President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under the Department of Defense and is observed on the third Saturday in May.
Today's Calendar
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Question of the Day
Did W. C. Fields really hate children, or was that just part of his comedy routine?
It was probably just part of his curmudgeonly act. William Claude Fields (1880-1946) was born William Claude Dukenfield in Philadelphia. He began his career at age 11, working as an itinerant juggler. The Ziegfeld Follies gave him his first real boost, and by 1925 he was doing film work with D. W. Griffith. His form of comedy was always raffish, featuring the drunken cad with a swaggering machismo. Fields is especially remembered for his one-liners, such as “I never met a kid I liked” and “Anybody who hates children and dogs can’t be all bad.” For all that bluster, however, his last will and testament suggests sentiments of a different sort. Fields had specified that his money be used to establish a “W. C. Fields College for orphan white boys and girls, where no religion of any sort is to be preached.”
Advice of the Day
Crush the seeds of sweet cicely and use them as a polish for wooden furniture.
Home Hint of the Day
When you use the fan over your cook stove, be sure to open a window elsewhere in the house, too. This will give the fan a greater supply of air to blow, so it will be more effective.
Word of the Day
Hail
Hail falls mainly in the summer. It forms in thunderstorm clouds, which can extend high into the atmoshpere where extremely cold temperatures prevail. When a cloud releases rain, the rain can be forced upward, where it freezes into tiny ice pellets. If updrafts keep buffeting the pellets, layer upon layer of frozen water will be added to the pellets until, finally, hailstones are released.
Puzzle of the Day
How do you mend a broken jack-o’-lantern?
With a pumpkin patch.
Born
- Bertrand Russell (philosopher & mathematician) –
- Frank Capra (director) –
- Perry Como (singer) –
- Pope John Paul II –
- Brooks Robinson (baseball player) –
- Reggie Jackson (baseball player) –
- George Strait (country singer) –
- Tina Fey (writer & actress) –
- Jack Johnson (musician) –
Died
- Elizabeth Montgomery (American actress ) –
- Elvin Ray Jones (renowned jazz drummer and member of John Coltrane’s quartet who also played alongside Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis) –
- Wayne Allwine (voice of Mickey Mouse for over 30 years) –
Events
- Montreal, Quebec, founded–
- Masses feared the end of the world during passage of Halley’s Comet–
- U.S. Selective Draft Act passed–
- Tennessee Valley Authority created–
- TWA was first airline to fly the Douglas DC-2 aircraft–
- Aviator Jackie Cochran became the first woman to exceed Mach 1–
- Apollo 10 spacecraft launched from Cape Kennedy–
- India became world’s sixth nuclear power–
- A magnitude 5.1 earthquake causes the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens, killing 57 people.–
- Law passed to remove Confederate flag from South Carolina statehouse–
- Randy Johnson made history by becoming the oldest major league player (at age 40) to throw a perfect game. Cy Young was previously the oldest to pitch perfection at 37–
Weather
- Major Arkansas River flood, Wichita, Kansas–
- Violent Lake Michigan storm wrecked several ships–
- Oklahoma experienced major floods–
- 116 degrees F at Death Valley, California–