On This Day: Wednesday August 3, 2005 This is the 215th day of the year, with 150 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: crabs and lobsters "Crabs and lobsters are crustaceans, animals with hard shells. Crabs have broad, round shells. Lobster have long bodies with tails. Most live in the water, though some crabs can survive out of the water. Both crabs and lobsters have bodies divided into sections, have two pairs of antennae, and large cutting claws (pincers) which they use to catch food. Crabs have spider-like legs that they use to scoot around on and they can retreat into their shells when threatened. Crabs grow by shedding (molting) their shells. Lobsters stay in rock crevices, coming out only to feed. Both live on seashores and in shallow seas throughout the world. They are related to shrimps and prawns. The average life span of a lobster is 50-70 years, but only three years for a crab. The American lobster is often marketed alive. It is commonly blackish green or brownish green above and yellow orange, red, or blue underneath. The red color of lobsters is caused by immersion in hot water." Holidays Feast day of St. Walthen or Waltheof, St. Germanus of Auxerre, and St. Thomas of Hales or Dover. Guinea-Bissau: Colonization Martyrs Day. Equatorial Guinea: Armed Forces Day. Niger: Independence Day. Events 1492 - Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain, on his first voyage that took him to the present-day Americas. 1610 - Henry Hudson entered the inland sea that was later named Hudson's Bay. 1778 - La Scala opera house opened in Milan, Italy. 1858 - Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile, was discovered by the English explorer John Speke. 1921 - Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis refused to reinstate the former Chicago White Sox players implicated in the "Black Sox" Scandal, despite their acquittals in a jury trial. 1923 - Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the United States of America, following the death of Warren G. Harding. 1940 - Latvia was incorporated into the USSR as a constituent republic. 1948 - Whittaker Chambers, an avowed Communist, accused Alger Hiss, a former U.S. State Department official, of being a Communist agent. 1949 - The National Basketball Association was formed. 1958 - The nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater. 1963 - The Beatles played in the Cavern Club in their hometown, Liverpool, for the last time. 1981 - U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike, despite a warning from President Ronald Reagan they would be fired, which they were. 2004 - The Statue of Liberty monument reopened for the first time since the September 11 attacks, but tourists are not allowed into the crown. Births 1900 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. 1905 - Maggie Kuhn, American activist who formed the Gray Panthers. 1920 - P.D. James (Phyllis Dorothy James), British mystery writer. 1926 - Tony Bennett (Benedetto), American Grammy Award-winning singer. Deaths 1924 - Joseph Conrad, British novelist and short-story writer. 1966 - Lenny Bruce, controversial American stand-up comedian.