Today is Wednesday, May 22, the 143rd day of 2024 with 223 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Venus. Evening star is Jupiter.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include musician Richard Wagner in 1813; artist Mary Cassatt in 1844; writer Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, in 1859; wrestler/strongman Gama Pehlwan, born Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt, in 1978; baseball Hall of Fame member Al Simmons in 1902; actor Laurence Olivier in 1907; musician Sun Ra, born Herman Blount, in 1914; critic Judith Crist in 1922; musician Charles Aznavour in 1924; entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens Jr. in 1928; activist/politician Harvey Milk in 1930; musician Peter Nero in 1934; actor Richard Benjamin in 1938 (age 86); actor Paul Winfield in 1939; journalist Bernard Shaw in 1940; Theodore Kaczynski, the so-called "Unabomber," in 1942; Northern Irish political activist/Nobel Peace Prize laureate Betty Williams in 1943; musician Bernie Taupin in 1950 (age 74); musician Morrissey, born Steven Patrick Morrissey, (Smiths) in 1959 (age 65); actor Ann Cusack in 1961 (age 63); musician Jesse Valenzuela (Gin Blossoms) in 1962 (age 62); musician Johnny Gill (New Edition/LSG) in 1966 (age 58); actor Brooke Smith in 1967 (age 57); actor Michael Kelly in 1969 (age 55); model/actor Naomi Campbell in 1970 (age 54); actor Sean Gunn in 1974 (age 50); actor Ginnifer Goodwin in 1978 (age 46); actor Maggie Q, born Margaret Denise Quigley, in 1979 (age 45); actor Nazanin Boniadi in 1980 (age 44); Olympic champion speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno in 1982 (age 42); Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz in 1984 (age 40); tennis player Novak Djokovic in 1987 (age 37); actor Camren Bicondova in 1999 (age 25); actor Peyton Elizabeth Lee in 2004 (age 20).
On this date in history:
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In 1868, seven members of the Reno gang stole $98,000 from a railway car at Marshfield, Ind. It was the original "Great Train Robbery."
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt established Crater Lake National Park in southwest Oregon, the fifth-oldest national park in the United States. The defining feature is Crater lake, the remains of Mount Mazama, a volcano that collapsed after a major eruption thousands of years ago.
In 1972, Richard Nixon became the first U.S president to visit Moscow.
In 1987, a tornado flattened Saragosa, Texas, population 185, killing 29 residents and injuring 121.
In 1990, after 150 apart, South Yemen and North Yemen united, forming the new Yemeni Arab Republic.
In 1992, Johnny Carson ended his nearly 30-year career as host of The Tonight Show.
In 2002, authorities in Birmingham, Ala., convicted a fourth suspect in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls. Bobby Frank Cherry, 71, a former Ku Klux Klansman, was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2003, Annika Sörenstam became the first woman in 59 years to compete in a PGA event but her 5-over-par 145 through two rounds of the Bank of America Colonial tournament failed to make the cut.
In 2011, the deadliest tornado to strike the United States in half a century roared into the heart of Joplin, Mo., with winds of 200 mph. It killed nearly 160 people, injured about 1,100 others and destroyed nearly one-third of the city. Damage was estimated in the $3 billion range.
In 2015, voters in Ireland overwhelmingly approved a measure to allow civil same-sex marriage, making it the first nation in the world to legalize gay unions through a popular vote.
In 2017, a suicide bomber killed 22 people attending an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. More than 500 people sustained injuries.
In 2020, at least 76 people died in a fiery crash of Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK-8303 near Karachi's Jinnah International Airport.
In 2023, the three states that make up the Colorado River Basin -- Arizona, California and Nevada -- reached a new conservation deal to preserve the future of the river system.
A thought for the day: "If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves and allow those responsible to salve their conscience by believing that they have our acceptance and concurrence. We should, therefore, protest openly everything ... that smacks of discrimination or slander." -- American activist Mary McLeod Bethune
