Today is Monday, April 3, 2017 the 93rd day of the year with 272 days remaining.
- Sunrise: 6:51am
- Sunset: 7:35pm
...giving us 12 hours and 43 minutes of daylight. 39% of the waxing moon will be visible, setting at 1:59am
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 5:04am/7:26pm
- Low: 11:58pm
Special international celebrations today…
Declaration of the Second Republic - Guinea
It’s also…
National Chocolate Mousse Day
Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day
Fan Dance Day
Find A Rainbow Day
Pony Express Day
Tater Day
Tweed Day
Weed Out Hate: Sow The Seeds of Greatness Day
On this day in…
1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed inFlorida. He had sighted the land the day before.
1776 -George Washington received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard College .
1829 - James Carrington patented the coffee mill.
1860 - The first Pony Express riders left St. Joseph, MO and Sacramento, CA. The trip across country took about 10 days. The Pony Express only lasted about a year and a half.
1865 - Union forces occupy Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
1866 - Rudolph Eickemeyer and G. Osterheld patented a blocking and shaping machine for hats.
1882 - The American outlaw Jesse James was shot in the back and killed by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward. There was later controversy over whether it was actually Jesse James that had been killed.
1910 - Alaska's Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America was climbed.
1933 - First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt informed newspaper reporters that beer would be served at the White House. This followed the March 22 legislation that legalized "3.2" beer.
1936 - Richard Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the kidnapping and death of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh.
1942 - The Japanese began their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
1946 - Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed in the Philippines.
1948 -U.S. President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan to revive war-torn Europe. It was $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
1949 - Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis debuted on radio on the "Martin and Lewis Show". The NBC program ran until 1952.
1953 - "TV Guide" was published for the first time.
1967 - The U.S. State Department said that Hanoi might be brainwashing American prisoners.
1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech just 24 hours before he was assassinated.
1968 - North Vietnam agreed to meet with U.S. representatives to set up preliminary peace talks.
1972 - Charlie Chaplin returned to the U.S. after a twenty-year absence.
1979 - Jane Byrne became the first female mayor in Chicago.
1982 - John Chancellor stepped down as anchor of the "The NBC Nightly News." Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw became the co-anchors of the show.
1983 - It was reported that Vietnamese occupation forces had overrun a key insurgent base in western Cambodia.
1984 - Sikh terrorists killed a member of the Indian Parliament in his home.
1984 - Col. Lansana Konte became the new president of Guinea when the armed forces seized power after the death of Sekou Toure.
1985 - The U.S. charged that Israel violated the Geneva Convention by deporting Shiite prisoners.
1986 - The U.S. national debt hit $2 trillion.
1987 - Riots disrupted mass during the Pope's visit to Santiago, Chili.
1993 - The Norman Rockwell Museum opened in Stockbridge, MA.
1996 - An Air Force jetliner carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashed in Croatia, killing all 35 people aboard.
1996 - Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was arrested. He pled guilty in January 1998 to five Unabomber attacks in exchange for a life sentence without chance for parole.
1998 - The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time.
2000 - A U.S. federal judge ruled that Microsoft had violated U.S. antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors. Microsoft said that they would appeal the ruling.
2000 - The Nasdaq set a one-day record when it lost 349.15 points to close at 4,233.68.
2010 - The firstApple iPad was released.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- John Harrison 1693 - Carpenter, clockmaker, inventor of the marine chronometer
- Washington Irving 1783 - Author ("Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow")
- Edward Everett Hale 1822
- William M. (Marcy) "Boss" Tweed 1823 - Political boss, known for his Tweed "Ring" that stole millions of dollars from New York City
- John Burroughs 1837 - Author
- Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey 1888
- George Jessel 1898 - Comedian, actor
- Sally Rand (Hattie Helen Gould Beck) 1904 - Burlesque dancer, actress
- Herb Caen 1916 - Journalist
- Jan Sterling (Adriance) 1923 - Actress
- Doris Day (Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff) 1924 - Singer, actress
- Marlon Brando 1924 - Actor ("The Godfather", "Apocalypse Now")
- Don Gibson 1928 - Songwriter, singer
- Miyoshi Umeki 1923 - Actress
- Helmut Kohl 1930 - Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1982-1998
- Rod Funseth 1933 - Golfer
- Jane Goodall 1934 - Anthropologist, author
- Jimmy McGriff 1936 - Musician
- Sandra Spuzich 1937 - Golfer
- Jeff Barry (Joel Adelberg) 1938 - Singer
- Jan Berry 1941 - Songwriter, singer (Jan and Dean)
- Marsha Mason 1942 - Actress
- Wayne Newton 1942 - Singer
- Jonathan Lynn 1943 - Actor, director, writer
- Tony Orlando (Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis) 1944 - Singer
- Barry Pritchard 1944 - Musician (The Fortunes)
- Bernie (Bernard) Parent 1945 - Hockey goalie
- Richard Manuel 1945 - Musician (The Band)
- Dee Murray 1946 - Musician (Elton John's band)
- Donny Anderson 1949 - Football player
- Richard Thompson 1949 - Musician (Fairport Convention)
- Mel Schacher 1951 - Musician (Grand Funk Railroad)
- Alec Baldwin (Alexander Rae Baldwin III) 1958 - Actor
- David Hyde Pierce 1959 - Actor ("Frasier")
- Eddie Murphy 1961 - Comedian ("Saturday Night Live"), actor ("48 Hrs.", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Doctor Doolittle")
- Sebastian Bach 1968 - Singer (Skid Row)
- Wes Berggren 1971 - Musician (Tripping Daisy)
- Jennie Garth 1972 - Actress ("Beverly Hills 90210")
- Leona Lewis 1985 - Singer
- Amanda Bynes 1986 - Actress
