Ant Farmer's Almanac

1986: The State of Georgia's sodomy law (they’re against it) is upheld by Supreme Court (5-4). The decision is handed down after the justices watch Deliverance.

1864: President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite to the State of California; by the end of the day, the waiting list for campsites is already three years long.

Today's Birthdays!

1917 Lena Horne, Buddy Rich; 1934 Harry Blackstone Jr.; 1966 Mike Tyson.

Today in Yesteryear

 

 

1613: London's Globe Theater burns down; William Shakespeare and his insurance company quarrel for months over whether the damage is covered by his policy's "Slings and Arrows" clause.

Today's Birthdays!

1900 Antoine Saint-Exupery

1901 Nelson Eddy

1919 Slim Pickens

1944 Gary Busey

1947 Richard Lewis

Today in Yesteryear

1820: Tomatoes are proven to be nonpoisonous, but only after years of experimentation with salads, sauces and lots of researchers with forks, insisting, "You go first." "No, you go first."

1905: Russian sailors mutiny aboard the battleship "Potemkin"; in a stirring show of solidarity, Russian citizens throughout the empire shove baby carriages down long marble staircases.

Today's Birthdays!

1491 Henry VIII; 1577 Peter Paul Rubens; 1712 Jean Jacques Rousseau; 1926 Mel Brooks; 1946 Gilda Radner; 1960 John Elway; 1966 John Cusack, Mary Stuart Masterson.

Today in Yesteryear

1990: Salman Rushdie, condemned to death in a fatwah by an Iranian mullah, contributes $8,600 to help Iranian earthquake victims; unmoved, most of his would-be assassins now plan on taking his wallet as well as whacking him.

Today's Birthdays!

1869 Emma Goldman; 1880 Helen Keller; 1920 I.A.L. Diamond; 1923 Paul Conrad; 1927 Bob Keeshan; 1955 Isabelle Adjani.

Please Stand By. . .

 
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Today in Yesteryear

1837: Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne, is slightly amused.

1863: West Virginia becomes a state separate from the rest of Virginia.

1910: "Krazy Kat" comic strip by George Herriman debuts in New York Journal.

1963: Beatles form "Beatles Ltd." to handle their income; "Just a little something to help out when we're 64," quips John Lennon.

Today's Birthdays

1907 Lillian Hellman; 1909 Errol Flynn; 1920 DeForest Kelley; 1924 Chet Atkins, 1924 Audie Murphy; 1931 Olympia Dukakis; 1933 Danny Aiello; 1942 Brian Wilson; 1947 Candy Clark; 1950 Lionel Richie; 1952 John Goodman; 1953 Cyndi Lauper

Today in Yesteryear

1885: Statue of Liberty arrives in New York; customs officials note with suspicion that she doesn't look all that tired, hungry or poor.

Today's Birthdays!

1882 Igor Stravinsky; 1904 Ralph Bellamy; 1914 John Hersey; 1928 James Brown; 1946 Barry Manilow; 1948 Phylicia Allen Ayers Rashad; 1951 Joe Piscopo; 1954 Mark Linn-Baker.

Today in Yesteryear

1989: Four golfers (Weaver, Wiebe, Pate & Price) all make a hole-in-one on the same hole (the sixth) at the US Open. This the only remotely interesting thing that will happen in professional golf until Tiger Woods' wife knocks out his rear window with a 9-iron.

1991: Boris Yeltsin elected president of Russia; celebratory drinking doesn't stop until 1999.

Today's Birthdays!

1917
Katharine Graham

1935
Jim Dine

1937
Erich Segal

1938
Joyce Carol Oates

Today in Yesteryear

1779: General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, Bronx; locals retaliate with vandalism and graffiti.

1836: Arkansas is admitted to the Union.

1956: John Lennon (15) & Paul McCartney (13) meet for the first time as Lennon's band The Quarrymen perform at a church dinner.

Today's Birthdays!

1914 Saul Steinberg

1922 Morris Udall

1932 Mario Cuomo

1941 Harry Nilsson

1942 Xaveria Hollander

1956 Polly Draper

1958 Wade Boggs

1963 Helen Hunt

1964 Courtney Cox

1973 Neil Patrick Harris.

Missionary Position

NEW YORK (AFA Fashion NewsWire) The hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, that swept this year's Tony Awards (winning a total of nine awards, including Best Musical), has also kicked off an unexpected — and unlikely — fashion trend among urban hipsters. 

Within hours of the musical's Tony triumph, young men in the trendier precincts of Manhattan were seen sporting the characteristic short-sleeved white shirts, narrow tie (preferably clip-on), black slacks and black shoes polished to a high sheen favored by Mormon missionaries. 

The style has been dubbed the "Look of Mormon."  

"Admittedly, there's only a fine line between the delicious camp of 'The Look of Mormon' and 'Fashion-Challenged Neo-Nerd'," concedes fashion consultant Trent Fowler, "But there are rules. First: no white socks — they're earnest, these missionary boys, not idiotic two: no plastic pocket protectors. If you see someone wearing more-or-less this ensemble, but with either white socks or an old-fashion pocket protector in their shirt, what you've got is either a middle school math teacher, an FBI intern or a NASA engineer magically transported here from 1967."

While knapsacks and ironic glasses (non-prescription lenses) are popular accessories, so far name tags or sincere, deeply-held religious convictions have not caught on.

 

Today in Yesteryear

1775: U.S. Army established; upon enlistment of its second soldier, they ditch the slogan, “An Army of One.”

1881: Player piano patented by John McTammany, Jr., Cambridge, Mass.

1942: Walt Disney's Bambi released.

1954: First nationwide civil defense drill; U.S. schoolchildren instructed to await fiery death under their desks.

1976: The Gong Show premieres.

Today's Birthdays!

1811
Harriet Beecher Stowe

1909
Burl Ives

1921
Gene Barry

1925
Pierre Salinger

1928
Che Guevara

1946
Donald Trump

1961
Boy George.