Almanac d' Mythos
 
May 7th .

Births/Deaths Chart Toppers
 
Vocabulary of the day Humour for the Day

Events on this Day.
Year Event.
1994Edvard Munch's painting 'The Scream' recovered 3 months after stolen .
1992The space shuttle Endeavour blasted off on its maiden voyage. The Endeavour launch, as the $2 billion replacement for the Challenger, was the 47th shuttle mission. While capturing and correcting the orbit of a satellite, the astronauts set new US records for duration of spacewalk and the number of astronauts outside the craft .
1989Panamanian voters reject dictator Manuel Noriega's bid for reelection .
1984$180m out-of-court settlement reached in Agent Orange suit .
1983August Hoffman performs record 29,051 consecutive sit-ups .
1980Josip Tito, Yugoslav president, buried .
1975Pres Ford declares an end to 'Vietnam Era' .
1970'Long and Winding Road' becomes Beatles' last American release .
1963The United States launched the Telstar II communications satellite on behalf of its private owner, AT&T. On its tenth orbit, it transmitted the first transatlantic TV program seen in colour. It orbited with an apogee of 6,700 miles (10,800 km). This superceded ATandT's original Telstar satellite, which had ceased operating in 1962, due to transistor damage caused by radiation from a high-altitude nuclear test. Telstar II was built with shielding against such radiation .
1962Pulitzer prize awarded to Theodore H White (Making of President) .
1955West Europe Union established .
Polio vaccinations with the Salk vaccine were suspended by the US Surgeon General. Several children had acquired the disease from the vaccine. The trouble was traced to faulty production at an independent laboratory, but it is the inventor's name, Jonas Salk, which is unjustly most remembered for the vaccine's shortcomings .
1954US, Great-Britain and France reject Russian membership in NATO .
French surrender to Vietminh after 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu .
1953'Can Can' opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 892 performances .
1952The concept of the integrated circuit chip was first published, by Geoffrey W. A. Dummer, in Washington DC .
1951Pulitzer prize awarded to Conrad Richter (The Town) .
1947General MacArthur approves Japanese constitution .
'Kraft Television Theater' premieres on NBC .
1945SS open fire on crowd in Amsterdam, killing 22 .
Pulitzer prize awarded to John Hersey (Bell for Adano) .
Mauthausen Concentration Camp liberated .
Formal German surrender .
1944German assault on Tito's hideout in Drvar Bosnia .
1942Nazi decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed .
Battle of Coral Sea ends stopping Japanese expansion .
1941British House of Commons votes for Churchill (477-3) .
1940Winston Churchill becomes PM of Britain .
1939Germany and Italy announced an alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis .
1934World's largest pearl (6.4 kg) found at Palawan, Philippines .
Pulitzer prize awarded to Sidney Kingsley (Men in White) .
1928Pulitzer prize awarded to Thornton Wilder for (Bridge of San Luis Rey) .
1915British liner Lusitania sunk by German submarine .
1914Woodrow Wilson's daughter Eleanor marries in White House .
1913British House of Commons rejects woman's right to vote .
1912Columbia University approves plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories. The award is established by Joseph Pulitzer .
1888George Eastman patents Kodak box camera .
Edouard Lalo's opera 'Le roi d'Ys,' premieres in Paris .
1878Joseph R. Winters, a black American inventor, received a patent for a fire escape ladder .
1875German SS Schiller sinks near Scilly Islands, 312 killed .
1873US marines attack Panama .
1866German premier Otto von Bismarck seriously wounded in assassination attempt .
1864Battle of Wilderness ends (total losses: USA-17,666; CSA-7,500) .
1862Battle of West Point, VA (Eltham's Landing, Barnhamsville) .
1840Tornado strikes Natchez Miss, kills 317 .
1824Beethoven's 9th (Choral) Symphony, premieres in Vienna .
1800Indiana Territory organized .
1792Capt Robert Gray discovers Gray's Harbor (Washington) .
17891st inaugurational ball (for George Washington in NYC) .
1765Adm Nelson's flagship HMS Victory runs aground .
1727Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia .
1700William Penn began monthly meetings for Blacks advocating emancipation .
1663Theatre Royal in Drury Lane London opens .
1660Isaack B Fubine of Savoy, in The Hague, patents macaroni .
1416Monk Nicolaas Serrurier arrested for heresy at Tournay .
13551,200 Jews of Toledo Spain killed by Count Henry of Trastamara .

