Graduation Day!

Wednesday morning went well, Sweetie and i were heading out of town by about 11am.

You do realize that means we hit Houston traffic right at 4:30pm, right?

Yes, we did, and it isn't nearly as bad as it sounds, especially since we don't have to sit through it every single day.

My friend Grace was more than ready for us to be there by the time we arrived in San Antonio at 9:30pm.  We talked a bit, and then went to bed.

Thursday morning she came with us for breakfast tacos at Carmelita's, then she decided to accompany us to the base visitor center to see if we could get passes.

It turned out to be a good thing that she came.  Because Little Girl had only requested passes for us on Friday, we couldn't apply for simple visitor passes for Thursday.  Grace is a military dependent (her husband is a retired career Airman), so she was able to request a pass for us.

We took Grace back home to work (she works from home), and went back to the base in time to wait for Little Girl's company to finish their graduation ceremony practice.  Once done, i was able to sign her out and we took her to a late lunch.

It was wonderful seeing her, and every time we see her after a separation she hugs me and says, "I'd forgotten how small you were!"  It's become a running joke.

A funny thing happened that evening after i'd signed Little Girl back onto base.  Sweetie and i took Grace out to dinner to thank her for letting us stay at her house.  She mentioned one restaurant, and we went to the strip mall where it was located, got turned around, and walked into the wrong restaurant!  It wasn't until after we were seated that i realized it, but we decided to stay because the menu looked good.  Now i wonder how many people end up in the wrong one because the entrances to those two restaurants are so close.

The graduation ceremony on Friday was beautiful, and Little Girl gave us her duffel bags to take home because she didn't want to lug them on the plane (and i don't blame her, you don't want to lug two huge bags like that around an airport, especially when you have a layover).  We took her for lunch again, and walked a bit on the River Walk, and dropped her at the airport.  She got home last night, and we are driving home today.

It's been a fabulous visit with my friend Grace, and we are proud of Little Girl, who can now start college, and i am tired with another very busy week ahead.

The tired is worth it, she is worth it.

Terrible picture of a terrific Army Medic!

Today is:

Alligator Wrestling Day -- internet generated, and i wonder if a cat that doesn't want its meds counts?

Automatic Toll Collection Day -- the first machine went into use on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway on this day in 1954

Discovery Day -- Puerto Rico

Equal Opportunity Day / Dedication Day / Remembrance Day -- anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

Family Volunteer Day -- to get families working together to better their communities and the world; get information here 

Fete de S.A.S. le Prince Souverain -- Monaco (National Day)

Flag Day -- Brazil

Garifuna Day/Carib Settlement Day -- Belize

"Have a Bad Day" Day -- for the hidden, or not so hidden, grouch in all of us; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Holidays in the City Grand Illumination Parade -- Norfolk, VA, US (to kick off Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays)

International Games Day @ Your Library -- libraries in many countries are sponsoring a local Games Day, check with yours!

International Men's Day -- Australia; Canada; Ghana; Hungary; India; Ireland; Jamaica; Malta; Singapore; South Africa; Trinidad and Tobago; United Kingdom; United States

International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day 
     National Survivors of Suicide Day -- US (by Congressional designation since 1999, and now an international movement; remembering those who have lost loved ones to suicide, especially as Thanksgiving and the holidays are coming)

Liberation Day -- Mali

Natchitoches Festival of Lights -- Natchitoches, LA, US (over 350,000 lights go on every night from now until Jan, 6, with carolers on Friday and Saturday evenings downtown, festivals and events every weekend; come celebrate the season in the Oldest Settlement in the Louisiana Purchase)

National Adoption Day -- US (encouraging us to find a home for every child; many courts finalize thousands of adoptions of children from foster care on this day each year) 

National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

Nordic Yulefest -- Nordic Museum, Seattle, WA, US (a Scandinavian holiday extravaganza; through tomorrow)

PCS Day and Homeplace Festival -- Waretown, NJ, US (a family affair with country, bluegrass, and traditional music)

Please Maintain Your Focus Today Day -- internet generated, but a good idea

St. Obadiah's Day (Obadiah the Prophet)

