Tidbits of History

June 5 is World Environment Day
National Running Day
National Gingerbread Day
National Ketchup / Catsup Day Both words are derived from the Chinese ke-tsiap, a pickled fish sauce. It made its way to Malaysia where it became kechap and ketjap in Indonesia. Catsup and katchup are acceptable spellings used interchangeably with ketchup, however, ketchup is the way it is popularly used today.

Anniversary of the baptism of Adam Smith, (June 5, 1723), Scottish economist and philosopher, author of “Wealth of Nations”

Great Lakes’ steamers – The Canadian-built Frontenac was launched on Sept 7, 1816. The Ontario was launched in the spring of 1817. The Ontario began active service first in April, 1817 and the Frontenac made its first trip on June 5th, 1817.

June 5, 1851, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, started a ten-month (40-week) serial published in The National Era, an abolitionist periodical published in Washington, D.C.

Birthday of John Maynard Keynes (1883), English economist, financial expert and author.

Birthday of William Boyd (June 5, 1895), better known as Hopalong Cassidy. Boyd portrayed Hopalong Cassidy in 66 films and then on TV in the 1950s. His horse was named Topper.

Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947, the United States Secretary of State, George Marshall, called for economic aid to war-torn Europe.

Elvis Presley introduced his new single, “Hound Dog”, on The Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.

2001 – Tropical Storm Allison made landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston, Texas. The storm causes $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the second costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.

2004 – Death of Ronald Wilson Reagan , fortieth President of the United States. He died in Bel Air, California at age 93 from pneumonia, complicated by Alzheimer’s disease.

June 3 is Repeat Day

According toNational Day Calendar.com

Observed on June 3rd, National Repeat Day could be an opportunity for some and a bad omen for others.

Repeating a foot massage or a day with a dear friend would make this holiday special.  Repeating a root canal or Hurricane Katrina are not suggested for this day.

It is also National Doughnut Day.  Doughnuts are a good explanation for National Repeat Day.

Another way to celebrate is by repeating some of the simple tasks of the day.  Wash the dishes twice.  Make the same meal for lunch as you do for supper.  Watch the same movie twice.  The 1993 film Groundhog Day comes to mind.  Send duplicate text messages.

Have a great day! Have a great day!

June 3 is also National Egg Day
and National Chocolate Macaroon Day

Chimborazo Day celebrates the highest point on Earth, the point closest to the Moon.   Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador, tops out at 20,702 feet, almost two miles lower than Everest. But that’s only compared to sea level. If we take the equatorial bulge into account—in other words, if we measure what peak is farthest from the center of the Earth—Chimborazo sticks more than 7,000 feet farther into space than any of the Himalayas do, since they’re located thousands of miles north of the Equator.

Shavuot, a Jewish holiday celebrating the day that God gave the Torah to the nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai.

On this day in 1539, Hernando de Soto claimed Florida for Spain.

Samuel de Champlain completed his third voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec on June 3, 1608.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo founded in California by Father Junipero Serra on this day in 1770. Now called the Carmel Mission at Carmel-by-the-sea, California, near Monterey.

June 3, 1781, Jack Jouett began his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending raid by Banastre Tarleton.

June 3, 1800, U.S. President John Adams moved to Washington, DC. He was the first President to live in what later became the capital of the United States. John Adams’ blessing is engraved in the mantel in the State Dining Room of the White House. The benediction reads, “I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessings On This House And All that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof.” The words are taken from a letter written to Abigail Adams by Adams in 1800 and were engraved on the mantel in 1945 during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Birthday of Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808), president of the Confederate States.

In 1851, the New York Knickerbockers became the first baseball team to wear uniforms which consisted of straw hats, white shirts and blue long trousers.

The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States was completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon on June 3, 1889.

June 3, 1932 – Lou Gehrig and his teammate Tony Lazzeri hit four home runs in one game, and hit for the natural cycle, respectively. These two feats are both less common than a perfect game, which has occurred twenty-one times in one-hundred and twenty years.

June 3,1937: The Duke of Windsor married Wallis Simpson.  “Duke of Windsor” was a title in the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1937, for Prince Edward, former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936.

1942 The Aleutian Islands Campaign was a military campaign conducted by the United States in the Aleutian Islands, part of the Alaska Territory…in World War II, starting on 3 June 1942. A small Japanese force occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, but the remoteness of the islands and the difficulties of weather and terrain meant that it took nearly a year for a far larger U.S./Canadian force to eject them. The islands’ strategic value was their ability to control Pacific Great Circle routes. This control of the Pacific transportation routes is why U.S. General Billy Mitchell stated to the U.S. Congress in 1935, “I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. I think it is the most important strategic place in the world.” The Japanese reasoned that control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible U.S. attack across the Northern Pacific. Similarly, the U.S. feared that the islands would be used as bases from which to launch aerial assaults against the West Coast.

