Today in History for 9th May 2014

Historical Events

1573 - Polish Parliament selects Duke of Anjou as king

1862 - Battle of Farmington, MS

1946 - 1st hour long entertainment TV show, "NBC's Hour Glass" premieres

1949 - Prince Rainier III becomes monarch of Monaco

1984 - White Sox and Brewers play 8:06, game, longest timed baseball game

1987 - 183 die aboard a Polish jetliner that crashes in Warsaw

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Famous Birthdays

1800 - John Brown, Torrington, Connecticut, American revolutionary abolitionist (d. 1859)

1917 - George Fleming, cyclist

1924 - Jean J A Girault, French director/screenwriter (l'Amour)

1953 - Ron Jackson, baseball player

1962 - Dave Gahan, Essex, rock vocalist (Depeche Mode-Dreaming of Me)

1970 - Doug Christie, NBA guard/forward (Toronto Raptors)

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Famous Deaths

1747 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (b. 1673)

1805 - Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, German poet/playwright, dies at 45

1950 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b. 1883)

1966 - Wilhelmus M Bekkers, bishop of Dukeenbosch, dies

1968 - Marion Lorne, actress (Aunt Clara-Bewitched), dies at 81

2011 - Wouter Weylandt, Belgian cyclist (b. 1984)

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A guy and his friends have a tradition of putting on full Star Wars…

A guy and his friends have a tradition of putting on full Star Wars costumes and running a timed mile in Death Valley on the hottest day of the year. They call it the “Darth Valley Challenge” and temperatures can be as high as 129°F/54°C.

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After Disney threatened to sue three day care centers…

After Disney threatened to sue three day care centers for unauthorized use of their characters, Hanna-Barbera gave them the right to use Universal characters as decorations. use of their characters, Hanna-Barbera gave them the right to use Universal characters as decorations.

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Germans have a tool which breaks eggs perfectly called…

Germans have a tool which breaks eggs perfectly called a Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher.

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A British soldier once won the Victoria cross for attacking…

A British soldier once won the Victoria cross for attacking the enemy with beer bottles during the 1950 Korean war. “By the time the platoon were attacked, the bottles were empty, thus constituting suitable weaponry.”

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NASA asked Buzz Aldrin to refrain from quoting…

NASA asked Buzz Aldrin to refrain from quoting the Bible on the moon.

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The Hubble telescope required the most perfect mirror ever…

The Hubble telescope required the most perfect mirror ever created. Work on it had to be done at night because the vibrations caused by cars driving 4 miles away affected the ability to test the mirror.

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