Surin Elephant Round-Up -- Surin, Thailand (includes elephant football, elephant tugs-of-war, and parades; through Sunday)

"What Ever Happened to Gary Pucket?" Day -- internet generated, and a fun question to research

Women's Entrepreneurship Day 

World's Champion Duck-Calling Contest and Festival -- Stuttgart, AR, US (pageants for Queen Mallard and Junior Queen Mallard, carnival, and the best duck calling possible; through Nov. 30)

World Toilet Day -- sponsored by the World Toilet Organization (yes, really, to raise awareness of the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to proper sanitation)


Anniversaries Today:

Zion National Park is established, 1919
Women's Christian Temperance Union is founded, 1874


Birthdays Today:

McCaughey Septuplets, 1997
Kerri Strug, 1977
Savion Glover, 1973
Gail Devers, 1966
Terry Farrell, 1963
Jodie Foster, 1962
Meg Ryan, 1961
Allison Janney, 1960
Anne Curry, 1956
Eileen Collins, 1956
Scott Jacoby, 1956
Glynnis O'Connor, 1955
Kathleen Quinlan, 1954
Ahmad Rashad, 1949
Calvin Klein, 1942
Garrick Utley, 1939
Ted Turner, 1938
Dick Cavett, 1936
Jack Welch, 1935
Larry King, 1933
Roy Campanella, 1921
Indira Gandhi, 1917
Peter Drucker, 1909
Tommy Dorsey, 1905
Billy Sunday, 1862
James Garfield, 1831


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Heaven's Gate(Film), 1980
"Rocky and His Friends/Rocky and Bullwinkle"(TV), 1959
The first Automatic Toll Collection Machine, at the Union Toll Plaza in New Jersey, 1954


Today in History:

The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land, begins, 1095
Rabbi Isaiah b Abraham aha-Levi Horowitz arrives in Isreal, 1621
The Jakobinen club forms in Paris, 1794
The Jay Treaty, the first US extradition treaty, is signed with Great Britain, 1794
Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European Americans to cross the continent, 1805
Warsaw University is established, 1816
The St. Petersburg flood, caused by storms, kills 10,000, 1824
The second Canadian railway line, the Montreal and Lachine Railway, is opened, 1847
Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address, 1863
Boss Tweed is convicted, sentenced to 12 years, 1874
Carrie Nation attempts to address the US Senate, 1903
NY receives the first Marconi wireless transmission from Italy, 1911
Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures (anybody want to guess what this eventually became?), 1916
The first issue of Time Magazine is published, with Emperor Hirohito on the cover, 1928
Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III, 1954
The first automatic toll collection machine is introduced on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway, 1954
Ford cancels the Edsel, 1959
Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon, 1960
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement, 1977
Lt. Gen. Maurice Baril of Canada arrives in Africa to lead a multi-national policing force in Zaire, 1996
Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist Without Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million USD, 1998
The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft, 1999
Claudia Castillo has a successful trachea transplant from stem-cell created organ, 2008
Many nations urge lower fishing rates on the Atlantic bluefin tuna; quota limits on the critically endangered fish are discussed by major fishing nations in Paris, 2010

It's Finally Time!

The plans for next week are set.

Little Girl is graduating.  Right now the plan is simple.  Not easy, but simple.

Monday is work for Ms. S while Sweetie gets Humphrey the Honda checked for road worthiness.

Tuesday i will work for Ms. V (who is usually every other Thursday) and then go do Ms. C.  She was given first choice and asked me to come later in the day, and together we will get her Christmas tree into the house and the decorations out.  It will be a long day, as she will probably want me to stay until evening.

That day, i will also call Annie to discuss whether the kittens are big enough to go up for adoption.

Wednesday i will go to the cat shelter, taking the kittens with me if the Tuesday discussion turns out the way i think it will, then Sweetie and i will drive to San Antonio.  My friend Grace has asked us to stay at her home, the same Grace who had a group of us stay at her place back in September.

Thursday is Family Day on the base.  When Little Girl graduated from basic at Ft. Sill, Family Day was mostly them showing us what training had been like, and i expect something of the same at Ft. Sam Houston.

