B'days: Neil Armstrong, Rick Derringer, Loni Anderson, Marcia Brady

[Wayback]

Some birthdays today, August 5:
1930 - Neil Armstrong, 80, First man on the Moon (Apollo 11, 1969)
1938 - Hayes Wendell Jones, 72, 110m hurdler (Olympic gold 1964)
1938 - Ja'net Dubois, 72, actress (Willona on TV's 'Good Times')
1942 - Rick Huxley, 68, guitarist (Dave Clark 5: 'Glad All Over' '64)
1946 - Loni Anderson, 64, actress (Jennifer on TV's 'WKRP in Cincinnati')
1947 - Rick Derringer, 63, rocker (Hang On Sloopy '65, Rock&Roll Hootchie Coo '74)
1950 - Holly Palance, 60, actress (Thorn Birds)
1953 - Samantha Sang, 57, singer ('Emotion' '77)
1954 - Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda, 56, (Twisted Sister: 'We're Not Gonna Take It' '84)
1956 - Maureen McCormick, 54, actress (Marcia on TV's 'The Brady Bunch')
1959 - Pete Burns, 51, rocker (Dead or Alive: 'Spin Me Round' '85)
1961 - Tawny Kitaen, 49, actress (Bachelor Party, Witchboard)
1962 - Patrick Ewing, 48, NBA center (NY Knicks/Olympic gold '92)
1964 - Adam 'MCA' Yauch, 46, rapper (Beastie Boys: 'Fight for Your Right to Party' '86)
1966 - Jonathan Silverman, 44, actor (Brighton Beach Memoirs)
1968 - Terri Clark, 42, Canadian country singer
1986 - Paula Creamer, 24, LPGA golfer from Pleasanton, CA
More birthdays in August: http://www.famousbirthdays.com/aug.html

[RGMike]

Today is also "Goodbye Norma Jean" Day: Marilyn Monroe died on this date in 1962.

[Tinka Cat]

today also mark's the birth of the term "grass roots" according to the Writer's Almanac:


On this day in 1912, Senator Albert Jeremiah Beveridge of Indiana was on stage at the Progressive Party Convention when he proclaimed: "This party has come from the grass roots. It has grown from the soil of people's hard necessities."
...

There's now even a term for faking a grassroots movement: It's called "astroturfing," after that artificial grass found at sports stadiums. It's when powerful lobbyists masquerade as individual citizens, using the tactics of grassroots campaigns, but hiding their affiliation or real agenda. The term was coined by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, after he got a bunch of letters in the mail from concerned citizens urging him to promote the interests of the insurance industry.

[RGMike]

There's now even a term for faking a grassroots movement: It's called "astroturfing," after that artificial grass found at sports stadiums. It's when powerful lobbyists masquerade as individual citizens, using the tactics of grassroots campaigns, but hiding their affiliation or real agenda. The term was coined by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, after he got a bunch of letters in the mail from concerned citizens urging him to promote the interests of the insurance industry.

Wow, I didn't know "astroturfing" went back that far -- I assumed Rachel Maddow came up with it!