April 1, 2020 — Many emergency room workers remove their clothes as soon as they get home — some before they even enter. Does that mean you should worry about COVID-19 transmission from your own clothing, towels, and other textiles?
While researchers found that the virus can remain on some surfaces for up to 72 hours, the study didn’t include fabric. “So far, evidence suggests that it’s harder to catch the virus from a soft surface (such as fabric) than it is from frequently touched hard surfaces like elevator buttons or door handles,” wrote Lisa Maragakis, MD, senior director of infection prevention at the Johns Hopkins Health System.
for the complete article: webmd.com/lung/news/20200401
In a demonstration witnessed by members of Congress, American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse dispatched a telegraph message from the U.S. Capitol to Alfred Vail at a railroad station in Baltimore, Maryland. The message—“What Hath God Wrought?”—was telegraphed back to the Capitol a moment later by Vail. The question, taken from the Bible (Numbers 23:23), had been suggested to Morse by Annie Ellworth, the daughter of the commissioner of patents.
Morse, an accomplished painter, learned of a French inventor’s idea of an electric telegraph in 1832 and then spent the next 12 years attempting to perfect a working telegraph instrument. During this period, he composed the Morse code, a set of signals that could represent language in telegraph messages, and convinced Congress to finance a Washington-to-Baltimore telegraph line.
On May 24, 1844, he inaugurated the world’s first commercial telegraph line with a message that was fitting given the invention’s future effects on American life.
Sourced: history.com Editors for the complete article
May 24, 1961: Twenty-seven Freedom Riders, headed for New Orleans, were arrested as soon as they arrived in the bus station in Jackson, Mississippi. Many of the riders were sentenced to two months inside Mississippi’s worst prison, Parchman. Within a few months, police arrested more than 400 Freedom Riders. Eric Etheridge features portraits of the Riders (then and now) in his book, Breach of Peace. Their journeys are captured in Raymond Arsenault’s book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, and Stanley Nelson’s documentary, Freedom Riders.
May 25, 1774: A group of Africans held as slaves in Massachusetts Bay colony (a center for slave trade) declared that they were born free just like the white citizens and “have never forfeited this Blessing by any compact or agreement whatever.” In 1783, the Massachusetts Supreme Court found for freedom for all slaves. Chief Justice William Cushing declared slavery “inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution.”
May 17
1792 – Two dozen merchants and brokers established the New York Stock Exchange. In good weather, they operated under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. In bad weather, they moved inside to a coffeehouse to conduct business.
May 17, 1875 – The first Kentucky Derby horse race took place at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
May 17, 1954 – In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that segregation of public schools “solely based on race” denies black children “equal educational opportunity” even though “physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may have been equal. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Thurgood Marshall had argued the case before the Court. He went on to become the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.
May 18 1980 – Mount St. Helens volcano erupted in southwestern Washington State spewing steam and ash over 11 miles into the sky. This was the first major eruption since 1857.
1998 – In one of the biggest antitrust lawsuits of the 20th century, American software giant Microsoft Corporation was sued by the U.S. Federal government and 20 state governments charging the company with using unfair tactics to crush competition and restrict choices for consumers. The lawsuits alleged Microsoft used illegal practices to deny personal computer owners the benefits of a free and competitive market and also alleged Microsoft extended its monopoly on operating systems to “develop a chokehold” on the Internet browser software market.
May 19
1943 – During World War II in Europe, Royal Air Force bombers successfully attacked dams in the German Ruhr Valley using innovative ball-shaped bouncing bombs that skipped along the water and exploded against the dams. The dams had provided drinking water for 4 million persons and supplied 75% of the electrical power for industry in the area.
Birthday – Black nationalist and civil rights activist Malcolm X (1925-1965) was born in Omaha, Nebraska (as Malcolm Little). While in prison he adopted the Islamic religion and after his release in 1952, changed his name to Malcolm X and worked for the Nation of Islam. He later made a pilgrimage to Mecca and became an orthodox Muslim. He was assassinated while addressing a meeting in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21, 1965.
Birthday – African American playwright Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is best known for A Raisin in the Sun (1959) a play dealing with prejudice and black pride. The play was the first stage production written by a black woman to appear on Broadway. She died of cancer at the age of 34. A book of her writings entitled To Be Young, Gifted, and Black was published posthumously.
