Today is April 9 2015

National Chinese Almond Cookie Day: More

• National Cherish an Antique Day: More
  
• National Name Yourself Day: More
• NATIONAL WINSTON CHURCHILL DAY: More
  The day Winston Churchill was made an honorary citizen of the United States.
• National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day: More
  A 2010 Presidential Proclamation.
  From the proclamation: 'Our Nation's former prisoners of war faced tremendous challenges and dangers to protect us all. Many gave their last full measure of devotion to defend our freedom, and we are forever in their debt. Each year, on National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, the American people pay tribute to these heroes.'
• National Alcohol Screening Day: More
  Thursday of First Full Week in April, by Screening For Mental Health.

• In 1838, The National Gallery of London, largest public collection of important paintings, opens its doors.
  From Wikipedia: 'The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The Gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the main collection is free of charge. It is among the most visited art museums in the world, after the Musée du Louvre, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1860, On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
  From Wikipedia:
  
  'Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (25 April 1817 – 26 April 1879) was a French printer and bookseller who lived in Paris. He invented the earliest known sound recording device, the phonautograph, which was patented in France on 25 March 1857.'
  
  'From 1853 he became fascinated in a mechanical means of transcribing vocal sounds. While proofreading some engravings for a physics textbook he came across drawings of auditory anatomy. He sought to mimic the working in a mechanical device, substituting an elastic membrane for the tympanum, a series of levers for the ossicle, which moved a stylus he proposed would press on a paper, wood, or glass surface covered in lampblack. On 26 January 1857, he delivered his design in a sealed envelope to the French Academy. On 25 March 1857, he received French patent #17,897/31,470 for the phonautograp.
  
  The phonautograph used a horn to collect sound, attached to a diaphragm which vibrated a stiff bristle which inscribed an image on a lamp black coated, hand-cranked cylinder. Scott built several devices with the help of acoustic instrument maker Rudolph Koenig. Unlike Edison's later invention of 1877, the phonograph, the phonautograph only created visual images of the sound and did not have the ability to play back its recordings. Scott de Martinville's device was used only for scientific investigation of sound waves.s
  
  'In 2008, The New York Times reported the playback of a phonautogram recorded on 9 April 1860. The recording was converted from "squiggles on paper" to a playable digital audio file by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. The phonautogram was one of several deposited by Leon Scott in two archives in Paris and only recently brought to light.
  
  The recording, of part of the French folk song Au clair de la lune, was initially played at a speed that produced what seemed to be a 10-second recording of the voice of a woman or child singing at an ordinary musical tempo. The researchers leading the project later found that a misunderstanding about an included reference frequency had resulted in a doubling of the correct playback speed, and that it was actually a 20-second recording of a man, probably Scott himself, singing the song very slowly. It is now the earliest known recording of singing in existence, predating, by 28 years, several 1888 Edison wax cylinder phonograph recordings of a massed chorus performing Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt.
  
  A phonautogram by Scott containing the opening lines of Torquato Tasso's pastoral drama Aminta, in Italian, has also been found. Recorded around 1860, probably after the recording of Au clair de la lune, this phonautogram is now the earliest known recording of intelligible human speech. Recordings of Scott's voice made in 1857 have also survived, but they are only unintelligible snippets'.
  - At Wikipedia:- More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
  From Wikipedia: 'Initially, Lee did not intend to surrender, but planned to regroup at the village of Appomattox Court House, where supplies were to be waiting, and then continue the war. Grant chased Lee and got in front of him, so that when Lee's army reached Appomattox Court House, they were surrounded. After an initial battle, Lee decided that the fight was now hopeless, and surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at the McLean House. In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of peacefully restoring Confederate states to the Union, Lee was permitted to keep his sword and his horse, Traveller. On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a Southern sympathizer. Lincoln died early the next morning, and Andrew Johnson became the president. Meanwhile, Confederate forces across the South surrendered as news of Lee's surrender reached them. President Johnson officially declared a virtual end to the insurrection on May 9, 1865; President Jefferson Davis was captured the following day. On June 2, Kirby Smith officially surrendered his troops in the Trans-Mississippi Department. On June 23, Cherokee leader Stand Watie became the last Confederate General to surrender his forces'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1928, Mae West opens her risque, but hit Broadway play 'Diamond Lil'.
  From Wikipedia: 'Diamond Lil is a 1928 play by sultry American actress and playwright Mae West. Prior to Diamond Lil, she had written a number of plays that were closed down due to either poor ticket sales or censorship issues with the establishments of the time, despite the fact that many high-ranking officials attended these plays. Diamond Lil, about a racy woman in the 1890s, was her first major Broadway success, and was the basis for her character Lady Lou in her 1933 film She Done Him Wrong.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1942, During World War II: The Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March: United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the island's east coast.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer from Saisaih Pt. and Mariveles to Camp O'Donnell by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war which began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. About 2,500–10,000 Filipino and 100–650 American prisoners of war died before they could reach their destination. The reported death tolls vary, especially among Filipino POWs, because historians cannot determine how many prisoners blended in with the civilian population and escaped. The march went from Mariveles, Bataan, to San Fernando, Pampanga. From San Fernando, survivors were loaded to a box train and were brought to Camp O'Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.'
  
