Happy Birthday, Empire State Building...standing elegantly since 1931!
Today is Tuesday, May 1, 2018, the 121st day of the year with 244 days remaining.
Sunrise: 6:14am
Sunset: 8:00pm
...giving us 13 hours and 46 minutes of daylight. 99% of the waning moon will be visible, rising at 9:50pm
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 12:44am/2:09pm
- Low: 7:11am/7:05pm
Special international celebrations today…
- Labor Day, Worker's Day or May Day - many, many countries!
- Agriculture and Labor Day - Haiti
- Constitution & Independence Day - Marshall Islands
- Constitution Day - Latvia
- Kazakhstan People's Unity Day - Kazakhstan
- Law Day - USA
- Lei Day
- Loyalty Day - USA
- Save the Rhino Day - USA
- Youth & Sports Day - Cyprus
It’s also…
- Childhood Depression Awareness Day
- Executive Coaching Day
- Foster Care Day
- Global Love Day
- Hug Your Cat Day
- Lemonade Day
- Mother Goose Day
- National Bubba Day
- National Purebred Dog Day
- New Homeowner's Day
- School Principals' Day
- Silver Star Day
- Skyscraper Day
- Stepmother's Day
- World Asthma Day
- National Chocolate Parfait Day
On this day in…
0408 - Theodosius II succeeded to the throne of Constantinople.
1308 - King Albert was murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
1486 - Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund an expedition to the West Indies.
1707 - England, Wales and Scotland were united to form Great Britain.
1751 - America’s first cricket tournament was held in New York City.
1786 - The Mozart opera "The Marriage of Figaro" premiered in Vienna.
1805 - The state ofVirginia passed a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
1863 - In Virginia, the Battle of Chancellorsville began. General Robert E. Lee's forces began fighting with Union troops under General Joseph Hooker. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by his own soldiers in this battle. (May 1-4)
1867 - Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration.
1877 -U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.
1883 - William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) had his first Wild West Show.
1884 - The construction of the first American 10-story building began in Chicago,IL.
1898 - TheU.S. Navy under Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines.
1905 - In New York, radium was tested as a cure for cancer.
1912 - In London's Kensington Gardens, a statue of Peter Pan was erected.
1915 - A German submarine sank theU.S. ship Gulflight.
1922 - Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect no-hit, no-run game against the Detroit Tigers. The Sox won 3-0. Another perfect game did not come along until 46 years later.
1927 - Adolf Hitler held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
1931 - The Empire State Building in New York was dedicated and opened. It was 102 stories tall and was the tallest building in the world at the time.
1934 - The Philippine legislature accepted aU.S. proposal for independence.
1937 -U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping theUnited States out of World War II.
1941 - "Citizen Kane," directed and starring Orson Welles, premiered in New York.
1945 - Admiral Karl Doenitz succeeded Hitler as leader of the Third Reich. This was one day after Hitler committed suicide.
1948 - The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed.
1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.
1952 - Production of Mr. Potato Head began.
1958 - James Van Allen reported that two radiation belts encircled Earth.
1960 - Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Powers was taken prisoner.
1961 - Fidel Castro announced there would be no more elections in Cuba.
1968 - In the second day of battle,U.S. Marines, with the support of naval fire, continue their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do.
1970 - Students at Kent State University riot in downtown Kent,OH, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.
1971 - The National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak) went into service. It was established by the U.S. Congress to run the nation's intercity railroads.
1981 - The Japanese government announced that it would limit passenger car exports to the United States over the next three years.
1986 - The Tass News Agency reported the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
1986 - Bill Elliott set a stock car speed record with his Ford Thunderbird in Talladega,AL. Elliott reached a speed of 212.229 mph.
1992 - On the third day of the Los Angeles riots resulting from the Rodney King beating trial. King appeared in public to appeal for calm, he asked, "Can we all get along?"
1999 - On Mount Everest, a group ofU.S. mountain climbers discovered the body of George Mallory. Mallory had died in June of 1924 while trying to become the first person to reach the summit of Everest. At the time of the discovery it was unclear whether or not Mallory had actually reached the summit.
2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama announced that U.S. soldiers had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- Benjamin Henry Latrobe 1764 - Architect known for his design of the United States Capitol and the Baltimore Basilica
- George Inness 1825 - American landscape painter
- James Graham 1878 - Scottish nobleman, politician
- Leo Sowerby 1895 - Composer, musician, won Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946
- Kate Smith 1909 - Singer
- Glen Ford 1916 - Actor ("Gilda", "The Courtship of Eddie's Father")
- Jack Paar 1918 - Radio and television comedian, talk show host ("The Tonight Show")
- Joseph Heller 1923 - Novelist, short story writer, playwright
- Terry Southern 1924 - Author, essayist, screenwriter
- Scott Carpenter 1925 - One of NASA's original seven astronauts
- Sonny James (James Loden) 1928 - Country music singer and songwriter
- Little Walter (Marion Walter Jacobs) 1930 - Musician
- Judy Collins (Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins) 1939 - Singer and songwriter
- Bobbie Ann Mason 1940 - Novelist, short story writer, essayist, literary critic
- Stephen Macht 1942 - Actor
- Mimi Farina (Mimi Baez Fariña) 1945 - Singer, songwriter
- Rita Coolidge 1945 - Singer
- Nick Fortune 1946 - Musician (The Buckinghams)
- Jerry Heard 1947 - Golfer
- Douglas Barr 1949 - Actor, writer, director
- Dann Florek 1951 - Actor ("Law and Order: SVU")
- Ray Parker Jr. 1954 - Singer (Raydio)
- Nick Feldman 1955 - Musician (Wang Chung)
- Steve Farris 1957 - Musician (Mr. Mister)
- Phil Smith 1959 - Musician (Haircut 100)
- Wayne Hancock 1965 - Country musician
- Charlie Schlatter 1966 - Actor ("Diagnosis: Murder")
- Johnny Colt 1966 - Musician (The Black Crowes)
- Tim McGraw 1967 - Country musician
- D'Arcy Wreztky 1968 - Musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
- Wes Anderson 1969 - Director
- Julie Benz 1972 - Actress ("Dexter," "Angel")
