- 96th Day of 2012 / 270 Remaining
- 76 Days Until Summer Begins
- Sunrise:6:48
- Sunset:7:37
- 12 Hr 49 Min
- Moon Rise:6:49pm
- Moon Set:5:47am
- Moon’s Phase: 98 %
- The Next Full Moon
- April 6 @ 2:20pm
- Full Pink Moon
- Full Fish Moon
- Full Sprouting Grass Moon
- Full Full Fish Moon
This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month’s celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Full Fish Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.
- Tides
- High:10:34am/10:46pm
- Low:4:20am/4:27pm
- Rainfall
- This Year:
- Last Year:
- Normal To Date:
- Annual Average: 22.28
- Holidays
- National Deep Dish Pizza Day
- National Raisin and Spice Bar Day
- Make Your Children Laugh Day
- Maundy Thursday
- Go for Broke Day
- National Tomb-Sweeping Day/Qing Ming Festival-China
- Arbor Day-South Korea
- On This Day In …
- 1621 --- The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, Massachusetts, to return to England.
- 1792 --- George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.
- 1859 --- Naturalist Charles Darwin sends his publishers the first three chapters of Origin of Species, which will become one of the most influential books ever published. Knowing the fates of scientists who had published radical theories and been ostracized or worse, Darwin held off publishing his theory of natural selection for years. He secretly developed his theory during two decades of surreptitious research following his return from a five-year voyage to South America on the HMS Beagle as the ship's unpaid botanist. Darwin, the privileged and well-connected son of a successful English doctor, had been interested in botany and natural sciences since his boyhood, despite the discouragement of his early teachers. At Cambridge, he found professors and scientists with similar interests and with their help began participating in scientific voyages, including the HMS Beagle's trip. By the time Darwin returned, he had developed an outstanding reputation as a field researcher and scientific writer, based on his many papers and letters dispatched from South America and the Galapagos Islands, which were read at meetings of prominent scientific societies in London. Darwin began publishing studies of zoology and geology as soon as he returned from his voyage, while secretly working on his radical theory of evolution. Meanwhile, he married and had seven children. He finally published The Origin of Species after another scientist began publishing papers with similar ideas. When the book appeared in November 1859, it sold out immediately. By 1872, six editions had been published. It laid the groundwork for modern botany, cellular biology, and genetics.
- 1895 --- Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde had been accused of homosexual practices.
- 1919 -- Eamon de Valera became president of Ireland.
- 1923 --- Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, OH began the first regular production of balloon tires.
- 1930 --- Mahatma Ghandi defied British law by making salt in India.
- 1951 --- The climax of the most sensational spy trial in American history is reached when a federal judge sentences Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for their roles in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. Although the couple proclaimed their innocence, they died in the electric chair in June 1953. The Rosenbergs were convicted of playing a central role in a spy ring that passed secret data concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union during and immediately after World War II. Their part in the espionage came to light when British physicist Klaus Fuchs was arrested in Great Britain in early 1950. Under questioning, Fuchs admitted that he stole secret documents while he was working on the Manhattan Project—the top-secret U.S. program to build an atomic bomb during World War II. He implicated Harry Gold as a courier who delivered the documents to Soviet agents. Gold was arrested a short time later and informed on David Greenglass, who then pointed the finger at his sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Julius was arrested in July and Ethel in August 1950. After a brief trial in March 1951, the Rosenbergs were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. At their sentencing hearing in April, Federal Judge Irving R. Kaufman described their crime as "worse than murder" and charged, "By your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country." He sentenced them to death. The Rosenbergs and their attorneys continued to plead their innocence, arguing that they were "victims of political hysteria." Humanitarian organizations in the United States and around the world pleaded for leniency, particularly since the Rosenbergs were the parents of two young children. The pleas for special consideration were ignored, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953.
- 1958 --- Johnny Mathis’ album, Johnny’s Greatest Hits, on Columbia Records, made it to the pop music charts for the first time. The LP remained on the charts for a record 490 weeks (nearly 9-1/2 years!) The record began its stay at number one (three weeks) on June 9, 1958. Mathis studied opera from age 13 and, while attending San Francisco's George Washington High School, earned a track and field scholarship at SF State. He was invited to Olympic try-outs and chose a singing career instead. He was originally a jazz-style singer when Mitch Miller of Columbia switched Mathis to singing pop ballads. Johnny would chart over 60 albums in 30 years.
- 1969 --- Approximately 100,000 antiwar demonstrators march in New York City to demand that the United States withdraw from Vietnam. The weekend of antiwar protests ended with demonstrations and parades in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities. The National Mobilization Committee, the Student Mobilization Committee, and the Socialist Workers Party were among the groups that helped organize the demonstrations. At the same time, Quakers held sit-ins at draft boards and committed other acts of civil disobedience in more than 30 cities.
- 1980 --- In the final first-run episode of "Hawaii Five-0," McGarrett captured his arch-enemy Wo-Fat. The series, starring Jack Lord and James MacArthur, lasted 12 years.
- 1980 --- In Athens, GA, R.E.M. played their first show when they appeared at St. Mary's Episcopal Church.
- 1984 --- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers used his patented 12-foot skyhook in the fourth quarter to become the all-time NBA regular season scoring leader this night. He broke the previous mark held by Wilt Chamberlain who had 31,419 points. Kareem broke the scoring record on a pass play from Magic Johnson and with three Utah Jazz players guarding him. The Lakers won, 129-115.
- 1987 --- Calling it the first launching of a television network in almost 40 years, the FOX Broadcasting Company, under the direction of media and publishing baron Rupert Murdoch started with two Sunday night offerings. OK. Who said one was The Simpsons? “Hey, man, get a life. Not true. Cowabonga, dude!” Thanks, Bart. No, actually, Married......With Children and The Tracey Ullman Show were the beginnings of the FOX lineup.
- 1993 --- Sherry Davis became the first female public-address-system announcer at a major league baseball park. She won the San Francisco Giant’s job over 499 others who auditioned.
- 1994 --- Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) killed himself with a shotgun. He was found three days later.
- 1998 --- A sheep being held on the roof of a Cairo apartment building for slaughter during a religious festival, decided he’d rather commit suicide and jumped off the roof, breaking gas pipes when he landed, causing a gas leak, and forcing evacuation of the building.
- Birthdays
- Booker T. Washington
- Elihu Yale
- Bette Davis
- Eric Burdon
- Secretary of State Colin Powell
- Roger Corman
- Max Gail
- Agnetha Faltskog(ABBA)
- Melvyn Douglas
- Arthur Hailey
- Gale Storm
- Spencer Tracy
- Gregory Peck
- Tony Williams (Platters)
- Frank Gorshin
- Stanley Turrentine
- David LaFlamme
- Paula Cole
- Paula West