May 20
May 20, 325 A.D. – The Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church was called by Constantine I, first Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire. With nearly 300 bishops in attendance at Nicaea in Asia Minor, the council condemned Arianism which denied Christ’s divinity, formulated the Nicene Creed and fixed the date of Easter.
May 20, 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act opening millions of acres of government-owned land in the West to “homesteaders” who could acquire up to 160 acres by living on the land and cultivating it for five years, paying just $1.25 per acre.
May 20, 1927 – Charles Lindbergh, a 25-year-old aviator, took off at 7:52 a.m. from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in the Spirit of St. Louis attempting to win a $25,000 prize for the first solo nonstop flight between New York City and Paris. Thirty-three hours later, after a 3,600 mile journey, he landed at Le Bourget, Paris, earning the nickname “Lucky Lindy” and becoming an instant worldwide hero.
May 20, 1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She departed Newfoundland, Canada, at 7 p.m. and landed near Londonderry, Ireland, completing a 2,026-mile flight in about 13 hours. Five years later, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, she disappeared while trying to fly her twin-engine plane around the equator.
May 21
May 21, 1881 – The American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton. The organization today provides volunteer disaster relief in the U.S. and abroad. Community services include collecting and distributing donated blood, and teaching health and safety classes.
May 21, 1991 – Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in the midst of a re-election campaign, killed by a bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers. He had served as prime minister from 1984 to 1989, succeeding his mother, Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984.
May 22
May 22, 1972 – President Richard Nixon became the first American president to visit Moscow. Four days later, Nixon and Soviet Russia’s leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a pact pledging to freeze nuclear arsenals at current levels.
May 22, 1947 – Congress approved the Truman Doctrine, assuring U.S. support for Greece and Turkey to prevent the spread of Communism.
Birthday – Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) was born in Dorking, England. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th Century, he was honored with nine Academy Award nominations, three Oscars, five Emmy awards, and a host of other awards. His repertoire included most of the major Shakespearean roles, and films such as The Entertainer, Rebecca, Pride and Prejudice, The Boys from Brazil, Marathon Man and Wuthering Heights. He was knighted in 1947 and made a peer of the throne in 1970.
May 23
Birthday – The first American female attorney Arabella Mansfield (1846-1911) was born near Burlington, Iowa (as Belle Aurelia Babb). She was certified in 1869 as an attorney and admitted to the Iowa bar, but never practiced law. Instead she chose a career as a college educator and administrator. She was also instrumental in the founding of the Iowa Suffrage Society in 1870. May 24
1844 – Telegraph inventor Samuel Morse sent the first official telegraph message, “What hath God wrought?” from the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., to Baltimore.
On May 24, 1775, John Hancock is elected president of the Second Continental Congress. John Hancock is best known for his large signature on the Declaration of Independence, which he jested the British could read without spectacles. He was serving as president of Congress upon the declaration’s adoption on July 4, 1776, and, as such, was the first member of the Congress to sign the historic document.
May 24, 1881 – A boating disaster occurred in Canada when Victoria, a small, double-decked stern-wheeler carrying over 600 passengers on the Thames River keeled over then sank, killing 182 persons.
May 25 1787 – The Constitutional Convention began in Philadelphia with delegates from seven states forming a quorum.
May 25, 1994 – After 20 years in exile, Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to his homeland. He had been expelled from Soviet Russia in 1974 after his three-volume work exposing the Soviet prison camp system, The Gulag Archipelago, was published in the West.
Birthday – American author and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His works include: Nature (1836), Essays, First Series (1841), Essays, Second Series (1844), Poems (1847, 1865), Representative Men (1850), English Traits (1856), The Conduct of Life (1860), and Society and Solitude (1870). May 26
1940 – The Dunkirk evacuation began in order to save the British Expeditionary Force trapped by advancing German armies on the northern coast of France. Boats and vessels of all shapes and sizes ferried 200,000 British and 140,000 French and Belgian soldiers across the English Channel by June 2nd.
*Birthday – Interpretive dancer Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) was born in San Francisco. She revolutionized the entire concept of dance by developing a free-form style and rebelled against tradition, performing barefoot in a loose fitting tunic. She experienced worldwide acclaim as well as personal tragedy. Her two children drowned, her marriage failed, and she met a bizarre death in 1927 when a scarf she was wearing caught in the wheel of the open car in which she was riding, strangling her.
