Interrogatories
Do you think we'll get flying cars in your lifetime? Do we really want them? Sports fans, who are your teams (any sport)? Are or were you athletic? What athletics or sports were you best at? Is the Designated Hitter really an abomination?
The Twitter Emitter
On This Day
In 1818, Congress ruled that the U.S. flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, adding a new star every time they added a new state.
In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated.
In 1887, Argonia, Kansas, elected the first woman mayor in the United States, Susanna Medora Salter.
In 1949, the United States and 11 other nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty.
In 1974, the Atlanta Braves' Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's career home run record when he hit number 714 in Cincinnati.
In 1981, San Antonio, Texas elected the nation's first Hispanic Mayor, Henry Cisneros.
In 1988, the Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct which the current Arizona Senate would probably reward him for, and removed him from office.
In 2003, the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa became the 18th major league baseball player to hit 500 career home runs.
In 2011, giving in to political opposition, the Obama administration gave up on trying Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators in civilian federal courts and decided to prosecute them before military commissions instead (even though military commissions in these cases have thus far proved more lenient that civil courts).
Born on This Day
1648 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch woodcarver (d. 1721)
1758 - John Hoppner, English painter (d. 1810)
1758 - Pierre Paul Prud'hon, French painter (d. 1823)
1780 - Edward Hicks, American folk painter (d. 1849)
1802 – Dorothea Dix, American social activist (d. 1887)
1818 - Jean-François Portaels, Belgian painter (d. 1895)
1821 – Linus Yale, Jr., American inventor and manufacturer (d. 1868)
1843 – William Henry Jackson, American photographer (d. 1942)
1853 – Tad Lincoln, American son of president Abraham Lincoln (d. 1871)
1876 – Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (d. 1958)
1878 - Henri Liénard de Saint-Délis, French painter (d. 1949)
1895 – Arthur Murray, American dance teacher (d. 1991)
1898 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
1906 – Bea Benaderet, American actress (d. 1968)
1906 – John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)
1913 – Frances Langford, American actress (d. 2005)
1913 – Muddy Waters, American Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader (d. 1983)
1920 – Éric Rohmer, French director (d. 2010)
1928 – Maya Angelou, American poet
1932 – Clive Davis, American record producer
1932 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992)
1939 – Major Lance, American singer (d. 1994)
1939 – Hugh Masekela, South African singer, musician, and composer
1946 – Dave Hill, English guitarist (Slade)
1948 – Berry Oakley, American bassist (The Allman Brothers Band) (d. 1972)
1948 – Pick Withers, British drummer (Dire Straits and Magna Carta)
1949 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican singer (The Wailers) (d. 1999)
1950 – Christine Lahti, American actress
1952 – Gary Moore, Northern Irish guitarist (Thin Lizzy, Skid Row, and Bruce-Baker-Moore) (d. 2011)
1956 – David E. Kelley, American writer and producer
1960 – Hugo Weaving, English-Australian actor
1962 – Craig Adams, English bass guitarist and songwriter (The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission)
1963 – Graham Norton, Irish actor, comedian, and talk show host
1965 – Robert Downey, Jr., American actor
1966 – Mike Starr, American musician (Alice In Chains)
1971 – Josh Todd, American singer (Buckcherry)
1973 – David Blaine, American illusionist
1979 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
1980 – Johnny Borrell, English guitarist and singer (Razorlight and The Libertines)
Died on This Day
896 – Pope Formosus (b. 816)
1292 – Pope Nicholas IV (b. 1227)
1566 - Daniele da Volterra, Italian painter (b. 1509)
1633 - Pieter Lastman, Dutch painter (b. 1583)
1661 – Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish soldier (b. c. 1580)
1664 - Adam Willaerts, Dutch seascape painter (b. 1577)
1697 - Jan de Bray, Dutch Golden Age painter. (b. ca.1627)
1774 – Oliver Goldsmith, English writer (b. 1728)
1841 – William Henry Harrison, American politician, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
1871 - Peter von Hess, German painter (b. 1792)
1890 – Edmond Hébert, French geologist (b. 1812)
1902 - Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer, Dutch painter (b. 1839)
1923 – John Venn, British mathematician (b. 1834)
1931 – André Michelin, French industrialist (b. 1853)
1958 – Johnny Stompanato, American organized crime figure (b. 1925)
1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1929)
1972 – Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician (b. 1908)
1976 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish contributor to information theory (b. 1889)
1983 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
1995 – Priscilla Lane, American singer and actress (b. 1915)
1999 – Faith Domergue, American actor (b. 1924)
2001 – Ed Roth, American artist and car designer (b. 1932)
Today is
National Cordon Bleu Day
Tell A Lie Day
School Librarian Day
Tell a Lie Day
Hug a Newsman Day
Walk Around Things Day
International Day for Landmine Awareness and Assistance