Happy Birthday and Happy Pigs in a Blanket Day! (See Below)
Thursday, April 24th
Day 115 Of The Year 2008
On This Day:
858: St Nicholas I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1704: The Boston News-Letter, the first successful newspaper in U.S., begins publication
1792: “La Marseillaise” composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle
1800: The Library of Congress is founded with a $5000 allocation
1833: A patent is granted for the first soda fountain
1865: San Francisco Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph system is put into operation
1871: The opera “Aida” is produced (Cairo)
1877: Last federal occupying troops withdraw from south (New Orleans)
1880: The Amateur Athletic Association, governing body for men's athletics in England and Wales, is founded in Oxford England
1888: The Eastman Kodak Company forms
1891: Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure “Final Problem”
1895: Joshua Slocum completes his around-the-world, solo circumnavigation of the Earth in an 11-m boat
1897: The first reporter, William Price, is assigned to the White House
1898: Spain declares war on the U.S., rejecting the ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba
1900: Andrew Halliday, cable car pioneer, dies
1908: Mr & Mrs Jacob Murdock become the first to travel across the U.S. by car (they leave LA in a Packard & arrive in NYC in 32 days, 5 hours and 25 minutes)
1909: Harry Hillman & Lawson Robertson run the 100m 3-legged race in 11 seconds
1915: Massacre of Armenians by Turks (Armenian Martyrs Day)
1915: Pittsburgh Pirate Frank Allen no-hits St. Louis (Federal League), 2-0
1916: The Easter rebellion of Irish against British occupation begins
1928: H G Dorsey patents the fathometer
1929: The first non-stop England to India flight takes off
1933: **** Bartell becomes the first major league player to get 4 consecutive doubles in 9 innings
1934: Laurens Hammond is granted a patent for the first pipeless organ (it will start being sold in just under a year's time)
1944: The first Boeing B-29 arrives in China “over the Hump”
1953: Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
1954: The first American, civilian pilot, P.R. Holden, is wounded in Indochina
1961: JFK accepts “sole responsibility” following the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs incursion into Cuba
1961: The Vasa is raised (sunk on her maiden voyage in 1628)
1962: Sandy Koufax's 2nd 18-strikeout game
1968: Leftist students take over Columbia University (NYC)
1969: Paul McCartney says their is no truth to the rumors that he is dead
1970: China PR launches its first satellite transmitting song “East is Red”
1970: Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth
1971: Sviet shuttle Soyuz 10 returns to Earth
1975: Penguins 1-Isles 4 in the quarterfinals series (tied at 3 games each)
1980: An attempt to rescue the Iranian Hostages goes bad. 8 die and 5 are wounded when two helicopters collide.
1981: Bill Shoemaker wins his 8,000th race, 2000 more than any other jockey
1981: The IBM “Personal Computer” (PC) is introduced (uses software from a company named Microsoft)
1984: Oiler's Wayne Gretzky is 3rd to score on a Stanley Cup penalty shot
1989: 10's of thousands of students strikes in Beijing China
1989: Massachusetts declares today “New Kids on the Block Day”
1990: Hubble Space Telescope put into orbit by shuttle Discovery.
1990: Security law violator Michael Milken pleads guilty to 6 felonies
1990: U.S. 66th manned space mission STS 31 (Discovery 10) launches into orbit
1990: West & East Germany agree to merge currency & economies on July 1st
1990: The Discovery space shuttle blasts off from Cape Canaveral Florida carrying the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit 381 miles above the Earth, carrying a 94.5 inch primary mirror with several instrument packages and cameras able to record various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and to take astronomic photographs above the Earth's atmosphere (despite its $1.5 billion cost, it is soon discovered that the curve to which the primary mirror was ground was incorrect, requiring a Space Shuttle mission to fix in December, 1993, by installing a corrective optics system; the Hubble Telescope thene returned stunning photos and data otherwise impossible to obtain on Earth; in February, 2002, a second Space Shuttle mission installed the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which covers twice the area, has twice the sharpness, and is up to five times more sensitive to light)
1991: Calling it “simply not enough”, an Alaskan judge rejects the agreement reached with Exxon on March 13th of $1 billion for the Valdeze Oil Spill
1996: The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.
