On This Day: Friday August 4, 2006

This is the 216th day of the year, with 149 days remaining in 2006.

Fact of the Day: continents

The continents are the world's seven great land masses which are continuously coming together and drifting apart. The earth's outer shell (crust) is made up of nine major moving slabs of rock, called tectonic plates, in which the continents are embedded. Over millions of years, the continents' placement has changed dramatically. Two hundred and twenty million years ago, all the continents were joined into a single 'supercontinent' we refer to as Pangaea. The word continent comes from Latin continens, short for terra continens, meaning "land held together."

Holidays

Feast day of St. Molua or Lughaidh, St. Ia, St. Sezni, and St. John Baptist Vianney.
Burkina Faso: Revolution Day.

Events

1753 - George Washington became a Master Mason, the highest rank in the Fraternity of Freemasonry.
1790 - The Revenue Cutter service, the forerunner of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, was organized.
1892 - Andrew Borden and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Lizzie Borden, Andrew Borden's daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, but acquitted at trial.
1914 - Britain declared war on Germany while the United States proclaimed its neutrality.
1916 - The United States purchased the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million.
1966 - In a U.S. radio interview, John Lennon claimed that the Beatles were probably more popular than Jesus Christ.
1977 - President Jimmy Carter signed a measure establishing the Department of Energy.
1997 - The Teamsters Union went on a 15-day strike against United Parcel Service after talks broke down with nation's largest package delivery service.

Births

1792 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet.
1900 - Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of Britain's royal family.
1901 - Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong, American jazz musician, Grammy Award-winning singer.