A balanced diet is a popsicle in both hands.

The Popsicle was first made (but not patented) in 1905 by Frank Epperson on this date (he was only 11 years old at that time.)



If only we could create a frozen concoction that mixes ice and alcohol - oh wait a minute that's a Frozen Margarita, never mind - keep celebrating the Popsicle.


May 27, 1930 -
Howard Hughes' multi-million dollar war drama, Hell's Angels, premiered in Los Angeles, on this date.



The entire movie had been filmed as a silent, minus a soundtrack, by Howard Hughes in 1928. Greta Nissen had the role played later by Jean Harlow. When sound equipment became available, Hughes decided to re-shoot the whole film as a talkie.


May 27, 1933 -
Walt Disney classic take on The Three Little Pigs, premiered on this date.



The commercial tie-in with Esposito's pork sausages during the original screenings of the cartoon wasn't such a big hit though.


May 27, 1933 -
The seminal pre-Code Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, Gold Diggers of 1933, starring Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell, (and choreographed by Busby Berkeley) premiered in the US on this date.



During rehersals of "We're in the Money", Ginger Rogers began goofing off and singing in pig Latin. Studio executive Darryl F. Zanuck overheard her, and suggested she do it for real in the movie.


May 27, 1944 -
The Looney Tunes short, Duck Soup to Nuts , directed by Friz Freleng, starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.



One of the few times Daffy is shown with a wife and family of ducklings. But they turn out to only be daffy pals of his.


May 27, 1950 -
The Merrie Melodies short, An Egg Scramble, directed by Bob McKimson, starring Porky Pig, debuted on this date.



This short marks the first appearance of Miss Prissy.


May 27, 1957 -
Buddy Holly and the Crickets released their first record, That’ll Be The Day, on this date



Holly and his band The Three Tunes recorded this in Nashville in 1956, but Decca records didn't like the result and refused to release it. A year later, Holly re-recorded it with The Crickets in a studio in Clovis, New Mexico owned by his new producer, Norman Petty. Backup vocalists were brought in and the key was lowered to fit Holly's voice a little better. This version became a huge hit and made Holly a star that summer.


May 27, 1963 –
Columbia Records released the second studio album by Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, on this date.



The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan establishing Dylan as a leading voice in the singer-songwriter genre and a supposed spokesman for the youth-orientated protest movement. The album reached No.22 in the US charts and No.1 in the UK charts.


May 27, 1964 -
From Russia with Love, the second spy film in the James Bond series, was released in the US on this date.



Hoping for an end to the Cold War, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman didn't want James Bond's main enemy to be Russian, so for the movie version, his nemesis is the fictitious criminal organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E., seeking revenge for the death of their operative, Dr. No.


May 27, 1969 -
United Artists released the comedy-drama Popi, directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Alan Arkin and Rita Moreno, on this date.



The film cast includes two Oscar winners: Alan Arkin and Rita Moreno.


May 27, 1969 -
The darkly comedic film Watermelon Man, directed by Melvin Van Peebles and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Caine, D'Urville Martin, Kay Kimberley, Mantan Moreland, and Erin Moran, debuted on this date.



The film was released the same day as Cotton Comes To Harlem which also starred Godfrey Cambridge..


May 27, 1982 -
With the only known directorial effort by Robin Williams, the last episode of Mork and Mindy, aired on ABC TV on this date.



This episode was filmed before the Gotta Run, trilogy and was originally scheduled as the 19th episode of the season (before the three-part series finale) instead it aired afterwards because of the show's subsequent cancellation to give the series a more concluded feel instead of ending it on the intended cliffhanger.


May 27, 2005 -
DreamWorks computer-animated film, Madagascar, with voices by Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith is released on this date.



Sacha Baron Cohen improvised the line "It's got a gecko on it", and all of the following dialogue related to the gecko. The filmmakers found it so funny that they went to the extra work of creating a CG gecko for the shot.


May 27, 2006 -
Guillermo del Toro's fantasy film about the Spanish Civil War, Pan's Labyrinth, premiered at the Cannes Film festival, on this date.



The English subtitles were translated and written by Guillermo del Toro himself. He no longer trusts translators after having encountered problems with his previous subtitled movies.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts


Today in History:
May 27, 1923 -
Henry Kissinger was born in Fuerth, Germany on this date.