Friday, Little Girl graduates from her program and is officially an Army medic.  Lots of celebrating will follow.

On Saturday, Sweetie and i will head home, and Little Girl will be transferred back to Louisiana to be in the National Guard Reserves here.  We will pick her up from the local Guard base, and she will get to come home.  She will then report for training one weekend each month and two weeks every summer.  If the Guard gets called up for an emergency, she will have to report and be ready to render medical assistance.

In return for being part of the Guard, they will pay for her tuition and fees at any state university, and she plans to study nursing.  Being a medic already, she will have a leg up on that.

It's going to be a long week, but a good week.  Little Girl will be home by the end of it.


Today is:

A&W Rootbeer Mug Day -- see if you can frost your mug like they did

Birth of Baha'u'llah -- Baha'i

Birth of Sun Yat-Sen, Doctors Day, and Cultural Renaissance Day -- Taiwan

Chicken Soup for the Soul Day -- "Changing the world, one story at a time."

Constitution Day -- Azerbaijan

Dia del Cartero -- Mexico (Postman's Day; postal carriers are shown appreciation with small gifts left in mailboxes)

Fancy Rat and Mouse Day -- the American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association wants you to know these little critters can give you a lot of love

Journee Nationale Maore -- Comoros (Admission to the UN Day)

Khalkeia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of smiths, associated with Hephaists and Athena; date approximate)

National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week -- US (remembering those who have little or nothing during the upcoming holiday celebrations, and making time to share our bounty with them; through the 20th)
      co-sponsors National Coalition for the Homeless and National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness

National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day

National Youth Day -- East Timor

St. Emillian's Day (Patron of Spain, finding lost objects)

St. Josaphat's Day (Patron of Edmonton, Alberta; Toronto, Ontario; Ukraine)

Tewa Buffalo Dance -- Native American Tewa of the Tesuque Pueblo rites on the feast day of their Patron, San Diego, to honor Mother Earth, Father Sky, the four directions, and the elements; through the 15th

The Lord Mayor's Show -- London, England (originally "The Lord Mayor's Day," according to the official website this show has marched, floated, trotted, and occasionally fought through almost 800 years of London history, making it one of the oldest civic pageants in the world)

Triple Crown of Surfing -- Oahu, HI, US (3 separate events, through Dec. 20)

World Pneumonia Day -- because we lose a million children a year to this preventable illness


Anniversaries Today:

The Arches National Park established, 1971
Ellis Island closes, 1954


Birthdays Today:

Anne Hathaway, 1982
Ryan Gosling, 1980
Sammy Sosa, 1968
Michael Moorer, 1967
David Schwimmer, 1966
Nadia Comaneci, 1961
Megan Mullally, 1958
Neil Young, 1945
Al Michaels, 1944
Wallace Shawn, 1943
Grace Kelly, 1929
Jo Stafford, 1918
Harry A. Blackmun, 1908
Sun Yat-sen, 1866
Auguste Rodin, 1840
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Grand Hotel"(Musical), 1989
"Irma la Douce"(Musical), 1956
"Paint Your Wagon"(Musical), 1951
Song of the South(Disney film), 1946
The first Sunday American-style football game is held in Philadelphia, 1933


Today in History:

Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days starting today, 764
Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament, 1439
Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anaesthetic, 1847
Jules Leotard performs 1st Flying Trapeze circus act (Paris); he also designed garment that bears his name, 1859
World's Fair in Paris opens, 1900
The first movie stunt: man jumps into Hudson river from a burning balloon, 1910
Norway holds a referendum in favor of monarchy over republic, 1905
Robert Scott's diary & body are found in Antarctica, 1912
Austria becomes a republic, 1918
The first underwater tunnel, the Holland Tunnel connecting NY to NJ opens, 1927
The first photo of whatever is in Loch Ness is taken, 1933
Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations, 1956
Equatorial Guinea joins the United Nations, 1968
The Comoros joins the United Nations, 1975
The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings, 1980
The Space Shuttle Columbia becomes the first time a manned spacecraft launched into space twice, 1981
Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch, 1990
Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web, 1990
Shanghai Transrapid sets up a new world speed record (501 kilometres per hour (311 mph)) for commercial railway systems, 2003
The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database is launched on the web and revolutionizes chemical-gene-disease information for research scientists, 2004
Philippine volcano Mount Bulusan erupts again, 2010

Tuesday Coffee Chat: Memorable Moments

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week she asks the question, Summer Lovin' - Was there one moment that stood out this past summer, as one that you will cherish forever?    One book you must recommend?  Ice Cream flavour?  Let us know!

