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Almanac - Friday August 18, 2023

Helium cartoon balloons
freestocks.org
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Flickr Creative Commons
Helium cartoon balloons

Today is Friday, the 18th of August of 2023

August 18 is the 230th day of the year

135 days remain until the end of the year.

36 days until autumn begins

The sun will rise in San Francisco at 6:28:02 am

and sunset will be at 7:58:02 pm

Today we will have 13 hours and 30 minutes of daylight today

The solar transit will be at 1:13:02 pm.

Water temperature in San Francisco Bay today is 68°F

The first low tide is right about now 6:52 am at 0.21 feet

The first high tide will be at 1:24 pm at 5.15 feet

The next low tide at 6:52 pm at 2.24 feet

and The final high tide at Ocean Beach in the next 24 hours will be early tomorrow morning at 12:35 am at 5.45 feet

The Moon is currently 4.2% visible

It’s a Waxing Crescent moon

We’ll have a First Quarter Moon in 6 days on Thursday the 24th of August of 2023 at 2:57 am

Today is…

Helium Discovery Day

Mail Order Catalog Day

National Bad Poetry Day

National Fajita Day

National Ice Cream Pie Day

National Kool-Aid Day

National Men's Grooming Day

Never Give Up Day

Pinot Noir Day

Serendipity Day

Today is also…

Arbor Day in Pakistan

Armed Forces Day in North Macedonia

Birthday of Virginia Dare on Roanoke Island

Constitution Day in Indonesia

Long Tan Day, also called Vietnam Veterans' Day in Australia

National Science Day in Thailand

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share your special day with…

1904Max Factor, Jr., American businessman (d. 1996)

1917Caspar Weinberger, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2006)

1918Cisco Houston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1961)

1920 – Shelley Winters, American actress (d. 2006)

1927Rosalynn Carter, 41st First Lady of the United States

1933 – Roman Polanski, French-Polish director, producer, screenwriter, and actor

1934 – Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and soldier (d. 1972)

1936Robert Redford, American actor, director, and producer

1939Maxine Brown, American soul/R&B singer-songwriter

1943Martin Mull, American actor and comedian

1944Paula Danziger, American author (d. 2004)

1952Elayne Boosler, American actress, director, and screenwriter

1952 – Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (d. 2009)

1953 – Marvin Isley, American R&B bass player and songwriter (d. 2010)

1957 – Denis Leary, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter

1961 – Bob Woodruff, American journalist and author

1962Felipe Calderón, Mexican lawyer and politician, 56th President of Mexico

1969 – Edward Norton, American actor

1969 – Christian Slater, American actor and producer

1970 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor and producer

1978Andy Samberg, American actor and comedian

1989Anna Akana, American actress, comedian, musician, and YouTuber

…and on this day in history…

1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.

1868 – French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.

1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

1923 – The first British Track and Field championships for women are held in London, Great Britain.

1958Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.

1963Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1977Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.

2019 – One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles.

Kevin Vance created a program of folk music for KALW, A Patchwork Quilt, in October 1991. He grew up in Berkeley during the 1960s and '70s and spent his years learning in public schools, community colleges, bookstores, libraries, and non-commercial radio stations, as well as from the people around him. When he's not on the radio, then he's selling books, taking care of his family, listening to music, entering stuff into a computer, or taking a class.