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Today in History: August 11

3114 BC
The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins

0991
Danes under Olaf Tryggvason kill Ealdorman Byrhtnoth and defeat the Saxons at Maldon.

1492
Rodrigo Borgia is elected to the papacy as Pope Alexander VI.

1792
A revolutionary commune is formed in Paris, France.

1856
A band of rampaging settlers in California kill four Yokut Indians. The settlers had heard unproven rumors of Yokut atrocities.

1862
President Abraham Lincoln appoints Union General Henry Halleck to the position of general in chief of the Union Army.

1904
German General Lothar von Trotha defeats the Hereros tribe near Waterberg, South Africa.

1906
In France, Eugene Lauste receives the first patent for a talking film.

1908
Britain's King Edward VII meets with Kaiser Wilhelm II to protest the growth of the German navy.

1912
Moroccan Sultan Mulai Hafid abdicates his throne in the face of internal dissent.

1916
The Russia army takes Stanislau, Poland, from the Germans.

1929
Babe Ruth hits his 500th major league home run against the Cleveland Indians.

1941
Soviet bombers raid Berlin but cause little damage.

1942
The German submarine U-73 attacks a Malta-bound British convoy and sinks HMS Eagle, one of the world's first aircraft carriers.

1944
German troops abandon Florence, Italy, as Allied troops close in on the historic city.

1965
A small clash between the California Highway Patrol and two black youths sets off six days of rioting in the Watts area of Los Angeles.


1972
The last U.S. ground forces withdraw from Vietnam.

1975
US vetoes admission of North and South Vietnam to UN.

1978
Funeral of Pope Paul VI.

1984
Carl Lewis wins four Olympic gold medals, tying the record Jesse Owens set in 1936.

1988
Al Qaeda formed at a meeting in Peshawar, Pakistan.

1989
Voyager 2 discovers two partial rings around Neptune.

1990
Troops from Egypt and Morocco arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the international operation to prevent Iraq from invading.

1999
A tornado in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, kills one person.

2003
NATO assumes command of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, its first major operation outside Europe.

2003
Temperatures rise to 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius); over 140 people die in the heat wave.

2020
President Vladimir Putin in a propaganda stunt announces Russia has become the 1st country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, called “Sputnik V", despite no scientific data being published or phase 3 trials having even begun

Today in History: Born on August 11


1861
James Bryan Herrick, physician who first described sickle-cell anemia.

1892
Hugh MacDiarmid, poet and founder of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

1921
Alex Haley, genealogist and author of Roots.

1933
Jerry Falwell, founder of the conservative political lobbying organization, the Moral Majority.

1943
Kenny Gamble, songwriter, record producer; a pioneer of the "Philadelphia Sound" ("Ain't Gonna Love Nobody," "Me and Mrs. Jones").

1946
Marilyn Vos Savant, author, columnist, playwright; "Highest IQ (Women)" Guinness Book of World Records, 1986-1989 (category retired in 1990).

1950
Gennady Nikonov, inventor of AN-94 assault rifle.

1950
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer.

1953
Hulk Hogan, wrestler, actor (Assault on Devil's Island); World Wrestling Federation heavyweight champion, 1984-89.

JOTD
A college professor reminds her class of the next day’s final exam saying, “I won’t tolerate any excuses for you not being there tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury or illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that’s it, no other excuses whatsoever"
A guy sitting at the back asks, “What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?"

The teacher smiles sympathetically at the student, and says, “Well, I guess you’d have to write the exam with your other hand.”