On This Day In history
Birthdates which occurred on May 26:
1478 Clement VII [Giulio de' Medici], Italy, Pope (1523-34)
1566 Mohammed III sultan of Turkey (1595-1603)
1667 Abraham De Moivre French mathematician (De Moivre's theorem)
1700 Nikolaus L earl von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf German evangelist
1759 Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin writer/mother of Mary Shelley
1799 Alexander S Pushkin Russia, writer (Eugene Onegin)
1806 Henry Knox Thatcher Commander (Union Navy), died in 1880
1835 Edward Porter Alexander Brigadier General of artillery (Confederate Army)
1853 John Wesley Hardin was born in Bonham, Texas. (meanest man in Texas, once shot a man for snoring)
1876 Jack Root boxing's 1st light heavyweight champion
1877 Isadora Duncan San Fransisco CA, free form/interpretative dancer
1877 Sadao Araki Japanese general/minister of War (1931-34)
1886 Al Jolson [Asa Yoelson] jazz singer/film actor (Mamie, Swanee)
1895 Dorothea Lange US documentary photographer
1895 Paul Lukas Budapest Hungary, actor (Watch on the Rhine, Sphynx)
1899 Pieter Menten Dutch war criminal
1903 Estes Kefauver (Senator-D-TN)
1907 John "Duke" Wayne [Marion Michael Morrison] Winterset IA, actor (True Grit)
1908 Robert Morley Semley Wiltshire England, actor (High Road to China, African Queen)
1910 Laurence S Rockefeller New York NY, CEO (Chase Manhattan Bank)(secret ruler of the world)
1911 Ben Alexander Goldfield NV, actor (Dragnet, Outer Gate, Mr Doodles Kicks Off)
1912 János Kádár premier Hungary (1956-58)
1913 Peter Cushing Kenley Surrey England, actor (Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, Star Wars, Dr Who)
1919 Jay Silverheels actor (Tonto-Lone Ranger)
1920 Peggy Lee [Norma Egstrom] Jamestown ND, singer (Fever, Why Don't You Do Right)
1923 James Arness Minneapolis MN, actor (Matt Dillon-Gunsmoke, Thing)
1939 Brent Musburger sportscaster (CBS-TV)
1948 Stevie [Stephanie Lynn] Nicks Phoenix AZ, rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Bella Donna)
1949 Hank Williams Jr Shreveport LA, country singer (All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight, There's A Tear In My Beer)
1949 Pam Grier Winston-Salem NC, actress (Big Bird Cage, Tough Enough)
1949 Philip Michael Thomas Columbus OH, actor (Miami Vice)
1950 ? 1st whooping crane hatched in captivity
1951 Muhammed Ahmad Faris Syria, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-3)
1951 Sally K. Ride Los Angeles CA, 1st US woman astronaut (STS-7, STS 41G)
1956 Joe Penny actor (Jake & the Fatman)
1962 Bob[cat] Goldthwait Syracuse NY, comedian (Police Academy, Scrooged)
1964 Lenny Kravitz singer/guitar (911 is a Joke, Are You Gonna Go My Way?)
Deaths which occurred on May 26:
0604 605? Augustinus van Canterbury bishop/apostle of England, dies
0735 Beda Venerabilis English speaking church historian, dies at about 62
1421 Mohammed I sultan of Turkey (1413-21), dies
1512 Bajezid II Governor of Amasja/8th Sultan of Turkey, dies
1703 Samuel Pepys English marine expert (Diary)/composer, dies at 70
1831 Georg Hermes German philosopher/theologist (Hermenianen), dies
1868 Michael Barrett Irish nationalist, last British public execution
1883 Abd el-Kader Algerian sultan/religious ruler, dies at about 74
1905 Alphonse de Rothschild French banker, dies
1933 Jimmie Rodgers country singer, dies at 35
1939 Charles H Mayo US surgeon/co-founder (Mayo Clinic), dies at 74
1939 Cornelis J Cutters supreme commander of Navy (1910-18), dies
1943 Edsel Ford owner (Ford Motor Company), dies at 49
1951 Lincoln Ellsworth Arctic explorer, dies at 71
1956 Al Simmons Outfielder (A's)/lifetime batting average of .334, dies at 54
1959 Joe Kelly TV host (Quiz Kids), dies at 57
1963 Sharon Lynn actress (Way Out West, Big Broadcast), dies at 53
1968 William E "Little Willie" John US R&B-singer (Fever), dies at 30)
1976 Martin Heidegger German philosopher/Nazi (Holzweg), dies at 86
1979 George Brent actor (Baby Face, Dark Victory, 42nd St), dies at 75
1991 Tom Cassidy anchor (CNN), dies of AIDs at 41
1994 Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock US free-jazz Guitarist, dies at 53
1995 Isadore "Friz" Freling cartoon director (Sylvester), dies at 88
1997 Manfred Von Ardenne German scientific pioneer, dies at 90
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
26-May-2003 5 | US: 5 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Keman L. Mitchell Kirkuk (near) Non-hostile - drowning
US Private Kenneth A. Nalley As Samawah Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US Staff Sergeant Brett J. Petriken As Samawah Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US Private 1st Class Jeremiah D. Smith Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire - bomb
US Major Matthew E. Schram Hadithah Hostile - hostile fire
26-May-2004 3 | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Lance Corporal Kyle W. Codner Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Corporal Matthew C. Henderson Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Corporal Dominique J. Nicolas Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
Afghanistan
A Good Day
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
On this day...
