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Poor Gabriel's Almanac -- August 17


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Interesting things that happened August 17th:

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Birthdays on this date:
  In 1601 Pierre de Fermat, mathematician who needed wider margins
  In 1786 Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, adventurer, soldier
  In 1876 Eric Drummond, first secretary-general, League of Nations (1919-33)
  In 1882 Samuel Goldwyn, movie producer
  In 1887 Marcus Garvey, began back-to-Africa movement among US blacks
  In 1892 Mae West (in Brooklyn, NY), actor, go up and see her sometime
  In 1914 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., son of FDR
  In 1921 Maureen O'Hara (in Dublin, Ireland), actor
  In 1923 Larry Rivers, painter
  In 1941 Boog Powell, baseball player
  In 1943 Robert De Niro, actor
  In 1958 Belinda Carlisle, singer (GoGos)
  In 1960 Sean Penn, actor (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), amateur pugilist
  In 1969 Donnie Wahlberg, new kid

Events worth noting:
        + Feast of St. Ethelred
        + Feast of St. Hyacinth, confessor
        + Independence Day, celebrated in Indonesia
        + Kappa Cygnid meteor shower, radiant in Cygnus
  In 1601 Pierre de Fermat baptised.
  In 1807 Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins first trip up Hudson River
          from New York to Albany (150 miles in 32 hours).
  In 1846 US takes Los Angeles.
  In 1858 First bank in Hawaii opens.
  In 1863 Federal batteries and ships begin the first major federal
          bombardment of Ft. Sumter in Charleston, SC.
  In 1870 Mrs. Esther Morris becomes the first woman magistrate -- appointed
          Justice of the Peace in South Pass, Wyoming.
  In 1877 Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos.
  In 1896 Gold discovered at Bonanza Creek, in Klondike region of the Yukon.
  In 1908 Bank of Italy opens its new headquarters at Clay and Montgomery.
  In 1915 Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Ga., after
          his death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life.
  In 1939 "The Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in New York.
  In 1940 FDR and Canadian PM William King agree to joint defense commission.
  In 1942 US bombers staged the first independent raid on Europe attacking
          Rouen, France.
  In 1943 Allied forces gained completed control of Sicily.
  In 1944 Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 doubles in a game.
  In 1945 Indonesia declares independence from the Netherlands (National Day).
  In 1948 Alger Hiss denied ever being a Communist agent.  (It's likely he
          was.)
  In 1950 Indonesia gains its independence.
  In 1960 Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow.
        + Gabon gains independence from France (National Day).
  In 1961 Alliance for Progress established.
  In 1962 East German border guards shot and mortally wounded Peter Fechter,
          18, who attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into the western sector.
  In 1969 Hurricane Camille claimed more than 250 lives.
  In 1970 USSR launches Venera 7 to Venus.
  In 1978 First manned balloon crossing of the Atlantic Ocean (Eagle II).
  In 1987 Nazi Rudolph Hess dies at 93, after 5 years in British custody and
          41 years in Spandau Prison.

And remember ...
  National Inventors Month

                                 =  =  =

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--
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Although efforts have been taken to ensure the accuracy of this information,
several errors have been found in the past.  Don't place any bets on the basis
of what you find here.  -- Gabe

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Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:12 PM