What do Levi Strauss, Abraham Lincoln & Thomas Edison have in common?
8 Unusual and Unique World-Changing Facts That Happened on May 20
By Michelle Carr Crowe, Silicon Valley real estate guide selling homes in San Jose
Do you know the events that bring Levi Strauss, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison have together today on May 20, 2013?
Are you an inquisitive person who enjoys learning? If you’ve read my blog, you know one of the pastimes I enjoy is discovering new facts and interesting pieces of history.
I like to share intriguing stories from our local newspaper the San Jose Mercury News, as well as my favorite print and online magazinesMental Floss, the National Geographic Society or Smithsonian Magazine. Other times I find articles or facts online at The History Place, Brainy History,orDates In History.These events for today’s blog post are primarily from Wikipedia.
While these interesting items are intriguing, they have nothing to do with my real estate business, helping people like you buy and sell homes in Silicon Valley, Calif. and beyond. I admit, they just add fun and fascination to life.
Here are today’s 8 Unusual and Unique World-Changing Facts That Happened on May 20. I hope you find them interesting, too.
Events
325 – The First Council of Nicea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held. It was initiated by the Roman Emperor Constantine and presided over by St. Alexander. The goal was to attain consensus among Christians. Its main accomplishments were the issue of God the Son and his relationship to God the Father, calculating the date of Easter and establishing the first part of the Creed of Nicean, which is still used by Christians today.
1498 – PortugueseexplorerVasco da Gamadiscovers the sea route to India.
1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
1609 – Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, most likely without permission, by publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law. 
1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. Strauss founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm, Levi Strauss & Co., began in 1853 in San Francisco, California.
1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1985 – Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
BONUS Question 1 : What two famous pilots broke world records on this date?
BONUS Question 2: What year was the first traffic ticket ever given, and what was it for?
Thank you for reading. You may want to read my blog at www.activerain.com/results for more fun facts on history, real estate, home, life and other topics. I hope you learned something new from reading about these 8 Unusual and Unique World-Changing Facts That Happened on May 20.
BONUS ANSWER 1: Charles Lindbergh & Amelia Earhart.
1927 – At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He touched down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
BONUS ANSWER 2: In New York City, NY in 1899, the first traffic ticket was for speeding.
1899 – The first traffic ticket in the US: New York City taxi driver Jacob German was arrested for speeding while driving 12 miles per hour on Lexington Street.
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