0961 German King Otto II crowned
1328 William of Ockham forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII
1521 Edict of Worms outlaws Martin Luther & his followers
1538 Genève throws out Calvijn
1637 1st battle of Pequot at New Haven CT kills 500 Indians
1647 Massachusetts disallows priest access to colony
1736 Battle of Ackia (Louisiana), British & Chickasaw Indians defeat the French
1781 Bank of North America incorporated in Philadelphia
1788 Mary Clark of England gives birth to a baby without a brain (I didn't know Howard Dean was that old)
1790 Territory South of River Ohio created by Congress
1798 British kill about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara
1805 Lewis & Clark 1st see Rocky Mountains
1805 Napoleon is crowned king of Italy
1824 Brazil is recognized by US
1834 Portuguese Civil war ends, Dom Miguel capitulates
1860 Garibaldi occupies Palermo Italy
1861 Postmaster General Blair announces end of postal connection with South
1861 Union blockades New Orleans LA & Mobile AL
1864 Skirmish along the Totopotomoy Creek VA
1864 Territory of Montana is formed
1865 Battle of Galveston TX, surrender of Edmund Kirby Smith
1868 President Andrew Johnson avoids impeachment by 1 vote
1876 HMS Challenger returns from 128,000-km oceanographic exploration
1887 Racetrack betting becomes legal in New York state
1894 Emanuel Lasker (26) becomes World Champion chess player
1896 1st American intercollegiate bicycle race, Manhattan Beach NY
1896 Dow Jones begins an index of 12 industrial stocks (closing is 40.94)
1896 Last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II, crowned
1900 British troops under Ian Hamilton attack the Vaal in South Africa
1903 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of the 3 Gables" (BG)
