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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

June 17 is the 168th day of the year. There are 197 days remaining until the end of the year.

Sunrise was at 5:47 AM

Sunset  will be at 8:34 PM

We'll have 14 hours 46 minutes 28 seconds of daylight

Moon will be 1.2 % illuminated, waxing crescent

Today is….

Eat Your Vegetables Day
Bunker Hill Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)
Father's Day (El Salvador, Guatemala)
Icelandic National Day, celebrates the independence of Iceland from Kingdom of Denmark in 1944.
Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day (Latvia)
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
Zemla Intifada Day (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, formerly Spanish Sahara)

 On this day in history….

 1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.

1579 – Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (Marin County) for England.
 
1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.
 
1839 – In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result.

1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
 
1901 – The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.

1932 – Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
1971 – President Richard Nixon declares the U.S. War on Drugs.
1972 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

1992 – A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).

1994 – Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

 

If today is your birthday, you share it with…
1818 – Charles Gounod, French composer (d. 1893)
1871 – James Weldon Johnson, American author, journalist, and activist (d. 1938)
1882 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1971)
1898 – M. C. Escher, Dutch illustrator (d. 1972)
1904 – Ralph Bellamy, American actor and singer (d. 1991)
1910 – Red Foley, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 1968)
1916 – Terry Gilkyson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Easy Riders) (d. 1999)
1942 – Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian politician, Vice President of Egypt, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Newt Gingrich, American politician, 58th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
1943 – Barry Manilow, American singer-songwriter and producer
1945 – Art Bell, American radio host and author
1951 – Starhawk, American author and activist
1958 – Jello Biafra, American singer-songwriter and producer (former lead singer for the Dead Kennedys)