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KALW Almanac - Friday 6/12/20

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")

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.