Today is Monday, May 27, the 148th day of 2024 with 218 to follow.
Today is Memorial Day in the United States.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn. Evening stars are Mars and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include financier Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1794; social reformer Amelia Bloomer, for whom the undergarment was named, in 1818; poet Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the lyrics for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," in 1819; frontiersman James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok in 1837; detective novelist Dashiell Hammett in 1894; writer/environmentalist Rachel Carson in 1907; Hubert Humphrey, U.S. vice president/longtime U.S. senator, in 1911; actor Vincent Price in 1911; actor Christopher Lee in 1922; former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1923; actor Lee Meriwether in 1935 (age 89); actor Louis Gossett Jr. in 1936; musician Don Williams in 1939; actor Bruce Weitz in 1943 (age 81); actor Richard Schiff in 1955 (age 69); musician Siouxsie Sioux, born Susan Ballion, (Siouxsie and the Banshees) in 1957 (age 67); actor Peri Gilpin in 1961 (age 63); comedian Adam Carolla in 1964 (age 60); actor Todd Bridges in 1965 (age 59); musician Sean Kinney (Alice in Chains) in 1966 (age 58); actor Joseph Fiennes in 1970 (age 54); actor Paul Bettany in 1971 (age 53); musician Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (TLC) in 1971; actor Jack McBrayer in 1973 (age 51); celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in 1975 (age 49); musician Jadakiss, born Jason Phillips, in 1975 (age 49); musician Andre 3000, born Andre Benjamin, (Outkast) in 1975 (age 49); actor Shanola Hampton in 1977 (age 47); actor Ben Feldman in 1980 (age 44); actor/author Chris Colfer in 1990 (age 34); actor/model Lily-Rose Depp in 1999 (age 25).
On this date in history:
In 1703, Czar Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg as the new capital of Russia.
In 1930, Richard Gurley Drew received a patent for his adhesive tape, which was later manufactured by 3M as Scotch tape. Drew died in 1980.
In 1937, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge was opened. An estimated 200,000 people crossed it the first day.
In 1941, after attacks by British ships and planes, the German battleship Bismarck sank 400 miles west of the French port of Brest.
In 1943, former Olympic distance runner Louis Zamperini's B-24 bomber crashed in the Pacific Ocean during a rescue mission. He and one other survivor were captured by the Japanese and made prisoners of war. His story became the subject of the book Unbroken and a film by the same name directed by Angelina Jolie.
In 1968, the U.S. nuclear submarine USS Scorpion was reported overdue in the Atlantic with 99 men aboard. The wreckage was located in October 1968.
In 1990, Cesar Gaviria, 34, was elected president of Colombia after a campaign in which three candidates were killed. He vowed to make no deals with the cocaine cartels.
In 1992, hours after a Russian-brokered cease-fire went into effect in Bosnia, Serb guerrillas launched a surprise mortar bombardment on Sarajevo, killing at least 20 people and injuring up to 160 more waiting in lines to buy bread.
In 1997, an F5 tornado half a mile wide ripped through the small Texas town of Jarrell, killing 27 people, including a family of five.
In 2004, a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld Oregon's law authorizing doctors to help their terminally ill patients kill themselves.
In 2006, an earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing approximately 5,000 people and leaving an estimated 200,000 homeless.
In 2023, the Republican-led Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was under scrutiny for alleged abuse of office and other scandals for nearly a decade. He was acquitted on all charges in September 2023.
A thought for the day: "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." -- American conservationist Rachel Carson
