- 149th Day of 2013 / 216 Remaining
- 24 Days Until The First Day of Summer
- Sunrise:5:50
- Sunset:8:24
- 14 Hours 34 Minutes of Daylight
- Moon Rise:11:53pm
- Moon Set:10:53am
- Moon’s Phase:72 %
- The Next Full Moon
- June 23 @ 4:33am
- Full Strawberry Moon
- Full Rose Moon
This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Also because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June . . . so the full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!
- Tides
- High:2:09am/4:07pm
- Low:9:00am/9:37pm
- Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)
- This Year:16.36
- Last Year:15.64
- Normal To Date:23.60
- Annual Seasonal Average:23.80
- Holidays
- National Coq Au Vin Day
- Admission Day-Wisconsin
- Ratification Day-Rhode Island
- UN International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
- On This Day In …
- 1765 --- Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses, saying, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"
- 1790 --- The smallest of the United States joined the first 12 states as number 13. Rhode Island, the Ocean State, probably got its name when discoverer Verrazano noted that, the area we know as Rhode Island, looked about the size of the tiny Greek Isle of Rhodes. Rhode Island’s capital city is Providence, and the tiny violet is appropriate as the state flower. Probably the most famous variety of chicken, the Rhode Island Red, is the state bird.
- 1848 --- The land of lakes and large expanses of green gave name to Wisconsin, the 30th state to enter the United States of America. (Wisconsin, is thought to be the Chippewa Indian word for "grassy place".) The wood violet is the state flower, the robin is the state bird and Madison is the capital city. All this is quite elementary. However, Wisconsin’s nickname is the Badger State, but it is not named after the little animal, as you might have thought. It seems that the many lead miners in the Wisconsin grass lands in the 1830s were called -- badgers.
- 1911 --- The first running of the Indianapolis 500 took place.
- 1912 --- Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, PA, for dancing the Turkey Trot while on the job???!!!!!
- 1913 --- The pioneering Russian ballet corps Ballet Russes performs Igor Stravinsky's ballet Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), choreographed by the famous dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, at the Theatre de Champs-Elysees in Paris.
- 1914 --- In one of the worst ship disasters in history, the British liner Empress of Ireland, carrying 1,477 passengers and crew, collides with the Norwegian freighter Storstad in the gulf of Canada's St. Lawrence River. The Storstad penetrated 15 feet into the Empress of Ireland's starboard side, and the vessel sunk within 14 minutes, drowning 1,012 of its passengers and crew. The tragedy came two years after the Titanic sunk after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic, leaving more than 1,500 people dead but galvanizing public demands for maritime safety standards. With structural precautions superior to those on the Titanic, crews trained extensively in emergency procedures, and with more than enough lifejackets and lifeboats, the Empress was designed for optimum safety. However, on the morning of May 29, 1914, a heavy fog blanketed the St. Lawrence as the Empress set out from Quebec Harbor on its transatlantic journey to Liverpool, England. The Empress and the Storstad spotted each other several minutes before the collision, but altered courses and confused signals brought them into their fateful embrace. Only seven lifeboats escaped the rapidly sinking vessel, but thanks to the efforts of the crew of the Storstad, scores of survivors were pulled out of the icy waters.
- 1922 --- The Supreme Court rules that organized baseball did not violate antitrust laws as alleged by the Baltimore franchise of the defunct Federal League in 1915. The Supreme Court held that organized baseball is not a business, but a sport.
- 1932 --- At the height of the Great Depression, the so-called "Bonus Expeditionary Force," a group of 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans' bonus certificates, arrive in Washington, D.C. One month later, other veteran groups spontaneously made their way to the nation's capital, swelling the Bonus Marchers to nearly 20,000 strong, most of them unemployed veterans in desperate financial straits. Camping in vacant government buildings and in open fields made available by District of Columbia Police Chief Pelham D. Glassford, they demanded passage of the veterans' payment bill introduced by Representative Wright Patman.
- 1942 --- The biggest selling record of all time was recorded. A little out of season, perhaps, but White Christmas, the Irving Berlin classic, was recorded by Bing Crosby for Decca Records. The song was written for the film Holiday Inn. More than 30-million copies of Crosby’s most famous hit song have been sold and a total of nearly 70-million copies, including all versions of the standard, have been sold.
