Motto for Today: ‘The flower that blooms in adversity is the prettiest of all’

This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History!

On this day, Aug.18………
1891 – The first rainmaking experiments in the U.S. were conducted. Patent attorney Gen. Robert Dyrenforth set off explosive balloons and artillery to try to make rainclouds develop. (The method chosen was to test a theory that rainstorms seemed often to occur where major battles had taken place during the Civil War, and they may have been because of the effect of smoke, dust and disturbances in the air from artillery).
1932 – The Scottish aviator Jim Mollison made the first westbound transatlantic solo flight.
1960 – The first oral contraceptive Enovid was marketed by the Searle Drug Company in America.
1926 – Weather map televised for 1st time.
1990 – President R Venkataraman presented the colours to the Officers Training Academy in recognition of their services to the Nation.
2014 – A meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan was cancelled following a Pakistani official’s meeting with Kashmiri separatists.
2022 – New way to break down “forever chemicals” PFAS compounds responsible for cancers, low birth weights and lowered immunity published by scientists in journal “Science”.
Born….

1900 – Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, diplomat and politician (pic credit – Gandhji.org).
1924 – Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (1977-88).
1936 – Gulzar, veteran screen writer, Urdu Shayar, director. (Actual name – Sampooran Singh Kalra)

1956 – Sandeep Madhusudan Patil, cricketer, batsman (photo credit -Eager Patrick-for Getty images).

1967 – Daler Mehndi, bhangra/pop singer (photo credit -IMDb; video credits- DReords International)

RIP….
1227 – Genghis Khan, Monghol conqueror.
1998 – Persis Khambatta, Indian model, actress, author.
1998 – Protima Bedi, Kathak dancer.
You may have known….
Astronauts get pretty severe motion sickness.

{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}