Today is Violin Lovers Day.
Today is UFO
Day, marking the Roswell Incident
on this date In 1947. A rancher near Roswell, New Mexico, found debris from a flying
saucer. The Air Force claimed the debris came from weather balloons,
but other
observers reported seeing alien bodies. The Roswell Incident is the most famous of UFO
"sightings." (Roswell
UFO Museum)
Today is Remember to Feed the Hummingbirds Day. Hang the feeder outside a window so the
cat can watch.
Today is I Forgot Day, a day to make up for all the birthdays, anniversaries, and
graduations you forgot during the first half of the year.
Today is Be Nice to People You Don't Like Day.
Today is National Baked Bananas Day.
Today is National Try to Find Your Slinky Day.
On this date in . . .
1916: Ken Curtis was born in Lamar, Colorado. He sang
with the Tommy Dorsey band and the Sons of the Pioneers, but was probably best known as
Festus Haggen on "Gunsmoke." He died at age 74 in 1991.
1932: James Gamble died in Cincinnati. As a partner
in Procter & Gamble, he developed Ivory, the first floating soap.
1955: ABC Television premiered "The
Lawrence Welk Show," featuring a 24-piece band and "Champagne Lady" Alice
Lon. The show lasted 27 years.
1956: At a studio in Manhattan, Elvis Presley
recorded "Dont Be Cruel" and "(You Aint Nothin But A)
Hound Dog."
1969: Consumer crusader Ralph Nader warned that
loud rock music threatened to create a generation of hearing-impaired people.
1970: Lyman Dickinson in Albany, New York, rolled a
299, the highest score ever by a bowler on two artificial legs.
1982: Larry Walters flew a lawn chair to 16,000
feet over San Pedro, California. He had tied 42 helium-filled weather balloons to the
chair. He even made it back down safely.
1985: General Motors announced it was
installing electronic road maps as an option on some of its higher priced cars. The system
used a dashboard computer and maps stored on cassette tapes. Almost nobody was interested.
1988: Rick Krause became the world champion cherry
pit spitter in Eau Claire, Michigan, with a record spit of 72 feet 7.5 inches.
1992: The one-millionth Chevrolet Corvette rolled
off the assembly line.
2001: Robert Tools received the world's
first self-contained artificial heart in Louisville, Kentucky. He lived 151 days with the
device.
2002: American adventurer Steve Fossett
became the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world as he returned to western
Australia.
2003: Vancouver was awarded the 2010
Winter Olympics.
2004:
Legendary film and stage actor Marlon Brando
died in Los Angeles at age 80.
2006: Tata, believed to be the
world's oldest crow, died in Bearsville, New York, at age 59. Tata was
injured when a storm blew him out of his nest in 1947. Never able to fly,
Tata was blinded by cataracts the last five years, but his owner said he was
a "good pet and an incredible old bird." In the wild, the oldest crows live
to be only 29 or 30 years old.
Birthdays: