The Almanac
Today is Thursday, March 23, the 82nd day of 2017 with 283 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and
Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars. Those born on
this date are under the sign of Aries. They include pirate Capt.
William Kidd in 1645; culinary expert Fannie Farmer in 1857; Czech
writer Josef Capek in 1887; psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in 1900; actor
Joan Crawford in 1905; Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in 1910;
rocket scientist Wernher von Braun in 1912; Roger Bannister, the first
person to run the mile in under 4 minutes, in 1929 (age 88); land speed
racing pioneer Craig Breedlove in 1937 (age 80); former Atlanta Mayor
Maynard Jackson Jr. in 1938; musician Ric Ocasek in 1949 (age 68);
musician Chaka Khan in 1953 (age 64); television analyst and former NFL
player Ron Jaworski in 1951 (age 66); author Kim Stanley Robinson in
1952 (age 65); actor Amanda Plummer in 1957 (age 60); actor Keri
Russell in 1976 (age 41); gossip blogger Perez Hilton in 1978 (age 39);
Princess Eugenie of York in 1990 (age 27). On this date in history: In
1775, in a speech supporting the arming of the Virginia militia,
Patrick Henry declared, Give me liberty or give me death. In 1909,
Theodore Roosevelt begins his post-presidency, embarking on the
Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition, part specimen collection,
part hunting trip. In 1933, the Enabling Act was passed by the German
government, giving Chancellor Adolf Hitler the ability to enact laws
unilaterally. Opening a session of the Reichstag, Hitler threatened to
destroy all those seeking to damage our people, while at the same time
stressing we are sincere friends of peace and shall heal the wounds
from which all are suffering. In 1965, Astronauts Gus Grissom and John
Young were launched in Gemini 3, the first U.S. two-man crew in space.
Along for the ride, a corned beef sandwich snuck aboard the Gemini 3
probe by astronaut John Young. In 1966, Pope Paul VI met Britain's
Archbishop of Canterbury at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, the
first meeting between the heads of the Roman Catholic and Anglican
churches in 400 years. In 1983, the world's first recipient of a
permanent artificial heart, Barney Clark of Seattle, died in a Salt
Lake City hospital. In 1985, the United States completed the secret air
evacuation of 800 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. In 1989, Dick Clark retired
from hosting the TV show American Bandstand after 33 years. In 1996,
Taiwan elected Lee Teng-hui in the island's first direct presidential
election. In 1998, Titanic won 11 Academy Awards, tying the record
total won by Ben-Hur in 1959. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King also won 11 -- in 2004. In 2001, the Russian space station Mir was
brought down in the Pacific Ocean near Fiji after more than 15 years in
orbit. In 2004, NASA said findings on Mars suggest a sea once covered
part of the planet. In 2005, Iraqi forces attacked a training camp for
suspected insurgents west of Baghdad, killing 80 gunmen in what
officials called one of the largest operations to stamp out terrorism.
In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act into law. The landmark legislation was designed to
extend health insurance to about 32 million Americans over a 10-year
period. Obama said it would set in motion reforms that generations of
Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see. In 2015,
Lee Kuan Yew, founder and first Prime Minister of Singapore, died at
the age of 91. A thought for the day: The school is the last
expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. --
Franklin D. Roosevelt .