Today is Wednesday, the 16th of August of 2023
August 16 is the 228th day of the year
137 days remain until the end of the year.
38 days until autumn begins
The sun rose this morning at 6:26:19 am
and sunset will be at 8:00:40 pm.
Today we will have 13 hours and 34 minutes of daylight
The solar transit will be at 1:13:29 pm.
Water temperature in San Francisco Bay today is 66.2°F.
The first low tide was at 5:47 am at -0.16 feet
The first high tide will be at 12:36 pm at 5.01 feet
and the final high tide at Ocean Beach tonight will be at 11:21 pm at 5.98 feet
The Moon is currently 0.2% visible
It’s now a Waxing Crescent
The next phase will be the First Quarter Moon in 8 days on Thursday the 24th of August of 2023 at 2:57 am
Today is…
National Medical Dosimetrists Day
Today is also…
Bennington Battle Day in Vermont
Gozan no Okuribi in Kyoto, Japan
Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic
The first day of the Independence Days, celebrates the independence of Gabon from France in 1960.
Xicolatada in Palau-de-Cerdagne, France
If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share your special day with…
1888 – T. E. Lawrence, British colonel, diplomat, writer and archaeologist (d. 1935)
1892 – Hal Foster, Canadian-American author and illustrator (d. 1982)
1892 – Otto Messmer, American cartoonist and animator, co-created Felix the Cat (d. 1983)
1894 – George Meany, American plumber and labor leader (d. 1980)
1911 – E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (d. 1977)
1913 – Menachem Begin, Belarusian-Israeli politician, Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
1920 – Charles Bukowski, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer (d. 1994)
1924 – Fess Parker, American actor (d. 2010)
1925 – Mal Waldron, American pianist and composer (d. 2002)
1928 – Eydie Gormé, American singer (d. 2013)
1929 – Bill Evans, American pianist and composer (d. 1980)
1930 – Robert Culp, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1939 – Billy Joe Shaver, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020)
1939 – Eric Weissberg, American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist (d. 2020)
1958 – Madonna, American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and director
1958 – Angela Bassett, American actress
1962 – Steve Carell, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
…and on this day in history…
1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs.
1858 – U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
1876 – Richard Wagner's Siegfried, the penultimate opera in his Ring cycle, premieres at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
1913 – Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tohoku University) becomes the first university in Japan to admit female students.
1916 – The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed.
1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating planes crash or disappear.
1930 – The first color sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, is released by Ub Iwerks.
1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.
1960 – Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico, United States, at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that held until 2012: High-altitude jump, free fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.
1966 – Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
1989 – A solar particle event affects computers at the Toronto Stock Exchange, forcing a halt to trading.
2020 – The August Complex fire in California burns more than one million acres of land.
