Daily Almanac for Wednesday, August 30, 2023

By admin | August 30, 2023

By Mona Hatfield

On this date in 1988, Vicki Keith became the first person to swim across all five Great Lakes. This is Vicki Keith, 2019. By Wendyerobertson – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https commons.wikimedia.org

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Vicki Keith Munro, CM, O.Ont (born 26 February 1961 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian retired marathon swimmer. Her accomplishments include the first crossing of all five Great Lakes.

The end of the Leslie Street Spit in Toronto has been named Vicki Keith Point in her honour. This is where she made most of her landings after crossing Lake Ontario.

Keith was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

The 5 Great Lakes (from Wikipedia Commons)

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

Where do carrot seeds come from?

Carrots are biennial plants. If you leave them in the ground, the tops will flower and produce seeds the second year.

Advice of the Day

Snapdragons bespeak presumption, sunflowers haughtiness.

Home Hint of the Day

To clean chrome, rub on a thin paste of baking soda and water. Let it dry, then buff the chrome with a clean, dry rag.

Word of the Day

Altocumulus cloud

Gray or white layer of patches of solid cloud with rounded shapes.

Puzzle of the Day

The Empire State.(Name the U.S. state!)

New York

Born

  • Mary Shelley (writer) – 
  • Ellen Arthur (wife of U.S. president Chester Arthur; died before he took office) – 
  • Ernest Rutherford (physicist) – 
  • Huey Long (politician) – 
  • Raymond Massey (actor) – 
  • Roy Wilkins (civil rights leader) – 
  • Ted Williams (baseball player) – 
  • Geoffrey Beene (fashion designer) – 
  • Jean-Claude Killy (Olympic gold medalist, skiing) – 
  • Tug McGraw (baseball player) – 
  • Cameron Diaz (actress) – 
  • Andy Roddick (tennis player) – 

Died

  • Lindsay Anderson (director of film) – 
  • Charles Bronson (actor) – 
  • Glenn Ford (actor) – 
  • Wes Craven (filmmaker) – 

Events

  • Streetcar service ended in Montreal, Quebec– 
  • Hotline between the White House and the Kremlin installed– 
  • Thurgood Marshall confirmed as the first African American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court– 
  • First night launch of a space shuttle (Challenger), Kennedy Space Center, Florida– 
  • Astronaut Guion Bluford became the first African-American to reach space– 
  • Vicki Keith became the first person to swim across all five Great Lakes– 
  • Hotel Queen Leona Helmsley convicted on tax evasion charges, later sentenced to four years in prison and fined $8.8 million– 
  • Houston Comets won WNBA championship in league’s first season – 
  • Tennis player Greg Rusedski served a ball at 141 mph at the U.S. Open in New York City– 
  • Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox became the 14th MLB pitcher to reach 3,000 career strikeouts– 

Weather

  • George Washington took advantage of foggy weather to evacuate Long Island after a defeat– 
  • Boston’s high temperature was 99 degrees F– 

COURTESY www.almanac.com

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