April 14, 2017

Today is Friday April 14, 2017 The 104th day of 2017-- 261 left Sunrise this morning 6:34 a.m. set: 7:45 p.m. 13:11 hours of daylight Moonrise: 11:06 p.m. set: 8:54 a.m. . SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS TODAY: Today is :International Moment of Laughter Day, Dictionary Day, National Dolphin Day, Pecan Day, Ex Spouse Day, World Marbles Day, Pan American Day and Reach As High As You Can Day, This day in History: 1775 - The first abolitionist society in U.S. was organized in Philadelphia with Ben Franklin as president. 1793 - A royalist rebellion in Santo Domingo was crushed by French republican troops. 1828 - The first edition of Noah Webster's dictionary was published under the name "American Dictionary of the English Language." 1860 - The first Pony Express rider arrived in San Francisco with mail originating in St. Joseph, MO. 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth. He actually died early the next morning. 1889 - The first international Conference of American States began in Washington, DC. 1894 - First public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope took place. 1902 - James Cash (J.C.) Penney opened his first retail store in Kemmerer, WY. It was called the Golden Rule Store. 1910 - U.S. President William Howard Taft threw out the first ball for the Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics. 1912 - The Atlantic passenger liner Titanic, on its maiden voyage hit an iceberg and began to sink. 1,517 people lost their lives and more than 700 survived. 1918 - The U.S. First Aero Squadron engaged in America's first aerial dogfight with enemy aircraft over Toul, France. 1925 - WGN became the first radio station to broadcast a regular season major league baseball game. The Cubs beat the Pirates 8-2. 1931 - King Alfonso XIII of Spain went into exile and the Spanish Republic was proclaimed. 1939 - The John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was first published. 1946 - The civil war between Communists and nationalist resumed in China. 1953 - Viet Minh invaded Laos with 40,00 troops. 1956 - Ampex Corporation of Redwood City, CA, demonstrated the first commercial magnetic tape recorder for sound and picture. 1959 - The Taft Memorial Bell Tower was dedicated in Washington, DC. 1969 - For the first time, a major league baseball game was played in Montreal, Canada. 1981 - America's first space shuttle, Columbia, returned to Earth after a three-day test flight. The shuttle orbited the Earth 36 times during the mission. 1984 - The Texas Board of Education began requiring that the state's public school textbooks describe the evolution of human beings as "theory rather than fact". 1985 - The Russian paper "Pravda" called U.S. President Reagan's planned visit to Bitburg to visit the Nazi cemetery an "act of blasphemy". 1986 - U.S. President Reagan announced the U.S. air raid on military and terrorist related targets in Libya. 1987 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed banning all missiles from Europe. 1988 - Representatives from the U.S.S.R., Pakistan, Afghanistan and the U.S. signed an agreement that called for the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan starting on May 15. The last Soviet troop left Afghanistan on February 15, 1989. 1988 - In New York, real estate tycoons Harry and Leona Helmsley were indicted for income tax evasion. 1990 - Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles began a streak of 95 errorless games and 431 total chances by a shortstop. 1994 - Two American F-15 warplanes inadvertently shot down two U.S. helicopters over northern Iraq. 26 people were killed including 15 Americans. 1998 - The state of Virginia ignored the requests from the World Court and executed a Paraguayan for the murder of a U.S. woman. 1999 - Pakistan test-fired a ballistic missile that was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching its rival neighbor India. 2000 - After five years of deadlock, Russia approved the START II treaty that calls for the scrapping of U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads. The Russian government warned it would abandon all arms-control pacts if Washington continued with an anti-missile system. 2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush sent a letter of congratulations to JCPenny's associates for being in business for 100 years. James Cash (J.C.) Penney had opened his first retail store on April 14, 1902. 2002 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to office two days after being arrested by his country's military. 2008 - Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced they were combining. IF TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY YOU SHARE IT WITH: Anne Mansfield Sullivan 1866 - "The Miracle Worker", famous for teaching Helen Keller to read, write and speak Arnold (Joseph) Toynbee 1889 - Historian, author Harold Stephen Black 1898 John Gielgud 1904 - Actor (Movies: "Arthur") Mary Healy 1918 Roberto DeVicenzo 1923 - Golfer Shorty Rogers (Milton Rajonsky) 1924 - Musician, bandleader, songwriter, composer, arranger Rod Steiger (Rodney Stephen Steiger) 1925 - Actor ("Dr. Zhivago", "The Longest Day") Gloria Jean (Schoonover) 1926 - Actress ("Copacabana", "The Ladies Man") Jay Robinson 1930 - Actor Bradford Dillman 1930 - Actor ("Compulsion", "Falcon Crest") Buddy Knox 1933 Frank Serpico 1934 Loretta Lynn 1935 - Country singer, first woman to earn the CMA's Entertainer of the Year award Joan Darling 1935 - Actress Marty Keough 1935 - Baseball player Bobby Nichols 1936 - Golfer Julie Christie 1941 - Actress ("Dr. Zhivago", "Shampoo") Pete Rose (Peter Edward Rose) 1941 - Baseball player Dick Brooks 1942 - Auto racer Ritchie Blackmore 1945 - Musician (Deep Purple) Larry Ferguson 1948 - Musician (Hot Chocolate) John Shea 1949 - Actor ("Lois & Clark", "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid") Dennis Bryon 1949 - Musician (Amen Corner) Matimaa Kinuani Mpiosso 1951 Brad Garrett 1960 - Actor ("Everybody Loves Raymond") Robert Carlyle 1961 - Actor John Bell 1962 - Musician (Widespread Panic) Greg Maddux 1966 - Baseball player Barrett Martin 1967 - Musician (Screaming Trees) Anthony Michael Hall 1968 - Actor (Movies:"Sixteen Candles", "The Breakfast Club", TV:"The Dead Zone") Brad Ausmus 1969 - Baseball player DaBrat 1974 - Rapper Adrien Brody 1973 - Actor Sarah Michelle Gellar 1977 - Actress ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") Vivien Cardone 1993 - Actress ("Everwood") Abigail Breslin 1996 - Actress ("Little Miss Sunshine") Tags: almanac