On June 3, 1965, Edward White became the first American astronaut to do a “space walk” when he left the Gemini 4 capsule.

June 2 is National Bubba Day National Bubba Day is celebrated across the United States each year on June 2nd. According to Wikipedia, “bubba” is a relationship nickname formed from brother and given to boys, especially eldest male siblings, to indicate their role in the  family.

National Rocky Road Day

I Love My Dentist Day

International Sex Workers’ Day (aka International Whore Day)

In the year 455, the Sack of Rome: Vandals entered Rome, and plundered the city for two weeks.

The first Récollet missionaries arrived at Quebec City, from Rouen, France in 1615. The Récollet are more commonly known as the Franciscans. The Recollect friars are said to have brewed the first beer in New France in 1620.

On June 2, 1692, Bridget Bishop was the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Found guilty, she was hanged on June 10.

Birthday of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731), First Lady 1789-1797, wife of George Washington.

June 2, 1774, Intolerable Acts: Amendment to original Quartering Act enacted, allowed governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters not provided.

Birthday of Helen Herron Taft (June 2, 1861), wife of William Howard Taft; first lady from 1909-1913.

June 2, 1886 – The U.S. President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.

Birthday of Edwin J. Shoemaker (June 2, 1907), American inventor and engineer who created the recliner chair and started the La-Z-Boy furniture company.

June 2, 1924 – The U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act (aka the Snyder Act) into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.

In 1928, Kraft’s Velveeta Cheese was invented. It was packaged using the 1921 invention of a tinfoil lining that could house the cheese inside a wooden box. Its special cooking properties quickly caught on. When melted, it was as smooth as velvet (hence its name), and it would never curdle when heated.

June 2, 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to be televised. She wore three different crowns on this day – one on the way to Westminster Abbey, one to be crowned Queen, and one for the procession from the Abbey.

June 2, 1997 – In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh was convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was executed four years later.

May 30 is Water a Flower Day
National Mint Julep Day

May 30 is also My Bucket’s Got a Hole in it Day This song has a nice “catchy” tune and is based on a conversation, between Henry and Liza, about a leaky bucket. It describes a deadlock situation as follows:

“Henry has got a leaky bucket, and Liza tells him to repair it. But to fix the leaky bucket, he needs straw. To cut the straw, he needs a knife. To sharpen the knife, he needs to wet the sharpening stone. To wet the stone, he needs water. However, when Henry asks how to get the water, Liza’s answer is “in a bucket”. It is implied that only one bucket is available — the leaky one, which, if it could carry water, would not need repairing in the first place.” (Wikipedia)

May 30, 1498, Columbus departed with 6 ships for his third trip to America. He sailed to Porto Santo Island, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and Trinidad. He named the islands Bella Forma (now Tobago) and Concepcion (now Granada).

King Henry VIII of England married Jane Seymour in 1536, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.  She died of complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, a son who became King Edward VI. She was the only one of Henry’s wives to receive a queen’s funeral, and his only consort to be buried beside him in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

In Florida, Hernando de Soto landed at Tampa Bay on May 30, 1539 with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.

1806 – Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson had accused Jackson’s wife of bigamy. Jackson deeply resented attacks on his wife’s honor. Charles Dickinson had published an attack on Jackson in the local newspaper, and it resulted in a written challenge from Jackson to a duel. Since Dickinson was considered an expert shot, Jackson determined it would be best to let Dickinson turn and fire first, hoping that his aim might be spoiled in his quickness; Jackson would wait and take careful aim at Dickinson. Dickinson did fire first, hitting Jackson in the chest. Under the rules of dueling, Dickinson had to remain still as Jackson took aim and shot and killed him. However, the bullet that struck Jackson was so close to his heart that it could never be safely removed.

1854 – The Kansas–Nebraska Act became law, establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.

1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern “Memorial Day”) was observed in the United States for the first time. It was observed on May 30 until 1971 when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which moved it to the last Monday in May.

1889 – Brassiere was invented by Herminie Cadolle of France. It was a two-piece undergarment, the lower part being a corset and the upper supporting the breasts with shoulder straps.

1914 – The new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, set sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York, New York.

Anniversary of the dedication in 1922 of the Lincoln Memorial.

1948 – Schenectady Blue Jays Tom Lasorda strikes out 25 in 15-inning game. The Blue Jays were a minor league team affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies. On May 31, 1948, future Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda struck out 25 batters for the Schenectady Blue Jays in a 6-5, 15 inning victory over the Amsterdam Rugmakers.