This Day in History

[xoxoxoBruce]

Today is Cinco de Mayo.

The Mexican St Patrick's day, when Americans get stupid drunk to celebrate then berate Mexicans tomorrow for the hangover.

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He did a lot of work with unwed mothers, too.

Y'know, just helping them get a start.

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Ima pass out now.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Today is also "Lord, If I Get Through This, I'll Cut Way Back. Promise." Day.

It's not nice to lie to the lord... again.

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The 'd' in day in the above post title should be a capital D.

Sorry.

Sorry urrbody.

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That does it. That just ruined my day.

Sigh.

I guess there's nothing to do now but get drunk. Man, good thing it's bucket night.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The small d drove you to drink?

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Actually, it was the lack of a big D.

Meh. It was the first excuse I could come up with.

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Today is May 11.

Today Minnesota celebrates becoming the 32nd state, don'tcha know.

And, risking a reeeally bad typo, today is Nisga'a Day, celebrating the Nisga'a Final Agreement. So...Whir my Nisga'as at? I want all my Nisga'as to put ya hands in da ayuh, and wave 'em like ya just don't cayuh!


Events

868 – A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book.

1502 – Christopher Columbus departs Cádiz on his fourth and final voyage to the Americas.

1647 – Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City. Stuyvesant is one of the namesakes of the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, aka Bed-Stuy, or sometimes Stuyford (combination(s) of Village of Bedford, and Stuyvesant Heights).

1792 – Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented white person to sail into the Columbia River.

1846 – President James K. Polk asked for a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War. It is approved on May 13.

1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. State.

1889 – An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 (<--~$694,000 in 2017 dollars) and the award of two Medals of Honor.

1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.

1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.

1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill



is hit by two kamikazes, within 30 seconds, killing 346 of its crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under its own power.

1970 – The Lubbock tornado, a F5 tornado, hits Lubbock, Texas, killing 26 and causing $250 million (<--$1,569,606,958 in 2017 dollars) in damage.

1974 - Led Zeppelin attended an Elvis Presley show at the Los Angeles Forum in California. After a shaky start to the show, Elvis stopped the band and jokingly said: ‘Wait a minute, if we can start together fellas, because we’ve got Led Zeppelin out there, lets try to look like we know what we're doing.’ All four members of Zeppelin met with Elvis after the show, spending over 2 hours backstage. Elvis asked for all the group’s autographs for his daughter Lisa Marie.

1981 - Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley died of lung cancer and a brain tumor aged 36.

1985 – Bradford City stadium fire: Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in a flash fire at Valley Parade football ground during a match against Lincoln City in Bradford, England.

1996 – After the aircraft's departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.

1996 – The 1996 Mount Everest disaster: on a single day eight people die during summit attempts on Mount Everest.

1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer,



defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

2011 - One of the rarest rock t-shirts in the world sold for $10,000 (£6096.00), the largest sum ever paid for a vintage t-shirt. The record-setting sale of a 1979 Led Zeppelin t-shirt on eBay was sold by Kyle Ermatinger of Stormcrow Vintage. The recent completion of the transaction placed the purchase as the world's rarest and most expensive vintage t-shirt.



1720 – Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen, Baron Munchausen, 1799 – John Lowell, Jr. (founded Lowell Institute), 1811 – Chang and Eng Bunker, 1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks (26th VPOTUS), 1875 – Harriet Quimby, 1888 – Irving Berlin, 1894 – Martha Graham, 1904 – Salvador Dalí



1911 – Phil Silvers, 1912 – Foster Brooks, 1918 – Richard Feynman, 1920 – Denver Pyle ('Uncle Jesse' on The Dukes of Hazzard), 1927 – Mort Sahl, 1932 – Valentino Garavani (founded Valentino SpA), 1933 – Louis Farrakhan, 1941 – Eric Burdon (The Animals), 1946 – Robert Jarvik (developed the artificial heart), 1947 – Butch Trucks(Allman Bros), 1952 – Frances Fisher, 1959 – Martha Quinn (one of the original MTV Veejays), 1963 – Natasha Richardson, 1964 – Tim Blake Nelson ('Delmar' in O, Brother Where Art Thou), 1982 – Cory Monteith, 1989 – Cam Newton