50 years later, (America Favorite Freely Roaming War Criminal - according to your political beliefs) Dr. Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize for quitting the Vietnam War.



Henry also proved that outliving your enemies is the best revenge.


Other birthday celebrants include:

Never give in and never give up.





Hubert Humphrey, Vice President under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and presidential candidate, was born on this date (1911).


There's something fascinating about seeing something you don't like at first but directly know you will love—in time. People are that way, all through life. You come against a personality, and it questions yours. You shy away but know there are gratifying secrets there, and the half-open door is often more exciting than the wide.





Vincent Price, actor, was born on this date (1911).


What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon.





Siouxsie Sioux (Susan Janet Ballion,) singer, songwriter, musician and producer was born on this date (1957).


I try to put myself into unusual and difficult situations as often as I can in order to capture the element of struggle in the music.. ...







Neil Mullane Finn, singer/songwriter and musician was born on this date (1958).


May 27, 1936 -
Throngs of cheering spectators looked on as the Queen Mary, a 80,000-ton liner, the most beautiful ship afloat, was christened by Queen Mary herself, the wife of George V who had died earlier that year and queen mother to Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and departed Southhampton on her maiden transatlantic crossing.



The ship carried 2,100 passengers who were pampered by a crew of 1,100. The passengers were as stylish as the ship’s Art Deco interior as they strutted through ballrooms, promenaded on deck, frolicked in the swimming pool, and occasionally visited their children in the nursery or their dogs in the kennel. The Queen Mary was pretty much the height of transatlantic travel for the rest of the decade until elegance gave way to utility as she was refitted as a troop ship during World War II.


May 27, 1937 -
The Golden Gate Bridge, arguably one of the Wonders of the Modern World, connecting San Francisco with California's Marin County opened to pedestrian traffic on this date.



More than 200,000 made the first-day trek.

Harold Wobber had the good grace to wait until August 7, 1937, to take the first leap into eternity. Wobber supposedly turned to a stranger on the walkway and said,"This is as far as I go" then took his last step.


May 27, 1939 -
Detective Comics Number 27 featuring Batman, DC Comics debuted its second superhero on this date. The superhero is Batman, who will go on to be one of the greatest commercial successes in the comic industry.



This issue also marks Commissioner Gordon’s first appearance. According to creator Bob Kane, his inspirations for Batman were Superman, Leonardo da Vinci’s design of a bat-like glider, and two films: The Mark of the Zorro and The Bat Whispers.


May 27, 1941 -
The British sank Germany's elusive, pocket-battleship Bismarck, then the largest warship commissioned, on this date.



The destruction of the battleship was reported on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Only 110 of her crew of 2,222 survived the sinking.


May 27, 1942 -
A couple of Czech assassins ambush the car carrying Reinhard Heydrich and toss a grenade into the front seat on this date.



The man who headed the Wannsee Conference was mortally wounded in the attack and died of septicemia a week later. The Nazis retaliate by obliterating the Catholic village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia and its inhabitants.


May 27, 1977 -
After the pressing plant initially refuses to duplicate the record and the printer refuses to make the covers, Virgin finally releases God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols in time for the monarch's Jubilee celebration on this date.



Popular belief is that this song was "banned" by the BBC and most other broadcasting outlets. In truth, the BBC didn't ban records, but made programing decisions based on its standards and enforced certain rules, like barring product mentions. The BBC's Radio 1 did exclude the song from their playlist, and some major retailers (including Woolworth's and WH Smith) refused to stock it, but by labeling it taboo the song became even more marketable, and it sold an amazing 150,000 copied the first week it was released.


May 27, 1993 -
Five people were killed and 37 wounded when a Fiat Fiorino exploded outside the Uffizi Gallery Museum in Florence, Italy on this date.



The car bomb (a combination of PETN, T4 and TNT, kids don't try to make this at home) also manages to obliterate three priceless artworks and substantially damage thirty more. The bombing appears to have been the work of the Sicilian Mafia.

Once again, if you are going to borrow money from unscrupulous sources, remember to pay your vig.


May 27, 1995 -
During the third jump of an equestrian event in Charlottesville, Virginia, Christopher Reeve was thrown headfirst over his horse on this date.

