress
- Catherine Bell 1968 - Actress ("Army Wives," "JAG")
- Tim Tebow 1987 - Football player