1953 --- Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth. The two, part of a British expedition, made their final assault on the summit after spending a fitful night at 27,900 feet.
The first recorded attempt to climb Everest was made in 1921 by a British expedition that trekked 400 difficult miles across the Tibetan plateau to the foot of the great mountain. A raging storm forced them to abort their ascent, but the mountaineers, among them George Leigh Mallory, had seen what appeared to be a feasible route up the peak. It was Mallory who quipped when later asked by a journalist why he wanted to climb Everest, "Because it's there." A second British expedition, featuring Mallory, returned in 1922, and climbers George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce reached an impressive height of more than 27,000 feet. In another attempt made by Mallory that year, seven Sherpa porters were killed in an avalanche. (The Sherpas, native to the Khumbu region, have long played an essential support role in Himalayan climbs and treks because of their strength and ability to endure the high altitudes.) In 1924, a third Everest expedition was launched by the British, and climber Edward Norton reached an elevation of 28,128 feet, 900 vertical feet short of the summit, without using artificial oxygen. Four days later, Mallory and Andrew Irvine launched a summit assault and were never seen alive again. In 1999, Mallory's largely preserved body was found high on Everest--he had suffered numerous broken bones in a fall. Whether or not he or Irvine reached the summit remains a mystery. Several more unsuccessful summit attempts were made via Tibet's Northeast Ridge route, and after World War II Tibet was closed to foreigners. In 1949, Nepal opened its door to the outside world, and in 1950 and 1951 British expeditions made exploratory climbs up the Southeast Ridge route. In 1952, a Swiss expedition navigated the treacherous Khumbu Icefall in the first real summit attempt. Two climbers, Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay, reached 28,210 feet, just below the South Summit, but had to turn back for want of supplies. Shocked by the near-success of the Swiss expedition, a large British expedition was organized for 1953 under the command of Colonel John Hunt. In addition to the best British climbers and such highly experienced Sherpas as Tenzing Norgay, the expedition enlisted talent from the British Commonwealth, such as New Zealanders George Lowe and Edmund Hillary, the latter of whom worked as a beekeeper when not climbing mountains. Members of the expedition were equipped with specially insulated boots and clothing, portable radio equipment, and open- and closed-circuit oxygen systems. Setting up a series of camps, the expedition pushed its way up the mountain in April and May 1953. A new passage was forged through the Khumbu Icefall, and the climbers made their way up the Western Cwm, across the Lhotse Face, and to the South Col, at about 26,000 feet. On May 26, Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon launched the first assault on the summit and came within 300 feet of the top of Everest before having to turn back because one of their oxygen sets was malfunctioning. On May 28, Tenzing and Hillary set out, setting up high camp at 27,900 feet. After a freezing, sleepless night, the pair plodded on, reaching the South Summit by 9 a.m. and a steep rocky step, some 40 feet high, about an hour later. Wedging himself in a crack in the face, Hillary inched himself up what was thereafter known as the Hillary Step. Hillary threw down a rope, and Norgay followed. At about 11:30 a.m., the climbers arrived at the top of the world.
- 1962 --- Buck (John) O’Neil became the first black coach in major-league baseball. He accepted the job with the Chicago Cubs. O’Neil had previously been a scout with the Cubs organization.
- 1974 --- President Nixon agreed to turn over 1,200 pages of edited Watergate transcripts.
- 1982 --- The Clash's "Combat Rock" LP was released.
- 1985 --- Death and hundreds of injuries resulted from a riot at a soccer match in Brussels, Belgium. The European Cup Final at Heysel stadium between Liverpool and Juventus of Turin was televised throughout Europe. Just before the match was to begin, soccer fans rioted killing 39 and injuring 400 or more. 26 British soccer fans identified from the video tapes were extradited to Belgium to stand trial. The riot prompted increased security at later British soccer games.
- 1999 --- Space shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.
- 2001 --- Four followers of Osama bin Laden were convicted in New York of a global conspiracy to murder Americans, including the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people. (All were sentenced to life in prison.)
- Birthdays
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy (35th President)
- Patrick Henry
- Annette Bening
- Fay Vincent
- Al Unser
- LaToya Jackson
- Melissa Etheridge
- Bob Hope
- Danny Elfman
- Gary Brooker