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Birthdays on this Day.
Year Name Details
1939Sidney AltmanCanadian-American molecular biologist who, with Thomas R. Cech, received the 1989 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their discoveries concerning RNA, or ribonucleic acid .
1933Johnny UnitasNFL QB (Balt Colts, San Dieo) .
1931Gene [Rodman] WolfeUS, sci-fi author (Soldier of Arete) .
1913Simon RamoAmerican engineer who made notable contributions to electronics and was chief scientist (1954-58) of the US intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program .
1909Edwin Herbert Landinventor (instant photography (Polaroid)), died 1 Mar 1991. American inventor and physicist whose one-step process for developing and printing photographs was the greatest innovation in photography since the introduction of roll film. He first demonstrated the Polaroid Land Camera in 1947, which gave fully developed prints in 60 seconds. Land also applied the name Polaroid to the light-polarizing filter he had previously invented by embedding suitable crystals in a plastic sheet, which was widely known for its use in the lenses of sunglasses .
1892Josip Broz TitoWW II partisan, leader of Yugoslavia (1943-80) .
1855Oskar von Millerdied 9 Apr 1934. Electrical engineer who fostered the electric-power industry in Germany and founded the Deutsches Museum of science and technology in Munich. He made fundamental initial experiments on long-distance energy transmission such as (in 1882) over 57 km from Miesbach to Munich with 1400 volts direct current, and (in 1891) over 175 km from Lauffen to Frankfurt with 15,000 volts direct current. He built the first Alpine power station, the Walchensee Power Station (1924) .
1841Gustave Le Bondied 13 Dec 1931. French social psychologist best known for his study of the psychological characteristics of crowds .
1840Peter Ilyich TchaikovskyVotkinsk Rus, composer (1812 Overture) .
1837Karl Mauchdied 4 Apr 1875. Explorer who made geologic and archaeological discoveries in southern Africa, notably goldfields in Hartley Hills (1867) and the ruins of the ancient city of Zimbabwe .
1833Johannes BrahmsHamburg Germany, composer .
1826Varina Howell Davis1st lady (Confederacy), died in 1905 .
1812Robert BrowningLondon, poet (Pied Piper) .
1803Johan Peter Cronhammcomposer .
1769Giuseppe Farinellicomposer/singer` .
1713Alexis Claude Clairautdied 17 May 1765. French mathematician who as child prodigy was studying calculus at age 10. He was the first person to estimate the mass of Venus to a close value .
1700Gerard van SwietenDutch botanist .
1530Louis I CondeFrench prince/leader of Hugenots .

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Deaths on this Day.
Year Name Details
1998Allan MacLeod Cormackborn 23 Feb 1924. South African-born American physicist who formulated the mathematical algorithms that made possible the development of a powerful new diagnostic technique, the cross-sectional X-ray imaging process known as computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanning. He first described this in two papers in 1963 and 1964. X-ray tomography is a process by which a picture of an imaginary slice through an object (or the human body) is built up from information from detectors rotating around the body. For this work, he was awarded a share of the 1979 Nobel Prize. Cormack was unusual in the field of Nobel laureates because he never earned a doctorate degree in medicine or any other field of science .
1989Guy Williamsactor (Zorro, Lost in Space), dies in Argentina at 65 .
1970Carlos Estradacomposer, dies at 60 .
1968Lurleen Burnswife of George Wallace/gov of Alabama, dies at 41 .
1957Wilhelm Filchnerborn 13 Sep 1877. Scientist and explorer who led the German Antarctic expedition of 1911-12 .
1942Felix Paul von WeingartnerAustria conductor/composer, dies .
1941Sir James George Frazerborn 1 Jan 1854. Scottish anthropologist, folklorist, and classical scholar, best remembered as the author of The Golden Bough, a study in Comparative Religion, which traced the evolution of human behavior, ancient and primitive myth, magic, religion, ritual, and taboo. The study appeared first in two volumes in 1890 and finally in 12 volumes in 1911-15. It was named after the golden bough in the sacred grove at Nemi, near Rome. Today Frazer's books are still considered a storehouse of ethnographic information, although his theories belong rather in the history than current orientation of anthropology. Frazer did no field work, and his knowledge of primitive societies was entirely second-hand, and his notions of totemism were finally destroyed by Lévi-Stauss .
1929Joseph 'Top Toad' GiuntaUS gangster, murdered by Al Capone .
John ScaliseUS gangster, murdered by Al Capone .
Albert AnselmiUS gangster, murdered by Al Capone .
1915Elbert HubbardAmericasn platitudinist, author, educator .
Charles Frohmandies aboard Lusitania .
Alfred Scott Witherbee JrUS Lusitania officer, dies .
Alfred G VanderbiltUS millionaire, dies aboard Lusitania .
1890James Nasmythborn 19 Aug 1808. British engineer known primarily for his invention of the steam hammer .
1884Judah P Benjaminconfederate minister of War, dies at 72 .
1825Antonio SalieriItalian composer, dies in Vienna at 74 .
1800Niccolo PiccinniItalian composer (Roland), dies at 72 .
1793Pietro Nardinicomposer, dies at 71 .
1667Johann Jakob FrobergerGerman organist/singer/composer, dies at 50 .
1617David FabriciusGerman astronomer, dies at 53, born 9 Mar 1564. German astronomer, a friend of Tycho Brahe and Kepler. Fabricus was one of the first to follow Galileo in telescope observation of the skies. He is best known for a naked-eye observation of a star in 1596, subsequently named Omicron Ceti, the first variable star to be discovered, and now known as Mira. It's existence with variable brightness contradicted the Aristotelian dogma that the heavens were both perfect and constant. Fabricius, a Protestant minister, was killed by a parishioner, to prevent Fabricius from exposing him as thief .