There were actually two days of moments that stood out and i will cherish.  The two days we spent up at Fort Sill watching our Little Girl graduate from boot camp.

We got to watch her demonstrate some of what she had learned.  We witnessed the naturalization ceremony for her comrades who had joined the military from other nations so they could become citizens.  Her father and i got to pin her new rank on her.

Watching her graduate, seeing the wonderful young lady and soldier she has become, is something i will never forget.

She's now getting her training as an army medic and will be a certified EMT when she gets back, a great advantage to have when you go to nursing school.

We plan to be there when she graduates from her medic training as well, adding another layer of great memories, and i can hardly wait.


Today is:

Birthday of the Sun -- Inca (date approximate; a few days before the Autumn Equinox, all fires, including that at the Temple of the Sun, were extinguished and 3 days later ceremonially relighted using only glass to concentrate the sunlight on cotton; followed by 8 days of feasting)

Eleven Days of Global Unity -- Day 10, Disarmament (sponsored by We, the World) 

Feast of Orlog -- Scandinavian Deity of Destiny (date approximate)

Feast of Zywie -- Poland (goddess of longevity and health; date approximate)

Genesia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival to honor the dead, especially those who died in wars)

Get Ready Day -- US (help your community, workplace, or school to get ready for disasters or emergencies)

National Farm Safety Day -- US (can't find a sponsor, but farming is hard, and dangerous, work, so it's a good idea)

National Rum Punch Day

National Youth Day -- Thailand
 
Okuma-kabuto Festival -- Nakajima, Japan (Noto Peninsula's top autumn festival)

Opening of Parliament -- Netherlands (holiday in The Hague)related observance
     Prinsjesdag -- Netherlands  (technically translates "Prince's Day;" the day Parliament opens and the reigning sovereign, now King William-Alexander, gives the Speech from the Throne and the Minister of Finance proposes next year's budget)

St. Eustace's Day (Patron of difficult situations, fire prevention, firefighters, hunters, torture victims, trappers; Madrid, Spain; Poli, Italy; against fire and torture)



Birthdays Today:

Kristen Johnston, 1967
Guy LaFleur, 1951
Taro Aso, 1940
Sophia Loren, 1934
Anne Meara, 1929
Donald A. Hall, 1928
Dr. Joyce Brothers, 1928
Red Auerbach, 1917
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, 1890
Maxwell Perkins, 1884
Upton Sinclair, 1878
Rama V, King of Thailand, 1853 (eldest son taught by Anna, of "The King and I" fame)
Emperor Takakura of Japan, 1161


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Cosby Show"(TV), 1984
"Eubie"(Revue), 1978
"The Phil Silvers Show"(TV), 1955
"The Corn is Green"(Play), 1938


Today in History:

Atilla the Hun defeated at Chalons-sur-Marne by General Aetius, 451
Saladin begins the siege of Jerusalem, 1187
Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe, 1519
Galileo Galilei is tried before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for teaching that the Earth orbits the Sun, 1633
Maryland passes the first "anti-amalgamation" law to stop English women from marrying black men, 1664
The Negro Convention of Free Men agrees to boycott slave-produced goods, 1830
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created, 1848
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ends with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company, 1857
The first gasoline-powered car debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, 1891
The Otis Elevator Company unveils the first escalator at the Paris Exposition, 1900
Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania is launched, 1906
The first Cannes Film Festival is held, 1946
James Meredith, an African-American, is temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi, 1962
The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched, 1967
Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in The Battle of the Sexes tennis match, 1973
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam joins the UN, 1977
Walt Disney World hosts its 200 millionth guest, 1985
U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror", 2001
The US Military ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, 2011

Little Girl's Big Days

Sweetie and i only travel well if we know the way, or if we avoid big cities.  Dallas is a big city, with big traffic.  On the way up, we didn't do Dallas well at all.

