Today is Friday April 07, 2017 The 97th day of 2017-- 268 left Sunrise this morning 6:44 a.m. set: 7:38 p.m. 12:54 hours of daylight Moonrise: 4:27 p.m. set: 5:02 a.m.
SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS TODAY: Today is :International Beaver Day, International Snailpaper Day, National Walk to Work Day, Metric System Day, No Housework Day, World Health Day, National Beer Day, National Coffee Cake Day and Hospital Admitting Clerks Day This day in History: 1712 - A slave revolt broke out in New York City. 1798 - The territory of Mississippi was organized. 1862 - Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh, TN. 1864 - The first camel race in America was held in Sacramento, California. 1888 - P.F. Collier published a weekly periodical for the first time under the name "Collier’s." 1922 - U.S. Secretary of Interior leased Teapot Dome naval oil reserves in Wyoming. 1927 - The first long-distance TV transmission was sent from Washington, DC, to New York City. The audience saw an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. 1930 - The first steel columns were set for the Empire State Building. 1933 - Prohibition ended in the United States. 1940 - Booker T. Washington became the first black to be pictured on a U.S. postage stamp. 1943 - British and American armies linked up between Wadi Akarit and El Guettar in North Africa to form a solid line against the German army. 1945 - The Japanese battleship Yamato, the world’s largest battleship, was sunk during the battle for Okinawa. The fleet was headed for a suicide mission. 1948 - The musical "South Pacific" by Rogers and Hammerstein debuted on Broadway. 1948 - The United Nations' World Health Organization began operations. 1953 - The Big Four met for the first time in 2 years to seek an end to their air conflicts. 1953 - IBM unveiled the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine. It was IBM's first commercially available scientific computer. 1957 - The last of New York City's electric trolleys completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan. 1963 - At the age of 23, Jack Nicklaus became the youngest golfer to win the Green Jacket at the Masters Tournament. 1963 - Yugoslavia proclaimed itself a Socialist republic. 1963 - Josip Broz Tito was proclaimed to be the leader of Yugoslavia for life. 1966 - The U.S. recovered a hydrogen bomb it had lost off the coast of Spain. 1967 - Israel reported that they had shot down six Syrian MIGs. 1969 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material. 1970 - John Wayne won his first and only Oscar for his role in "True Grit." He had been in over 200 films. 1971 - U.S. President Nixon pledged to withdraw 100,000 more men from Vietnam by December. 1980 - The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Iran and imposed economic sanctions in response to the taking of hostages on November 4, 1979. 1983 - Specialist Story Musgrave and Don Peterson made the first Space Shuttle spacewalk. 1983 - The Chinese government canceled all remaining sports and cultural exchanges with the U.S. for 1983. 1985 - In Goteborg, Sweden, China swept all of the world table tennis titles except for men's doubles. 1985 - In Sudan, Gen. Swar el-Dahab took over the Presidency while President Gaafar el-Nimeiry was visiting the U.S. and Egypt. 1985 - The Soviet Union announced a unilateral freeze on medium-range nuclear missiles. 1987 - In Oklahoma a 16-month-old baby was killed by a pit bull. On the same day a 67-year-old man was killed by another pit bull in Dayton, OH. 1988 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to final terms of a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet troops began leaving on May 16, 1988. 1988 - In Fort Smith, AR, 13 white supremacists were acquitted on charges for plotting to overthrow the U.S. federal government. 1989 - A Soviet submarine carrying nuclear weapons sank in the Norwegian Sea. 1990 - In the U.S., John Poindexter was found guilty of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial. The convictions were later reversed on appeal. 1990 - At Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center a display of Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs went on display. On the same day the center and its director were indicted on obscenity charges. The charges resulted in acquittal. 1994 - Civil war erupted in Rwanda between the Patriotic Front rebel group and government soldiers. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in the months that followed. 1998 - Mary Bono, the widow of Sonny Bono, won a special election to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term. 1999 - Yugoslav authorities sealed off Kosovo's main border crossings to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving. 2000 - U.S. President Clinton signed the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000. The bill reversed a Depression-era law and allows senior citizens to earn money without losing Social Security retirement benefits. 2002 - The Roman Catholic archdiocese announced that six priests from the Archdiocese of New York were suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct. 2006 - The Boeing X-37 conducted its first flight as a test drop at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. 2009 - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces IF TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY YOU SHARE IT WITH: William Wordsworth 1770 - Poet William King 1786 - 13th U.S. Vice President W.K. Kellogg 1860 - Industrialist in food manufacturing, most known for founding of the Kellogg Company John (Joseph) ‘Mugsy’ McGraw 1873 - Baseball player, baseball commissioner, baseball manager Irene Castle 1893 - Ballroom dancer Walter Winchell 1897 - Vaudeville performer, journalist, radio commentator Percy Faith 1908 - Orchestra leader, composer Billie Holiday 1915 - Jazz singer R. G. Armstrong 1917 - Actor Ralph Flanagan 1919 - Pianist, arranger Ravi Shankar 1920 - Musician, sitarist, was George Harrison's sitar teacher Mongo (Ramon) Santamaria 1922 - Bandleader, composer, musician James Garner (James Scott Bumgarner) 1928 - Actor ("Rockford Files", "Maverick") Daniel Ellsberg 1931 - Author, known for releasing the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times Cal Smith 1932 - Country singer Wayne Rogers 1933 - Actor ("M*A*S*H") Ian Richardson 1934 - Actor Bobby Bare 1935 - Country singer, actor Hodding Carter 1935 - Commentator Gail Cogdill 1937 - Football player Charlie Thomas 1937 - Singer (The Drifters) Freddie Hubbard 1938 - Jazz musician Spencer Dryden 1938 - Musician (Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage & The Dinosaurs) David Frost 1939 - TV host ("That Was the Week that Was") Francis Ford Coppola 1939 - Director Mick Abrahams 1943 - Musician (Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull) Patricia Bennett 1947 - Singer (The Chiffons) Carol Douglas 1948 - Singer John Oates 1949 - Songwriter, singer (Hall and Oates) Janis Ian (Janis Eddy Fink) 1951 - Singer John Dittrich 1951 - Musician (Restless Heart, The Buffalo Club) Bruce Gary 1952 - Musician (The Knack) Jackie Chan 1954 - Actor ("Rush Hour", "Rush Hour 2") Tony Dorsett 1954 - Football player James "Buster" Douglas 1960 - Boxer Russell Crowe 1964 - Actor ("A Beautiful Mind," "Gladiator") Mark Kibble 1964 - Singer (Take 6) Bill Bellamy 1965 - Actor Dave "Yorkie" Palmer 1965 - Musician (Space) Ronde Barber 1975 - Football player Tiki Barber 1975 - Football player Tags: almanac