Today in History

There are 232 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On May 13, 1918, the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, were introduced with a face value of 24 cents. (On a few of the stamps, the biplane was printed upside-down; the "inverted Jenny," as it came to be called, instantly became a collector's item.)

~In 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. (The colonists went ashore the next day.)

~Aparently, nothing happened on this day in the 1700s.

~In 1846, the United States declared that a state of war already existed with Mexico.

~In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela. (a young hugo chavez was seen fleeing the scene)

~Ten years ago: President Clinton ordered harsh sanctions against an unapologetic India, which had gone ahead with a second round of nuclear tests despite global criticism. (how'd that work out for ya, bill?)

Today's Birthdays: Actress Beatrice Arthur is 86. Critic Clive Barnes is 81. Actor Buck Taylor is 70. Actor Harvey Keitel is 69. Author Charles Baxter is 61. Actor Franklyn Ajaye is 59. Actress Zoe Wanamaker is 59. Singer Stevie Wonder is 58. Basketball player Dennis Rodman is 47. Actor-comedian Stephen Colbert is 44. Actor Tom Verica is 44. Country singer Lari White is 43. Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 42. Actress Susan Floyd is 40. Contemporary Christian musician Andy Williams (Casting Crowns) is 36. Actress Samantha Morton is 31. Rock musician Mickey Madden (Maroon 5) is 29.

Thought for Today: "A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by a common hatred of its neighbours." — William Ralph Inge, English religious leader and author (1860-1954). Dooood! Bitter much?