18 Odd But True Facts From April 8

What do Arthur Ashe, Pope John Paul II and the Venus de Milo have in common? All three (and another fifteen) share an anniversary on April 8. 

• 1820 – The now-world-famous statue of Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos. 
• 1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
• 1893 – The first recorded college basketball game occurs at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
• 1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.
• 1904 – The former Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times. It will become famous as the site of “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve,” the place where thousands in person and millions via television will count down to midnight as the famous ball drops in Times Square. The tickets for multiple venues for New Year's Eve are available for sale on a first-come, first-serve basis at http://timessquarenewyears.com.

OFFICIAL TIMES SQUARE NEW YEARS EVE COUNTDOWN
3 PM REVELERS ARRIVE
6 PM BALL IS LIT
6:57 PM HOURLY COUNTDOWN
7:57 PM HOURLY COUNTDOWN
8:57 PM HOURLY COUNTDOWN
9:56 PM HOURLY COUNTDOWN
10:57 PM HOURLY COUNTDOWN
11:59 PM 60 SECOND FINAL COUNTDOWN
MIDNIGHT BALL DROP
12:15 AM END OF SHOW 

• 1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.
• 1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
• 1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
• 1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
• 1935 – The Works Progress Administration (WPA) is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
• 1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.
• 1950 – India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Pact.
• 1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.
• 1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
• 1974 – At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record.
• 1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
• 2005 – Over four million people attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
• 2008 – The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.

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. 

Images courtesy of www.wikipedia.org.

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