Day 151 - This day in legal and military history

May 31
 
WORLD No Tobacco Day
 
NATIONAL Macaroon Day
 
NATIONAL Save Your Hearing Day
 
NATIONAL Speak in Sentences Day
 
NATIONAL Senior Health and Fitness Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1790 The first US Copyright Law was enacted, protecting books, maps, and other original materials
 
1879 New York’s Madison Square Garden opens its doors for the first time

1889 Heavy rains caused the South Fork Dam to collapse, sending 20 million tons of water into Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Over 2,200 people were killed and the town was nearly destroyed.
 
1909 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) holds its first conference
 
1913 The 17th amendment to the US Constitution, providing for direct election of senators, is ratified
 
1955 The Supreme Court orders that states must end racial segregation “with all deliberate speed”
 
1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono record “Give Peace a Chance”
 
1971 In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the US Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30

Day 150 - This day in legal and military history

May 30
 
NATIONAL Water a Flower Day
 
NATIONAL Hole in my Bucket Day
 
NATIONAL Mint Julep Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1431 Joan of Arc is declared a heretic and burned at the stake by the English
 
1783 The first American daily newspaper, The Pennsylvania Evening Post, begins publishing in Philadelphia
 
1848 William Young patents the ice cream freezer
 
1854 The Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise
 
1868 Memorial Day begins when two women place flowers on both Confederate and Union graves
 
1889 The brassiere is invented
 
1958 Unknown soldiers of WWII & Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery

 1962 The USS 'Arizona' Memorial dedicated in Pearl Harbor
 
2003 The US government lowered the terrorist threat level from orange to yellow

Day 149 - This day in legal and military history

May 29
 
Memorial Day

NATIONAL Learn About Composting Day
 
NATIONAL Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day
 
NATIONAL Paper Clip Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history 

1765 Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act in the Virginia House of Burgesses
 
1790 Rhode Island becomes the last of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the Constitution.  They held out for an amendment securing religious freedom. The state was largely founded by Baptists fleeing persecution in Massachusetts.
 
1848 Wisconsin becomes the thirtieth state
 
1865 President Andrew Johnson issues general amnesty for all Confederates
 
1911 The Indianapolis 500 is run for the first time
 
1913 The premier of the ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) in Paris causes rioting in the theater
 
1922 The US Supreme Court rules organized baseball is a sport not subject to antitrust laws
 
1942 Bing Crosby recorded his version of “White Christmas.” It would go on to sell over 30 million copies.
 
1943 US begins meat and cheese rationing
 
1943 Norman Rockwell’s portrait of “Rosie the Riveter” appeared on the cover of “The Saturday Evening Post.” Rockwell’s model was Mary Keefe (19) of Arlington, Vermont. In 2002 the painting sold at auction for $4,959,500.
 
1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first men to reach the top of Mount Everest
 
1968 Last Monday of the month. Memorial Day, which began in 1868 as Decoration Day, was set aside to remember those who have died in the service of their country. Celebrated on May 30 for the first 100 years, Memorial Day was officially changed to the last Monday in May in 1968.

Day 148 - This day in legal and military history

May 28
 
Amnesty International Day
 
NATIONAL Hamburger Day 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1929 The first all-color, full-length talking picture, On With the Show!, debuted
 
1953 Melody, the first animated 3-D cartoon in Technicolor, premiers
 
1957 Baseball owners vote to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to move to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively. Many New Yorkers still haven’t recovered.
 
1961 Amnesty International, a human rights organization, is founded
 
1980 First 55 women graduate from the US Naval Academy
 
2002 The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.
 
2002 The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars

Day 147 - This day in legal and military history

May 27
 
INTERNATIONAL Jazz Day
 
NATIONAL Sun Screen Day
 
NATIONAL Cellophane Tape Day
 
NATIONAL Grape Popsicle Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1647 Achsah Young becomes the first woman known to be executed as a witch in Massachusetts
 
1668 Three colonists are expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists
 
1907 The Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco
 
1935 The Supreme Court declares President Franklin Roosevelt‘s National Recovery Act unconstitutional
 
1936 The Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage, arriving in France four hours later
 
1937 San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge opens

1969 Construction begins on Walt Disney World in Florida

Day 146 - This day in legal and military history

May 26
 
NATIONAL Sally Ride Day 

NATIONAL Dracula Day
 
NATIONAL Blueberry Cheesecake Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1521 Martin Luther's writings were banned by the Edict of Worms
 
1647 A new law bans Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts. The penalty is banishment or death for a second offense.
 
