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.

All you need is love... and a tiara.

May 24, 1819 -
Today is International Tiara Day in honor of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria was born as Princess Alexandria Victoria at Kensington Palace, London on this date. Through a series of accidents, debauched living and bad planning on the part of her uncles, she became Queen. She reigned for 64 years, and lent her name to an era best remembered for its prudery and chastity.






Remember, this was the time when one put skirts on piano legs for fear of arousing the passions of young men. This pent up frustration resulted in so many citizens having to stay home and care for their children, since Victoria's reign also saw the largest population explosion in British history.


May 24, 1941 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Hollywood Steps Out, directed by Tex Avery, debuted on this date.



The ending scene where Clark Gable finally caught the blonde girl whom he had continually followed was originally longer. When Gable attempted to kiss the "girl" only to realize it was Groucho Marx in drag, he then looked at the camera saying, "I still want what's coming to me, and I'm gonna get it!" and then proceeded with his kiss. In reality, Gable had seen the short and feared that this particular sequence would ruin his career, so, at his request, the ending scene was shortened for the Blue-Ribbon reissue and instead faded out after the reveal of Groucho.


May 22, 1952 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Beep, Beep, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Wile E, Coyote and the Road Runner, debuted on this date.



Those eagle eyed bunkers will probably have noticed the subtle product placement of Acme brand rocket roller skates, aspirins and matches in this short.


May 24, 1964 -
The Beatles performed You Can't Do That from the set of A Hard Day's Night in a taped segment on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date.



Ironically, You Can't Do That would be cut out of the finished film.


May 24, 1968 -
The Rolling Stones released Jumping Jack Flash, in Britain, on this date.



Bill Wyman wrote some of this song, but it was still credited only to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which Wyman was never happy about. He explained: "We got to the studio early once and... in fact I think it was a rehearsal studio, I don't think it was a recording studio. And there was just myself, Brian and Charlie - the Stones NEVER arrive at the same time, you know - and Mick and Keith hadn't come. And I was just messing about and I just sat down at the piano and started doing this riff, da-daw, da-da-daw, da-da-daw, and then Brian played a bit of guitar and Charlie was doing a rhythm. We were just messing with it for 20 minutes, just filling in time, and Mick and Keith came in and we stopped and they said, 'Hey, that sounded really good, carry on, what is it? And then the next day we recorded it. Mick wrote great lyrics to it and it turned out to be a really good single."


May 24, 1969 –
The Beatles with Billy Preston hit No. 1 with Get Back, where it stayed for the next month. (It is the Beatles' only single that credited another artist at their request.)



Get Back was going to be the title of the album and the documentary film about making it. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966 and were worn thin by 1968, but they rekindled their passion for performance after shooting the Hey Jude promotional film in September that year before a live audience. Energized by the effort, they agreed to the documentary; the concept was The Beatles "getting back" to their roots and playing new songs for a live audience without any studio tricks.


May 24, 1974 -
The final episode of The Dean Martin Show was aired on NBC on this date. The show had been on the air for nine seasons.



Dean Martin's contract stipulated that he was only required to work on Sundays. This necessitated that blocking the camera setups and rehearsals be done on Saturdays. It also meant that guest stars rehearse with Lee Hale standing in for Martin. On Sundays, Martin would usually work less than four hours and leave the set before taping was wrapped.


May 24, 1989 -
The third movie in Steven Spielberg's salute to Saturday afternoon serials, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, premiered nationwide on this date.



Steven Spielberg is on record as saying he made the film for two reasons: 1) to fulfill a three-picture obligation he had with George Lucas, and, 2) to atone for the criticism that he received for the previous installment, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.


May 24, 1991 -
Alek Keshishian documentary film covering the Blond Ambition World Tour, Madonna: Truth or Dare, starring, Madonna (surprise,) went into general release in the US on this date.



Madonna and Warren Beatty were no longer an item by the time this premiered. Some of the phone conversations Madonna recorded for inclusion in the film had Beatty saying 'I love you' but she had to edit them from the final cut when he threatened legal action.


May 24, 1991 -
MGM released Ridley Scott's controversial (at the time) take on the 'buddy movie', Thelma & Louise, starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, on this date.



Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster were originally chosen for the leads and accepted the roles, but preproduction took too long and both actresses had to drop out due to other commitments. Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep wanted to make a movie together and Thelma & Louise was one of the scripts they considered. Ultimately, they decided to star in Death Becomes Her instead.


May 24, 1993 -
The firm of Sugarbaker & Associates closed their doors when the final episode of Designing Women was aired on CBS TV on this date.



During Delta Burke's falling out with the ladies on the show, she privately apologized to everyone. But it took over a decade for Delta and Dixie Carter to make amends. Burke apologized to Carter (who at the time of the falling out between the two of them, sided with producers over Burke's on set behavior.) in 2002 and made an appearance on Carter's show Family Law and all appeared well between the two during the 2003 designing women reunion, and looked even better during the 2006 reunion. Burke and the ladies were heartbroken over Carter's death as well, and in one media photo Burke is seen having to be held up by husband Gerald and co-star Annie Potts.


May 24, 1999 -
The last episode of Mad About You, The Final Frontier aired on NBC on this date. (The re-boot of the series can be seen on Amazon TV.)



The series exists in the same universe as Friends and Seinfeld. Ursula Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), the waitress, is Phoebe Buffay's (Lisa Kudrow) twin sister, from Friends. Paul's old apartment is rented out to Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) from Seinfeld.


