TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, AUG. 11, the 224th day of 2012. There are 142 days left in the year. On this date in 1962, Andrian Nikolayev became the Soviet Union’s third cosmonaut to fly in space as he was launched on a 94-hour flight. In 3114 B.C., the current cycle of the Mayan “Long Count” calendar began. By some estimates, the cycle will end, and a new one will begin, on Dec. 21 of this year. In 1786, Capt. Francis Light arrived in Penang to claim the Malaysian island for Britain. In 1860, the nation’s first successful silver mill began operation near Virginia City, Nev. In 1909, the steamship SS Arapahoe became the first ship in North America to issue an S.O.S. distress signal, off North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras. In 1934, the first federal prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island, a former military prison, in San Francisco Bay. In 1942, during World War II, Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France, publicly declared that “the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war.” In 1952, Hussein bin Talal was proclaimed King of Jordan, beginning a reign lasting nearly 47 years. In 1954, a formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and Communist Viet Minh. In 1965, rioting and looting that claimed 34 lives broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles. In 1984, during a voice test for a paid political radio address, President Ronald Reagan joked that he had “signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” In 1992, the Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minn. In 1997, President Bill Clinton made the first use of the historic line-item veto, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills. The U.S. Supreme Court later struck down the veto as unconstitutional.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Actress Arlene Dahl is 84. Songwriter-producer Kenny Gamble and rock musician Jim Kale (Guess Who) are 69. Magazine columnist Marilyn Vos Savant and country singer John Conlee are 66. Singer Eric Carmen is 63. Computer scientist and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is 62. Wrestler-actor Hulk Hogan is 59. Singer Joe Jackson is 58. Playwright David Henry Hwang is 55. Actor Miguel A. Nunez Jr. is 48. Actress Viola Davis and actor Duane Martin are 47. Actor-host Joe Rogan is 45. Rhythm-andblues musician Chris Dave, actresses Anna Gunn and Ashley Jensen and rock guitarist Charlie Sexton are 44. Hip-hop artist Ali Shaheed Muhammad is 42. Actor Will Friedle is 36. Actress Merritt Wever (“Nurse Jackie”) is 32. Actor Chris Hemsworth is 29.