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Chart Toppers
Year Title Artist
1991Rockin' YearsDolly Parton with Ricky Van Shelton .
JoyrideRoxette .
I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)Hi-Five .
Baby BabyAmy Grant .
1983Let's DanceDavid Bowie .
Jose CuervoShelly West .
JeopardyGreg Kihn Band .
Beat ItMichael Jackson .
1975Roll on Big MamaJoe Stampley .
He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)Tony Orlando and Dawn .
Chevy VanSammy Johns .
Before the Next Teardrop FallsFreddy Fender .
1967The HappeningThe Supremes .
Sweet Soul MusicArthur Conley .
Somethin' StupidNancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra .
Need YouSonny James .
1959White LightningGeorge Jones .
The Happy OrganDave 'Baby' Cortez .
Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)The Impalas .
Come Softly to MeThe Fleetwoods .

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Vocabulary of the day

laches ( LACH-iz ) [From Middle English lachesse, from Anglo French, from Middle French laschesse, from Old French lasche (slack), ultimately from Latin laxare (to loosen).] (noun) Negligence in the performance of a duty or claiming an opportunity, especially the failure to assert a legal claim in time, that makes it invalid.


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petabyte (PET uh bite) (noun) One quadrillion bytes or 2^50 (two to the fiftieth power). Exactly 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes.


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Humour for the Day

Quotes

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. - Leonardo da Vinci

To be simple is to be great. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everything should be made as simple as possible...but not simpler. - Albert Einstein

I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches. - Alice Roosevelt Longworth

A free society is a place where it's safe to be unpopular. - Adlai Stevenson, statesman (1900-1965)

If you want to be employed, be employable. - William J.H. Boetcker

First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me. - Steve Martin


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We Know Your Password!

A guy was typing away at his home computer, when his six- year-old daughter sneaked up behind him.

Suddenly, she turned and ran into the kitchen, squealing to the rest of the family, "I know Daddy's password! I know Daddy's password!"

"What is it?" her sisters asked eagerly.

Proudly she replied, "Asterisk, asterisk, asterisk, asterisk, asterisk!"


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Brain Food

A customer at Green's Gourmet Grocery marveled at the proprietor's quick wit and intelligence.

"Tell me, Green, what makes you so smart?"

"I wouldn't share my secret with just anyone," Green replies, lowering his voice so the other shoppers won't hear. "But since you're a good and faithful customer, I'll let you in on it. Fish heads. You eat enough of them, you'll be positively brilliant."

"You sell them here?" the customer asks.

"Only $4 apiece," says Morris.

The customer buys three. A week later, he's back in the store complaining that the fish heads were disgusting and he isn't any smarter.

"You didn't eat enough, " says Green. The customer goes home with 20 more fish heads. Two weeks later, he's back and this time he's really angry.

"Hey, Green," he says, "You're selling me fish heads for $4 apiece when I just found out I can buy the whole fish for $2. You're ripping me off!"

"You see?" says Morris. "You're smarter already."


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Punch Lines

Why did the mirror have 6 holes in it?
A blonde tried to shoot herself!

Why do chicken coops have two doors?
Because if it had four doors it's be a chicken sedan.

The average income of the modern teenager is about 2 a.m.


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Where Is God?

A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were excessively mischievous. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons were probably involved.

The boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?".

They boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God!!?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD!?"

The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time, dude. God is missing - and they think WE did it!"


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Consultant

A female computer consultant was helping a smug male set up his computer. She asked him what word he would like to use as a password to log in with. Wanting to embarrass the female, he told her to enter "penis". Without blinking or saying a word, she entered the password. She almost died laughing at the computer's response:

Password rejected. Not long enough.


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Guinea Pigs

A troop of Boy Scouts was being used as "guinea pigs" in a test of emergency systems. A mock earthquake was staged, and the Scouts impersonated wounded persons who were to be picked up and cared for by the emergency units.

One Scout was supposed to lie on the ground and await his rescuers, but the first-aid people got behind schedule, and the Scout lay "wounded" for several hours.

When the first-aid squad arrived where the casualty was supposed to be, they found nothing but a brief note: "Have bled to death and gone home."


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Ten Ways To Tell If A Redneck Has Been Working On A Computer

The monitor is up on blocks.

Outgoing faxes have tobacco stains on them.

The six front keys have rotted out.

The extra RAM slots have Ford truck parts stored in them.

The numeric keypad only goes up to six.

The password is "Bubba."

There's a gun rack mounted on the CPU.

There's a Skoal can in the CD-ROM drive.

The keyboard is painted in camouflage.

AND the number 1 way to tell if a Redneck has been working on a computer is...

The mouse is referred to as a "critter."


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