  'The 60 mi (97 km) march was characterized by occasional severe physical abuse. It was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime.'
  
  'In December 1943, (General) Masaharu Homma was selected as the minister of information for the incoming prime minister, Kuniaki Koiso. In September 1945, he was arrested by Allied troops and indicted for war crimes. Homma was charged with 43 different counts of crimes against humanity. The court found that Homma had permitted his troops to commit "brutal atrocities and other high crimes". The general, who had been absorbed in his efforts to capture Corregidor after the fall of Bataan, claimed in his defense that he remained ignorant of the high death toll of the death march until two months after the event. On February 26, 1946, he was sentenced to death by firing squad. He was executed on April 3, 1946, outside Manila.
  
  Also in Japan, Generals Hideki Tojo (later Prime Minister), Kenji Doihara, Seishiro Itagaki, Heitaro Kimura, Iwane Matsui, and Akira Muto, along with Baron Koki Hirota, were found guilty and responsible for the brutal maltreatment of American and Filipino POWs, and were executed by hanging at Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro on December 23, 1948. Several others were sentenced to imprisonment between 7 and 22 years.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube (movie trailer): More
• In 1953, Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film, entitled 'House of Wax'.
  From Wikipedia: 'House of Wax is a 1953 American 3-D horror film about a disfigured sculptor who repopulates his destroyed wax museum by murdering people and using their wax-coated corpses as displays. It stars Vincent Price and was directed by André de Toth. It is a remake of Warner Bros.' Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), without the comic relief featured in the earlier film. In 2005, Warner Bros. distributed a new film also called House of Wax, but its plot is very different from the one used in the two earlier films.'
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1959, NASA announces the selection of the United States first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the 'Mercury Seven'.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Mercury Seven were the group of seven Mercury astronauts announced by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven or Astronaut Group 1. They piloted the manned spaceflights of the Mercury program from May 1961 to May 1963. These seven original American astronauts were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1962, At the 34th Academy Awards:
  From Wikipedia: More
  Best Picture is, West Side Story
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  -- On YouTube: More
  Best Actor is Maximilian Schell for 'Judgment at Nuremberg'
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  -- On YouTube: More
  Best Actress is Sophia Loren for 'Two Women'
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  -- On YouTube: More
  Best Supporting Actor is George Chakiris for 'West Side Story'
  Best Supporting Actress is Rita Moreno for 'West Side Story'
  Best Song is Moon River from 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- On YouTube: More
• In 1965, Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome, and officially named the NRG Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, USA. It served as the second home to the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) from its opening in 1965 until 1999, and the home to the Houston Oilers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 until 1996, and also the part-time home of the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1971 until 1975. Additionally, the Astrodome was the primary venue of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1966 until 2002. When opened, it was named the Harris County Domed Stadium and was nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World.'
  
