• Tasmanian Devil Week begins today. More Tasmanian devils are born this week than any other week of the year.

     • Today is National Nutty Fudge Day.

     • Today is Limerick Day, marking the birthday of limerick champ Edward Lear.

     • Today is National Nonsense Day.

     • Today is National Windmill Day.

     • Today is Odometer Day. William Clayton invented the odometer on this date in 1847 as he crossed the U.S. plains in a covered wagon.

     • Children's Book Week, National Police Week, and National Stuttering Awareness Week begin today.

On this date in . . .

1820: Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born. She carried a pet owl everywhere she went.

1870: The old District of Assiniboia entered the Confederation as Canada's fifth province. It’s called Manitoba, which means "The Great Spirit Speaks."

1932: A new character, Dippy Dawg, appeared in the cartoon "Mickey’s Revue" by Walt Disney. Later, Disney changed Dippy’s name to Goofy.

1959: Elizabeth Taylor married Eddie Fisher. Liz said, "We will be on our honeymoon for 30 or 40 years."

1960: Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley appeared on the same TV special and performed the other's hit. Elvis sang "Witchcraft" and Sinatra sang "Love Me Tender."

1963: Bob Dylan walked out of dress rehearsals for "The Ed Sullivan Show" when CBS censors told him he could not perform "Talking John Birch Society Blues."

1965: At Chess Studios in Chicago, The Rolling Stones recorded the first tracks for "Satisfaction."

1967: When Red Socks catcher Bob Tillman fired toward second to get a base-stealing Al Kaline, the ball hit pitcher John Wyatt in the head and bounced back to the on-deck circle. Kaline took third, the hard-headed Wyatt shook it off, and continued pitching.

1970: Chicago Cub Ernie Banks hit his 500th home run. He retired the following year with 512.

1978: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it would alternate using men’s and women’s names for hurricanes. Previously, only women’s names had been used, and some complained it wasn’t fair that women got all the attention for causing damage and destruction.

1985: With 13 top ten pop hits, Lionel Richie received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from his alma mater, Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

1989: Joe Valdez Caballero died at age 81. He invented the hard taco shell.

1992: Thirty men and two women from nine nations reached the summit of Mount Everest, the most climbers to reach the peak in one day.

2003: Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers brought the Texas House to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.

2003: Ten cows survived after falling down a 50-foot cliff in San Francisco. Witnesses saw the herd sliding over the cliff. Two cows had to be put down, but a vet said the others were not hurt.