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Almanac - Friday 5/1/20

Today is Friday, May 1, 2020, the 122nd day of the year. 50 days until summer, and only 185 days until presidential elections (if civilization survives).  

  • Sunrise: 6:13am      
  • Sunset: 8:01pm ...giving us 13 hours 46min of daylight.  49% of the waxing moon will be visible, rising at 1:28pm.  

Tides at the Golden Gate                      

  • High: 6:11am/8:38pm                
  • Low: 12:43am/1:04pm

Special celebrations & commemorations today…

  • May Day, Labor Day, Worker's Day - Many Countries Worldwide
  • Agriculture and Labor Day - Haiti
  • Constitution & Independence Day - Marshall Islands
  • Constitution Day - Latvia
  • Youth & Sports Day - Cyprus
  • Kazakhstan People's Unity Day
  • Save the Rhino Day
  • Mother Goose Day
  • National Chocolate Parfait Day

On this day in…

1486 - Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund an expedition to the West Indies.

1707 - England, Wales and Scotland were united to form Great Britain.

1751 - America’s first cricket tournament was held in New York City.

1805 - The state of Virginia passed a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.

1863 - In Virginia, the Battle of Chancellorsville began. General Robert E. Lee's forces began fighting with Union troops under General Joseph Hooker. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by his own soldiers in this battle. (May 1-4)

1867 - Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration.

1877 - U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.

1883 - William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) had his first Wild West Show.

1884 - The construction of the first American 10-story building began in Chicago, IL.

1905 - In New York, radium was tested as a cure for cancer.

1912 - In London's Kensington Gardens, a statue of Peter Pan was erected.

1915 - A German submarine sank the U.S. ship Gulflight.

1927 - Adolf Hitler held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.

1931 - The Empire State Building in New York was dedicated and opened. It was 102 stories tall and was the tallest building in the world at the time.

1934 - The Philippine legislature accepted a U.S. proposal for independence.

1937 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.

1948 - The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed.

1952 - Production of Mr. Potato Head began.

1960 - Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Powers was taken prisoner.

1961 - Fidel Castro announced there would be no more elections in Cuba.

1970 - Students at Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, OH, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.

1971 - The National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak) went into service. It was established by the U.S. Congress to run the nation's intercity railroads.

1986 - The Tass News Agency reported the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

1992 - On the third day of the Los Angeles riots resulting from the Rodney King beating trial. King appeared in public to appeal for calm, he asked, "Can we all get along?"

1999 - On Mount Everest, a group of U.S. mountain climbers discovered the body of George Mallory. Mallory had died in June of 1924 while trying to become the first person to reach the summit of Everest. At the time of the discovery it was unclear whether or not Mallory had actually reached the summit.

2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama announced that U.S. soldiers had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

If today’s your birthday, you share it with…

  • Benjamin Henry Latrobe 1764 - Architect known for his design of the United States Capitol 
  • George Inness 1825 - American landscape painter
  • James Graham 1878 - Scottish nobleman, politician
  • Kate Smith 1909 - Singer
  • Jack Paar 1918 - Radio and television comedian, talk show host ("The Tonight Show")
  • Joseph Heller 1923 - Novelist, short story writer, playwright
  • Terry Southern 1924 - Author, essayist, screenwriter
  • Scott Carpenter 1925 - One of NASA's original seven astronauts
  • Judy Collins (Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins) 1939 - Singer and songwriter
  • Rita Coolidge 1945 - Singer
  • Nick Fortune 1946 - Musician (The Buckinghams)
  • Charlie Schlatter 1966 - Actor ("Diagnosis: Murder")
  • Johnny Colt 1966 - Musician (The Black Crowes)
  • Tim McGraw 1967 - Country musician
  • D'Arcy Wreztky 1968 - Musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
  • Wes Anderson 1969 - Director

David Latulippe is host of On the Arts, KALW's weekly radio magazine of the performing arts, as well as for Explorations in Music, and the Berkeley Symphony broadcasts. He has also hosted and produced the radio series From the Conservatory, Music from Mills, and Music at Menlo, and is principal guest host for Revolutions Per Minute.