May 10th is

Bike to School Day *

Night Shift Workers Day

School Nurse Day *

National Shrimp Day

World Lupus Day *

Safety and Health Professionals Day *

One Day’s Wage Donation Day

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MORE! Victoria Woodhull, Ariel Durant and François Mitterrand, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Buddhism – Buddha Day (birth/enlightenment/death) celebrated under many names:
Buddha Purnuma/Pumima, Visakh Bochea, Wesak/Vesak, Buddha Jayanti

Bangladesh – Buddha Purnuma

Cambodia – Visakh Bochea

Mexico/El Salvador – Día de la Madre
(mothers’ day)

India – Buddha Pumima

Malaysia – Wesak

Micronesia – Federation/Constitution Day

Myanmar – Kasong (full moon)

Nepal – Buddha Jayanti

Singapore – Vesak Day

Sri Lanka – Vesak Full Moon Poya

Thailand – Visakha Bucha Day

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On This Day in HISTORY

28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China

AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem and attacks the city’s Third Wall to the northwest

Siege of Jerusalem, by David Roberts, 1850

1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands, naming them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there

1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France

1775 – Representatives from the Thirteen American Colonies begin the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia

1801 – The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America

1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.

1837 – New York City banks fail, and during the subsequent recession, unemployment reaches record levels, as high as 25 % in some areas

1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut

1865 – Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill in Kentucky

1869 – The first transcontinental railroad, linking the eastern and western U.S., is completed at Promontory Summit in Utah when the golden spike is driven in

Missing from the photo: all the Chinese workers, who were not allowed to appear

1872 – Victoria Woodhull is the first woman nominated for President of the U.S, by the Equal Rights Party

1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II

1893 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883

1898 – Ariel Durant born in Russia, American historian and co-author with her husband of the eleven volume The Story of Civilization

1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin born, British astronomer and astrophysicist, first person to receive a Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe, proposed an explanation for the composition of the stars in her thesis that was confirmed four years later by Henry Norris Russell, who was often given credit for the discovery even though his paper credited her work

1909 – ‘Mother’ Maybelle Carter born, American singer, songwriter and guitarist

1911 – Bel Kaufman born, American author and educator, known for her novel Up the Down Staircase

1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton and five crew members arrive at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island; Polar and Naval historians regard the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever undertaken, through shifting ice, heavy seas, freezing temperatures and high winds

1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef in the North Pacific Ocean

1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972

1927 – Nayantara Sahgal born, Indian author, one of the first women from India to receive wide recognition for her works in English

1933 – In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings

1940 – WWII: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg

1940 – WW II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom  following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain

1942 – WWII: Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign

1948 – The Republic of China implements “temporary provisions” granting President  Chiang Kai-shek extended powers to deal with the Communist uprising, which remain in effect until 1991

1954 – Bill Haley & His Comets release “Rock Around the Clock”, the first rock and roll record to reach #1 on the Billboard charts

1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk

1968 – The National Education Association (NEA) establishes the Department of School Nurses; in 1974, President Ford proclaims the first National School Nurse Day * which is now set annually on the Wednesday of National Nurses Week

1974 – Eric Clapton records “I Shot the Sheriff”

1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder in Japan.

1981 – François Mitterrand wins the presidential election and becomes the first Socialist President of France

2004 – World Lupus Day is sponsored by the World Lupus Federation as a call-to-action on behalf of millions of people of all ages who are affected by lupus, for more funding for research and better disease management

2005 – Germany dedicates a national Holocaust memorial

2010 – President Obama nominates Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court

2012 – Safety and Health Professionals Day * becomes part of  North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week

2012 – Bike to School Day * is launched in coordination with the League of American Bicyclists’ National Bike Month by schools in every state and the District of Columbia; participation nearly doubled in 2013, and continues to spread, with local groups working to plan Safe Routes to Schools, celebrated on the second Wednesday in May

2013 – One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere

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