Enjoy a falafel ball or wrap today on International Falafel Day!
Today is Friday, June 12, 2020, the 172nd day of the year, with 202 days remaining. 8 days till summer, and only 144 days until presidential elections (if civilization survives).
- Sunrise: 5:47am
- Sunset: 8:33pm ...giving us 14 hours and 45 minutes of daylight. 64% of the waning moon will be visible, rising at 1:23am.
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 4:46am/6:59pm
- Low: 11:28am
Special celebrations & commemorations today…
- Chaco Peace - Paraguay
- Independence Day - Philippines
- Dia dos Namorados (Valentine's Day) - Brazil
- Russia Day - Russia
- World Day Against Child Labor
- Crowded Nest Awareness Day
- International Falafel Day
- National Jerky Day
- National Peanut Butter Cookie Day
- Victims of Orlando, Florida Attack Day
- Superman Day
On this day in…
1099 - Crusade leaders visited the Mount of Olives where they met a hermit who urged them to assault Jerusalem.
1442 - Alfonso V of Aragon was crowned King of Naples.
1665 - England installed a municipal government in New York. It was the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.
1812 - Napoleon's invasion of Russia began.
1838 - The Iowa Territory was organized.
1839 - Abner Doubleday created the game of baseball, according to the legend.
1849 - Lewis Haslett patented a gas mask.
1897 - Carl Elsener patented his penknife. The object later became known as the Swiss army knife.
1898 - Philippine nationalists declared their independence from Spain.
1900 - The Reichstag approved a second law that would allow the expansion of the German navy.
1901 - Cuba agreed to become an American protectorate by accepting the Platt Amendment.
1918 - The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on World War I's Western Front in France.
1921 - U.S. President Warren Harding urged every young man to attend military training camp.
1923 - Harry Houdini, while suspended upside down 40 feet above the ground, escaped from a strait jacket.
1926 - Brazil quit the League of Nations in protest over plans to admit Germany.
1935 - U.S. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana made the longest speech on Senate record. The speech took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000 words.
1937 - The Soviet Union executed eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin.
1941 - In London, the Inter-Allied Declaration was signed. It was the first step towards the establishment of the United Nations.
1944 - Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung announced that he would support Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek in the war against Japan.
1963 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, MS.
1967 - State laws which prohibited interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1971 - Tricia Nixon and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.
1981 - Major league baseball players began a 49 day strike. The issue was free-agent compensation.
1987 - U.S. President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
1990 - The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declared its sovereignty.
1991 - Russians went to the election polls and elected Boris N. Yeltsin as the president of their republic.
2009 - In the U.S., The switch from analog TV transmission to digital was completed.
If today’s your birthday, you share it with…
- David Rockefeller 1915 - Banker
- Irwin Allen 1916 - Television and film producer, nicknamed "The Master of Disaster"
- Samuel Z. Arkoff 1918 - Movie producer
- Uta Hagen 1919 - Actress
- George H.W. Bush 1924 - 41st President of the United States, father of President George W. Bush
- Vic Damone 1928 - Singer
- Anne Frank 1929
- Jim Nabors 1930 - Actor, singer ("Gomer Pyle, USMC")
- Rona Jaffe 1932 - Novelist
- Chick Corea 1941 - Musician
- Marv Albert 1941 - Sportscaster
- Timothy Busfield 1957 - Actor ("The West Wing," "thirtysomething")
- Jenilee Harrison 1959 - Actress
- John Linnell 1959 - Musician (They Might Be Giants)
- Grandmaster Dee 1962 - Musician (Whodini)
- Paula Marshall 1964 - Actress ("Gary Unmarried")