To recap, Little Girl was graduating from basic training.  We were to drive up to Fort Sill, Oklahoma on Wednesday, participate in Family Day on Thursday, watch her graduate on Friday, and today we are driving home.

The most efficient way to Fort Sill from where we live is straight up to Shreveport, across to Dallas, then up to Wichita Falls and on to Lawton/Fort Sill.  It takes us through Dallas, though.  Did i mention Sweetie about has panic attacks if we get stuck in big city traffic or if we get turned around in any way?

He drove for the first several hours, and then i took over, which was a good thing, because when we finally got to Dallas, between the construction, the traffic, the accidents, and the fact that the GPS directions were confusing and got us turned around twice, he was near a conniption or apoplexy or something.

It was a relief to finally pull up to the hotel, and we were so tired after about 14 hours on the road that we decided to eat right there.  The hotel had fabulous vegetarian options and Sweetie enjoyed the best chicken fried steak and gravy he's ever had, and he's eaten the stuff all of his life.

This was a visit to a military base, so there are certain procedures, and those include getting permission to actually be on the base.  To do that, you print out a request and fill it out and mail it in, if the website is working and you can get it to print.  Since it didn't work, and i tried, that meant going to the visitor center and filling it out there and getting permission on site.

Because there will be a lot of people wanting to do that same thing, you want to get there early.  They open at 5am, and we got there Thursday morning about five minutes before they opened, and we were not the first in line.  It was a good thing they didn't take long, we got our permission forms and were able to go on base all we needed.

The Family Day program included demonstrations of uniforms and the things they've learned.  They did a skit that looked like it could have come straight out of a Three Stooges short, showing what the recruits looked like on the day they got there.  It had all of us laughing, and from what i understand, was totally accurate.

When they acknowledged the top graduates, i was surprised that the person who scored the highest on the physical training test was one of the females.  She was very pretty, but i can guarantee you do not want to meet her in a dark alley.

One thing i did not expect was that there were over 20 recruits who were from other countries. In joining the US Military, they became eligible for expedited naturalization.  They had not only done their military training, but had gone through what they needed to do to pass for citizenship, so there was a naturalization ceremony right there as part of the Family Day program.  It had me in tears as these newly minted soldiers took the oath of citizenship. 

Little Girl was one of the soldiers who received a promotion.  That was another thing i didn't expect, they call the parents up to actually take the old insignia off of the soldier's uniform and put the new one on.  Yes, i really got to do that, it was amazing.

Once the Family Day ceremony was over, we got to bring Little Girl with us to have lunch and then go back to the hotel.  She took a nap while we were there, i'm sure she needed it.  Then a dinner at the hotel and back to the base for Accountability Formation (in other words, roll call).

Friday morning was much more restful for us, if not for the graduates.  They had to get up and do Physical Training and then practice.  The ceremony was beautifully done and most important, the guest speaker was brief and what he said was actually excellent advice.  Boiled down, he was saying to watch what you do, because if you don't want a future potential employer to find out, or your family, then you shouldn't do it.

We spoke to Little Girl for a while after the graduation ceremony, and then she went to go have a meal with her battle buddies who didn't have family that could come to the ceremony.  We were so glad that they had each other.

 

That gave me and Sweetie a bit of the afternoon to ourselves, so we had a meal and i dropped him back at the hotel and i went to the used book store and met the lovely, somewhat elderly, owner and her dog.  We talked, and i helped her water the garden boxes and haul the empty garbage can back up to the side of the building.  Of course i bought books, too, and she and i have promised to pray for each other's children.

Today Little Girl ships out for the next phase of her training, and as we head home it is the big test of whether or not we are going to live through the drive.  If i post tomorrow, you will know we survived.

