May 3 is the 124rd day of the year. There are 242 days remaining until the end of 2016.
The sun rose at 6:10 am
and sunset will be at 8:03 pm.
Today we will have 13 hours and 52 minutes of sun.
The solar transit will be at 1:07 pm.
The first low tide was at 3:21 am at 0.9
and the next low tide will be at 3:18 pm at 0.4 feet
The first high tide will be at 9:36 am at 4.8 feet
and the next high tide at 10:04 pm at 5.8 feet
Moonrise Today: 4:17 AM
15.5 percent illuminated
Moonset Today: 4:38 PM
and it's a waning crescent
Today is...
National Textiles Day
National Sans Architect Day
National Chocolate Custard Day
National Garden Meditation Day
National Raspberry Popover Day
National Paranormal Day
National Lumpy Rug Day
National Teacher Appreciation Day
National Two Different Colored Shoe Day
National Specially-Abled Pets Day
It's also...
Constitution Memorial Day in Japan
Constitution Day in Poland
Fiesta de las Cruces in Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America
World Press Freedom Day
on this day in history...
1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.
In 1808 during the Peninsular War, The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill. The scene is dramatically chronicled by the painter Francisco Goya, in his work The Third of May 1808. One of the most powerful indictment of the craziness of war.
1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
1915 – The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.
1921West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.
1921 – Ireland divides into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
1936Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio made his major league debut with the New York Yankees.
1937 – Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
1948The Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to African-Americans and other minorities were legally unenforceable.
1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.
1960The musical "The Fantasticks" opened off-Broadway, beginning a record run of nearly 42 years.
1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters. Images of the violent
suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
1971Anti-war protesters calling themselves the Mayday Tribe began four days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C., aimed at shutting down the nation's capital.
1971The National Public Radio program "All Things Considered" made its debut.
1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world's tallest building.
1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every
ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You, and Happy Birthday to...
1844 – Richard D'Oyly Carte, English talent agent and composer (d. 1901)
1898Israeli prime minister Golda Meir was born Goldie Mabovitch in Kiev, Ukraine.
1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
1910 – Norman Corwin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist and composer (d. 1980)
1912 – May Sarton, Belgian-American author and poet (d. 1995)
1913 – William Inge, American playwright and novelist (d. 1973)
1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (The Weavers and Almanac Singers) (d. 2014)
1920 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer (d. 2001)
1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
1933 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (The Famous Flames and The J.B.'s) (d. 2006)
1940 – David H. Koch, American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist