The Almanac
Today is Wednesday, June 24, the 175th day of 2014 with 190 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune and
Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. Those born on this
date are under the sign of Cancer. They include clergyman Henry Ward
Beecher in 1813; writer/satirist Ambrose Bierce in 1842; heavyweight
boxing champ Jack Dempsey in 1895; basketball player/shoe designer
Chuck Taylor in 1901, band leader Phil Harris in 1904; British
astronomer Fred Hoyle in 1915; author/editor Norman Cousins in 1915;
golf Hall of Fame member Billy Casper in 1931; basketball Hall of Fame
member Sam Jones in 1933 (age 82); actor Michele Lee in 1942 (age 73);
guitarist Jeff Beck in 1944 (age 71); actor Peter Weller in 1947 (age
68); drummer Mick Fleetwood in 1947 (age 68); actor Nancy Allen in 1950
(age 61); Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi, four-time FIFA World
Player of the Year, in 1987 (age 28). On this date in history: In 1901,
Pablo Picasso's artwork had its first exhibition in Paris. In 1948,
Soviet forces blockaded the western zones of Berlin, setting the stage
for the Berlin airlift to support the 2 million people of the divided
German city. In 1975, an Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 en route from New
Orleans crashed at New York's Kennedy International airport, killing
113 people. There were 11 survivors. In 1986, Raquel Welch won a $10.8
million verdict against MGM, which she said ruined her career by firing
her from the 1980 movie Cannery Row. In 1987, comedian/actor Jackie
Gleason died at the age of 71. In 2003, author Leon Uris, who wrote
Exodus, the story of the struggle to establish and defend the state of
Israel, and other famous novels, died at age 78. In 2009, South
Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an extramarital affair
with a woman in Argentina. (He resigned as chairman of the GOP
governors association but stayed on as governor and was later elected
to Congress.) In 2010, John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut in a
first-round match played over three days at Wimbledon. The match --
longest in pro-tennis history -- took 11 hours, 5 minutes and 183 games
to decide a winner. In 2011, New York state legislators approved
same-sex marriage. (Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who pushed for the proposal,
promptly signed it into law.) In 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed
Morsi was elected president of Egypt. (The military removed him from
the office in 2013 and he was later sentenced to death for his role in
a mass prison break in 2011.) In 2013, Belgian Steve Darcis, ranked
135th in the world, upset Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, the first time the
Spanish star ever lost in the opening round of a Grand Slam event. In
2014, a United Methodist Church appeals committee reinstated Frank
Schaefer, a former Pennsylvania pastor who had been stripped of his
religious credentials because he presided at the wedding of his gay
son. A thought for the day: Play is often talked about as if it were a
relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious
learning. Play is really the work of childhood. -- Fred Rogers .
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