Reeve broke his neck in two places, instantly rendering him a quadriplegic, unable to move or breathe without assistance.



And so it goes.

The saint for all you middle-aged lotharios

Saint Vitalis of Assisi (not to be confused with St. Vitalis of Milan, patron saint of grey haired Lotharios) was an Italian hermit and monk who died in 1370. He became a saint despite an early life marked by licentiousness and immorality. However, in an attempt to atone he went on pilgrimages to various sanctuaries.

On his return to Umbria, he became a Benedictine monk at Subiaco and later lived as a hermit. He spent the rest of his life in the hermitage of Santa Maria di Viole, near Assisi, in utter poverty. His reputation for holiness soon spread after his death. He was known as a patron against sicknesses and diseases affecting the genitals.



The severed head alleged to belong to the patron saint of genital diseases was sold in 2011 at auction. If the reliquary ever comes up for sale again, snap it up - Bunkies, nothing says love like the rotting skull of the saint of the burning loins.

There are at least five other Saints who glommed onto the name St. Vitalis:

Saint Vitalis of Ravenna
Saint Vitalis of Bologna
Saint Vitalis of Gaza
Saint Vitalis of Savigny
Saint Vitalis of Milan, martyred in 250 under the persecution of Decius

So Bunkies, try to keep this all straight in your mind when you're praying to a saint to cure your STDs.


May 26, 1937 -
The Michael Curtiz boxing drama, Kid Galahad, starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart premiered in the US on this date.



While Bette Davis praised Edward G. Robinson as a performer and as a person, she was repulsed by having to kiss him.



May 26, 1970 -
The final episodes of I Dream of Jeannie, My Master The Chili King aired on this date.



During several interviews, Sidney Sheldon admitted that he used the comedy movie, The Brass Bottle, a film about a man, portrayed by Tony Randall, that unleashed a male genie, that was portrayed by Burl Ives, but causes more problems for its master than it solves - as a working model for the show. In the movie, Tony Randall's girlfriend was played by Barbara Eden.


May 26, 1972 -
Mott The Hoople, on the verge of breaking up, are offered help from David Bowie, who allows them to record two songs he wrote. They pass on Suffragette City but cut All The Young Dudes, which becomes their biggest hit and revives their career.



Mott The Hoople didn't know this when they recorded it, but Bowie intended this song for his The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars concept album. The, "All the young dudes carry the news" line refers to part of Bowie's story where there is no electricity, and Ziggy Stardust uses songs to spread the news.


May 26, 1979 -
Blondie's song Sunday Girl off the album Parallel Lines became the group's second UK No.1 hit single on this date.



Though never released as a single in the United States, the song became a #1 hit in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In Britain the sales were boosted by another previously unavailable track on the B-side: a French language version of "Sunday Girl."


May 26, 1988 -
Frank Sinatra appeared in a commercial for Michelob singing The Way You Look Tonight, as part of the brewery's "The Night Belongs to Michelob" ad campaign.



At the time, Anheuser-Busch marketing explained Sinatra's presence in the ad, "We're trying to show the length and breadth of 'the night.'" That and the brewing giant wanted its name attached to The Ultimate Event, a national tour featuring Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. Sinatra was also a longtime collaborator with the company's flagship brand, Budweiser. The label sponsored several of his TV specials and he bought a lucrative distributorship in 1967.


Today's moment of Zen.


Today in History:
May 26, 1232 -
Pope Gregory IX (remember him, the cat hating pope from a few days ago,) issued the bull Declinante jam mundi, bringing the Papal Inquisition to Spain. Gregory IX was a prominent opponent of Judaism during his life, condemning it as "containing every kind of vileness and blasphemy".

Apparently he was a little bit of a douche.


May 26, 1647 -
Alse Young, a widow, was hanged for witchcraft in Windsor, Connecticut on this date. (She may have been hanged at the Meeting House Square in Hartford, Connecticut. I don't know, I wasn't there.) She was the first person in America executed for the crime of witchcraft.

Her daughter Alice was accused of the same offense 30 years later, in Massachusetts.

It was something in the genes.


May 26, 1868 -
In England's last public execution, Michael Barrett was hanged at Newgate on this date. All subsequent hangings are held behind prison walls.

Presiding over the event is executioner William Calcraft, who frequently supplements his income by selling the clothes and noose worn by the condemned.

