Tidbits of History, May 4

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May 4 is :

Bird Day According to the U.S. Library of Congress, the very first Bird Day was on May 4, 1894.
National Candied Orange Peel Day
Unofficial Star Wars Day…May the Force be with you.
International Firefighters’ Day
Feast day of Saint Florian, patron saint of firemen.

1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrived in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island). According to tradition, he purchased the island of Manhattan from Native Americans on May 24, 1626 for goods valued at 60 Dutch guilders, which in the 19th century was estimated to be the equivalent of US $24 (or $680 today). His surname, Minuit, means “midnight” in French.

Rhode Island Declaration of Independence Day,  proclaimed by the colony in 1776, two months before the Continental Congress made its declaration.

ElbaEmperor Napoleon I of France arrived at Portoferraio on the island of Elba on May 4, 1814 to begin his exile.

May 4, 1904 The United States began construction on the Panama Canal .
The construction of the Panama Canal is where the expression “Another Day, Another Dollar” comes from, as the workers were rumored to be paid a dollar a day for their labor. The construction of the canal was completed in 1914, 401 years after Panama was first crossed by Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The United States spent almost $500,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $9,169,650,000 now) to finish the project. This was by far the largest American engineering project to date. The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914, with the passage of the cargo ship SS Ancon.

The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University on May 4, 1970, after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opened fire, killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the United States’ invasion of Cambodia.

Margaret ThatcherMay 4, 1979 – Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Tidbits of History, May 3

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May 3 is World Press Freedom Day
Hug your Cat Day
National Raspberry Popover Day and National Raspberry Tart Day
National Chocolate Custard Day 
National Day of Prayer

Lumpy Rug Day – “While some people think the day is all about carpet, its original tongue-in-cheek intent is more global than homey. Its purpose, according to “Chase’s Calendar of Annual Events,” is to tease “bigots …for shoving unwelcome facts under the rug.” After stowing too many cans of worms under the rug, the description of the holiday says, “defenders of the status quo obtain a new rug high enough to cover the unwanted facts.”…from ehow.com.

MachiavelliBirthday of Niccoló Machiavelli (May 3, 1469), Italian statesman and author of “The Prince”

1915 – The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae on May 3, 1915.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

In part because of the poem’s popularity, the poppy was adopted as the Flower of Remembrance for the war dead of Britain, France, the United States, Canada and other Commonwealth countries.

America’s first passenger flight (NY to Atlantic City) on May 3, 1919.

On May 3, 1957, Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agreed to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California. The name “Dodgers” is derived from the skill of Brooklyn residents at evading the city’s trolly street cars (per Wikipedia). The team moved west at the same time as its longtime rivals, the New York Giants, also in the National League, relocated to San Francisco in northern California as the San Francisco Giants.

Sears Tower_Willis Tower on May 3, 1973The 108-story Sears Tower (now named the Willis Tower) in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world’s tallest building in 1973.

The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as “spam”) was sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States in 1978.

In Alabama on May 3, 1987, driver Bobby Allison was involved in an accident at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama that saw his car cut down a tire, turn sideways and go airborne into the protective catch fence that separated the speedway from the grandstands. The impact, at over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h), tore out over 100 yards of fencing. Parts and pieces of the car went flying into the grandstand injuring several spectators. This was the same race where Bill Elliott had set the all-time qualifying record (on April 30) at 212.8 mph (341 km/h). The incident would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season at the two longest (2.5 mile) tracks:  Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.