- 115th Day of 2014, 250 Remaining
- Summer Begins in 57 Days
- Sunrise 6:21
- Sunset 7:55
- Moon Rise 4:08am
- Moon Set 4:27pm
- Phase 22%
- Next Full Moon May 14@12:18pm
- High Tide 9:25am/10:00pm
- Low Tide 3:13am/3:11pm
- Rainfall
- This Year 12.32
- Last Year 16.32
- Avg YTD 22.73
Today's special celebrations:
- Anzac Day – Australia, Cook Islands, New Zealand
- Armed Forces Day - North Korea
- Children's Day - Iceland
- Flag Day - Faroe Islands, Swaziland
- Fundacion Espanola - Peru
- Liberation Day – Italy, Switzerland
- Liberty Day - Portugal
- Remembrance Day - Papua New Guinea
- Sinai Liberation Day - Egypt
- World Penguin Day – International
- Arbor Day
- DNA Day
- Hug A Plumber Day
- National Hairball Awareness Day
- National Mani-Pedi Day
- National Zucchini Bread Day
- St. Mark's Day - patron saint of cattle breeders
On this day in...
1590 - The Sultan of Morocco launched his successful attack to capture Timbuktu.
1644 - The Ming Chongzhen emperor committed suicide by hanging himself.
1684 - A patent was granted for the thimble.
1707 - At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeated the Anglo-Portugese.
1792 - The guillotine was first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.
1831 - The New York and Harlem Railway was incorporated in New York City.
1846 - The Mexican-American War ignited as a result of disputes over claims to Texas boundaries. The outcome of the war fixed the southern boundary at the Rio Grande River.
1859 - Work began on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
1867 - Tokyo was opened for foreign trade.
1882 - French commander Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.
1915 - During World War I, Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli in Turkey in hopes of attacking the Central Powers from below. The attack was unsuccessful.
1925 - General Paul von Hindenburg took office as president of Germany.
1926 - In Iran, Reza Kahn was crowned Shah and choose the name "Pehlevi."
1928 - A seeing eye dog was used for the first time.
1938 - "Your Family and Mine," a radio serial, was first broadcast.
1940 - W2XBS (now WCBS-TV) in New York City presented the first circus on TV.
1945 - Delegates from about 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.
1952 - After a three-day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment was annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea.
1953 - Senator Wayne Morse ended the longest speech in Senate history. The speech on the Offshore Oil Bill lasted 22 hours and 26 minutes.
1953 - Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Francis H.C. Crick suggested the double helix structure of DNA.
1954 - The prototype manufacture of the first solar battery was announced by the Bell Laboratories in New York City.
1957 - Operations began at the first experimental sodium nuclear reactor.
1959 - St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping. The water way connects the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
1961 - Robert Noyce was granted a patent for the integrated circuit.
1962 - The spacecraft, Ranger, crashed on the Moon.
1971 - The country of Bangladesh was established.
1974 - Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar was overthrown in a military coup.
1976 - Portugal ratified a constitution. It was first revised on October 30, 1982.
1980 - In Iran, a commando mission to rescue hostages was aborted after mechanical problems disabled three of the eight helicopters involved. During the evacuation, a helicopter and a transport plan collided and exploded. Eight servicemen were killed. The mission was aimed at freeing American hostages that had been taken at the embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. The event took place April 24th Washington, DC, time.
1982 - In accordance with Camp David agreements, Israel completed its Sinai withdrawal.
1983 - Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 - The Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.
1984 - In France, over one million people demonstrated to show they favored the decentralization of education.
1984 - David Anthony Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead of a drug overdose in a hotel room.
1985 - "Big River (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)" opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Broadway in New York City.
1987 - In Washington, 100,000 people protested the policy in Central America.
1987 - Peter O'Toole opened in "Pygmalion" on Broadway.
1988 - In Israel, John "Ivan the Terrible" Demjanuk was sentenced to death as a Nazi war criminal.
1990 - Sandinista rule ended in Nicaragua.
1990 - The U.S. Hubble Space Telescope was placed into Earth's orbit. It was released by the space shuttle Discovery.
1992 - Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.
1996 - The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.
Birthday celebrants today include...
- Oliver Cromwell 1599
- Guglielmo Marconi 1874
- Edward R. Murrow 1908
- Earl Bostic 1913
- Sal Franzella 1915
- Ella Fitzgerald 1918
- Robert Q. Lewis 1920
- Albert King 1923
- Anita Bjorak 1923
- Melissa Hayden 1923
- Vassar Clements 1928
- Paul Mazursky 1930
- Willis "Gator" Jackson 1932
- Meadowlark Lemon 1932
- Jerry Leiber 1933
- Anthony Lukas 1933
- Al Pacino 1940
- Stu Cook 1945
- Bjorn Ulvaeus 1945
- Talia Shire 1946
- Jeffrey De Munn 1947
- Michael Brown 1949
- Hank Azaria 1964
- Andy Bell 1964
- James Barbour 1965
- Eric Avery 1965
- Jane Clayson 1967
- Renée Zellweger 1969
