Almanac for May 4th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 4th: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-4-K3K71EMSH0

Today's Observance: Star Wars Day ("May the Fourth Be With You")
Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: Audrey Hepburn

Bummer May 4th

May 4, 1897: On the second day of a charity bazaar set up by Catholic charitable organizations in Paris, aristocratic women shop in a wooden warehouse set up to look like a Medieval market. Decorations of cardboard, cloth, papier-mache, and wood help achieve this effect. As an extra attraction, an early movie projector called a cinematograph is set up with ether lamps as a light source.

The projection equipment catches fire. With flammable materials all around and little to no signage marking the exits, the largely female crowd is trapped inside. 126 people die; 200 more are injured. Many of the dead were so badly burned that they could only be identified by their clothing, jewelry, or expensive dental work.

May 4, 1970: Members of the National Guard open fire at students at Kent State University who are peacefully protesting against the Vietnam War. They wound nine students and kill four other students.

Mother's Day is coming May 10th! This is an affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4mNgBpK

Almanac for May 3rd

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 3rd: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-3rd-Z8Z81EMSGG

Bummer May 3rd

May 3, 1950: Wittenberg College (Springfield, Ohio) student Dean Niswonger takes part in a Alpha Tau Omega fraternity hazing ritual in which he’s dropped off away from campus and has to find his way back. Niswonger falls asleep by the side of a road and is hit by a truck and killed.

May 3, 1963: Civil rights protestors in Birmingham, Alabama are brutally beaten by the police. Filmed images of the violence are distributed throughout the world, bringing international attention to the African-American civil rights movement. 

May 3, 2007: 3-year-old Madeleine McCann from the U.K. is reported missing from the hotel room of her parents in Algarve, Portugal, where the McCanns are vacationing. As of 2026, the girl’s whereabouts are still unknown.

Mother's Day is coming May 10th! This is an affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4cUqJJ0

Almanac for May 2nd

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 2nd: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-2nd-Q5Q41EMSFE

French Republican Calendar day name (13 Floréal): wallflower

Bummer May 2nd

May 2, 1536: Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and second wife of Henry VIII, is arrested and charged with incest, witchcraft, adultery, and treason. She’s taken to the Tower of London. These charges are false: Henry’s real reasons for wanting to be rid of Anne include her failure to provide him with a male heir and his desire to court her lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour. 

May 2, 1957: Censured U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy dies of hepatitis at the age of 48 after struggling with severe alcoholism and morphine addiction. 

May 2, 1981: Antiques dealer Jim Williams shoots 21-year-old Danny Hansford at Williams’s historical home, Mercer House (formerly owned by composer Johnny Mercer) in Savannah, Georgia. The lovers had been in an argument; Williams argued the killing was self-defense. After four trials, Williams was acquitted. The homicide is the basis of John Berendt’s book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. 

What was Diane Meyer grateful for on May 2nd, 2024?

https://bottlecap.press/products/ordinarygratitude

classical music
pasta and wine
do your best!
finishing a book
seeing mom soon
honesty over everything
peanut butter
life is because of, and meant for, learning experiences,
becoming

***

Mother's Day is coming on Sunday, May 10!

Almanac for May 1st

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for May 1st: https://ko-fi.com/post/May-1st-O4O71EMO0Z

Mother's Day is May 10th.
This is an affiliate link: https://amzn.to/48EPSWx

Today's Observance: Beltane

Bummer May 1st

May 1, 1866: Rioting breaks out in Memphis, Tennessee. The violence begins with a shoot-out between Black veterans of the Union Army and the all-white Memphis police. It escalates to mobs of white civilians, with the support and participation of the police, attacking Black neighborhoods. Over the next three days, 46 Black residents and two white residents of Memphis are killed and more than 91 buildings are burned, including all of the city’s Black churches and schools. 

May 1, 1947: 23-year-old Evelyn McHale jumps to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. She lands on her back on top of the roof of a car, her shoes having fallen off her feet, one gloved hand grasping her pearl necklace. Photography student Robert C. Wiles takes a picture of her body where it lies. The photo is published in Time magazine, later reproduced as a print by Andy Warhol, and then recreated by David Bowie in his “Jump They Say” video.