  'On Opening Day, April 9, 1965, a sold-out crowd of 47,879 watched an exhibition game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird were in attendance, as well as Texas Governor John Connally and Houston Mayor Louie Welch. Governor Connally tossed out the first ball for the first game ever played indoors. Dick "Turk" Farrell of the Astros threw the first pitch. Mickey Mantle had both the first hit (a single) and the first home run in the Astrodome. The Astros beat the Yankees that night, 2-1'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1979, At the 51st Academy Awards:
  From Wikipedia: More
  Best Picture is, The Deer Hunter
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  -- On YouTube: More
  Best Actor is Jon Voight for 'Coming Home'
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  -- On YouTube: More
  Best Actress is Jane Fonda for 'Coming Home'
  Best Supporting Actor is Christopher Walken for 'The Deer Hunter'
  Best Supporting Actress is Maggie Smith for 'California Suite'
  Best Song is Last Dance from 'Thank God It's Friday'
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- On YouTube: More
• In 1984, At the 56th Academy Awards:
  From Wikipedia: More
  Best Picture is, Terms of Endearment
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  -- On YouTube: More
  Best Actor is Robert Duvall for 'Tender Mercies'
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- At Internet Movie Database IMDb: More
  -- On YouTube: More
  Best Actress is Shirley MacLaine for 'Terms of Endearment'
  Best Supporting Actor is Jack Nicholson for 'Terms of Endearment'
  Best Supporting Actress is Linda Hunt for 'The Year of Living Dangerously'
  Best Song is Flashdance... What a Feeling from 'Flashdance'
  -- At Wikipedia: More
  -- On YouTube: More
• In 2012, The Lion King becomes the highest grossing Broadway show after overtaking The Phantom of the Opera.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Lion King is a musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M. Directed by Julie Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well as giant, hollow puppets. The show is produced by Disney Theatrical Productions.
  
  The musical debuted July 8, 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Orpheum Theatre, and was an instant success before premiering on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater on October 15, 1997, in previews with the official opening on November 13, 1997. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins, where it is still running after more than 6,700 performances. It is Broadway's third longest-running show in history and the highest grossing Broadway production of all time, having grossed more than $1 billion'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (Feel the Joy): More
  - On YouTube (soundtrack): More

Tomorrow's food holiday is 'National Chinese Almond Cookie Day'
[The Hankster says] A few, with some soft serve ice cream, after the Chinese buffet is over and before the Fortune Cookie comes. The Almond Cookie is better, since it doesn't have a fortune, which always says ''Pay the bill and leave a tip.

Tomorrow is 'National Cherish an Antique Day'.
[The Hankster says] Yes, I will be watching the comments for any reference to moi, as such. Well maybe the cherished part is OK.

Not satisfied with who you are? Tomorrow is 'National Name Yourself Day'
[The Hankster says] Go incognito tomorrow with an alias. Be quick, or someone may choose one for you.

Tomorrow will be 'National Winston Churchill DAY'. The day Winston Churchill was made an honorary citizen of the United States.

'National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day'. A 2010 Presidential Proclamation.
- From the proclamation: 'Our Nation's former prisoners of war faced tremendous challenges and dangers to protect us all. Many gave their last full measure of devotion to defend our freedom, and we are forever in their debt. Each year, on National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, the American people pay tribute to these heroes.'

Awareness day tomorrow. 'National Alcohol Screening Day'. Thursday of First Full Week in April. From the website: 'Raising public awareness of behavioral and mental health issues and working to reduce stigma.'.

Paramahansa Yogananda once said 'The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.'
[The Hankster says] Not sure if is the best time, but it certainly is the most obvious time and one that at least has a chance of success, sort of the, 'you can't go anywhere but up' idea. Let us see who, on April 9 in the past, took what failure taught and turned it into success.

In 1838, The National Gallery of London, largest public collection of important paintings, opens.

In 1860, On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
- The machine ' It transcribed sound waves as undulations or other deviations in a line traced on smoke-blackened paper or glass. Intended solely as a laboratory instrument for the study of acoustics, it could be used to visually study and measure the amplitude envelopes and waveforms of speech and other sounds, or to determine the frequency of a given musical pitch by comparison with a simultaneously recorded reference frequency.'
- 'Several phonautograms recorded before 1861 were successfully played as sound in 2008 by optically scanning them and using a computer to process the scans into digital audio files.' 'One phonautogram, created on April 9, 1860, was revealed to be a 20-second recording of the French folk song 'Au clair de la lune'.
[The Hankster says] I think this is so cool. One hundred and forty eight year old scratches on paper are made to speak.

In 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.

In 1928, Mae West opens her risque but hit Broadway play 'Diamond Lil'.

