- 228th Day of 2012 / 138 Remaining
- 38 Days Until Autumn Begins
- Sunrise:6:26
- Sunset:8:02
- 13 Hours 36 Minutes of Daylight
- Moon Rise:4:30am
- Moon Set:6:39pm
- Moon’s Phase: 4 %
- The Next Full Moon
- August 31st @ 6:57am
- Blue Moon
But it’s Blue in name only. That’s because a Blue Moon is sometimes defined as the second full moon in a calendar month. The first full moon was August 1. The second full moon is August 31, 2012. There are two more definitions for Blue Moon. It can be the third of four full moons in a single season. Or, someday, you might see an actual blue-colored moon.
- Tides
- High:11:01am/9:51pm
- Low:4:13am/4:02pm
- Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)
- This Year:0.03
- Last Year:0.11
- Normal To Date:0.00
- Annual Seasonal Average: 23.80
- Holidays
- Best Friend's Day
- Chauvin Day
- National Relaxation Day
- National Lemon Meringue Pie Day
- National Failures Day
- Constitution Day-Equatorial Guinea
- Independence Day-India
- Independence Day-Korea
- National Day-Congo
- National Day-Liechtenstein
- Acadian Day-Canada
- Mother's Day-Costa Rica
- On This Day In …
- 1057 --- Macbeth, King of Scots, was killed in battle by Malcolm, the eldest son of King Duncan, whom Macbeth had slain.
- 1877 --- Thomas Edison wrote the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, PA. The letter stated that the word, “hello” would be a more appropriate greeting than “ahoy,” as suggested by Alexander Graham Bell when answering the telephone. And so it is that we pick up the phone anywhere in the world and say: “Allo. Alo. Bueno. Pronto. Hallo. Aloha. Mo simosi. Hello.”
- 1911 --- Crisco is introduced by Procter & Gamble. Crisco is a hydrogenated shortening made from vegetable oil, which keeps its solid form even in warm weather.
- 1914 --- The Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
- 1926 --- The famous Three Men on Third play happened in Boston’s Fenway Park. Babe Herman came to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning. One man was out and the bases were loaded. Chick Fewster was on first base, Dazzy Vance on second and Hank DeBerry on third. Herman hit the ball off the right-field wall. DeBerry crossed the plate, Vance stopped at third and Fewster ran past second base on his way to third. Herman ran PAST Fewster on HIS way to third. Herman was declared out and Fewster was tagged out. Herman had hit into a double play. DeBerry’s score, however, was allowed -- and the Brooklyn Dodgers won, 2-1.
- 1939 --- The film “Wizard of Oz” premiered at Graumans Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Based on the 1900 children's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum,the film stars Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charley Grapewin, Clara Blandick and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins. Notable for its use of special effects Technicolor, fantasy storytelling and unusual characters, it has become, over the years, one of the best known of all films. The film is mostly in Technicolor, but its opening and closing sequences are in sepia-tinted black-and-white, including all of the film's credits. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs were written by E.Y. Harburg, the music by Harold Arlen. Incidental music, based largely on the songs, was by Herbert Stothart, with borrowings from classical composers. Although the film received largely positive reviews, it was not a huge box office success on its initial release, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,000,000 budget. The film was MGM's most expensive production up to that time, but its initial release failed to recoup the studio's investment. Subsequent re-releases made up for that, however. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It lost that award to Gone with the Wind, but won two others, including Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow". Telecasts of the film began in 1956, re-introducing the film to the public and eventually becoming an annual tradition, making it one of the most famous films ever made. The film was named the most-watched motion picture in history by the Library of Congress, is often ranked among the Top 10 Best Movies of All Time in various critics' and popular polls, and is the source of many memorable quotes referenced in modern popular culture.
- 1947 --- India and Pakistan became independent after some 200 years of British rule.
- 1960 --- The Republic of the Congo became independent of French rule.
- 1969 --- The Woodstock Music Festival opens on a patch of farmland in White Lake, a hamlet in the upstate New York town of Bethel. Promoters John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Michael Lang originally envisioned the festival as a way to raise funds to build a recording studio and rock-and-roll retreat near the town of Woodstock, New York. The longtime artists' colony was already a home base for Bob Dylan and other musicians. Despite their relative inexperience, the young promoters managed to sign a roster of top acts, including the Jefferson Airplane, the Who, the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival and many more. Plans for the festival were on the verge of foundering, however, after both Woodstock and the nearby town of Wallkill denied permission to hold the event. Dairy farmer Max Yasgur came to the rescue at the last minute, giving the promoters access to his 600 acres of land in Bethel, some 50 miles from Woodstock. Early estimates of attendance increased from 50,000 to around 200,000, but by the time the gates opened on Friday, August 15, more than 400,000 people were clamoring to get in. Those without tickets simply walked through gaps in the fences, and the organizers were eventually forced to make the event free of charge. Folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens kicked off the event with a long set, and Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie also performed on Friday night.
- 1969 --- Three Dog Night (Danny Hutton, Cory Wells and Chuck Negron) was awarded a gold record for the album, Three Dog Night. Where’d the name of the group come from? In Australia, the aborigine tribes of several regions slept outside all year. As the temperatures got colder, the tribesmen would sleep with a dog to keep warm. In colder weather, they would huddle with two dogs.
- 1971 --- President Richard M. Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.
- 1994 --- The U.S. Social Security Administration became an independent government agency. It had been a part of the Department of Health and Human Services agency.
- 2001 --- Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own - two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper.
- Birthdays
- Julia Child
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- Ben Affleck
- Mike Connors
- Debra Messing
- Ethel Barrymore
- Rose Marie
- Phyllis Schlafly
- Vernon Jordan
- Justice Stephen Breyer
- Linda Ellerbee
- Edna Ferber
- T.E. Lawrence
- Huntz Hall
- Oscar Peterson
- Bobby Helms