Sunday, May 17, 2009
Only 228 days until the Year 2010
Today is:
World Telecommunication Day
On The Way To Today... May 17th
1198 - Frederick II, last of the great medieval emperors, was crowned
King of Sicily at the age of three.
1673 - Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette left the Straits of Mackinac
and set out to explore the Mississippi. Their journey demonstrated
that the Mississippi ran to the Gulf of Mexico.
1814 - Norway declared its independence from Sweden with the adoption
of a new constitution.
1861 - The first package holiday for a popular market was arranged by
Thomas Cook. The "Whitsuntide Working Men's Excursion" set out on this
day from London to Paris on a six-day trip.
1875 - The Kentucky Derby was inaugurated at Churchill Downs in
Louisville, Kentucky. The first Derby winner was Aristides, winning a
purse of $2,850.
1877 - Edwin T. Holmes of Boston, Massachusetts installed the first
telephone switchboard burglar alarm.
1890 - Pietro Mascagni's famous opera "Cavalleria Rusticana," set in
Sicily, was first performed in Rome.
1940 - In World War II, the German army entered Brussels.
1954 - The U.S. Supreme Court overturned an 1896 ruling that education
should be "separate but equal," thus outlawing racial segregation in
the state school system.
1956 - The first synthetic mica (synthamica) was offered for sale - in
Caldwell Township, New Jersey. Mica is a crystal-like substance used
in electronicapplications. It aids in resisting heat and electricity.
computer, microwave, stereo, telephone and hundreds of other
electronic gizmos.
1973 - In the United States, the Senate Committee under Senator Sam
Ervin investigating Watergate began its proceedings.
1974 - 32 people were killed and hundreds injured when three car bombs
exploded in the center of Dublin.
1975 - NBC-TV paid a whopping $5,000,000 for the rights to show "Gone
with the Wind" just one time. It was the top price paid for a single
opportunity to show a film on television.
1987 - An Iraqi F-I Mirage fighter fired two Exocet missiles at the
USS Stark while it was on patrol in the Gulf, killing 37 sailors and
wounding 62 others.
1988 - Pepsi-Cola aired six spots on Soviet television, the first air
time ever sold to an American company for Soviet television. Included
was Michael Jackson in his music video, Bad.
1990 - Renoir's At the Moulin de la Gallette sold for $78.1 million, a
record amount for Impressionist art.
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