1 August: Tumor Rumor

By The Associated Press: Today is Saturday, Aug. 1, the 213th day of 2009. There are 152 days left in the year. A/V. UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History: On Aug. 1, 1944, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation; the revolt lasted two months before collapsing. On this date: In 1498, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus set foot on the American mainland for the first time, at the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela. In 1714, Britain's Queen Anne died at age 49; she was succeeded by George I. In 1790, the first U.S. census showed a population of 3,929,214 people in 17 states. In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state. In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War erupted, the result of a dispute over control of Korea; Japan's army routed the Chinese. In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division, the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force. In 1933, the National Recovery Administration's "Blue Eagle" symbol began to appear in store windows and on packages to show support for the National Industrial Recovery Act. In 1936, the Olympic games opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the Fulbright Program into law, establishing the scholarships named for Sen. William J. Fulbright. America's Atomic Energy Commission was established. In 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, went on a shooting rampage at the University of Texas in Austin, killing 14 people. Whitman, who had also murdered his wife and mother hours earlier, was gunned down by police. In 1977, Francis Gary Powers, pilot of a U-2 pilot spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, was killed when his weather helicopter crashed in Los Angeles. In 1990, Muslim rebels surrendered in Trinidad and Tobago, five days after a coup in which Prime Minister Arthur Robinson and dozens of others were taken hostage. Ten years ago: A heat wave that had gripped the nation since mid-July finally broke; authorities attributed nearly 200 deaths to the heat and humidity. Five years ago: The federal government warned of possible al-Qaida terrorist attacks against specific financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J. A supermarket fire on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay, killed more than 400 people. World Trade Organization members meeting in Geneva approved a plan to end export subsidies on farm products and cut import duties across the world. Karen Stupples won the Women's British Open. Alexandra Scott, a young cancer patient who'd started a lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research, sparking a nationwide fundraising campaign, died at her home in Wynnewood, Pa., at age eight. In 2007, the eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour, killing 13 people. One year ago: Some 30 mountaineers began a disastrous attempt to scale K2 in Pakistan; 11 of them died in a series of accidents, including icefalls. Crowds of Chinese watched a total solar eclipse along the country's ancient Silk Road, one week before the start of the Summer Games in Beijing. Today's Birthdays: Actor-director Geoffrey Holder is 79. Singer Ramblin' Jack Elliott is 78. Cartoonist Tom Wilson (retired creator of "Ziggy") is 78. Former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) is 72. Actor Giancarlo Giannini is 67. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams is 59. Blues singer-musician Robert Cray is 56. Singer Michael Penn is 51. Rock singer Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) is 50. Rock singer-musician Suzi Gardner (L7) is 49.[Congrats to Suzi, whom this reporter once (allegedly) chased all over his house while blacked-out one drunken Easter Sunday in the late '80s. All we remember is, when we woke up we were bruised in many places, & our glasses were broken. Besides the hangover. One hell of a party: Ventura resident P. J. Galligan was still there Monday afternoon when the reporter returned home. — Ed.] And born on the same day: Rapper Chuck D (Public Enemy) is 49. Actor Jesse Borrego is 47. Rapper Coolio is 46. Actor John Carroll Lynch is 46. Rock singer Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) is 45. Movie director Sam Mendes is 44. Country singer George Ducas is 43. Country musician Charlie Kelley is 41. Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is 36. Football player Edgerrin James is 31. Actor Jason Momoa is 30. Today In Entertainment History -- On August 1, 1960, Chubby Checker released the single "The Twist." In 1964, singer Johnny Burnette drowned in a boating accident in Clear Lake, California. He was 30. He's probably best known for the song "You're 16." In 1971, the Concerts for Bangladesh were held at New York's Madison Square Garden. George Harrison put together two shows to help starving people in Bangladesh. The concerts and an album of the event raised nearly eleven million dollars. In 1977, the book "Elvis -- What Happened" was released to bookstores nationwide. It was an expose' by two former bodyguards who presented Elvis as an overweight recluse. Elvis died two weeks later. In 1980, George Harrison formed a movie production company called "Hand Made Films Productions." The company's films include "Life of Brian" and "Time Bandits." In 1981, MTV made its debut on cable stations across the US The first video played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. In 1986, actress Tatum O'Neal married tennis star John McEnroe in Oyster Bay, New York. They have since split up. Also in 1986, U2 began recording sessions in Dublin, Ireland, that became their album "The Joshua Tree." Thought for Today: "Pride, like humility, is destroyed by one's insistence that he possesses it." — Kenneth Bancroft Clark, American educator and psychologist (1914-2005).

FINISHED a bit before 2100 PDT, 3 August 2009. MORE FINISHED (w/ embedded video) @ 2353 PDT, 9 August 2009.