June 23 is the 175th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. If the ancient Mayans were correct, there are 181 days remaining until the end of time.
930 World's oldest parliament, the Iceland Parliament, is established, and like every other deliberative public body since, it has failed to make any worthwhile decision
1683 William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape indians in Pennsylvania; only treaty "not sworn to, nor broken"
1784 1st US balloon flight by 13 year-old Edward Warren at the desperate but encouraging insistence of his parents. Have you ever lived with a 13 year-old? I rest my case.
1810 PETA Antichrist John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.
1848 Antoine Joseph Sax patents Saxophone. I wouldn’t mind blowing a Sax.
1860 US Secret Service is created
1888 Frederick Douglass is 1st African-American nominated for president. Alas, it is not meant to be.
1926 The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
1972 President Nixon signs act barring sex discrimination in college sports requiring all athletics to be performed co-ed and in the nude
1894 Alfred Kinsey, bisexual US biologist/sexologist
1912 Alan Turing, gay English mathematician/logician/cryptanalyst/computer scientist who broke Germany's WWII Enigma Code. He was outed, lost his security clearance and his job. To stay out of jail he agreed to chemical castration. He was found dead, a half eaten apple poisoned with cyanide beside his body. The offical cause of death was listed as suicide. The computer I'm using to write this, and the computer you use to read it exist due to Alan Turning.
June 15 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. If the ancient Mayans were correct, there are 189 days remaining until the end of time.
1215 King John signs Magna Carta under duress at Runnymede, England
1857 San Francisco Water Works is organized
1864 Robert E. Lee's backyard in Arlington, Virginia, becomes a Union military cemetery
1877 Henry O. Flipper becomes 1st black graduate at West Point (His descendants are in my parish)
1878 1st attempt at motion pictures (used 12 cameras, each taking 1 picture) done to see if all 4 of a horse's hooves leave the ground. Hmmm, I wonder if this guy took any other pictures?!?!?
1888 Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II. And how does that work out?
1916 Boys Scouts of America receives federal charter
1924 J. Edgar Hoover, closeted homosexual, assumes leadership of the FBI. OMG, he’s hot! Who knew?
1956 John Lennon (15) and Paul McCartney (13) meet for 1st time as Lennon's rock group Quarrymen perform at a church dinner
1968 Yummy Yummy Yummy (I Got Love In My Tummy) by Ohio Express hits #4
1974 "Streak" by Ray Stevens hit #1 on UK pop chart
1982 US Supreme Court rules all children, regardless of citizenship, are entitled to a public education
1983 Supreme Court strikes down state and local restrictions on abortion
1992 During spelling bee, US Vice President Dan Quayle misspells potato, as potatoe
2002 Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon
1923 Erroll Garner, maybe gay US jazz, swing, bop pianist and composer
1943 Xaviera Hollander [Vera de Vries], bisexual Dutch sex worker/author/the Happy Hooker, ended a 10 year relationship with a woman and married a man 10 years her junior
1949 Simon Callow, gay English writer/director/actor