Hey, a man's got to earn a living.


May 26, 1913 –
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE, English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, was born on this date.



Peter Cushing was the guest of honor at the Famous Monsters of Filmland Convention in New York City in 1975. After receiving a thunderous ovation from those in attendance, he looked at everyone and said, "Have you ever felt unloved?"


May 26, 1923 -
Le Mans France held its first Grand Prix D'endurance - the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as an endurance test for touring cars.



The first winning drivers, Amdre Lagache and Rene Leonard, averaged 57.2 miles per hour.


There were a lot of notable music birthdays on this date:

May 26, 1920 -
Norma Deloris Egstrom, Grammy award winning singer, songwriter, composer and actress, was born on this date.





And yes Peggy, that's all there is.


May 26, 1926 –
Miles Dewey Davis III born on this date in Alton, Illinois, was a trumpeter, bandleader, composer and widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century.





Duke Ellington called him "the Picasso of Jazz, the invisible art".


May 26, 1948 -
Even in my really bad, drugged-out days, I didn't go away. I still toured, still did interviews. I never gave up the fight. That's why I'm who I am today, because I didn't leave. And I think I made the right choice.





Stephanie Lynn Nicks, singer-songwriter and acclaimed goat singer, was born on this date.


May 26, 1960 -
America's UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. charged at a speech at the UN on this date that the Soviets with having bugged the Moscow embassy. He shows off a large wooden carving of the United States seal which had been hollowed out to conceal a sophisticated resonant cavity transmitter.



Less than 30 years later a newly-rebuilt Moscow embassy was determined to be "structurally riddled with eavesdropping devices."


May 26, 1964 -
I wasn't the kind of person that liked waiting for autographs or following them, I just liked to go to the shows, study their records, driving many, many hours to different states to go to concerts.





Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz, musician and actor was born on this date.


May 26, 1977 -
Police arrested George Willig, after he had successfully scaled the World Trade Center's south tower in NYC on this date.



He was fined $110 -- a dollar per floor climbed. The stunt paved the way for appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Good Morning America, The Merv Griffin Show and ABC's Wide World of Sports.


May 26, 1994 -
Michael Jackson wed Lisa Marie Presley in the Dominican Republic on this date. The couple keeps their love match secret for six weeks, then files for divorce 18 months after that.

Lisa Marie has confirmed on the Oprah show that she had enjoyed marital relations with Jackson -



Stop thinking about it, it's the road to madness!!


May 26, 1998 -
Another in a series of cases that you didn't think needed to be settled -



The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island was mainly in New Jersey, not New York. When the states made the boundary final, New York ended up with 4.68 acres, or about 17 percent, of the island.



And so it goes.

We don't know them all, but we owe them all.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. - Joseph Campbell





Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May. It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it expanded to include those who died in any war or military action.



One of the longest standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911.


Today is Towel Day.

Remember a towel is "about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have."



Towel Day is celebrated every May 25th as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author, as referenced in Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.



(How cool was that)



So don't panic.

Let your Geek Pride Show!

Geek Pride Day is May 25, and here's what you need to know about the celebration for nerds worldwide.



The date was reportedly chosen to coincide with the first Star Wars film, Episode IV: A New Hope, which was released on May 25, 1977. The day also marks Towel Day, which is celebrated by fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams. Fans carry a towel in his honor. Lastly, the day also marks The Glorious 25th of May, which fans of author Terry Pratchett's Discworld celebrate, often with a sprig of lilac.



So whether you’re hoisting a towel, wielding a lightsaber, or pinning lilac to your coat - you’re among fellow geeks and dreamers today.


May 25, 1934 -
The classic 30s detective film, based on the Dashiell Hammett novel, The Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, premiered on this date.



W.S. Van Dyke often did not bother with cover shots if he felt the scene was right on the first take, reasoning that actors "lose their fire" if they have to do something over and over. It was a lot of pressure on the actors, who often had to learn new lines and business immediately before shooting without the luxury of retakes, but Myrna Loy credited much of the appeal of the film to Van Dyke's pacing and spontaneity.


May 25, 1940 -
The Merrie Melodies short, A Gander at Mother Goose, directed by Tex Avery, debuted on this date.



Showing Jack covered in lipstick kisses is about as much as the censors would allow at the time. There was a major hint at some hanky panky going on up the hill.