Another record from the discount bin at The ACME Record Shoppe today


Today in History:
May 24, 1610 -
Buggery was criminalized for the first time in North America by Sir Thomas Gates, when the Virginia colony declares that "no man shall commit the horrible, and detestable sinnes of Sodomie upon pain of death."

I've uncovered that the actual punishment for breaking this new law was - Whipping -a good strong bare butt whipping. Hmmm, I see. (This is what came from the lack of good lubrication in the early colonies.)


May 24, 1626 -
Peter Minuit was the director-general of the Dutch colony of New Netherland who was credited with the purchase of the island of Manhattan on this date.

According to legend, he persuaded the natives, perhaps a Metoac band of Lenape known as the Canarsee, who were actually native to what is now Brooklyn - to "sell" the island for a handful of trade goods worth approximately 60 guilders (appx. $24.)



I've often said that there are those in Congress looking to give New York back to the Indians.


May 24, 1686 -
Gabriel Fahrenheit was born on the date. Mr Fahrenheit did pioneering work in the field of temperature. It was his dream to develop a more sophisticated temperature measurement system than the accepted worldwide standard of his era, which consisted of only seven gradations: brr!, cold as hell, chilly, warm, hot, hotter than hell and ow!.

Hard at work on the same problem was his colleague Anders Celsius. Mr Fahrenheit eventually discovered the "degree." It took 32 of Mr Fahrenheit's degrees to freeze water and 212 of them to boil it. Mr Celsius, meanwhile, had discovered a different kind of "degree."

It took only a hundred of his degrees to bring water to a boil, and, even more impressively, he discovered that water would freeze without any degrees at all.



By requiring fewer degrees to get things done, and less tick marks on thermometers, Mr Celsius's system was more compact and economical than Mr Fahrenheit's. This made it a natural for the crowded lands of Europe, where storage came at a premium. In the great unsettled expanse of the New World, however, space was not an issue and Mr Fahrenheit's system took hold.


May 24, 1844 -
Samuel F. B. Morse formally opens America's first telegraph line, when he demonstrated a magnetic telegraph, sending a message from the chambers of the Old Supreme Court courthouse in Washington D.C. to his partner, Alfred Vail, at the Mount Clare Depot of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in Baltimore, Maryland, on this date.



Vail responded by retransmitting the same message back to Morse. The message, "What hath God wrought?" was the first message sent on a commercial telegraph line.


May 24, 1856 -
A small gang led by abolitionist John Brown murdered five unarmed pro-slavery homesteaders in Franklin County, Kansas, on this date, hacking them to pieces with swords.



The event comes to be known as the Pottawatomie Massacre.


May 24, 1883 -

The Brooklyn Bridge (originally the New York and Brooklyn Bridge), one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretches 5,989 feet (1825 m) over the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn opened for business today. On completion, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. Since its opening, it has become an iconic part of the New York Skyline and is still considered one of the Wonders of the Modern World.



The first person to jump from the bridge was Robert E. Odlum (and not Steve Brodie) on May 19, 1885.



Robert, a swimming teacher, made the jump in a costume bearing his initials. He survived the pre-announced jump, but died shortly thereafter from internal injuries. Apparently, no one told him taking the high dive off the bridge would get him killed.

This showed him.


May 24, 1920 -
Senile French President Paul Deschanel fell off a train bound for Montbrison, and was later discovered wandering along the track in his pajamas. The Station master's wife later commented that she knew he was a gentleman because he had such "clean feet."



Soon afterwards, Deschanel walked out of a state meeting, straight into the fountains at the Rambouillet chateau, fully clothed.

As I mentioned yesterday, The French, they are a strange race.

(Interesting side note - the actress Zooey Deschanel is related to the former president.)


May 24, 1927 -
The final levee breach of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 occurred at McCrea, Louisiana, on the east bank of the Atchafalaya levee. The flood, which began several weeks earlier, along the Mississippi killed some 500 people and displaced thousands.



The levee system broke in 145 places and caused 27,000 square miles of flooding in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.


May 24, 1928 -
The airship Italia, commanded by General Umberto Nobile, crashed while attempting to reach Spitzbergen, during its return flight from the North Pole on this date.



Nine men, including Nobile survived the initial crash.


May 24, 1941 -
Shabtai Zisel ben Avraham Zimmerman, a young boy from a small shtetl called Duluth, in the great state of Minnesota, don't ya know, who has been a major figure in popular music for nearly six decades, was born on this date.







Even Zigman and Anna's grandson, Shabtai can still write a good song, now and then.


May 24, 1941 -
During the Battle of the Denmark Strait (World War II,) the German battleship Bismarck sank the HMS Hood on this date.



More than 1,400 crewmen died; only three survived.


May 24, 1962 -
Scott Carpenter becomes the second American to orbit the Earth when he is launched into space aboard NASA's Aurora 7 space capsule, on this date.



Carpenter circles the globe three times, reaching a maximum altitude of 164 miles before his spacecraft splashes into the Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral about five hours later.


May 24, 1976  -
In France, on this date, two California wines won a tasting event over several French classics for the first time. Stephen Spurrier, English owner of a wine shop and wine school in Paris, held a competition tasting of French and American wines.



The best red wine was a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. The best white wine was a 1973 Napa Valley Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena, owned by Jim Barrett.


Don't forget - Tomorrow is Towel Day,

you know what you need to do - DON'T PANIC!



And so it goes.