Tuesday, August 7, 2012 

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• David Duchovny (actor, The X Files, Evolution, Zoolander, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Californication) (52)
• Garrison Keillor (humorist, creator of A Prairie Home Companion radio show) (70)
• Wayne Knight (actor, TV’s Seinfeld's Newman, JFK, Basic Instinct, Jurassic Park, 3rd Rock From The Sun) (57)
• Charlize Theron (actress, The Cider House Rules, The Devil's Advocate, Men Of Honor, The Italian Job, Monster, Hancock, Prometheus, Snow White & The Huntsman, Monster) (37)
• Don Larsen (former pitcher who threw a perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series) (83)
• B.J. Thomas (singer, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head") (70)
• Harold Perrineau (actor, Oz, Lost, The Matrix Reloaded, Romeo + Juliet) (49)
• Rodney Crowell (country singer) (62)
• Michael Peterson (country singer) (53)
• Raul Malo (former singer of the Mavericks) (47)
• Tobin Bell (actor, Saw) (70)
• Samantha Ronson (DJ) (35)
• Charlotte Ronson (fashion designer, twin sister of Samantha Ronson) (35)
• Michael Shannon (Oscar nominated actor, Revolutionary Road, Take Shelter, Boardwalk Empire) (38)
• Bruce Dickinson (lead singer, Iron Maiden) (54)
• Jamey Jasta (singer, Hatebreed) (34)
• Alexandre Aja (director, High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes '06, Mirrors) (34)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1782, General George Washington created the Badge Of Military Merit a medal to honor and recognize soldiers wounded in battle and to merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers. Its name is later changed to the Order of the Purple Heart.
• 1885 Actress Billie Burke (The Wizard Of Oz's Glinda The Good Witch) is born. She dies in 1970.
• 1912, former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for the presidency by the Progressive Party, the offshoot Republican group he founded that was unhappy with the re-nomination of President William Howard Taft. Both Roosevelt and Taft lost to Democrat Woodrow Wilson in the election.
• 1927 Actor Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (The Little Rascals) is born. He dies in 1959.
• 1942,U.S. forces landed atGuadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.
• 1957 Actor Oliver Hardy (the heavy-set member of Laurel & Hardy) dies at age 65.
• 1959, the United States launched Explorer 6, which sent the first photograph from space back to Earth.
• 1974 Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center 1,368 feet in the air.
• 1987 An L.A. judge throws out a lawsuit against Ozzy Osbourne that had been filed by the parents of a teenager who committed suicide while listening to Ozzy's song "Suicide Solution."
• 1990, five days after Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait, President George H. W. Bush ordered U.S. forces to Saudi Arabia in what would become Operation Desert Shield, to protect the kingdom and its oil fields from Hussein's forces.
• 1991 Five misdemeanor charges, including assault and property damage, are filed against Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose in connection with a riot at a show inSt. Louis,Missouri.
• 1993 Radiohead's debut disc, Pablo Honey, enters the album charts.
• 1995 Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," featuring Dave Navarro and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, hits Number One on the pop singles chart.
• 1996 Van Halen's self-titled debut album is certified nine times platinum.
• 1998 bombs at theU.S.embassies.
• 1998,  Car bombs exploded at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people including 12 Americans, with some 5,500 injured.  Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda operatives are blamed.
• 2000, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore chose Senator Joseph Lieberman ofConnecticut as his running mate. Lieberman was the first Jewish candidate on a major party's presidential ticket.
• 2005 ABC news anchor Peter Jennings dies at age 67.
• 2006 The reality series Gene Simmons Family Jewels, starring Kiss singer-bassist Gene Simmons and his family, premieres on A&E.
• 2007 Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks baseball great Hank Aaron's record by hitting his 756th home run.
• 2007 Drowning Pool issues its third album , titled Full Circle, which introduces the band's third lead singer, former Soil frontman Ryan McCombs. Meanwhile, Fuel also welcomes a new singer, Toryn Green, on its fourth CD, Angels & Devils.
• 2007 White Stripes frontman Jack White and his wife Karen Elson become the parents of a new baby boy as Elson gives birth to the couple's second child, named Henry Lee White.
• 2008 Grammy-winning Australian trio Wolfmother confirms that the original lineup of the band is splitting. Bassist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett resign, with frontman Andrew Stockdale deciding to continue under the name with a new lineup.