Category: +Did You Know?

Did You Know? An event known as “New England’s Dark Day” occurred on May 19, 1780, when an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada. The primary cause of the event is believed to have been a combination of smoke from forest fires, a thick fog, and cloud cover. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon on. It did not disperse until the middle of the next night. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? Colorful evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson–founder of the Foursquare Gospel Church–disappeared May 18, 1926. At first it was thought she was drowned. She later reappeared and claimed to to have been kidnapped. Significant evidence indicated she had spent the missing time with an illicit lover. What’s the truth? You decide. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovered the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer, on May 17, 1902. Originally made in the 1st century B.C., mechanisms of this complexity would not be made again until the 1300s. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 16, 1918, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California on May 15, 1940. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? Israel was declared to be an independent state on May 14, 1948, and a provisional government was established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel was attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The first appearance of Our Lady of Fatima occurred on May 13, 1917. Sixty-four years later, on May 13, 1981 and in apparent fulfilment of the 3rd Secret of Fatima, John Paul II was shot in St. Peter’s Square, but survived. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The stars that appear nearest the north and south celestial poles vary from one celestial body to another, depending on which way their axes (axis-es) are pointing. Right now Earth has a North Star (Polaris) but no South Star. Our celestial neighbor and twin-planet, the Moon, has no North Star, but its South Star is Delta Octantis. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? Albert Einstein published four amazing papers in 1905, the year known as his “Annus Mirabilis” (Latin, “Miraculous Year”). The second was received for publication on May 11, and it dealt with Brownian Motion–the kind of motion we have all seen when putting a few drops of food coloring into a jar of water. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on May 9, 1893, in Nix v. Hedden, that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883. LEARN MORE.