It's National Norway Day.

Please consider consuming a great deal of bratwurst and Hansa.



Here is your Today in History -

On May 17, 1673, Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette first set out to explore the course of the Mississippi, which they believed would lead them to paradise. Unfortunately it only took them to New Orleans, and they weren’t even in time for Mardi Gras.



May 17, 1792 -
24 drunken stock brokers got together outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street which earlier was the site of a stockade fence and signed an agreement with two provisions: 1) the brokers were to deal only with each other. Thereby eliminating the auctioneers, and 2) the commissions were to be .25%. Thus the New York Stock Exchange was born.



May 17 1924 -
Two youths discover a human skull on the banks of the Leine in Hanover, Germany. And although two more skulls are found a month later, police ignore it until a sackful of bones turn up on the riverbank. Dragging the Leine yields another 500 bones, belonging to about 27 victims. Eventually, police arrest Fritz Haarmann for the crimes. He would lure runaway boys back to his apartment, where they would be raped, killed, and cut into steaks. Then the unlicensed butcher would sell the meat as beef on the black market. All told, he killed between 40 and 50 boys.

And no, they didn't taste like chicken.

May 17 1974 -
During a gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the LAPD fires tear gas into their Watts hideout. The canisters ignite a fire which soon consumes the house. Three other SLA members, including kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, watch the events unfold on TV in their motel room down the street from Disneyland. Proving once again, it is the happiest place on earth.



May 17 1980 -
A three-day race riot breaks out after an all-white jury acquits four white Miami police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman. The cops had beaten him with their flashlights and billyclubs, and he died in the hospital. 18 fatalities and more than $100 million in property damage are the final result.


May 17 1992 -
Bandleader, accordion player, and soap bubble aficionado Lawrence Welk dies of pneumonia in his beachfront condo in Santa Monica, California.



Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, and Jimmy Stewart was born on May 20, 1908. Without them we would not have had such American classics as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Mr. Smith Goes Back to Washington," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Again," "Mr. Smith Is Still in Washington," "Mr. Smith Feels Your Pain," "Mr. Smith is Really Very Serious about Term Limits," and, "Mr. Smith Drops Dead in Senate Chamber."



The duo also gave us "It's a Wonderful Life" with its own magnificent sequels: "It's a Really Wonderful Life," "It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than Life," and "Life Is Just So Damn Good I Don't Know Whether to Take a Dump or Go Blind."



And so it goes