1871 – John Herschel, 1889 – John Cadbury (yeah, that Cadbury), 1891 – Edmond Becquerel, 1979 – Lester Flatt(Flatt & Scruggs), 1981 – Bob Marley, 1985 – Chester Gould (created Dick Tracy), 2001 – Douglas Adams, 2002 – Joseph 'Joe Bananas' Bonanno (boss of the Bonanno crime family), 2003 – Noel Redding(Jimi Hendrix Experience), 2006 – Floyd Patterson

[Gravdigr]

I think it's a bit strange that the 1996 Mount Everest disaster just happens to have occurred in 1996.

[xoxoxoBruce]

1889 – An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 (<--~$694,000 in 2017 dollars) and the award of two Medals of Honor.

Paymaster Major Wham picked up the payroll from the train, paid the first 2 forts then headed for the third with 4 wagons, 11 Buffalo soldiers, a civilian, a woman, and 250 lbs of gold and silver coin.

They were attacked by 11 civilians who wounded 8 solders and stole the payroll. All 11 were found not guilty at a trial by their peers, and no money recovered.

The 8 Certificates of Merit went to the wounded I guess. But 2 medals of Honor? For losing the payroll?

[Gravdigr]

Today is May 12.

The 2nd Amendment, "The Right to Bear Arms; One American Right Protecting All Others", is being celebrated today in Pennsylvania.

International Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day, and International Nurses Day are also observed today.


Events

1846 – The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.

1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.

1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Jr., is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.

1937 – The Duke and Duchess of York are crowned as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Westminster Abbey.

1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3,



the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

1942 – World War II: The U.S. tanker SS Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German submarine U-507.

1967 - Pink Floyd appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, giving a special concert Games For May - Space Age Relaxation For The Climate Of Spring. This was reportedly the first show to include loudspeakers placed at the back of the hall to give a 'sound in the round', ie quadraphonic, effect. The sound system, developed by EMI technicians, was stolen after the show and not recovered for some years.

1968 - Brian Jones made his final live appearance with The Rolling Stones.

1989 – The San Bernardino train disaster kills four people. A week later an underground gasoline pipeline explodes killing two more people.

1996 - 17-year-old Bernadette O'Brien died the day after being injured while 'body crowd surfing'



at a Smashing Pumpkins gig at The Point, Dublin.

2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

2008 - Singer-songwriter Neil Young had a spider named after him. US university biologist Jason Bond discovered a new species of trapdoor spider



and decided to name it after his favourite musician. Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi was found in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 2007.

2008 – An earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.

2008 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.

2015 – A train derailment in Philadelphia kills eight people and injures more than 200.



1820 – Florence Nightingale, 1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, 1889 – Otto Frank, 1907 – Katharine Hepburn, 1918 – Mary Kay Ash ("Paint that mother pink."), 1918 – Julius Rosenberg, 1925 – Yogi Berra, 1928 – Burt Bacharach, 1935 – Felipe Alou, 1936 – Tom Snyder, 1937 – George Carlin, 1939 – Ron Ziegler, 1942 – Billy Swan, 1945 – Ian McLagan, 1948 – Lindsay Crouse, 1948 – Steve Winwood, 1950 – Bruce Boxleitner, 1950 – Gabriel Byrne, 1950 – Billy Squier, 1955 – Kix Brooks (Brooks & Dunn), 1958 – Eric Singer(KISS, Badlands, ESP, Lita Ford, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Gary Moore), 1959 – Ray Gillen (Badlands, Black Sabbath), 1959 – Ving Rhames, 1961 – Billy Duffy (The Cult), 1962 – Emilio Estevez, 1963 – Vanessa A. Williams, 1966 – Stephen Baldwin, 1968 – Tony Hawk, 1969 – Kim Fields ('Tootie' on The Facts Of Life), 1970 – Jim Furyk, 1970 – Samantha Mathis, 1978 – Jason Biggs (American Pie movies)



1748 – Thomas Lowndes, 1864 – J. E. B. Stuart, 1925 – Amy Lowell, 1944 – Max Brand, 1957 – Erich von Stroheim, 1992 – Robert Reed (the dad on The Brady Bunch), 2000 – Adam Petty(son of Richard Petty (1st 4th generation NASCAR driver, killed (basilar skull fracture)in crash when his throttle stuck open), 2001 – Perry Como, 2001 – Alexei Tupolev, 2008 – Robert Rauschenberg, 2014 – H. R. Giger

[xoxoxoBruce]

Salute to nurses with bare arms, and all too often, chronic fatigue.

