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Almanac - Wednesday 2/13/19

Today is UNESCO Radio Day. This short-wave receiver is on display among our collection antique table radios at KALW.

Today is Wednesday, the 13th of February of 2019.  It is the 44th day of the year.  There are 321 days remaining until the end of the year.  35 days until spring begins.  629 days until presidential elections on Tuesday November 3, 2020

(1 year 8 months and 21 days from today)

The sun rises at 7:01 am 

and sunset will be at 5:48 pm.

we will have 10 hours and 47 minutes of daylight.

The solar noon will be at 12:24 pm.

The first high tide will be at 5:10 am

and the next high tide at 7:24 pm.

The first low tide will be at 12:13 pm 

and the next low tide at 11:37 pm.

The Moon is 56.5% visible; a Waxing Gibbous

Moon Direction:329.77° NNW↑

Moon Altitude: -31.07°

Moon Distance: 237038 mi

Next Full Moon: Tuesday February 19, 2019 at 7:53 am

Next New Moon: Wednesday March 6, 2019 at 8:03 am

Next Moonrise: Today at 11:58 am

Today is…

Dream Your Sweet Day

Employee Legal Awareness Day

Get a Different Name Day

International Natural Day

Kiss Day

Madly in Love With Me Day

National Crab Rangoon Day

National Tortellini Day

Palentine's Day

Also known as Galentine's Day
Today is also…

Children's Day in Myanmar

UNESCO World Radio Day

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You!  You share this special day with…

1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1895)

1855 – Paul Deschanel, Belgian-French politician, 11th President of France (d. 1922)

1885 – Bess Truman, American wife of Harry S. Truman, 35th First Lady of the United States (d. 1982)

1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek lawyer, economist, and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)

1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian-Swiss author (d. 1989)

1910 – William Shockley, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)

1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician, 5th Premier of British Crown Colony of Burma (d. 1947)

1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (d. 1991)

1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot; first test pilot to break the sound barrier

1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist and politician (d. 2006)

1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian commander and politician, Military Leader of Panama (d. 1981)

1933 – Kim Novak, American actress

1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor

1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian and academic

1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati

1945 – Simon Schama, English historian and author

1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician

1961 – Henry Rollins, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor

On this day in history….

1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1880 – Thomas Edison observes Thermionic emission.

1913 – The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiated a period of almost four decades of independence.

1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1920 – The Negro National League is formed.

1931 – The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.

1955 – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.

1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.

1961 – An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.

1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamondwhite dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.

2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.

2017 – Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

…and on this day in Black History…

February 13, 1869 Edward Thomas Demby, the first African American elected bishop in the United States by the Episcopal Church, was born in Wilmington, Delaware but raised in Philadelphia.

February 13, 1882 Henry Highland Garnet, orator, educator and abolitionist, died. He delivered one of his most famous speeches, “Call to Rebellion,” to the National Negro Convention August 21, 1843. On February 12, 1865, he became the first Black minister to preach to the United States House of Representatives when he spoke about the end of slavery.

(1892) The World's Fair Colored Opera Company performs at Carnegie Hall, the first African American performers to do so.

February 13, 1908 Malvin Russell Goode, the first African American television news correspondent, was born in White Plains, Virginia.  In 1962, Goode became the first Black news correspondent for ABC television covering the United Nations.

February 13, 1919 Edward Gay Robinson, hall of fame football coach, was born in Jackson, Louisiana.

(1920) Andrew "Rube" Foster, the “Father of Black Baseball”, organizes the Negro National League at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri. It is the first baseball league for African Americans and operated successfully until 1931.

(1923) The first professional African-American basketball team is formed in Harlem, New York -- the New York Renaissance.

1940: “Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues” was recorded by Earl “Fatha” Hines and his orchestra on this day. The song eventually becomes a classic and is still popular among big band fans today. He is recognized as one of jazz’s greatest pianists.

1945: Singer and songwriter King Floyd was born on this day in New Orleans, LA. His song ‘Groove Me’ topped the charts and sold over one million copies. He received a gold disc awarded by the R.I.A.A. in December of 1970. He passed away in 2006.

(1957) Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized at a meeting in New Orleans with Martin Luther King Jr. as president.

1965: Junior Walker & the All-Stars charted with ‘Shotgun’ which would eventually reach #1. While playing a benefit, Junior notices some teenagers doing a new dance called ‘the shotgun’ and that night his his motel room wrote the song to match the dance.

(1970) Joseph Searles is the first African American member of the New York Stock Exchange.

(1973) Gertrude E. Downing and William Desjardin patented the corner cleaner attachment

1974: James “Cool Papa” Bell inducted into the baseball’s Hall of Fame on this day. By all accounts, he was the fastest human being to ever live. His quickness is legendary and he’s considered one of the best defensive center fielders of all time. He passed away in 1991.

1978: “Al Green Day” was declared in Los Angeles on this day as he performed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Most artist given a day in their honor is usually bestowed on them by their hometown. Al was born in Forest City, AR, apparently, Los Angeles decided to adopt him.

1980: ‘Rock With You’ by Michael Jackson topped the charts on this day. (Photo: AP)

1983: Marvin Gaye sang the National Anthem on this day at the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles.

1984: Donna Summer’s remake of the Drifters’ 1960 hit ‘There Goes My Baby’ charted on both the R&B and Pop charts on this day.

1988 – The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, purchased a Santa Ynez CA ranch on this day. He later named it Neverland (and it housed an amusement park, a full size movie theater, and a zoo).

1989: Oklahoma football player Charles Thompson was charged with selling cocaine on this day and was later sentenced to 2 years in prison.

1999: ‘Angel of Mine’ by Monica was the Number 1 song on this day.

• February 13, 2003 Kid Gavilan, hall of fame boxer, died. Gavilan was born Gerardo Gonzalez January 6, 1926 in Camaguey, Cuba.

2010: The 2000 National Book Award-winning poet and 1988 Pulitzer finalist, Lucille Clifton, and former poet laureate of Maryland passed away on this day in Maryland at age 73.

• February 13, 2012 Rita Francis Dove received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor bestowed on an individual artist by the United States, from President Barack H. Obama.

• February 13, 2012 Andre Watts received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor bestowed on an individual artist by the United States from President Barack H. Obama.