2002: After yesterday's meeting at the Vatican, American Roman Catholic leaders agree to make it easier to remove priests who are guilty of sexually abusing minors
Born On This Day:
1620: John Graunt, statistician, founded the science of demography (388 years ago)
1743: Edmund Cartwright, England, cleric, inventor (power loom) (265 years ago)
1766: Robert Bailey Thomas, founded Farmer's Almanac (242 years ago)
1769: Arthur Wellesley, General/Duke of Wellington (239 years ago)
1791: Nikolaj A Bestoezjev, Russia, writer/painter (Account about Holland) (217 years ago)
1804: Thomas Oliver Selfridge, Comm (Union Navy) (204 years ago)
1807: Charles Ferguson Smith, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1862 (201 years ago)
1814: Vincente F Lopez, Argentina historian (La novia del hereje) (194 years ago)
1815: Anthony Trollope, England, novelist/poet (Barchester Towers) (193 years ago)
1815: James Edward Harrison, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1875 (193 years ago)
1822: Erastus Barnard Tyler, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers) (186 years ago)
1824: Fournier, Swiss/French postage stamp designer (184 years ago)
1828: Robert Brank Vance, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1899 (180 years ago)
1829: George Peabody Estey, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1881 (179 years ago)
1837: Friedrich von Holstein, German diplomat (die graue Eminenz) (171 years ago)
1845: Carl Spitteler, Switz, poet (Prometheus & Epimetheus, Nobel 1919) (163 years ago)
1849: Joseph S Gallieni, general (Battle of Marne)/milt governor (Paris) (159 years ago)
1851: Eduardo Acevedo Diaz, Uruguaian writer (Ismael, Grito de Gloria) (157 years ago)
1856: Henri POBJ Petain, French marshal (Verdun/Vichy regime) (152 years ago)
1867: Fannie Thomas, became oldest known American (113 y 273 d at death) (141 years ago)
1873: Theodor Korner von Siegringen, Austrian general/president (135 years ago)
1874: John Russell Pope, U.S., architect (Jefferson Memorial) (134 years ago)
1874: Willem E Roelofs, painter/cartoonist (134 years ago)
1883: Jaroslav Hasek, Czech writer (Brave soldier Schweik) (125 years ago)
1897: Benjamin Lee Whorf, linguist (or 1797) (111 years ago)
1903: Jose A Primo de Rivera y Saenz de Heredia, founder (Spanish Falange) (105 years ago)
1903: Mike Michalske, NFL guard (NY Yankees, Green Bay Packers) (105 years ago)
1904: Friedrich Siemens, German industrialist, dies (104 years ago)
1904: Willem De Kooning, Netherlands, artist (North Atlantic Light) (104 years ago)
1905: Robert Penn Warren, first U.S. poet laureate (All the King's Men) (103 years ago)
1909: Bernhard Grzimek, zoologist (West Germany) (99 years ago)
1911: Jack E Leonard, Chicago IL, comedian (Disorderly Orderly) (97 years ago)
1911: Robert Joseph Kane, Ithaca NY, Pres of U.S. Olympic Comm (1976) (97 years ago)
1916: Stanley Kauffmann, NYC, playwright (Red Handkerchief Man) (92 years ago)
1922: J D Cannon, Salmon Idaho, actor (McCloud, Ike, Call to Glory) (86 years ago)
1924: Marilyn Erskine, Rochester NY, actor (Fran-Tom Ewell Show) (84 years ago)
1927: Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, 1500m runner (Olympic-gold-1952) (81 years ago)
1931: Bridget Riley, British painter (op-art) (77 years ago)
1932: Coen(rad) Flink, actor (76 years ago)
1934: John Barbour, Toronto, TV host (Real People) (74 years ago)
1934: Shirley MacLaine, Richmond Virginia, actress/mystic (Irma la Douce) (74 years ago)
1935: Louis Keith, Chicago, physician (expert on multiple-births) (73 years ago)
1936: Jill Ireland, London, actress (Breakout, Assassination, Chino) (72 years ago)
1941: John Williams, Melbourne Australia, guitarist (Acad Award) (67 years ago)
1942: Barbra Streisand, Brooklyn NY, singer/actress/award winner (People) (66 years ago)
1945: Doug Clifford, rock drummer (Creedence Clearwater Revival-Proud Mary) (63 years ago)
1947: Glenn Cornick, rock bassist (Jethro Tull-Thick as a Brick) (61 years ago)
1948: Eddie James Hart, Martinez California, 4x100m relay runner (Olympic-gold-72) (60 years ago)
1953: Eric Bogosian, actor (Talk Radio) (55 years ago)
1953: John P Hiler, (Rep-R-IN, 1981- ) (55 years ago)
1953: Porter Carroll Jr, drummer (Atlantic Star-Touch a 4 Leaf Clover) (55 years ago)
1954: Captain Sensible (Ray Burns), UK, rock bassist (Women & Capts 1st) (54 years ago)
1954: Jack Blades, rocker (Damn Yankees-Coming of Age) (54 years ago)
1954: Vince Ferragamo, NFL/CFL quarterback (LA Rams, Montreal Alouettes) (54 years ago)
1955: Jack Kingston, (Rep-R-Georgia) (53 years ago)
1955: Michael O'Keefe, actor (53 years ago)
1957: Tricia Lange, Hollywood CA, playmate (June, 1984) (51 years ago)
1960: Paula Yates, London England, Mrs Bob Geldof/rocker/writer (Blondes) (48 years ago)
1963: Joey Vera, heavy metal rocker (Armored Saint-Aftermath) (45 years ago)
1971: Colleen Quinn, actress (Carly Rescott-Loving) (37 years ago)
1976: Shane McDermott, actor (Garrett Booth-Swan's Crossing) (32 years ago)
And Don't Forget, Today Is:
· (Armenia) Armenian Martyrs' Day (1915)
· (U.S.) National Pigs In A Blanket Day
· Genocide Day - a day all Armenians remember to mark the slaughter of 1.5 million people at the hands of the Turks in 1915.