1992 AIDS plot Film director Spike Lee's advertisement, claiming that AIDS is a government plot against gays, blacks, and Hispanics, that went out of control, appears in Rolling Stone magazine.

1983 The Cabbage Patch doll The marketing phenomenon is created in California.

1981 First reusable spacecraft The space shuttle Columbia is launched for the second time - officially earning it the title "reusable."  Twenty-two years later in 2003, the ill-fated shuttle would disintegrate upon reentry killing all seven crew members.

1980 Voyager I The spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn (78,125 miles). It discovered three previously unknown moons and numerous new rings.

1970 Exploding Whale The Oregon Highway Divisions uses half a ton of dynamite to blow up the carcass of a beached whale, with unexpectedly messy results.  See video

1956 Largest known iceberg The USS Glacier sights a glacier 208 miles long and 60 miles wide.

1954 Ellis Island The upper New York island, which had processed 20 million immigrants since its opening in 1892, closes.

1946 First U.S. drive-in bank Exchange National Bank of Chicago opens.

1942 World War II Pres. Roosevelt lowers the draft age from 20 to 18.

1936 San Francisco-Oakland bridge It opens, becoming the longest U.S. bridge.

1933 Loch Ness Monster The first claimed photo of the famous creature is taken by Hugh Gray.

1896 First U.S. ice hockey league The Amateur Hockey League is formed.

1892 First professional football player William "Pudge" Heffelfinger is paid a $500 bonus after scoring the winning touchdown for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (4-0).

1968 Sammy Sosa American Baseball player, member of the "500 home run club."

1961 Nadia Comaneci Romanian gymnast. She won three gold medals in the 1976 Olympics, receiving seven perfect scores.

1945 Neil Young Canadian singer. Music: Southern Man (1974), Heart of Gold (1972, #1), and Old Man (1972).

1943 Brian Hyland American pop singer. Music: Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (1960, #1), which he wrote while still in high school.

1942 Stephanie Powers (Stefania Federkiewicz), American actress. TV: Girl From UNCLE (April Dancer) and Hart to Hart (Jennifer Hart).

1937 Ina Balin d. 1990 (Ina Rosenberg), American actress. Her life was portrayed in the film The Children of An Lac.

1934 Charles Manson American murderer, leader of "The Family." His crimes were the subject of the book Helter Skelter (1974).

1929 Grace Patricia Kelly d. 1982 American Oscar-winning actress. She became the Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III, making her the only princess to have received an Oscar.

1922 Kim Hunter (Janet Cole), American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Oscar, Stella). TV: The Edge of Night (Nola Madison).

1889 DeWitt Wallace d. 1981 American publisher. He and his wife Lila founded Reader's Digest (1921). It obtained the largest magazine circulation in the world.

1840 Auguste Rodin d. 1917 French sculptor, noted for his famous statue The Thinker (1888). When motion photography proved that horses didn't gallop in the manner often depicted by artists he responded, "It is the artist who is truthful and it is photography which lies, for in reality time does not stop."

1831 Eli Hamilton Janney d. 1912 American inventor. He patented the first American automatic railroad coupler (1873).

1817 Baha Ullah d. 1892 (Mirza Husayn Ali), Persian prophet, founder of the Baha'i faith (1863).

1815 Elizabeth Cady Stanton d. 1902 American women's rights leader.

1992 Charles "Honi" Coles b. 1911 American Tony-winning tap dancer. Broadway: Hello Dolly. Film: Dirty Dancing and Cotton Club.  He was inducted into the Tap Dance Hall of Fame (2003).

1990 Eve Arden b. 1912 (Eunice Quedens), Emmy-winning actress. TV: Our Miss Brooks (Connie Brooks).

1969 Harry Scherman b. 1887 Canadian-born American author, founder of the Book-of-the-Month Club (1926).

1958 James Michael Curley b. 1874 American politician, "last of the big city political bosses," four-time mayor of Boston, governor of Massachusetts (1935-37). He served two prison terms (1904, 1947) while mayor. The movie The Last Hurrah (1958) was modeled after his career.

1932 Sir Dugald Clerk b. 1854 (aka Clark), Scottish engineer. He built the first two-stroke engine (1878).

1916 Pervical Lowell b. 1855 American astronomer. He predicted the existence of the planet Pluto, although it wasn't discovered until 1930. He also popularized the idea that intelligent life had constructed canals on Mars - This was later proved to be false.

1865 Elizabeth Gaskell b. 1810 English novelist, one of the most popular of the Victorian novelists, Mary Barton (1848) and Cranford (1853).

1595 John Hawkins b. 1532 English naval commander. He traveled with Columbus and introduced tobacco to England (1565).

607 Boniface III b. ???? Italian religious leader, 66th Pope (Feb. - Nov. 607).

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