1864 The territory of Montana is organized
 
1868 President Andrew Johnson avoided conviction for impeachment charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors" by one vote
 
1946 A patent is filed in the United States for the H-bomb
 
1972 President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Communist Party chief Leonid Brezhnev signed in Moscow an arms reduction agreement that became known as SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)
 
1977 The movie Star Wars debuts
 
1977 George Willig, "the human fly," scaled the World Trade Center in New York City by attaching himself to the window washer mechanism and walking straight up until falling into police custody when he reached the top. It took Willig three and a half hours to make the climb, and cost him $1.10 in fines - one penny per floor.
 
2004 A District court jury in McAlester, Oklahoma, convicted Terry Nichols of 161 counts of first degree murder in the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing
 
2011 The United States Congress votes to approve a four year extension of powers in the USA PATRIOT Act and President Barack Obama signs it into law

Day 145 - This day in legal and military history

May 25
 
NATIONAL Missing Children's Day
 
NATIONAL Brown Bag-It Day
 
NATIONAL Wine Day
 
NATIONAL Tap Dance Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1787 The Constitutional convention opens at Philadelphia with George Washington presiding
 
1965 Muhammad Ali knocked Sonny Liston out cold in the first round, after 1 minute and 56 seconds, for the world heavyweight title

Day 144 - This day in legal and military history

May 24
 
NATIONAL Escargot Day
 
NATIONAL Tiara Day
 
NATIONAL Scavenger Hunt Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1543 Nicolaus Copernicus publishes proof of a sun-centered solar system. He dies just after publication.
 
1607 Captain Christopher Newport and 105 followers found the colony of Jamestown at the mouth of the James River on the coast of Virginia
 
1738 The Methodist Church is established
 
1764 Boston lawyer James Otis denounces “taxation without representation,” calling for the colonies to unite in opposition to Britain’s new tax measures
 
1844 Samuel Morse taps out the first telegraph message
 
1883 The Brooklyn Bridge opens

 1940 Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight
 
1958 The United Press and the International News Service merged to form United Press International (UPI)

Day 143 - This day in legal and military history

May 23
 
NATIONAL Lucky Penny Day
 
NATIONAL Turtle Day
 
NATIONAL Taffy Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1785 Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals
 
1788 South Carolina becomes the eighth US state
 
1830 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began the first passenger service in the United States
 
1873 The North West Mounted Police force, later known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was formed in Canada 

1911 The New York Public Library opens its main building, on Fifth Avenue
 
1949 The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) is formally established as a separate nation
 
1977 The US Supreme Court refused to hear appeals of former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman & John Mitchell in connection with their Watergate convictions

Day 142 - This day in legal and military history

May 22
 
WORLD Goth Day
 
NATIONAL Buy a Musical Instrument Day
 
NATIONAL Maritime Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1849 Abraham Lincoln received patent number 6469 for his floating dry dock
 
1906 The Wright brothers are granted US patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”
 
1947 The first US ballistic missile was fired
 
1967 The children’s program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood premiers
 
1972 Ceylon becomes the Republic of Sri Lanka as its constitution is ratified
 
1973 President Nixon confessed his role in the Watergate cover-up
 
1985 Baseball player Pete Rose passes Hank Aaron as National League run scoring leader with 2,108
 
1992 Johnny Carson’s final appearance on The Tonight Show on NBC, after 30 years as the program’s host
 
2004 An EF4 tornado with a record-setting width of 2.5 miles wipes out Hallam, Nebraska, killing 1 person
 
2011 An EF5 tornado kills at least 158 people in Joplin, Missouri, the largest death toll from a tornado since record-keeping began in 1950

