This day in history

[August 27, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2009. There are 126 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 27, 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pa.

On this date:

In 1858, the second debate between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas took place in Freeport, Ill.

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa blew up; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia's Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

In 1892, fire seriously damaged New York's original Metropolitan Opera House.

In 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born near Stonewall, Texas.

In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

In 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in December 1962.

In 1975, Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia's 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 almost a year after being overthrown.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

In 1989, the first U.S. commercial satellite rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. - a Delta booster carrying a British communications satellite, the Marcopolo 1.

In 2006, a Comair CRJ-100 crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky., killing 49 people and leaving the co-pilot the sole survivor.

Ten years ago: The Federal Communications Commission announced new government wiretapping rules intended to help law enforcement authorities keep pace with advances in phone technology. (However, a federal appeals court later threw out some of the new rules, citing privacy concerns.)

Five years ago: President George W. Bush signed executive orders designed to strengthen the CIA director's power over the nation's intelligence agencies and create a national counterterrorism center. Three students were killed in a fire at a University of Mississippi fraternity house.

One year ago: Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver. A federal judge in Boise, Idaho, sentenced longtime sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III to death for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene.

Today's birthdays: Cajun-country singer Jimmy C. Newman is 82. Author Antonia Fraser is 77. Actor Tommy Sands is 72. Bluegrass singer-musician J.D. Crowe is 72. Musician Daryl Dragon is 67. Actress Tuesday Weld is 66. Rock singer-musician Tim Bogert is 65. Actress Marianne Sagebrecht is 64. Actress Barbara Bach is 62. Ex-porn star Harry Reems is 62. Country musician Jeff Cook is 60. Actor Paul Reubens is 57. Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 56. Actress Diana Scarwid is 54. Pro golfer Bernhard Langer is 52. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 53. Actor Peter Stormare is 51. Country singer Jeffrey Steele is 48. Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 47. Country musician Matthew Basford (Yankee Grey) is 47. Writer-producer Dean Devlin is 47. Rock musician Mike Johnson is 44. Retired NFL player Michael Dean Perry is 44. Rap musician Bobo (Cypress Hill) is 41. Country singer Colt Ford is 40. Actress Chandra Wilson is 40. Rock musician Tony Kanal (No Doubt) is 39. Baseball All-Star Jim Thome is 39. Baseball All-star Jose Vidro is 35. Actress Sarah Chalke is 33. Actor RonReaco Lee is 33. Rapper Mase is 32. Actor Aaron Paul is 30. Rock musician Jon Siebels (Eve 6) is 30. Contemporary Christian musician Megan Garrett (Casting Crowns) is 29. Singer Mario is 23. Actress Alexa Vega ("Spy Kids") is 21.

Thought for today: "In order to have wisdom we must have ignorance." -- Theodore Dreiser, American author (born this date in 1871, died 1945)

[Associated Press]

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