KALW Almanac - Monday July 4, 2016

Today, Monday July 4 is the 186th day of the year.

There are 180 days remaining until the end of the year.
The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

The sun will rise at 5:53 AM

And will set tonight at 8:35 PM

We should have 14 hours, 41 minutes, and 42 seconds of sunlight

It’s a New Moon right now

Low tide at 6:07AM at minus 1.4 feet

High tide at 1:18 PM at 5.1 feet, the only high tide today

Low tide again at 5:57 PM at 2.3 feet

Today, of course, is…

Independence Day, celebrates the Declaration of Independence of the United States from Great Britain in 1776. (United States and its dependencies)

·         National Barbecued Spareribs Day

·         National Caesar Salad Day

It’s also…

·         Liberation Day in the Northern Mariana Islands

·         Liberation Day in Rwanda

·         Republic Day in the Philippines

·         The first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7 for the Apatani people of Arunachal Pradesh, India)

Born on The Fourth Of July….

·         1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author and diplomat (d. 1864)

·         1826 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864)

·         1872 – Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933)

·         1882 – Louis B. Mayer, Belarusian-American film producer, founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(d. 1957)

·         1883 – Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (d. 1970)

·         1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, British actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1952)

·         1902 – Meyer Lansky, Belarusian-American gangster (d. 1983)

·         1902 – George Murphy, American actor and politician (d. 1992)

·         1911 – Mitch Miller, American singer and producer (d. 2010)

·         1916 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (d. 2006)

·         1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress, singer, and photographer

·         1927 – Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter

·         1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)

·         1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010)

·         1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer

·         1941 – Sam Farr, American politician

·         1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist

·         1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Earth Opera and Old and in the Way)

·         1946 – Ron Kovic, American author and activist

·         1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist

·         1971 – Koko, American gorilla

On this day in history…

·         1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by the Chinese Song dynasty, Arab and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.

·         1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

·         1802 – At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opens.

·         1817 – In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.

·         1826 – Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, second president of the United States, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence.

·         1827 – Slavery is abolished in New York State.

·         1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.

·         1855 – In Brooklyn, New York City, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published.

·         1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.

·         1878 – Thoroughbred horses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty run a match race, recalled in the song Molly and Tenbrooks.

·         1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.

·         1886 – The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.

·         1892 – Western Samoa changes the International Date Line. Monday, July 4 occurs twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.

·         1894 – The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

·         1903 – Philippine–American War officially is concluded.

·         1903 – Dorothy Levitt is reported as the first English woman to compete in a 'motor race'.

·         1939 – Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball.

·         1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.

·         1947 – The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan.

·         1950 – Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.

·         1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor.

·         1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).

·         1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.