- 126th Day of 2013 / 239 Remaining
- 46 Days Until The First Day of Summer
- Sunrise:6:06
- Sunset:8:05
- 13 Hours 59 Minutes of Daylight
- Moon Rise:4:10am
- Moon Set:5:14pm
- Moon’s Phase:10 %
- The Next Full Moon
- May 24 @ 9:27pm
- Full Flower Moon
- Full Corn Planting Moon
- Full Milk Moon
In most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time. Thus, the name of this Moon. Other names include the Full Corn Planting Moon, or the Milk Moon.
- Tides
- High:9:33am/9:29pm
- Low:3:24am/3:04pm
- Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)
- This Year:16.32
- Last Year:15.64
- Normal To Date:23.13
- Annual Seasonal Average:23.80
- Holidays
- Joseph Brackett Day
- National Nurses Day
- No Diet Day
- No Homework Day
- No Pants Day
- Beverage Day
- National Crepe Suzette Day
- School Nutrition Employee Week (May 6-10)
- Sheherd’s Day-Bulgaria
- Martyr’s Day-Syria / Lebanon
- Samuel K. Doe Day-Liberia
- Hidirellez Festival-Turkey
- Djurdjevdan-Serbia
- On This Day In …
- 1527 --- German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.
- 1833 --- John Deere developed the first steel plow.
- 1835 --- James Gordon Bennett published the New York Herald for the first time.
- 1851 --- John Gorrie patented an ice making machine, the first U.S. patent for a mechanical refrigerator.
- 1851 --- Linus Yale of Newport, NY became well known for his patent of the clock-type lock. If the name Yale sounds familiar, it should. Yale locks are among the top brands of security devices sold today.
- 1889 --- The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the recently constructed Eiffel Tower. The exposition also was known for the display of the first automobile in Paris. No, it wasn’t a French auto. It was a German Mercedes-Benz, one of the world’s most luxurious automobiles.
- 1915 --- Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox hit the first of his 714 major league home runs in a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds.
- 1933 --- President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was just one of many Great Depression relief programs created under the auspices of the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which Roosevelt had signed the month before. The WPA, the Public Works Administration (PWA) and other federal assistance programs put unemployed Americans to work in return for temporary financial assistance. Out of the 10 million jobless men in the United States in 1935, 3 million were helped by WPA jobs alone.
1937 --- The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crewmembers. Frenchman Henri Giffard constructed the first successful airship in 1852. His hydrogen-filled blimp carried a three-horsepower steam engine that turned a large propeller and flew at a speed of six miles per hour. The rigid airship, often known as the "zeppelin" after the last name of its innovator, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, was developed by the Germans in the late 19th century. Unlike French airships, the German ships had a light framework of metal girders that protected a gas-filled interior. However, like Giffard's airship, they were lifted by highly flammable hydrogen gas and vulnerable to explosion. Large enough to carry substantial numbers of passengers, one of the most famous rigid airships was the Graf Zeppelin, a dirigible that traveled around the world in 1929. In the 1930s, the Graf Zeppelin pioneered the first transatlantic air service, leading to the construction of the Hindenburg, a larger passenger airship. On May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt, Germany, for a journey across the Atlantic to Lakehurst's Navy Air Base. Stretching 804 feet from stern to bow, it carried 36 passengers and crew of 61.
While attempting to moor at Lakehurst, the airship suddenly burst into flames, probably after a spark ignited its hydrogen core. Rapidly falling 200 feet to the ground, the hull of the airship incinerated within seconds. Thirteen passengers, 21 crewmen, and 1 civilian member of the ground crew lost their lives, and most of the survivors suffered substantial injuries. Radio announcer Herb Morrison, who came to Lakehurst to record a routine voice-over for an NBC newsreel, immortalized the Hindenberg disaster in a famous on-the-scene description in which he emotionally declared, "Oh, the humanity!" The recording of Morrison's commentary was immediately flown to New York, where it was aired as part of America's first coast-to-coast radio news broadcast. Lighter-than-air passenger travel rapidly fell out of favor after the Hindenberg disaster, and no rigid airships survived World War II.
- 1940 --- John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath. The book traces the fictional Joad family of Oklahoma as they lose their family farm and move to California in search of a better life. They encounter only more difficulties and a downward slide into poverty. The book combines simple, plain-spoken language and compelling plot with rich description. One of Steinbeck's most effective works of social commentary, the novel also won the National Book Award.
- 1941 --- Joseph Stalin became the premier of Russia.
- 1954 --- In Oxford, England, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister cracks track and field's most notorious barrier: the four-minute mile. Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. His world record in the mile did not stand long, and the record continued to be lowered with increasingly controlled climatic and surface conditions, more accurate timing devices, and improvements in training and running techniques. A "sub-four" is still a notable time, but top international runners now routinely accomplish the feat. Because a mile is not a metric measurement, it is not a regular track event nor featured in the Olympics. It continues, however, to be run by many top runners as a glamour event.
- 1957 --- U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Profiles in Courage".
- 1982 --- Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners became the 15th pitcher in the major leagues to win 300 career victories. Perry, known for his spitball as well as a variety of other pitches, led the Mariners past the New York Yankees 7-3.
- 1994 --- In a ceremony presided over by England's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English Channel was officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age. The channel tunnel, or "Chunnel," connects Folkstone, England, with Sangatte, France, 31 miles away. The Chunnel cut travel time between England and France to a swift 35 minutes and eventually between London and Paris to two-and-a-half hours. As the world's longest undersea tunnel, the Chunnel runs under water for 23 miles, with an average depth of 150 feet below the seabed. Each day, about 30,000 people, 6,000 cars and 3,500 trucks journey through the Chunnel on passenger, shuttle and freight trains.
- 1994 --- Pearl Jam filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department against Ticketmaster. The charge was the company had a monopoly on the concert ticket business.
- Birthdays
- Willie Mays
- Sigmund Freud
- Toots Shor
- Orson Welles
- Mare Winningham
- Lori Singer
- George Clooney
- Bob Seger
- Tony Blair
- Gabourey Sidibe
- Maximilien Robespierre
- Adm. Robert Peary
- Rudolph Valentino
- Theodore White
- Weeb Ewbank