Today in History for 19th July 2014

Historical Events

1590 - King Philip Ii's secretary Antonio Perez escapes jail

1692 - 5 more people are hanged for witchcraft (20 in all) in Salem Mass

1869 - Louis Riel speaks at a meeting of Metis residents about rights, setting in motion the events now referred to as the Red River Rebellion

1913 - Billboard publishes earliest known "Last Week's 10 Best Sellers among Popular Songs" Malinda's Wedding Day is #1

1975 - Apollo and Soyuz linked in orbit for 2 days, separate

1980 - David Bowie appears in role of "Elephant Man" in Denver

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Famous Birthdays

1735 - Garret Wesley Mornington, composer

1895 - Xu Beihong, Chinese painter (d. 1953)

1956 - Peter Barton, Valley Stream LI, actor (Powers of Matthew Star)

1976 - Vinessa Shaw, American actress

1981 - David Bernard, West Indian cricketer

1984 - Lewis Price, Welsh footballer

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Famous Deaths

1234 - Floris IV, count of Holland, killed in tournament

1844 - Heinrich Domnich, composer, dies at 77

1895 - Ernest H Baillon, French botanist (History of Plants), dies at 67

1985 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer (b. 1938)

1992 - Heinz Galinski, Pres (Central council for Jews in Germany), dies at 79

1996 - Emmanual Tettey Mensah, musician, dies at 77

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Due to their small brains koalas are unable to perform…

Due to their small brains koalas are unable to perform complex, unfamiliar tasks such as eat leaves off of flat surfaces.

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Not only are there radar detectors, but radar detector…

Not only are there radar detectors, but radar detector-detectors, and even radar detector-detector-detectors.

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When John F. Kennedy met Joseph Luns, the former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs…

When John F. Kennedy met Joseph Luns, the former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kennedy asked for his hobbies and he answered: “I fok horses”, Kennedy, struck with surprise responded: “Pardon?”, Luns replied: “Yes, paarden!”. ‘Fokken’ means ‘to breed’, and ‘horses’ means ‘paarden’ in Dutch.

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The most valuable legal tender coin in the world is a $1 million…

The most valuable legal tender coin in the world is a $1 million coin made in Australia. But being that it weighs 1,000kg and is 99.99% pure gold, it is worth almost $45 million.

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Time runs approximately 0.0000000014 percent slower…

Time runs approximately 0.0000000014 percent slower on the ISS than on earth – after 6 months in the ISS, an astronaut will have aged 0.007 less than someone who had spent 6 months on earth, all due to time dilation.

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A sheep in New Zealand managed to avoid sheering…

A sheep in New Zealand managed to avoid sheering for six years by hiding in caves. Here is the video of Shrek, the sheep getting shorn.

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