Bet they don't have a Hallmark Card for today!

Today is Dead Duck Day, an annual event celebrated at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.



Do you have anything else to do today? Perhaps you should do it. I'll give you a moment -



Still interested - It's the anniversary of the first known observation of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.

Now, go about you business


It's also National Moonshine Day. Moonshine traditionally is an illegally distilled spirit. Mostly made from a corn mash, moonshine is a distilled whiskey that is typically produced by an individual illegally without a permit. Also known as white lightning, mountain dew, homebrew, hillbilly pop, rotgut and too many more to list here.



The X’s on the moonshine jugs symbol represents the number of times a batch was run through the still. If marked XXX, the moonshine is pure alcohol.


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 song, like most of Orbison's hits, was recorded in RCA Studio B in Nashville with the session pros known as "The A-team." The engineer on these sessions was Bill Porter, who gave this song an exaggerated dynamic range, meaning some parts are very quiet and others are very loud. While most songs of the era had a range of about 3 decibels, Porter said that this one has 24.


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.



While figuring out how to play the character of Christof, Ed Harris suggested him being a hunchback (giving him an unhappy childhood and a desire for Truman to have an idealized life), but he changed his mind after trying on a prosthetic hump and seeing what he looked like.


Another failed ACME product


Today in History:
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.


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