Trevor WholohanThis Day in History April 17th
April 17th 2007 00:23
1704 - The 1st successful American newspaper, the Boston "News-Letter" was published
1817 - 1st US school for the deaf founded by Thomas Hopkins and Laurent Clerc
1861 - Virginia became the eighth state to secede from the Union.
1865 - Mary Surratt was arrested as a conspirator in the Lincoln assassination.
1892 - 1st Sunday National League baseball game, Cinn. Reds beat St Louis Cardinals
1907 - 11,745 immigrants arrive at Ellis Island NY
1917 - A bill in Congress to establish Daylight Saving Time was defeated.
1924 - Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Co. merged to form MGM
1925 - New York Yankee Babe Ruth has ulcer surgery
1937 - Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut, in Porky’s Duck Hunt.
1941 - World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
1941 - Igor Sikorsky accomplished the first successful helicopter lift-off from water.
1942 - POW French General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein.
1947 - Jackie Robinson ( Dodgers) performed a bunt for his first major league hit.
1951 - New York Yankee Mickey Mantle's 1st game, he goes 1 for 4
1953 - Mickey Mantle hits a 565 foot homerun in Washington DC's Griffith Stadium
1956 - Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament
1961 - About 1,400 U.S.-supported Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. It was an unsuccessful attack.
1964 - The Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Mustang at the NY World's Fair.
1964 - Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
1969 - Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
1970 - Apollo 13 returned to Earth after an on-board explosion with an oxygen tank.
1973 - Federal Express delivers its first package.
1976 - U.S. President Gerald Ford appears as himself on Saturday Night Live
1982 - Canada adopts its constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II.
1983 - 1st National Coin Week begins
1986 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Larry McMurtry for "Lonesome Dove"
1991 - Dow Jones closes above 3,000 for 1st time (3,004.46)
1993 - Police officers found guilty of violating Rodney King's civil rights Two other officers were acquitted
1995 - An Air Force jet exploded and crashed in a wooded area in eastern Alabama, killing eight people, including an assistant Air Force secretary and a two-star general.
1996 - Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison for killing their parents.
1999 - In Iraq US fighter planes bombed anti-aircraft sites in the northern no-fly zone.
2002 - Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U.S. Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War.
2003 - US Special Forces captured Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti (5 of clubs), a half brother of Saddam Hussein. He was 3rd the list of 55 former Iraqi officials wanted by the US.
Famous Birthday’s
1837 - J.P. Morgan, American financier, philanthropist and billionaire (d. 1913)
1918 - William Holden, O'Fallon IL, actor (Stalag 17, Bridge Over the River Kwai)
1949 - John Oates New York NY, rock guitarist/vocalist (Hall & Oates-Rich Girl)
1954 - Rowdy Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler
1972 - Jennifer Garner, actress(Alias, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil)Married to Ben Affleck
Joke of the Day
A Walking Economy
This guy is walking with his friend, who happens to be a psychologist. He says to this friend, "I'm a walking economy."
The friend asks, "How so?"
"My hair line is in recession, my stomach is a victim of inflation, and both of these together are putting me into a deep depression!"
Dangerous Food
A dietician was once addressing a large audience in Chicago. "The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Vegetables can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the germs in our drinking water.
"But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all of us eat it. Can anyone here tell me what lethal product I'm referring to? You, sir, in the first row, please give us your idea."
The man lowered his head and said, "Wedding cake."
Commercial Reward
At breakfast one day, I eagerly waited for John to comment on my first attempt at homemade cinnamon rolls. After several minutes with no reaction, I asked, "If I baked these commercially, how much do you think I could get for one of them?" Without looking up from his newspaper John replied, "About 10 years."
World Records
Driest place
For the period between 1964 and 2001, the average annual rainfall in Atacama Desert, Chile, was just 0.02 inches(0.5mm)
Most tornadoes in 24 hours
The record number of tornadoes in a 24-hour period is 148. They swept through the Southern and Midwestern states of the USA on April 3-4, 1974. This region of America is often referred to as "Tornado Alley."
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