[Gravdigr]

Today is May 13.

Abbotsbury Garland Day is celebrated today in Abbotsbury, Dorset, England.


Events

1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in early Tennessee.

1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia.

1846 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.

1861 – The Great Comet of 1861



is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.

1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: In far south Texas, the last organized land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.

1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.

1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.

1940 – World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.

1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.

1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, the Half-Safe,



having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.

1969 - Led Zeppelin became one of the first major British rock group to appear in Hawaii, when they appeared at The Civic Auditorium, Honolulu. A review in the Honolulu Advertiser stated: 'The showmanship exceeded any rock performance here to date. I wondered before the concert if Led Zeppelin could sound as good as their Atlantic album – they sounded better'.

1970 - The world premiere of The Beatles film 'Let It Be'



took place in New York City. The film which was originally planned as a television documentary features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public. Released just after the album, it was the final original Beatles release.

1972 – The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured.

1971 - On his twenty-first birthday Stevie Wonder received all his childhood earnings. Despite having earned $30 million so far, he received only $1 million.

1980 – An F3 tornado strikes the heart of downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, killing 5, injuring 79, leaving 1,200 homeless, and doing $50 million ($147,817,354 in 2017 dollars) in damage in a path 11 miles long. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.

1981 – Pope John Paul II was shot and critically wounded in an assassination attempt in St Peter's Square, Vatican City.

1985 – Police release a bomb on MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.

1995 – Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.

1996 - Oasis became the fastest selling group in UK history after all 330,000 tickets for their summer shows sold out in just nine hours.

2008 - The US Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honour of Frank Sinatra.



The design showed a 1950s-vintage image of Sinatra.

2012 - Donald Dunn, bassist with Booker T and the MG's died in his sleep after playing a show at the Blue Note night club in Tokyo the night before.

2012 – Forty-nine dismembered bodies are discovered by Mexican authorities on Mexican Federal Highway 40.



1221 – Alexander Nevsky, 1904 – Louis Duffus, 1907 – Daphne du Maurier, 1914 – Joe Louis, 1914 – Johnnie Wright♪ ♫(Johnnie & Jack, married to Kitty Wells), 1922 – Bea Arthur, 1927 – Fred Hellerman♪ ♫(The Weavers), 1931 – Jim Jones (leader of The Peoples Temple cult), 1939 – Harvey Keitel, 1941 – Ritchie Valens, 1943 – Mary Wells, 1945 – Magic Dick(J. Geils Band), 1950 – Danny Kirwan♪ ♫(Fleetwood Mac), 1950 – Stevie Wonder, 1951 – Paul Thompson(Roxy Music), 1952 – John Kasich, 1961 – Dennis Rodman, 1964 – Stephen Colbert, 1965 – Lari White (appears in the beginning and end of the Tom Hanks movie CastAway, at the end she gives Hanks directions on the road at the end of her driveway), 1966 – Darius Rucker, 1969 – Buckethead, 1977 – Samantha Morton, 1978 – Mike Bibby, 1986 – Lena Dunham, 1986 – Robert Pattinson



1884 – Cyrus McCormick (co-founded the International Harvester Company), 1961 – Gary Cooper, 1972 – Dan Blocker, 1975 – Bob Wills♪ ♫, 1977 – Mickey Spillane, 2001 – Jason Miller ('Father Damien' in The Exorcist), 2012 – Donald "Duck" Dunn(Booker T. & The M.G.s), 2013 – Dr. Joyce Brothers

[Gravdigr]

How'd he die?

He died in the war.

Oh. What happened?

He was puckled.

Ooh, snap!