May 27
1937 – In San Francisco, 200,000 people celebrated the grand opening of the Golden Gate Bridge by strolling across it.
Birthday – Legendary Wild West figure Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876) was born in Troy Grove, Illinois. He was a frontiersman, lawman, legendary marksman, army scout and gambler. On August 2, 1876, he was shot dead during a poker game by a drunk in the Number Ten saloon in Deadwood, in the Dakota Territory. In his hand he held a pair of eights and a pair of aces which became known as the ‘dead man’s hand.’
May 28
1961 – Amnesty International was founded by London lawyer Peter Berenson. He read about the arrest of a group of students in Portugal then launched a one-year campaign to free them called Appeal for Amnesty. Today Amnesty International has over a million members in 150 countries working to free prisoners of conscience, stop torture and the death penalty, and guarantee human rights for women.
Birthday – All-around athlete Jim Thorpe (1888-1953) was born near Prague, Oklahoma. He won the pentathlon and decathlon events at the 1912 Olympic Games and also played professional baseball and football. May 29 1453 – The city of Constantinople was captured by the Turks, who renamed it Istanbul. This marked the end of the Byzantine Empire as Istanbul became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. May 29, 1660 – The English monarchy was restored with Charles II on the throne after several years of a Commonwealth under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. May 29, 1787 – At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia the Virginia Plan was proposed calling for a new government consisting of a legislature with two houses, an executive chosen by the legislature and a judicial branch.
May 29, 1865 – Following the American Civil War, President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation granting general amnesty to Confederates. The amnesty excluded high ranking Confederates and large property owners, who had to apply individually to the President for a pardon. Following an oath of allegiance, all former property rights, except slaves, were returned to the former owners.
Birthday – American revolutionary leader Patrick Henry (1736-1799) was born in Studley, Virginia. He is best remembered for his speech in 1775 declaring: “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
Birthday – John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) the 35th U.S. President was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the youngest man ever elected to the presidency and the first Roman Catholic. He was assassinated in Dallas, November 22, 1963, the fourth President to killed by an assassin. May 30
May 30, 1922 – The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated. The Memorial was designed by architect Henry Bacon and features a compelling statue of “Seated Lincoln” by sculptor Daniel Chester French.
May 30, 1943 – During World War II in the Pacific, the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska were retaken by the U.S. 7th Infantry Division. The battle began on May 12 when an American force of 11,000 landed on Attu. In three weeks of fighting U.S. casualties numbered 552 killed and 1,140 wounded. Japanese killed numbered 2,352, with only 28 taken prisoner, as 500 chose suicide rather than be captured.
May 31
1862 – During the American Civil War, the Battle of Seven Pines occurred as Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s Army attacked Union General George McClellan’s troops in front of Richmond Virginia and nearly defeated them. Johnston was badly wounded. Confederate General Robert E. Lee then assumed command, replacing the wounded Johnston. Lee renamed his force the Army of Northern Virginia.
May 31, 1889 – Over 2,300 persons were killed in the Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania. Heavy rains throughout May caused the Connemaugh River Dam to burst sending a wall of water 75 feet high pouring down upon the city.
Birthday – American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was born in Long Island, New York. His poem Leaves of Grass is considered an American classic. His poetry celebrated modern life and took on subjects considered taboo at the time.
(Photo and picture credits: Library of Congress and U.S. National Archives)
1610 – Sir Thomas Gates institutes “laws divine moral and marshal,” a harsh civil code for Jamestown.
1624 – After years of unprofitable operation Virginia’s charter was revoked and it became a royal colony.
1689 – The English Parliament passed Act of Toleration, protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics were specifically excluded from exemption.
1738 – The Methodist Church was established.
1764 – Bostonian lawyer James Otis denounced “taxation without representation” and called for the colonies to unite in demonstrating their opposition to Britain’s new tax measures.
1798 – Believing that a French invasion of Ireland was imminent, Irish nationalists rose up against the British occupation.
1816 – Emamual Leutze was born in Germany. He was most famous for his paintings “Washington Crossing the Delaware” and “Columbus Before the Queen”.
1822 – At the Battle of Pichincha, Bolivar secured independence of the Quito.
1830 – The first passenger railroad service in the U.S. began service.
1844 – Samuel F.B. Morse formally opened America’s first telegraph line. The first message was sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD. The message was “What hath God wrought?”
