August 13

Today in History
• 3114 - BC According to the Lounsbury correlation, the start of the Mayan calendar
• 1608 - John Smith's story of Jamestown's first days submitted for publication
• 1642 - Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovers Mars' southern polar cap
• 1792 - Revolutionaries imprison French royals, including Marie Antoinette
• 1868 - Earthquakes kill 25,000 and causes $300 million damages in Peru and Ecuador
• 1892 - US black newspaper "Afro-American" begins publishing from Baltimore
• 1907 - 1st taxicabs operate in New York City, imported by Harry N. Allen
• 1913 - Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield, England


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• International Lefthanders Day
• Melon Day
• National Filet Mignon Day
• National Prosecco Day
• Obon Festival
• The Day of Cantabria
• Women's and Family Day
• Esala Perahera

Birthdays
• 582 - Arnulf of Metz, French bishop and saint
• 1584 - Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk King Alfonso XI of Castile and Leon
• 1422 - William Caxton, English printer and translator, 1st to print in the English language
• 1584 - Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk
• 1662 - Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset
• 1752 - Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of the Two Sicilies
• 1818 - Lucy Stone, American abolitionist (US Woman's Suffrage Association)
• 1888 - John Logie Baird, Scottish inventor and father of the television