GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS THURSDAY, August 25, the 238th day of 2016 with 128 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 6:02 and sunset is @ 7:30. The moon is waning. The morning stars are stars are Neptune & Uranus. The evening stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1718 – Hundreds of colonists from France arrived in Louisiana. Some settled in present-day New Orleans.
1814 – The U.S. Library of Congress was destroyed by British forces.
1825 – Uruguay declared independence from Brazil.
1840 – Joseph Gibbons received a patent for the seeding machine.
1875 – Captain Matthew Webb swam from Dover, England, to Calais, France making him the first person to swim the English Channel. The feat took about 22 hours.
1902 – “Al-Hoda” began publication in New York City making it the first Arabic daily newspaper in the U.S.
1916 – The National Park Service was established as part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
1920 – Ethelda Bleibtrey won the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition in Antwerp, Belgium. She was the first woman to win an Olympic competition for the U.S.
1920 – The first airplane to fly from New York to Alaska arrived in Nome.
1921 – The U.S. signed a peace treaty with Germany.
1939 – The movie “Wizard of Oz” opened around the United States.
1940 – Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward were married while suspended in parachutes at the World’s Fair in New York City.
1941 – Soviet and British troops invaded Iran. This was in reaction to the Shah’s refusal to reduce the number of German residents.
1941 – Allied forces invaded Iran. Within four days the Soviet Union and England controlled Iran.
1941 – U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill appropriating funds for construction of the Pentagon.
1944 – Paris, France, was liberated by Allied forces ending four years of German occupation.
1944 – Romania declared war on Germany.
1946 – Ben Hogan won the PGA in Portland, OR. It was his first major golf title.
1949 – NBC Radio debuted “Father Knows Best.” The show went to TV in 1954.
1950 – U.S. President Truman ordered the seizure of U.S. railroads to avert a strike.
1972 – In Great Britain, computerized axial tomography (CAT scan) was introduced.
1978 – The Turin shroud believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ went on display for the first time in 45 years.
1981 – The U.S. Voyager 2 sent back pictures and data about Saturn. The craft came within 63,000 miles of the planet.
1983 – The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a $10 billion grain pact.
1987 – Saudi Arabia denounced the “group of terrorists” that ran the Iranian government.
1988 – Iran and Iraq began talks in Geneva after ending their eight years of war.
1990 – Military action was authorized by the United Nations to enforce the trade embargo that had been placed on Iraq after their invasion of Kuwait.
1991 – Byelorussia declared independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – It was reported by researchers that cigarette smoking significantly increased the risk of developing cataracts.
1993 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 3,652.09, an all-time high.
1995 – Harry Wu, human rights activist, returned to the United States. He said the spying case against him in China was “all lies.”
1997 – The tobacco industry agreed to an $11.3 billion settlement with the state of Florida.
1998 – A survey released said that 1/3 of Americans use the Internet.