1905 A pogrom against Jews in Minsk Belorussia
1906 Archaeological Institute of America forms
1909 Frederick Barrett runs world record marathon (2:42:31)
1913 Actors' Equity Association forms (NYC)
1917 Walt Cruise hit 1st homerun out of Braves Field
1918 Georgian Social Democratic Republic declares independence from Russia
1922 Lenin suffers a stroke
1923 1st Le Mans Grand Prix d'Endurance was run
1923 Socialist Workers Youth International forms in Hamburg
1924 President Coolidge signs Immigration Law (restricting immigration)
1925 Tigers' Ty Cobb is 1st to collect 1,000 extra-base hits (ends 1,139)
1927 Ford Motor Company manufactures its 15 millionth Model T automobile
1930 Supreme Court rules buying liquor does not violate the Constitution
1932 Admiral Makoto Saito forms parliament in Tokyo
1934 Century of Progress Exposition reopens in Chicago
1937 San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge opens
1938 House Committee on Un-American Activities begins work
1940 Operation Dynamo begins evacuating defeated Allied troops from Dunkirk
1941 Ark Royal airplane sight the German battleship Bismarck.
1941 American Flag House (Betsy Ross' Home) given to city of Philadelphia
1941 Ark Royal airplane sights German battleship Bismarck
1942 Anglo-Soviet Treaty signed in London
1942 Belgian Jews are required by Nazis to wear a Jewish star
1942 Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps vs British army
1943 1st president of a black country to visit US (Edwin Barclay, Liberia)
1943 Jews riot against Germany in Amsterdam
1945 US drop fire bombs on Tokyo
1946 2-for-42 & hitting .048 for 1946, Mel Ott stops playing baseball (good move)
1946 Patent filed in US for H-Bomb
1948 Entire Hagana-arm forces sworn-in as Israeli soldiers
1948 South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy
1956 Aircraft carrier "Bennington" burns off Rhode Island, killing 103
1959 Harvey Haddix pitches 12 perfect innings, loses in 13th
1961 Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee establishes in Atlanta
1961 USAF bomber flies the Atlantic in a record of just over 3 hours
1965 Revised international Convention on Safety of Life at Sea takes effect
1966 Buddhist sets self on fire at US consulate in Hué South-Vietnam
1966 Guyana (formerly British Guiana) declares independence from UK
1969 Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth
1969 John & Yoko begin their 2nd bed-in (Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montréal)
1971 Soviet Union's Concorde, TU-144, makes its 1st appearance
1972 Joe Frazier TKOs Ron Stander in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
1972 Nixon & Brezhnev signs SALT accord
1973 Bahrain adopts it's constitution
1973 Beatles' "The Beatles 1967-1970" album goes #1
1974 During a David Cassidy concert in London a 14 year old is trampled
1977 George Willig climbs NYC World Trade Center
1977 Movie "Star Wars" debuts
1978 1st legal gambling casino opens in Atlantic City
1979 "Dancin' Fool" by Frank Zappa hits #45
1980 Soyuz 36 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Hungarian) to Salyut 6
1981 Marine jet crashes on flight deck of USS Nimitz, killing 14
1982 British ship Atlantic Conveyor & Coventry were hit in Falkland war
1984 Frisbee is kept aloft for 1,672 seconds in Philadelphia (27.8 minutes)
1987 Cecilia Bolocco, 22, of Chile, crowned 36th Miss Universe
1987 Great offensive against Tamil-rebellion in Jaffra Sri Lanka
1987 Supreme Court ruled dangerous defendants could be held without bail
1989 At 7:42 AM, radio has a 30 second silence, honoring radio
1989 Danish parliament allows legal marriage among homosexuals
1990 Philadelphia Phillies retire Mike Schmidt's uniform #20
1993 Long fly ball by Indians' Carlos Martinez bounces off Jose Canseco's head & goes over fence for a homerun
1993 San Francisco DJs Mancow Muller and Chewy Gomez from the KSOL radio station stopped all traffic on the Bay Bridge for “8 minutes” during the morning commute for a haircut. Muller was fined $500 and sentenced to 100 hours of community service. They were inspired by news reports that Pres. Clinton had held up air traffic in LA for a haircut in Air Force One and 8 days before
1994 Michael Jackson (35) weds Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley (26) The couple divorced less than two years later.
(Michael retains custody of the chimpanzee)
1997 Sammy Sosa (Cubs) & Tony Womack (Pirates) hit inside the park homeruns
1998 US Supreme Court rules that Ellis Island is mainly in New Jersey, based on an 1834 border agreement between New York and New Jersey
2001 Republicans and moderate Democrats drove a sweeping $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut through Congress, handing President Bush a political triumph.
2004 FBI issues an alert warning of a possible major terrorist attack in the US this summer. Photos of 7 suspects were released
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Guyana : Independence Day (1966)
US : Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868)(Monday)
Virginia : Confederate Memorial Day (1868)(Monday)
Poppy Week (Day 4)
Human Fly Day
Mystic, Conn : Lobster Festival
Scottsboro Alabama : Catfish Festival
US : All You Can Eat Day
REACT CB-Radio Month
Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Eleutherius, pope [175-178], martyr
Roman Catholic, Anglican : Memorial of Augustine, English Apostle, 1st abp of Canterbury (optional)
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Philip Neri, priest
Jewish : Shavuot (celebration of 10 commandments)(Sivan 6, 5753 AM)
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Ember Day
Religious History
1232 Pope Gregory IX sent the first Inquisition team to Aragon in Spain, after turning its details over to the Dominicans the previous year.
1811 Birth of William Hunter, American Methodist clergyman. The author of three collections of hymns, published during his lifetime, Hunter is best remembered today for the hymn entitled, "The Great Physician Now is Near."
1858 In Pittsburgh, the Associate Presbyterian and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian churches merged to form the United Presbyterian Church in North America.
1899 Future President William McKinley, 56, wrote in his notebook: 'My belief embraces the Divinity of Christ and a recognition of Christianity as the mightiest factor in the world's civilization.' (McKinley had been "born again," at age 10, during a revival meeting, and later joined a Methodist church.)
1957 The religious program "The Fourth R" aired for the last time over NBC television. Produced by several different religious organizations, this short-lived series aired on Sunday mornings.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Strange days
Thai anti-corruption commission corrupt: court
Thu May 26, 2005
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's nine anti-corruption commissioners were found guilty on Thursday of awarding themselves extra payments illegally, a court said.
A panel of nine Supreme Court judges voted six to three to uphold an earlier finding against the nine commissioners of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC), the country's top anti-graft watchdog.
"They were guilty of misusing their authority to benefit their own interest, which has caused damage to the National Counter Corruption Commission," a judge said in reading the hour-long verdict.
However, the court suspended their two-year jail terms, saying their convictions should not overshadow the good work they had done in the past.
The commissioners were found guilty of boosting their monthly allowances by 42,500-45,500 baht (580-621 pounds) without parliamentary approval.
It was not clear if the commissioners, who had denied the charges, would lose their jobs.
"I won't resign since this verdict won't disqualify me," NCCC commissioner Vichien Viriyaprasit told reporters after the court ruling.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Thought for the day :
"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."
