It's Ugly Dog Day! Today is Friday, June 16, 2017 the 167th day of the year with 198 days remaining.
- Sunrise: 5:47am
- Sunset: 8:34pm
...giving us 14 hours and 46 minutes of daylight. 67% of the waning moon will be visible, setting at 12:25pm
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 4:26am/6:19pm
- Low: 10:57am
Special international celebrations today…
- Chhelum - Pakistan
- Youth Day - South Africa
- International Day of the African Child
- Blooms Day - Ireland
It’s also…
- Fudge Day
- Ladies' Day at the baseball park
- National Flip Flop Day
- Ugliest Dog Day
- Fresh Veggies Day
- Feast of St. Benno, patron of anglers, fishermen
On this day in…
363 – Emperor Julian marches back up the Tigris and burns his fleet of supply ships. During the withdrawal Roman forces suffered several attacks from the Persians.
632 – Yazdegerd III ascends to the throne as king (shah) of the Persian Empire. He becomes the last ruler of the Sasanian dynasty (modern Iran).
1407 – Ming–Hồ War: Retired King Hồ Quý Ly and his son King Hồ Hán Thương of Hồ dynasty are captured by the Ming armies.
1487 – Battle of Stoke Field, the final engagement of the Wars of the Roses.
1586 – Mary, Queen of Scots, recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir and successor.
1746 – War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.
1846 – The Papal conclave of 1846 elects Pope Pius IX, beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy.
1858 – Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.
1858 – The Battle of Morar takes place during the Indian Mutiny.
1871 – The University Tests Act allows students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests (except for those intending to study theology).
1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England kills 183 children.
1884 – The first purpose-built roller coaster, LaMarcus Adna Thompson's "Switchback Railway", opens in New York's Coney Island amusement park.
1891 – John Abbott becomes Canada's third Prime Minister.
1897 – A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.
1903 – The Ford Motor Company is incorporated.
1903 – Roald Amundsen commences the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage, leaving Oslo, Norway.
1904 – Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolay Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
1904 – Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; this date is now traditionally called "Bloomsday".
1911 – IBM founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.
1922 – General election in the Irish Free State: The pro-Treaty Sinn Féin win a large majority.
1925 – The most famous Young Pioneer camp of the Soviet Union, Artek, is established.
1940 – A Communist government is installed in Lithuania.
1944 – At age 14, George Junius Stinney, Jr. becomes the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century.
1948 – Members of the Malayan Communist Party kill three British plantation managers in Sungai Siput; in response, British Malaya declares a state of emergency.
1955 – In a futile effort to topple Argentine President Juan Perón, rogue aircraft pilots of the Argentine Navy drop several bombs upon an unarmed crowd demonstrating in favor of Perón in Buenos Aires, killing 364 and injuring at least 800. At the same time on the ground, some soldiers attempt to stage a coup but are suppressed by loyal forces.
1961 – Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union.
1963 – Soviet Space Program: Vostok 6 Mission: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.
1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979-81; he is the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor.
1989 – Revolutions of 1989: Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister, is reburied in Budapest following the collapse of Communism in Hungary.
1997 – Daïat Labguer (M'sila) massacre in Algeria: Fifty people die.
2000 – Israel complies with United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 22 years after its issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel does so, except the disputed Shebaa farms.
2010 – Bhutan becomes the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco.
2012 – China successfully launches its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, including the first female Chinese astronaut Liu Yang, to the Tiangong-1 orbital module.
2012 – The United States Air Force's robotic Boeing X-37B spaceplane returns to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- 1606 – Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier and politician (d. 1675)
- 1613 – John Cleveland, English poet and educator (d. 1658)
- 1723 – Adam Smith, Scottish philosopher and economist (d. 1790)1888 – Alexander Friedmann, Russian physicist and mathematician (d. 1925)
- 1888 – Peter Stoner, American mathematician and astronomer (d. 1980)
- 1890 – Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (d. 1965)
- 1899 – Helen Traubel, American operatic soprano (d. 1972)
- 1902 – Barbara McClintock, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- 1902 – George Gaylord Simpson, American paleontologist and author (d. 1984)
- 1907 – Jack Albertson, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1917 – Katharine Graham, American publisher (d. 2001)
- 1938 – Torgny Lindgren, Swedish author and poet (d. 2017)
- 1938 – Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist, short story writer, critic, and poet
- 1940 – Neil Goldschmidt, American lawyer and politician, 33rd Governor of Oregon
- 1946 – Tom Harrell, American trumpet player and composer
- 1954 – Garry Roberts, Irish guitarist
- 1955 – Grete Faremo, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Defence
- 1955 – Laurie Metcalf, American actress
- 1970 – Phil Mickelson, American golfer
- 1971 – Tupac Shakur, American rapper and producer (d. 1996)