May 1, 2003: A coach bus filled with trade union delegates travels toward QwaQwa, Free State, South Africa, for May Day celebrations. As the driver becomes disoriented in the dark shortly after passing the town of Bethlehem, he apparently turns down an unlit gravel road, unknowingly headed directly toward Sol Plaatje Dam and driving too fast. The bus drives directly into the water and overturns. By the time police arrive the next day, 51 people have drowned. Only 10 people are able to escape the overturned bus and get to safety. 

May 1, 2017: One day after his 70th birthday, jam band pioneer Bruce Hampton gets on stage for a tribute concert called Hampton 70: A Celebration of Col. Bruce Hampton. Members of R.E.M., Widespread Panic, and other well-known bands participate. During the encore, Hampton collapses on stage, as he often does during his shows. The tribute band onstage continues to play for several minutes before anyone realizes anything is wrong. Hampton is then taken to a nearby hospital, where he dies of a massive heart attack.

Almanac for April 30th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for April 30th: https://ko-fi.com/post/April-30-W7W11EMNZ8

Today's Observance: Walpurgisnacht

Bummer April 30th

April 30, 1987: American astronomer Marc Aaronson is accidentally killed while working at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. Aaronson is standing on the ladder leading up the telescope’s rotating dome when the dome’s hatch swings toward him and crushes him.

April 30, 1994: Take Asai, also known as Tahkonanna, dies at age 92. She was the last known fluent native speaker of the Sakhalin Ainu language.

***

And now, for something completely different, an affiliate link to a Gumroad creative product you may enjoy: The Abandoned Realm audiobook

If my words are not being censored by the Trump Regime, you may find my books here on Gumroad. https://creativista668.gumroad.com/

Almanac for April 29th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for April 29th: https://ko-fi.com/post/April-29-X8X01EMNYQ

Today's Observance: Bruno Mars was surprised to see Pete Wentz
Artist Birthday: Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman at Dorothy Surrenders: https://dorothysurrenders.blogspot.com/search/label/Uma%20Thurman

Bummer April 29th

April 29, 1986: A fire at the Los Angeles Public Library’s Central Library destroys 400,000 books and other circulating materials. 

Almanac for April 28th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for April 28th: https://ko-fi.com/post/April-28-K3K61EMNXS

Artist Birthday: Harper Lee

I'm not obsessed with Harper Lee. Shut up.

Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: Terry Pratchett's birthday

Now available on Spotify: Mathilda, a tragic novella by Mary Shelley

Bummer April 28th

April 28, 1988: Aloha Airlines Flight 243 experiences an explosive decompression during a flight between Hilo and Honolulu International Airports. A section of the left side of the jet’s roof shears off. Flight attendant C.B. Lansing is swept out of the aircraft; her body is never recovered. Eight people are seriously injured, although the aircraft is able to land safely on a runway in Maui. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigates the incident and determines that metal fatigue, exacerbated by the humid, salty Hawaiian climate, is the likely cause.

April 28, 1996: A 25-year-old man in Port Arthur, Tasmania (Lutruwita), Australia, sits down at the Broad Arrow Café. He eats a meal, then points a rifle at the table next to his and kills two tourists from Malaysia. Within the next 15 seconds he has fired 17 shots, killing 12 people and wounding ten. The man then proceeds to a gift shop nearby, where he kills eight more people and wounds two more. He kills seven more people, including a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, in the parking lot. He then kills four occupants of a car and steals the car. At a service station, he kills a woman and locks her boyfriend inside the trunk of his car. The boyfriend’s body is found the next day, along with the bodies of a husband and wife with whom the perpetrator has had an argument. 

In all 35 people die in Australia’s worst incident of gun violence. Although the citizens of Tasmania are known as generally supportive of gun ownership rights, this appalling incident convinced many Australians to participate in the subsequent voluntary gun buy-back program. Australia also strengthened its gun laws after the Port Arthur massacre. The perpetrator is sentenced to life in prison.