Day 141 - This day in legal and military history

May 21
 
NATIONAL Memo Day
 
NATIONAL Waiters and Waitresses Day
 
NATIONAL Talk Like Yoda Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1881 The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton
 
1927 Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (from New York to Paris) in his monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis

1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (from Newfoundland to Ireland)
 
1956 The first hydrogen bomb to be dropped by air exploded over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific
 
1989 In Hong Kong, approximately one million people took to the streets to show their support for students protesting for democratic reforms in China’s Tiananmen Square

Day 140 - This day in legal and military history

May 20
 
NATIONAL Armed Forces Day [third Saturday of May]
 
NATIONAL Learn to Swim Day [third Saturday of May]
 
NATIONAL Be a Millionaire Day
 
NATIONAL Pick Strawberries Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1861 North Carolina becomes the 11th and last state to secede from the Union
 
1862 President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, providing 250 million acres of free land to settlers in the West. The Act allows adults over the age of 21, male or female, to claim 160 acres of land from the public domain.
 
1874 Levi Strauss begins marketing blue jeans with copper rivets
 
1944 US Communist Party dissolved
 
1990 The Hubble Space Telescope sent back its first photographs

Day 139 - This day in legal and military history

May 19
 
NATIONAL Boys Club Day
 
NATIONAL Bike to Work Day [third Friday of May]
 
NATIONAL Endangered Species Day [third Friday of May]
 
NATIONAL Pizza Party Day [third Friday of May]
 
NATIONAL Devil's Food Cake Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1921 Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, which established national quotas for immigrants entering the United States
 
1928 The first annual Calaveras County "Frog Jumping Jubilee" was held in Angel's Camp, California

 1958 The United States and Canada formally established the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
 
1964 US diplomats find at least 40 microphones planted in the American embassy in Moscow
 
2013 US Navy dolphins find a rare nineteenth-century torpedo off the coast of California

Day 138 - This day in legal and military history

May 18
 
INTERNATIONAL Museum Day
 
NATIONAL No Dirty Dishes Day
 
NATIONAL Visit Your Relatives Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1642 The city of Montreal was founded by the French
 
1861 Arkansas admitted to the Confederate States of America
 
1896 The Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson upholds the “separate but equal” policy in the United States
 
1917 The US Congress passes the Selective Service act, calling up soldiers to fight World War I
 
1942 New York ends night baseball games for the rest of World War II
 
1951 The United Nations moves its headquarters to New York City
 
1980 After rumbling for two months, Mount Saint Helens, in Washington, erupts 3 times in 24 hours

Day 137 - This day in legal and military history

May 17
 
WORLD Telecommunications Day
 
NATIONAL Pack Rat Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1792 The New York Stock Exchange was established when a group of 24 brokers and merchants met by a tree on what is now Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement
 
1875 The first Kentucky Derby is run at Churchill Downs in Louisville Kentucky
 
2006 The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef

Day 136 - This day in legal and military history

May 16
 
NATIONAL Love a Tree Day
 
NATIONAL Sea Monkey Day
 
NATIONAL Wear Purple for Peace Day
 
NATIONAL Biographers Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1861 Tennessee officially admitted to the Confederacy. Kentucky proclaims its neutrality.
 
1884 Alaska became a US territory
 
1928 The first Academy Awards are held in Hollywood
 
1941 The Irving Berlin musical, Annie Get Your Gun, opened on Broadway
 
1954 The US Supreme Court unanimously rules for school integration in Brown v. Board of Education
 
1991 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the US Congress. 

2011 Due to massive flooding along the river, the United States Coast Guard closes 15 miles of the Mississippi River near Natchez, Mississippi

Day 135 - This day in legal and military history

May 15
 
NATIONAL Chocolate Chip Day
 
NATIONAL Nylon Stocking Day
 
NATIONAL Peace Officers Memorial Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1756 The Seven Years War, a global conflict known in America as the French and Indian War, officially begins when England declares war on France
 
1820 The US Congress designated the slave trade as a form of piracy
 
1862 The US Department of Agriculture was created by an act of Congress
 
1911 The Standard Oil Company, headed by John D. Rockefeller, was ordered dissolved by the Supreme Court, under the Sherman Antitrust Act
 
