Today is Thursday, Aug. 15, the 228th day of 2024 with 138 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Venus.
Advertisement
1 of 3 | People ride on a refugee special train at Ambala Station in India in February 1954. The 1947 partition of India and Pakistan left many people displaced for years. File Photo courtesy of the Indian government
Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1769; writer Walter Scott in 1771; U.S. U.S. first lady Florence Harding in 1860; musician Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in 1875; actor Ethel Barrymore in 1879; chef Julia Child in 1912; conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly in 1924; actor Mike Connors in 1925; actor Jim Dale in 1935 (age 89); civil rights leader Vernon Jordan Jr. in 1935; actor Pat Priest in 1936 (age 88); U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in 1938 (age 86); Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba in 1941 (age 83); journalist Linda Ellerbee in 1944 (age 80); Football Hall of Fame member/players' union leader Gene Upshaw in 1945; musician Jimmy Webb in 1946 (age 78); musician Tom Johnston (Doobie Brothers) in 1948 (age 76); actor Phyllis Smith in 1949 (age 75); actor Tess Harper in 1950 (age 74); Britain's Princess Anne in 1950 (age 74); writer Stieg Larsson in 1954; actor Željko Ivanek in 1957 (age 67); actor Rondell Sheridan in 1958 (age 66); musician Matt Johnson (The The/Marc and the Mambas) in 1961 (age 63); chef Tom Colicchio in 1962 (age 62); filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu in 1963 (age 61); philanthropist Melinda French Gates in 1964 (age 60); actor Debra Messing in 1968 (age 56); actor Anthony Anderson in 1970 (age 54); actor Ben Affleck in 1972 (age 52); actor Natasha Henstridge in 1974 (age 50); Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 1976 (age 48); Olympic beach volleyball champion Kerri Walsh Jennings in 1978 (age 46); musician Tim Foreman (Switchfoot) in 1978 (age 46); actor Emily Kinney in 1985 (age 39); musician Nipsey Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, in 1985; actor/musician Carlos PenaVega in 1989 (age 35); musician Joe Jonas (Jonas Brothers) in 1989 (age 35); actor Jennifer Lawrence in 1990 (age 34).
Advertisement
On this date in history:
Related
In 1914, a U.S. ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, officially opening the Panama Canal.
In 1935, humorist Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post were killed when their plane crashed in Alaska.
In 1947, India gains independence from Britain after 200 years of rule. The Indian Independence Bill also grants independence to Pakistan, though that country observes its freedom one day earlier.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, often described as a landmark counterculture event, opened on Max Yasgur's farm near Bethel, N.Y., drawing an estimated 400,000 people for three days of music.
In 1985, South African President P.W. Botha, rejecting Western pleas to abolish apartheid, declared, "I am not prepared to lead white South Africans and other minority groups on a road to abdication and suicide."
In 1994, the notorious international terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal" was captured in Sudan. The next day he was extradited to France, where he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2003, Libya admitted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that claimed 270 lives and agreed to pay reparations totaling $2.7 billion.
Advertisement
In 2004, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez survived a referendum to oust him.
In 2007, an 8-magnitude earthquake struck 90 miles southeast of Lima, Peru, killing an estimated 500 people and injuring hundreds more.
In 2013, Egyptian authorities said the death toll had surpassed 600 in violence that began with a crackdown on protesting supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
In 2015, the North Korean government moved to its own time zone -- back 30 minutes -- going back to what it once was before the Japanese took control of the country more than a century ago.
In 2021, Taliban militants took control of Afghanistan after storming Kabul and the presidential palace and causing President Ashraf Ghani to flee. The fall came as U.S. troops fully withdrew from the country after 20 years of war.
A thought for the day: "Skin has become inadequate in interfacing with reality. Technology has become the body's new membrane of existence." -- South Korean artist Nam June Paik