1859 – Charles Gounod’s “Ave Maria” was performed by Madame Caroline Miolan-Carvalho for the first time in public.
1863 – Bushwackers led by Captain William Marchbanks attacked a U.S. Federal militia party in Nevada, Missouri.
1878 – The first American bicycle race was held in Boston.
1881 – About 200 people died when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sank near London, Ontario.
1883 – After 14 years of construction the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic.
1899 – The first public garage was opened by W.T. McCullough.
1913 – The U.S. Department of Labor entered into its first strike mediation. The dispute was between the Railroad Clerks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
1930 – Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly from England to Australia.
1931 – B&O Railroad began service with the first passenger train to have air conditioning throughout. The run was between New York City and Washington, DC.
1935 – The Cincinnati Reds played the Philadelphia Phillies in the first major league baseball game at night. The switch for the floodlights was thrown by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.
1941 – The HMS Hood was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic. Only three people survived.
1950 – ‘Sweetwater’ (Nat) Clifton’s contract was purchased by the New York Knicks. Sweetwater played for the Harlem Globetrotters.
1954 – The first moving sidewalk in a railroad station was opened in Jersey City, NJ.
1958 – United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
1961 – The Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.
1962 – The officials of the National Football League ruled that halftime of regular season games would be cut to 15 minutes.
1967 – California Governor Ronald Reagan greeted Charles M. Schulz at the state capitol in observance of the legislature-proclaimed “Charles Schulz Day.”
1974 – The last “Dean Martin Show” was seen on NBC. The show had been aired for 9 years.
1976 – Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington.
1980 – The International Court of Justice issued a final decision calling for the release of the hostages taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.
1983 – The Brooklyn Bridge’s 100th birthday was celebrated.
1983 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had the right to deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminate.
1986 – Montreal won its 23rd National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup championship.
1990 – The Edmonton Oilers won their fifth National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup.
1993 – Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesus Posada Ocampo and six other people were killed at the Guadalajara, Mexico, airport in a shootout that involved drug gangs.
1993 – The Ethiopian province of Eritrea declared itself an independent nation.
1994 – The four men convicted of bombing the New York’s World Trade Center were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
1999 – 39 miners were killed in an underground gas explosion in the Ukraine.
2000 – Five people were killed and two others wounded when two gunmen entered a Wendy’s restaurant in Flushing, Queens, New York. The gunmen tied up the victims in the basement and then shot them.
2000 – The U.S. House of Representatives approved permanent normal trade relations with China. China was not happy about some of the human rights conditions that had been attached by the U.S. lawmakers.
2000 – A Democratic Party event for Al Gore in Washington brought in $26.5 million. The amount set a new record, which had just been set the previous month by Republicans for Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
2001 – Temba Tsheri, 15, became the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2011 – NASA announced the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft. It is intended to facilitate exploration of the Moon, asteroids and Mars.
Otis’s legal and philosophical arguments were further developed in a series of influential pamphlets published during the early 1760s. Among these, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764) stands out as a seminal work. In this pamphlet, Otis argued that:
Natural Rights Supersede Government Authority: He emphasized that all individuals are born with inherent rights, including life, liberty, and property. These rights, he asserted, are derived from nature and God, not from human institutions.
Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny: Otis contended that taxes imposed by a government without the consent of the governed violated fundamental rights.
Constitutional Government Must Serve the Public Good: He argued that government exists to promote the welfare of society as a whole, not to enrich a ruling elite or external authority.
These ideas resonated deeply with colonists who felt increasingly alienated by British policies, and they became rallying points for the burgeoning independence movement.
Renowned for opposing British-imposed writs of assistance that allowed unwarranted property searches, James Otis Jr. later criticized taxation measures, coining the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny.”
Otis also explored themes of racial equality, a rare stance for his time. In his writings, he declared that “the colonists are by the law of nature freeborn, as indeed all men are, white or black.” His advocacy for universal liberty reflected the broader Enlightenment ideals that influenced many revolutionary thinkers.
Source: worldhistoryedu.com
On the other side of Mr Otis’ personality was the fact that he appeared to be a hypocrite: a Colonial Legislator and Slaveholder of at least one black
ce suggests that it’s harder to catch the virus from a soft surface (such as fabric) than it is from frequently touched hard surfaces like elevator buttons or door handles,” wrote Lisa Maragakis, MD, senior director of infection prevention at the Johns Hopkins Health System.
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