SUNDAY, AUGUST 29, 2021

Today is the 241st day of 2020 and the 71st day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY:

In 1957, Democratic Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina concluded his 24-hour-long filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

In 1991, the parliament of the Soviet Union suspended all Communist Party activities indefinitely.

In 2005, Category 3 storm Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: John Locke (1632-1704), philosopher; Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809-1894), author; Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), actress; Charlie Parker (1920-1955), musician; Richard Attenborough (1923-2014), filmmaker; William Friedkin (1935- ), film director; John McCain (1936-2018), U.S. senator; Elliott Gould (1938- ), actor; Joel Schumacher (1939-2020), film director; GG Allin (1956-1993), singer-songwriter; Michael Jackson (1958-2009), singer-songwriter; Lea Michele (1986- ), actress; Liam Payne (1993- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: Strom Thurmond’s 1957 civil rights filibuster remains the longest one-man filibuster in history. It lasted 24 hours, 18 minutes and opened with Thurmond reading the voting laws of all 48 states.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1977, St. Louis Cardinal Lou Brock stole two bases to match, then break, Ty Cobb’s record for career stolen bases, which had stood at 892 bases for 49 years.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “ You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” -- Charlie Parker

TODAY’S NUMBER: 175 -- top sustained wind speed (in mph) during Hurricane Katrina.

TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (Aug. 22) and last quarter moon (Aug. 30).

MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2021

Today is the 242nd day of 2021 and the 72nd day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1945, British forces ended Japan’s occupation of Hong Kong.

In 1963, a United States-Soviet diplomatic teletype “hotline,” intended to prevent accidental war, was installed.

In 1967, the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first Black Supreme Court justice.

In 1996, Russian and Chechen leaders agreed to a ceasefire, ending the First Chechen War.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), author; Huey Long (1893-1935), politician; Shirley Booth (1898-1992), actress; Roy Wilkins (1901-1981), civil rights activist; Fred Mac-Murray (1908-1991), actor; Ted Williams (1918-2002), baseball player; Warren Buffett (1930- ), businessman/philanthropist; Robert Crumb (1943- ), writer/illustrator; Peggy Lipton (1946- 2019), actress; Lewis Black (1948- ), comedian; Robert Parish (1953- ), basketball player; Cameron Diaz (1972- ), actress; Andy Roddick (1982- ), tennis player; Bebe Rexha (1989- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: The average U.S. adult spent 7 hours and 50 minutes each day viewing digital content in 2020; it was the first year in which that number surpassed the amount of time the average U.S. adult spends sleeping each night, which is about 7 hours and 36 minutes.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1905, Ty Cobb made his major-league debut for the Detroit Tigers.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “The talk of winning our share is not the easy one of disengagement and flight, but the hard one of work, of short as well as long jumps, of disappointments, and of sweet success.” -- Roy Wilkins

TODAY’S NUMBER: 32 -- cases Thurgood Marshall had argued before the Supreme Court before he became a justice. He won 29 of them.

TODAY’S MOON: Last quarter moon (Aug. 30).