1918 The first air mail route in the US was established between New York and Washington, DC, with a stop at Philadelphia
 
1930 Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess
 
1939 Dupont introduces nylon
 
1940 First successful test flight of an American helicopter, Vought-Sikorsky US-300
 
1942 The United States begins rationing gasoline
 
1953 Cubmaster Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, in Manhattan Beach, California, by Pack 280c

1958 Sputnik III is launched by the Soviet Union

Day 134 - This day in legal and military history

May 14
 
Mother's Day
 
NATIONAL Dance Like a Chicken Day 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1796 English physician Edward Jenner gives the first successful smallpox vaccination
 
1897 Guglielmo Marconi sends the first communication by wireless telegraph
 
1897 “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Phillip Sousa is performed for the first time in Philadelphia
 
1904 The Olympic Games were held in the United States for the first time, in St. Louis, Missouri
 
1948 Israel declares independence
 
1973 The US space station Skylab is launched
 
1973 US Supreme court approved equal rights to females in military

Day 133 - This day in legal and military history

May 13

INTERNATIONAL Migratory Bird Day [second Saturday in May]
 
NATIONAL Train Day [Saturday closest to May 10]

NATIONAL Archery Day [second Saturday in May]
 
NATIONAL Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Day [second Saturday in May]
 
NATIONAL Miniature Golf Day [second Saturday in May]
 
NATIONAL Frog Jumping Day
 
NATIONAL Leprechaun Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1607 Some 100 English colonists settle along the west bank of the James River in Virginia to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America
 
1939 The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.
 
1958 The trademark Velcro is registered
 
1981 Pope John Paul II survives an assassination attempt

Day 132 - This day in legal and military history

May 12

NATIONAL Military Spouse Day [Friday before Mother's Day]
 
NATIONAL Limerick Day
 
NATIONAL Nutty Fudge Day
 
NATIONAL Fibromyalgia Day
 
NATIONAL Odometer Day 

[The odometer is the digital number at the bottom]

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1870 Manitoba became a province of Canada
 
1935 Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio
 
2008 Tens of thousands killed and thousands injured when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan Provinces in western China

Day 131 - This day in legal and military history

May 11
 
NATIONAL Eat What You Want Day 

Cherry Cheesecake - the world's most delicious food

NATIONAL Twilight Zone Day 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1858 Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd US state
 
1866 Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after spending two years in prison for his role in the American Civil War
 
1916 Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity was presented
 
1949 Siam changed its name to Thailand
 
1997 IBM's supercomputer, Deep Blue, defeated Garry Kasparov, the reigning world champion, in a six game chess match (2 for blue, 1 for Kasparov, and 3 ties)

Day 130 - This day in legal and military history

May 10

NATIONAL Clean Up Your Room Day
 
NATIONAL Receptionist Day [second Wednesday in May]
 
NATIONAL Third Shift Workers Day [second Wednesday in May]
 
NATIONAL School Nurses Day [Wednesday of National Nurses Week]
 
NATIONAL Bike to School Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1773 To keep the troubled East India Company afloat, Parliament passes the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the American colonies
 
1869 The Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, creating the first transcontinental railroad

1872 Victoria Woodhull becomes first the woman nominated for US president
 
1924 J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
 
1928 WGY-TV in Schenectady, New York, begins regular television programming
 
1960 The USS Nautilus completes the first circumnavigation of the globe underwater
 
1994 Nelson Mandela is sworn in as South Africa’s first black president

Day 129 - This day in legal and military history

May 9
 
NATIONAL Lost Sock Memorial Day 

NATIONAL Sleepover Day
 
NATIONAL Teacher Appreciation Day [Tuesday of the first full week in May]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1754 The first newspaper political cartoon in America appears
 
1864 Union General John Sedgwick is shot and killed by a Confederate sharpshooter during fighting at Spotsylvania. His last words are: “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist–“
 
1914 Mother's Day became a public holiday
 
1962 A laser beam is successfully bounced off the moon for the first time
 
1962 The Beatles signed their first recording contract and hired George Martin to be their producer
 
1974 The House Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on Nixon impeachment
 
1984 It took the Chicago White Sox 25 innings - eight hours and six minutes, spread over two days - to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6. It was the longest game in elapsed time in major-league history.