May 25, 1946 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Hair-Raising Hare, directed by Chuck Jones,and starring Bugs Bunny and Gossamer, debuted on this date.



Bugs Bunny's hunched-over walk and eyebrow-wagging are imitations of Groucho Marx. The evil scientist is a caricature of long-time character actor Peter Lorre.


May 25, 1953 -
Universal-International released their first 3-D feature film, It Came from Outer Space, directed by Jack Arnold (and based on a story written by Ray Bradbury,) starring Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, and Charles Drake in the US, on this date.



The Universal-International make-up department submitted two alien designs for consideration by the studio executives. The design that was rejected was saved and then later used as the Mutant in Universal-International's This Island Earth.


May 23, 1957 -
The Looney Tunes short, Piker's Peak, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemate Sam, debuted on this date.



The rescue dog (a send up of the St. Bernard with its cask of warming liquor for stranded travelers) makes what appears to be a shaken (not stirred) martini, five years before the launch (>Dr. No) of the James Bond film series...and a year before Ian Fleming first published the novel of the same name.


May 25, 1966 -
Norman Jewison's Cold War comedy, The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming, premiered on this date.



Ordinary townspeople were used as extras in the film. They were so thrilled to be a part of production that the rushes were shown at the end of each day in a local theater. The townspeople went every night, bringing their entire families with them.


May 25, 1966 -
Robert Bresson's classic, Au Hasard Balthazar, starring Anne Wiazemsky, and François Lafarge, was released in France on this date.



In an interview, Bresson said he was inspired to make the story after reading a passage in Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot, in which the main character the Prince mentions his special fondness among animals for the lowly donkey.


May 25, 1977 -
Even Satan took pity and released them from their eternal damnation when ABC TV aired the last episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour aired on this date.



Maureen McCormick (Marcia) had become bulimic and developed addictions to cocaine and Quaaludes, which caused mysterious bruises on her arms and legs and made her behavior erratic. She began calling in sick, arriving late to rehearsals, refusing to come out of her dressing room, showed up for work at the end of a 72-hour bender, and once completely missed the taping of the majority of an episode. Gradually, Geri Reischl (Jan) began having to learn McCormick's part in addition to her own so she could take over a scene if McCormick didn't show up.


May 25, 1977 -
In a time long ago and in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas began legally printing money with the release of the first Star Wars movie, which for reasons only know to George was titled - Stars Wars IV: A New Hope.



George realized that he did not have enough money so he released Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi on this date in 1983.



George Lucas fired his friend and producer of the previous two Star Wars movies, Gary Kurtz, before production began (although some sources say he simply quit on his own) as Kurtz disagreed with Lucas' assertion that audiences didn't care for the story but for the spectacle.


May 25, 1979 -
Twentieth Century Fox released the science fiction film Alien, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Yaphet Kotto, and John Hurt, on this date.



It was conceptual artist Ron Cobb who came up with the idea that the Alien should bleed acid. This came about when Dan O'Bannon ran into a wall with the screenplay in how to handle the last half of the movie. He needed a good reason for why the crew members don't just shoot the thing and kill it but still not make it an indestructible monster that can't be killed. The acid blood was the idea that solved this problem.


May 25, 1985 -
Wham!'s single, Everything She Wants, hits the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Charts in the US, on this date. The single made them the first group since the Bee Gees to have three #1 hits from the same album.



While George Michael dismissed much of Wham's material once he began his solo career, he remained proud of this song. Along with I'm Your Man, it was one of two songs from Wham's repertoire that he continued to perform on solo tours. He later referred to it as his favorite Wham! song.


May 25, 1999 -
The final episode of Home Improvement, The Long And Winding Road aired on ABC-TV on this date.



The character Wilson was based on Tim Allen's childhood memories of when he was too short to see over a fence, and was therefore unable to see his neighbor.


May 25, 2017 -
Patty Jenkins' film, the first superhero film directed by a woman - Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, premiered in Los Angeles, on this date.



