Today is Drive Your Corvette to Work Day (see 1953 below).
Today is Friday, June 30th, 2017 the 181st day of the year with 184 days remaining.
- Sunrise: 5:51am
- Sunset: 8:36pm
...giving us14 hours and 44 minutes of daylight. 37% of the waxing crescent moon will be visible, rising at 12:04pm
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 5:06am/6:31pm
- Low: 11:19am
Special international celebrations today…
- Army Day - Guatemala
- Bank Holiday - El Salvador
- Independence Day - Democratic Republic of Congo, Zaire
- National Day of Prayer - Central African Republic
- National Salvation Revolution Day - Sudan
It’s also…
- California Avocado Day
- Drive Your Corvette to Work Day
- National Meteor Watch Day
- NOW (National Organization For Women) Day
- Social Media Day
On this day in…
- 1520 – Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés fight their way out of Tenochtitlan.
- 1559 – King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel, comte de Montgomery.
- 1758 – Seven Years' War: The Battle of Domstadtl takes place.
- 1794 – Native American forces under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery.
- 1805 – The U.S. Congress organizes the Michigan Territory.
- 1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
- 1864 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for "public use, resort and recreation".
- 1882 – Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield.
- 1886 – The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal. It arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4.
- 1905 – Albert Einstein sends the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity, for publication in Annalen der Physik.
- 1906 – The United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act.
- 1937 – The world's first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.
- 1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
- 1956 – A TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 collide above the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash, killing all 128 on board both airliners.
- 1960 – Congo gains independence from Belgium.
- 1966 – The National Organization for Women, the United States' largest feminist organization, is founded.
- 1971 – The crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve.
- 1986 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Bowers v. Hardwick that states can outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
- 1997 – The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- 1685 – John Gay, English poet and playwright (d. 1732)
- 1688 – Abu l-Hasan Ali I, ruler of Tunisia (d. 1756)
- 1722 – Jiří Antonín Benda, Czech composer, violinist and Kapellmeister (d. 1795)
- 1889 – Archibald Frazer-Nash, English motor car designer, engineer and founder of Frazer Nash (d. 1965)
- 1890 – Paul Boffa, Maltese physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1962)
- 1891 – Stanley Spencer, English painter (d. 1959)
- 1913 – Alfonso López Michelsen, Colombian lawyer and politician, 24th President of Colombia (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Susan Hayward, American actress (d. 1975)
- 1917 – Lena Horne, American actress, singer, and activist (d. 2010)
- 1919 – Ed Yost, American inventor of the modern hot air balloon (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Eleanor Ross Taylor, American poet and educator (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (d. 1997)
- 1943 – Florence Ballard , American pop/soul singer (The Supremes) (d. 1976)
- 1949 – Andy Scott, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1951 – Stanley Clarke, American bass player and composer
- 1956 – David Alan Grier, American actor, singer, and comedian
- 1958 – Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
- 1963 – Rupert Graves, English actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Mike Tyson, American boxer and actor
- 1985 – Michael Phelps, American swimmer
- 1986 – Allegra Versace, Italian-American businesswoman
- 1987 – Ryan Cook, American baseball player
