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Almanac - Friday 5/18/18

It's SUPPORT KALW DAY!

Today is Friday, May 18, 2018, the 138th day of the year with 227 days remaining.

  • Sunrise: 5:57am  
  • Sunset: 8:15pm

...giving us 14 hours and 18 minutes of daylight.  7% of the waxing moon will be visible, rising at 9:06am.
Tides at the Golden Gate

  • High: 1:41am/3:53pm
  • Low: 8:28am/8:29pm

Special international celebrations today…

  • Battle of Las Peidras - Uruguay
  • Flag & University Day - Haiti
  • International Museum Day
  • Revival & Unity Day - Turkmenistan

It’s also…

  • Buy A Musical Instrument Day
  • Endangered Species Day
  • HIV Vaccine Awareness Day
  • I Love Reeses Day
  • Mother Whistler Day
  • NASCAR Day
  • National Defense Transportation Day
  • National Museum Day
  • National Pizza Party Day
  • O. Henry Pun-off Day
  • Visit Your Relatives Day

On this day in…

1302 - The weaver Peter de Coningk led a massacre of the Flemish oligarchs.

1642 - Montreal, Canada, was founded.

1643 - Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, was granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king's will.

1652 - In Rhode Island, a law was passed that made slavery illegal in North America. It was the first law of its kind.

1792 - Russian troops invaded Poland.

1798 - The first Secretary of theU.S. Navy was appointed. He was Benjamin Stoddert.

1802 - Great Britain declared war on Napoleon's France.

1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor by the French Senate.

1828 - Battle of Las Piedras ended the conflict between Uruguay and Brazil.

1896 - TheU.S. Supreme court upheld the "separate but equal" policy in the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. The ruling was overturned 58 years later with Brown vs. Board of Education.

1897 - A public reading of Bram Stoker's new novel, "Dracula, or, The Un-dead," was performed in London.

1904 - Brigand Raizuli kidnapped American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco.

1917 - TheU.S. Congress passed the Selective Service act, which called up soldiers to fight in World War I.

1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice,CA. She reappeared a month later with the claim that she had been kidnapped.

1931 - Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashed his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He was picked up seven hours later by a passing ship.

1933 - TheTennessee Valley Authority was created.

1934 - TheU.S. Congress approved an act, known as the "Lindberg Act," that called for the death penalty in interstate kidnapping cases.

1942 - New York ended night baseball games for the duration of World War II.

1944 - Monte Cassino, Europe's oldest Monastic house, was finally captured by the Allies in Italy.

1949 - Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America was incorporated

1951 - The United Nations moved its headquarters to New York City.

1953 - The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, Jacqueline Cochran, piloted an F-86 Sabrejet overCalifornia at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour.

1974 - India became the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.

1980 - Mt. Saint Helens erupted inWashington state. 57 people were killed and 3 billion in damage was done.

1983 - The U.S. Senate revised immigration laws and gave millions of illegal aliens legal status under an amnesty program.

1994 - Israel's three decades of occupation in the Gaza Strip ended as Israeli troops completed their withdrawal and Palestinian authorities took over.

1998 - TheU.S. federal government and 20 states filed a sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft Corp., saying the computer software company had a "choke hold" on competitors which denied consumer choices by controlling 90% of the software market.

1998 -U.S. federal officials arrested more than 130 people and seized $35 million. This was the end to an investigation of money laundering being done by a dozen Mexican banks and two drug-smuggling cartels.

2012 - Facebook Inc. held its initial public offering and began trading on the NASDAQ. The company was valued at $104 billion making it the largest valuation to date for a newly listed public company.

2014 - Russian President Putin signed a bill to absorb Crimea into the Russian Federation.

Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...

  • Frank Capra 1897 - Film director ("It's a Wonderful Life")
  • Robert Meredith Willson 1902 - Composer, songwriter, conductor, playwright
  • Big Joe Turner 1911 - Singer, musician
  • Perry Como 1912 - Singer, television personality
  • Pierre Balmain 1914 - Fashion designer
  • Margot Fonteyn (Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias) 1919 - Ballerina
  • Pope John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyla) 1920
  • Bill Macy 1922 - Television and stage actor
  • Kai Winding 1922 - Trombonist, composer
  • Marquita Rivera 1922 - Actress, singer, dancer, known as the "Queen of Latin Rhythm"
  • Jack Whitaker 1924 - Sportscaster
  • Pernell Roberts 1930 - Actor ("Bonanza," "Trapper John, M.D.")
  • Robert Morse 1931 - Actor ("Mad Men," "How to Succeed in Business ...")
  • Dwayne Hickman 1934 - Actor
  • Brooks Robinson 1937 - Baseball player
  • Rodney Dillard 1942 - Musician (The Dillards)
  • Albert Hammond 1944 - Singer, songwriter
  • Reggie Jackson 1946 - Baseball player
  • Joe Bonsall 1948 - Musician (The Oak Ridge Boys)
  • Dave Atkins 1949 - Musician, producer
  • Candice Azzara 1949 - Actress
  • Rick Wakeman 1949 - Musician (Yes)
  • Rodney Milburn, Jr. 1950 - Olympic Athlete
  • James Stephens 1951 - Actor
  • George Strait 1952 - Country musician
  • Butch Tavares 1953 - Musician (Tavares)
  • Wreckless Eric 1954 - Musician
  • Chow Yun-Fat 1955 - Actor
  • Michael Cretu 1957 - Musician (Enigma)
  • Toyah Willcox 1958 - Singer, actress
  • Page Hamilton 1960 - Musician, singer (Helmet)
  • Jari Kurri 1960 - Hockey player
  • Yannick Noah 1960 - Tennis player
  • Martika 1969 - Singer
  • Tina Fey 1970 - Actress, comedian ("30 Rock," "Saturday Night Live")
  • Special Ed (Edward Archer) 1974 - Musician
  • Jack Johnson 1975 - Singer
  • Darryl Allen 1980 - Musician (Mista)
  • Allen Leech 1981 - Actor ("Downton Abbey")

 

David Latulippe is host of On the Arts, KALW's weekly radio magazine of the performing arts, as well as for Explorations in Music, and the Berkeley Symphony broadcasts. He has also hosted and produced the radio series From the Conservatory, Music from Mills, and Music at Menlo, and is principal guest host for Revolutions Per Minute.