A to Z Challenge 2017 – Reflections

This was my third challenge.  In 2015 I blogged about LEGAL DEFINITIONS.  In 2016 I blogged about MILITARY DEFINITIONS.  And now, in 2017, I blogged about SUPREME COURT CASES THAT CHANGED LIFE IN THE US.  To keep with the legal/military alternating themes, next year 2018 I'll have to think of an appropriate military theme.

This 2017 theme required quite a bit more time than my previous two years' themes.  But I wrote most of my posts beginning in January, so I just had some “clean-up” to do before scheduling them during April.  This helped quite a bit.  I advertised my blog on the A to Z Challenge site, and on Twitter.  My blog received more hits and comments this year than in previous years [thank you to all of you who left a comment!], and even now, a week after the challenge ended, my daily blog pageviews is higher than it had been previously.

Just like I experienced last year, I found I didn't have time to visit and comment on all the blogs I wanted to, but here are a few blogs that I enjoyed visiting during this year's challenge:

Flash Fiction, John's Death by the Weapon of the Day

Editing
 
Life in Ecuador

Traveling
 
Name that TV Show

Haiku Puzzles

Weird Canadian Facts and History

And finally, here are all my 2017 challenge posts collected on one page:

Supreme Court cases that changed life in the US

Looking forward to next year!

Day 128 - This day in legal and military history

May 8
 
WORLD Red Cross Day
 
NATIONAL No Socks Day
 
NATIONAL V-E Day [Victory in Europe after WWII]
 
NATIONAL Have a Coke Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1792 US established a military draft
 
1794 The United States Post Office is established
 
1861 Richmond Virginia was named the capital of the Confederacy
 
1877 The first Westminster Dog Show was held
 
1886 Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invents Coca Cola 

1902 Mount Pelee on Martinique erupted, destroying the town of St. Pierre and killing 40,000 people
 
1945 The final surrender of German forces is celebrated as V-E (Victory Europe) day
 
1952 US conducts the first H-Bomb test at Eniwetok Atoll
 
1978 David Berkowitz, aka the “Son of Sam,” plead guilty to killing six people in New York City
 
1980 The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that smallpox had been eradicated
 
1999 The Citadel, South Carolina’s formerly all-male military school, graduated its first female cadet, Nancy Ruth Mace

Day 127 - This day in legal and military history

May 7
 
NATIONAL Lemonade Day [first Sunday in May]
 
NATIONAL Roast Leg of Lamb Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1824 Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony” premieres in Vienna
 
1847 The American Medical Association is formed in Philadelphia
 
1915 The German submarine U-20 torpedoes the passenger ship Lusitiania, sinking her in 21 minutes with 1,978 people on board, of which 1,198 drowned
 
1960 Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the Soviet Union
 
1984 Federal District Judge Jack B. Weinstein announces a $180 million out-of-court settlement against seven chemical manufacturers of the defoliant Agent Orange in a class-action suit brought by 15,000 Vietnam veterans
 
1985 Ticker tape parade on Broadway to honor Vietnam Veterans 

1992 The 27th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting mid-term Congressional pay raises, was ratified

Day 126 - This day in legal and military history

May 6
 
NATIONAL Beverage Day
 
NATIONAL Tourists Appreciation Day
 
NATIONAL Nurses Day
 
NATIONAL No Diet Day
 
NATIONAL No Homework Day
 
NATIONAL Scrapbook Day [first Saturday in May]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1861 Arkansas becomes the ninth state to secede from the Union
 
1889 Dedication of the Eiffel Tower
 
1937 The dirigible Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey

1941 Bob Hope gives his first USO show at California’s March Field
 
1954 British runner Roger Bannister breaks the four minute mile
 
1960 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960
 
1962 The first nuclear warhead is fired from a Polaris submarine
 
1970 More than 100 universities across the US shut down as thousands of students join a nationwide campus protest
 
1994 The Channel Tunnel linking England to France is officially opened

Day 125 - This day in legal and military history

May 5

Cinco de Mayo [commemoration of the Mexican army’s 1861 victory at Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War, US celebration of Mexican-American culture]

NATIONAL Oyster Day

NATIONAL Space Day [first Friday in May]
 
NATIONAL No Pants Day
 
NATIONAL Astronaut Day
 
NATIONAL Cartoonists Day


Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1865 The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery, except for “duly convicted” prisoners
 
1891 Carnegie Hall (then known as Music Hall) opened in New York City. Peter Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor.
 
