Happy Birthday, Walt Whitman 1819-92 (and thank you!)
Today is Friday, May 31, 2019, the 151st day of the year, 214 days remaining and a mere 522 days until the next presidential election.
- Sunrise: 5:50am
- Sunset: 8:25pm
...giving us 14 hours and 34 minutes of daylight. 24% of the waning crescent moon visible, rising at 4:22am.
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 11:00am/10:22pm
- Low: 4:27am/3:56pm
Special celebrations & commemorations today…
- Armed Forces Day - Brunei Darussalam
- Dia de Castilla la Mancha - Spain
- International No Tobacco Day
- Reconciliation Week - Australia
- Heat Awareness Day
- Mike, The Headless Chicken Day
- Necrotizing Fasciitis Awareness Day
- Save Your Hearing Day
- What You Think Upon Grows Day
- World MS Day
- National Macaroon Day
On this day in…
1433 - Sigismund was crowned emperor of Rome.
1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed by theU.S. Congress.
1859 - The Philadelphia Athletics were formally organized to play the game of Town Ball.
1859 - In London, Big Ben went into operation.
1870 - E.J. DeSemdt patented asphalt.
1879 - New York's Madison Square Garden opened.
1880 - The firstU.S. national bicycle society was formed in Newport,RI. It was known as the League of American Wheelman.
1884 - Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented "flaked cereal."
1889 - In Johnstown,PA, more than 2,200 people died after the South Fork Dam collapsed.
1900 -U.S. troops arrived in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
1902 - The Boer War ended between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain with the Treaty of Vereeniging.
1907 - The first taxis arrived in New York City. They were the first in theUnited States.
1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held its first conference.
1910 - The Union of South Africa was founded.
1913 - The 17th Amendment went into effect. It provided for popular election ofU.S. senators.
1915 - A German zeppelin made an air raid on London.
1927 - Ford Motor Company produced the last "Tin Lizzie" in order to begin production of the Model A.
1929 - In Beverly,MA, the firstU.S. born reindeer were born.
1941 - The first issue of "Parade: The Weekly Picture Newspaper" went on sale.
1943 - "Archie" was aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System for the first time.
1947 - Communists seized control of Hungary.
1955 - TheU.S. Supreme Court ordered that all states must end racial segregation "with all deliberate speed."
1961 - South Africa became an independent republic.
1962 - Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann was a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust.
1970 - An earthquake in Peru killed tens of thousands of people.
1974 - Israel and Syria signed an agreement on the Golan Heights.
1977 - The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was finished after 3 years of construction.
1979 - Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence.
1994 - TheU.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.
1995 - Bob Dole singled out Time Warner for "the marketing of evil" in movies and music. Dole later admitted that he had not seen or heard much of what he had been criticizing.
2003 - InNorth Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- Alexander Cruden 1701
- Walt Whitman 1819 - Poet, essayist, journalist, humanist
- Fred Allen 1894
- Norman Vincent Peale 1898
- Don Ameche 1908
- Ellsworth Kelly 1923
- Prince Rainier III 1923
- Clint Eastwood 1930 - Actor ("Pale Rider")
- Shirley Verrett 1933
- Jim Hutton 1934
- Johnny Paycheck 1938
- Peter Yarrow 1938 - Musician (Peter, Paul and Mary)
- Joe Namath 1943 - Football player
- John Bonham 1948 - Musician (Led Zeppelin)
- Tom Berenger 1950 - Actor ("The Big Chill," "Platoon")
- Gregory Harrison 1950 - Actor
- Chris Elliot 1960 - Comedian
- Darryl "D.M.C." Matthews McDaniels 1964 - Rapper
- Brooke Shields 1965 - Actress
- Charlie Schlatter 1966
- Kenny Lofton 1967 - Baseball player
- Kurt Kelly 1969 - Voiceover artist
- Christian McBride 1972 - Musician
- Colin Farrell 1976 - Actor
