© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Thursday January 21, 2016

Today is National Hug Day! A birthday boy hugs a Spider Man piñata, instead of breaking it open.

January 21 is the 21st day of the year. 

There are 345 days remaining until the end of 2016

Sunrise at 7:21 am 
and sunset will be at 5:22 pm. 
Today we will have 10 hours and 1 minutes of sun.
The moon set at 5:07 am 
Eventually, the moon will rise again in the northeast at 3:32 pm.

the first low tide was at 2:40 am 
and the next low tide will be at 3:50 pm. 
The first high tide will be at 8:58 am 
and the next high tide at 10:55 pm.

The lunar phase is a Waxing Gibbous. 93% illuminated.  Full moon on Saturday the 23rd.

January 21st is National Hugging Day.
 
A couple of college students in Iowa recently broke the world record for longest hug.
 
Can you guess how many hours they hugged?  31 hours

Squirrel Appreciation Day

 
Get To Know Your Customers Day

National Granola Day

Babinden (Bulgaria, Serbia)

Errol Barrow Day (Barbados)

Flag Day (Quebec)

Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)

 
 
If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You!  You get to share birthday cake with…

1824 -- Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, American Civil War general

1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (d. 1957)

1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1994)

1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)

1926 – Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder and actor (d. 2000)

1938 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host and actor (d. 1995)

1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer and sportscaster

1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor and conductor

1941 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)

1942 – Mac Davis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

1942 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)

1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress

1951 – Eric Holder, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 82nd United States Attorney General

1953 – Paul Allen, American businessman and philanthropist; co-founded Microsoft

1955 – Jeff Koons, American painter and sculptor

1956 – Robby Benson, American actor, singer, and director

1956 – Geena Davis, American actress and producer

1959 -- Kevin Vance, KALW Announcer/Operator, Producer, Host

1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player

1972 – Cat Power, American singer-songwriter and actress
 

 
On this day in history…

 
1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature 
Founded in Truth, is printed in Boston.
 

1950 -- The British writer George Orwell dies after a three-year battle against tuberculosis.

On Jan. 21, 1924, the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 53.

1861Five Southerners resigned from the U.S. Senate, including Jefferson Davis 
of Mississippi, the future president of the Confederacy.

1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to 
smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.

1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.

1919 – Meeting of the First Dáil Éireann in the Mansion House Dublin. Sinn Féin
adopts Ireland's first constitution. The first engagement of the Irish War of 
Independence, the Soloheadbeg ambush, County Tipperary.

1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.

1950A federal jury in New York City found former State Department official 
Alger Hiss guilty of perjury.
1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of KheSanh: One of the most publicized and 

controversial battles of the war begins.

1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its 
nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the 
cleanup operation is complete.
 

1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-
Rio routes.

1977 – United States President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all American Vietnam 
War draft evaders, some of whom had emigrated to Canada.

1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, 
Northern Ireland.

1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt 
Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so 
disciplined.

1981 -- Tehran frees US hostages after 444 days
The 52 American hostages held at the US embassy in Tehran for more than 14 months arrive in West Germany on their way home to the United States.

1992 -- Libya has been served with a UN resolution to hand over intelligence agents accused of two airliner bombings.

1976The supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.
 

1994A jury in Manassas, Va., acquitted Lorena Bobbitt by reason of temporary 
insanity of maliciously wounding her husband, John, whom she'd accused of 
sexually assaulting her.
 

1998Pope John Paul II began his first visit to Cuba.
 

2004The recording industry sued 532 computer users it said were illegally 
distributing songs over the Internet.

2010Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted 
fathering a child during an affair before his second White House bid.