Gal Gadot got her part shortly after she decided to give up on acting, being unsuccessful at landing roles and tired of regularly taking 15-hour plane rides back to Israel. However, when she was invited for a screen test, she was not told what the film was about and she agreed as a kind of final fling before she quit. The screen test consisted largely of reading relatively anonymous dialogue and she left afterward to return to Israel. However, she received a call-back and only then was she told that she was short-listed to play Wonder Woman. Gadot was floored at the idea of playing the iconic superhero and she eagerly agreed to participate further.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
May 25, 528BCE - (How anyone knows this precise date is way above my pay scale.)
Let the earth witness my achievement



Under a Bodhi tree, Siddhartha Gautama defeated the demon Mara, and attained nirvana (the “blowing out” of the fires of ego-centered attachment which are the source of suffering,) becoming the Buddha (the Awakened One), on this date.

But what the hell do you care?


May 25, 1521 -
Charles V, a Holy Roman Emperor (Who was neither holy or a Roman - he was just a German King) issues the Diet of Worms edict (which neither comprised of non-arthropod invertebrates nor helps you lose weight,) on this date.



Martin Luther, German monk and all around killjoy, couldn't stomach this diet (as it declaring him an outlaw for not eating worms, banning his writings, and requiring his arrest) and goes off to start the Protestant Reformation.


May 25, 1793 -
The first Catholic priest, Father Stephen Theodore Badin, was ordained in the United States and sent on a mission in Kentucky, on this date.

Though Catholicism existed in the US before Badin's ordination, it was mostly in Maryland, and no priest had actually been ordained on American soil. Badin's ordination was a landmark in the spread of Catholicism in America.


May 25, 1803 -
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on this date. Emerson whose original profession, a Unitarian minister but secret calling was as, an amateur plumber, left the ministry to pursue a career in writing and public speaking.



Emerson became one of America's best known and best loved 19th century figures, writing such works as Trust Thyself and carry a self-threading snake and Bacchus on the chamber pot.


May 25, 1895 -
Lax laundry standards in Victorian England helped convict British playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons," to wit: buggering some rent boys. Some of the evident against Wilde was presented by a hotel housekeeper who stated that she had seen young men in Wilde’s bed and noticed that there were fecal stains on his bed sheets.



For his crime, Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labor in Reading jail. Perhaps, he should have taken up forgery instead.


May 25, 1925 -
John Scopes was indicted for violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, on this date, which prohibits the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution in Tennessee public schools. Evolution was a theory put forth by Charles Darwin, whose boat was named "the Beagle." People objected to this theory, which put forth the proposition that mankind had evolved from life forms with hairy red asses.



This resulted in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial, in which Spencer Tracy gave a long monologue that changed everyone's minds even though it was so darn hot in the courtroom.

It is now commonly accepted as fact that mankind evolved from life forms with hairy red asses, a proposition that anyone who's been to the beach lately shouldn't find too hard to accept.


May 25, 1950 -
The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, the longest-continuous, underwater-vehicular tunnel (measuring 1.7 miles long between portals) in North America, opened in NYC, on this date.



A parade of dignitaries led by Mayor William O’Dwyer and Robert Moses, head of the newly created Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, traveled by motorcade through the tunnel where they were welcomed by a cheering crowd on the Manhattan side.


May 25, 1961 -
President John F. Kennedy proposed to Congress on this date, a goal for the U.S., "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."



The USSR had become the first country to send a man into space the month before, and Congress embraced Kennedy's plan.


May 25, 1986 -
Ken Kragen, part of the USA for Africa charity group, organized Hands Across America, a more or less unbroken human chain queued up from Southern California to New York, linking up nearly seven million people through seventeen states. Where the line stretched over depopulated land, it was symbolized by yellow tape, and everywhere else people linked up arms to sing We Are the World, on this date. Many participants donated $10 each to reserve their place in line. The proceeds were donated to local charities to fight hunger and homelessness and help those in poverty.



As a fundraiser, Hands Across America was not a great success: it cost $17 million to put together and fell short of its target of $50 million (raising only $15 million), despite generous donations for several corporate sponsors.


May 25, 1996 -
The body of Bradley Nowell was discovered in his room at San Francisco's Ocean View Motel on this date.



Nowell, lead singer for radio trio Sublime, was killed by an accidental smack overdose.

Oops.


May 25, 2001 -
Erik Weihenmayer was the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on this date. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002. His story was covered in a Time article in June 2001 titled Blind Faith.



He is author of Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye can See, his autobiography.



And so it goes.