Yes, this is really celebrated today

Maybe you have something else to do today. Perhaps you should go do it.

Today is Dead Duck Day, an annual event celebrated at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It's the anniversary of the first known observation of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.



Now that you know, you may go about your business


June 5, 1939 -
The Wizard of Oz was test screened on this date.



(Folks, the video is a joke - the screening though did occur on this date.)


June 5, 1956 -
Elvis Presley appeared on Milton Berle's TV show on this date. His undulating hip movements during the song Hound Dog cause quite a national controversy. (Once again kids - place one hand upon the screen and the other upon your 'afflicted' region. Feel the healing powers of St. Elvis emanate throughout your body.)



Elvis' pelvis and Uncle Miltie's 'special gift' - American virginity was never the same again.


June 5, 1961 -
Roy Orbison's record Running Scared reached the number one position on the charts, on this date.



This was the last song Roy Orbison ever sung live. His final performance was on December 4, 1988, just two days before his sudden passing, at a Cleveland-area venue. As was his usual habit, Orbison closed the show with Running Scared.


June 5, 1964 -
David Bowie's first ever release was Liza Jane/Louie Louie Go Home on this date, under the name of Davie Jones with The King-Bees.



Despite promoting the single on the television shows Juke Box Jury, Ready Steady Go! and The Beat Room, and receiving good radio coverage, the single sold poorly and the band was subsequently dropped from the label Vocalion Pop. He later changed his name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Monkee Davy Jones.


June 5, 1983 -
U2 played an intimate yet energetic concert, in the rain, at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado, on this date.



It is later released as a concert film called Under a Blood Red Sky.


June 5, 1998 -
Peter Weir's underrated film, The Truman Show (often credited with predicting the reality television phenomenon,) starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney and Ed Harris, premiered on this date.



According to a 2008 New York Times article, psychologists in Britain and the U.S. reported a number of people experiencing "Truman Syndrome" or "the Truman Show delusion," the belief that they are the unwitting star of their own reality TV show.


June 5, 2018 -
Ocean's 8, directed by Gary Ross and starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna premiered on this date.



Both Rihanna and Cate Blanchett have actually served as Chairs for the annual Met Gala, the function played by Anne Hathaway's character in the movie.


Another book from the back shelves of the ACME Library


We're celebrating today, so this is another abbreviated posting
Today in History:
June 5, 1878 -
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (aka Pancho Villa), one of the most famous generals of the Mexican Revolution (or notorious bandit - history is very fickle that way) was born on this date.



Pancho Villa was also responsible for a raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, which was the first attack on U.S. soil since 1812.


June 5, 1938 -
The first machine in history to produce intelligible speech-like sounds was exhibited by Homer Dudley, Richard Riesz, and Stanley Watkins. Called “Pedro, the Voder,” it is put on display to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this date.



In addition to human voices, it can imitate the sound of various farm animals.


June 5, 1967 -
The Six Day War erupted in the Middle East as Israel, convinced an Arab attack was imminent, raided Egyptian and Syrian military targets on this date.



I have enough problems with the Chinese government that I don't need any trouble with the entire Middle East by commenting on this fracas.


June 5, 1968 -
Seconds after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan in a Los Angeles hotel, witnesses wrestle the assassin to the ground and grab his smoking .22-caliber revolver, on this date.



Sirhan later claims to have been acting unconsciously, the result of hypnotic brainwashing, possibly under the orders of a dog named Harvey in Long Island.


June 5, 1975 -
... Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!...



During the Wish You Were Here recording sessions on this date, Syd Barrett just happens to wander into Abbey Road studio while Pink Floyd were mixing Shine On You Crazy Diamond, a song written about Barrett. At first, none of Syd's former bandmates recognizes the fat, bald lunatic who was compulsively brushing his teeth.



When someone tried to break the ice by asking Syd how he had put on so much weight, he maniacally replied, "I've got a very large fridge in the kitchen, and I've been eating a lot of pork chops!" This would be the last time any of the Pink Floyd members saw him.


June 5, 1981 –
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five people in Los Angeles, California, had a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems,

in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.


June 5, 1998 -
Reuters and ABC News both erroneously reported the death of Bob Hope, after Arizona congressman Bob Stump announced the comedian's demise on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

This was a tremendous surprise to Bob Hope himself, who was eating breakfast at the time.

Oops.



And so it goes.