Today is:

Canmore Folk Music Festival -- Canmore, AB, Canada (bringing beautiful folk music and more to the area; through Monday)

Dia del Amigo -- Paraguay

Father-in-Law Day -- unsponsored and unclaimed, but fathers-in-law deserve respect, too

Feast of the Throne -- Morocco; Western Sahara

Festival of Fortuna Huiusque Diei -- Ancient Roman Calendar ("Fortune of the Present Day")

Friendship Day/International Day of Friendship -- UN

Hanover Dutch Festival -- Hanover, PA, US (celebrating the area and it's heritage)

Herbal Ballooning -- Fairy Calendar

Independence Day -- Vanuatu(1980)

Kronia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Kronos as god of the harvest)

Martyr's Day -- South Sudan

National Cheesecake Day

National Dance Day -- US (begun by Nigel Lythgoe, now a congressionally recognized day to encourage dance education and physical fitness, so go out and bust a move on a Saturday night, but don't bust you, please)

National Support Public Education Day -- Change.org wants this to be an official day for support of US public education systems

"Paddle for Perthes" Disease Awareness Day -- to promote awareness of the children's condition called Legg-Calve-Perthes disease 

Paperback Day -- anniversary of the 1935 publication of Penguin #1, Arial, A Life of Shelley, by Andre Maurois in London, the first successful series of paperback books

Quilt Exhibition -- Billings Farm, Woodstock, VT, US (a juried show, demonstrations and other activities; through Sept. 18)

Sagbraw: Schramm's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Wisconsin -- Wisconsin's oldest cross-state bicycle tour; through Aug. 5

Sts. Abdon and Sennen's Day (Patrons of barrel makers and coopers; the ashes of ferns cut and burned on this day will keep away insects and unwanted guests)

Sumiyoshi Matsuri -- Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, Osaka, Japan (Osaka's last major summer festival, through Aug. 1)

Sumidagawa River Fireworks Festival -- Tokyo, Japan (one of Japan's largest fireworks festivals, held every year since 1733, making it also one of the world's oldest continuously held fireworks displays)

Taylor Horsefest -- Taylor, ND, US (big enough to be fun, small enough to get you lots of time with the stars of the show, the horses! through tomorrow)


Anniversaries Today

Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, marries Michael Tindall, 2011


Birthdays Today

Hope Solo, 1981
Jaime Pressly, 1977
Misty May-Treanor, 1977
Hilary Swank, 1974
Tom Green, 1971
Simon Baker, 1969
Vivica A. Fox, 1964
Lisa Kudrow, 1963
Alton Brown, 1962
Laurence Fishburne, 1961
Kate Bush, 1958
Delta Burke, 1956
Ken Olin, 1954
Jean Reno, 1948
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1947
William Atherton, 1947
David Sanborn, 1945
Paul Anka, 1941
Peter Bogdanovich, 1939
Buddy Guy, 1936
Allan Huber “Bud” Selig, 1934
Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, 1933
Thomas Sowell, 1930
Sid Krofft, 1929
Christine McGuire, 1926
Henry W. Bloch, 1922
Henry Spencer Moore, 1898
Casey Stengel, 1891
Henry Ford, 1863
Thorstein Bunde Veblen, 1857
Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, 1855
Emily Bronte, 1818


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Santa Barbara"(TV), 1984
"Death Valley Days"(Radio), 1930


Today in History

City of Baghdad is founded, 762
The First Defenestration of Prague, 1419
Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage, 1502
At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs, which set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next one hundred years, 1608
In Jamestown, Virginia, the first European style representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time, 1619
An earthquake in Naples, Italy kills 10,000 people, 1629
Baltimore, Maryland is founded, 1729
Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly-built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers, 1756
First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps,1859
Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, agreeing to stop the harassment of emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah, 1863
In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first Football World Cup, 1930
Premiere of Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short, 1932
A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto, 1956
US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid, 1965
David Scott and James Irwin on Apollo Lunar Module module, Falcon, land with first Lunar Rover on the moon, 1971
Six Royal Canadian Army Cadets are killed and fifty-four injured in an accidental grenade blast at CFB Valcartier Cadet Camp, 1974
Jimmy Hoffa disappears, 1975
In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line, 2003
Israel and Palestinian officials agree to resume negotiations for a peace agreement, 2013