1912 Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing
 
1952 Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny" wins the Pulitzer Prize
 
1961 Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space
 
1979 Voyager 1 passed Jupiter
 
2000 The Sun, Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn align – Earth’s moon is also almost in this alignment – leading to Doomsday predictions of massive natural disasters, although such a ‘grand confluence’ occurs about once in every century

Day 124 - This day in legal and military history

May 4
 
My #4's 18th Birthday =)
 
WORLD Password Day
 
INTERNATIONAL Star Wars Day [May the 4th be with you]
 
NATIONAL Bird Day
 
NATIONAL Day of Prayer [first Thursday in May]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1626 Native Americans sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons
 
1715 A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella
 
1904 The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal
 
1927 A balloon soars over 40,000 feet for the first time

1932 Public Enemy Number One, Al Capone, was jailed for tax evasion
 
1942 The United States begins food rationing
 
1959 The first Grammy Awards were held
 
1998 Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, California, under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty

Day 123 - This day in legal and military history

May 3
 
WORLD Freedom of the Press Day
 
NATIONAL Lumpy Rug Day
 
NATIONAL Paranormal Day
 
NATIONAL Specially-Abled Pets Day
 
NATIONAL Two Different Colored Shoes Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1802 Washington, DC, was incorporated as a city, with the mayor appointed by the president and the council elected by property owners
 
1937 Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Gone With the Wind
 
1948 The Shelley v. Kraemer Supreme Court decision stated that it is unconstitutional for a court to enforce a restrictive covenant which prevents people of a certain race from owning or occupying property
 
1952 The first airplane lands at the geographic North Pole
 
1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister of Great Britain
 
1999 Kansas and Oklahoma were hit by an outbreak of more than 55 tornadoes, including one measured at F5 on the Fujita scale

Day 122 - This day in legal and military history

May 2
 
NATIONAL Baby Day
 
NATIONAL Brothers and Sisters Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1885 Good Housekeeping magazine went on sale for the first time
 
1890 The Territory of Oklahoma is created
 
1919 The first US air passenger service starts
 
1923 Lieutenants Oakley Kelly and John Macready take off from New York for the West Coast on what will become the first successful nonstop transcontinental flight
 
1939 Lou Gehrig established a new major-league baseball record when he played his 2,130th consecutive game. It would take another 57 years before Cal Ripken, Jr., broke it.
 
1946 Prisoners revolt at California’s Alcatraz prison
 
1955 Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
 
1970 Student anti-war protesters at Ohio’s Kent State University burn down the campus ROTC building. The National Guard takes control of the campus.
 
2012 A pastel version of The Scream, by painter Edvard Munch, sold for $120 million in a New York City auction. The transaction set a new world record for an auctioned piece of art

Day 121 - This day in legal and military history

May 1
 
NATIONAL Mother Goose Day
 
NATIONAL Save the Rhino Day
 
NATIONAL Batman Day
 
NATIONAL Law Day
 
NATIONAL School Principal's Day
 
NATIONAL Melanoma Monday [first Monday in May]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1707 The Act of Union joined England and Scotland to form Great Britain
 
1805 The state of Virginia passes a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation
 
1867 Reconstruction in the South begins with black voter registration
 
1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction
 
1931 The Empire State Building opens in New York.  At 102 stories, it was the tallest building in the world at that time.
 
1941 The film Citizen Kane – directed by and starring Orson Welles – opens in New York
 
1948 People's Republic of [North] Korea established
 
1950 Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth
 
1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba
 
1971 Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of US passenger rail service

2011 Osama Bin Laden is killed in Abbottabad Pakistan by US Navy SEALS in Operation Neptune Spear [May 1 in the US, May 2 in Pakistan]