In 1953, Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film, entitled 'House of Wax'.

In 1959, NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the 'Mercury Seven'.

In 1962, At the 34th Academy Awards,
- Best Motion Picture is 'West Side Story'.
- Best Actor is Maximilian Schell for 'Judgment at Nuremberg'.
- Best Actress is Sophia Loren for 'Two Women'.
- Best Supporting Actor is George Chakiris for 'West Side Story'.
- Best Supporting Actress is Rita Moreno for 'West Side Story'.
- Best Original Song is 'Moon River' from 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'.

In 1965, The Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.

In 1979, At the 51st Academy Awards,
- Best Picture is 'The Deer Hunter'.
- Best Actor is Jon Voight for 'Coming Home'.
- Best Actress is Jane Fonda for 'Coming Home'.
- Best Supporting Actor is Christopher Walken for 'The Deer Hunter'.
- Best Supporting Actress is Maggie Smith for 'California Suite'.
- Best Original Song is 'Last Dance' from 'Thank God It's Friday'.

In 1984, At the 56th Academy Awards,
- Best Picture is 'Terms of Endearment'.
- Best Actor is Robert Duvall for 'Tender Mercies'.
- Best Actress is Shirley MacLaine for 'Terms of Endearment'.
- Best Supporting Actor is Jack Nicholson for 'Terms of Endearment'.
- Best Supporting Actress is Linda Hunt – The Year of Living Dangerously'.
- Best Original Song is 'Flashdance... What a Feeling' from 'Flashdance'.

In 2012, The Lion King becomes highest grossing Broadway show after overtaking The Phantom of the Opera.

No. 1 song

• Can't You Hear My Heartbeat - Herman's Hermits: More
  'Stop! In the Name of Love' has been displaced by 'Can't You Hear My Heartbeat', which will hold the no. 1 spot until Apr 10 1965, when 'I'm Telling You Now', takes over.

Top movie

• The Sound of Music More
  Having displaced 'The Greatest Story Ever Told', it will be there until the weekend box office of April 11 1965 when, 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VadngOGKlP0', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: April 9 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: April 9 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 9th April More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 9th April More
• On-This-day.com history 9th April More
• On-This-day.com music history 9th April More
• Wikipedia.com: History April 9 More

Food Holiday:
Brussels Sprouts and Cabbage Month
Cranberries and Gooseberries Month
Fresh Florida Tomato Month
National BLT Sandwich Month
National Florida Tomato Month
National Food Month
National Garlic Month
National Grilled Cheese Month
National Pecan Month
National Soft Pretzel Month
National Soy Foods Month

Other:
Alcohol Awareness Month
Arab American Heritage Month
Celebrate Diversity Month
Community Spirit Days
Counseling Awareness Month
Defeat Diabetes Month
Emotional Overeating Awareness Month
Fair Housing Month
Genocide and Human Rights Awareness Month
Global Child Nutrition Month
Informed Woman Month
International Amateur Radio Month
International Customer Loyalty Month
International Guitar Month
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Awareness Month
Jazz Appreciation Month
Keep America Beautiful Month
Library Snapshot Month
Listening Awareness Month
Mathematics Education Month
Month of the Military Child
Month of the Young Child
Multicultural Communication Month
National African American Women's Fitness Month
National Anxiety Month
National Autism Awareness Month
National Cancer Control Month
National Card and Letter Writing Month
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
National Decorating Month
National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
National Donate Life Month
National Facial Protection Month
National Frog Month
National Garden Month
National Greyhound Adoption Month
National Heartworm Awareness Month
National Humor Month
National Knuckles Down Month
National Landscape Architecture Month
National Minority Health Month
National Multiple Birth Awareness Month
National Occupational Therapy Month
National Parkinson's Awareness Month
National Pest Management Month
National Pet First Aid Awareness Month
National Poetry Month
National Rebuilding Month
National Safe Digging Month
National Sarcoidosis Awareness Month
National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month
National Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD)'s Education and Awareness Month
National Sjogren's Syndrome Awareness Month
National Welding Month
National Youth Sports Safety Month
Occupational Therapy Month
Parliamentary Law Month
Pharmacists War on Diabetes Month
Physical Wellness Month
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month
Prevention of Lyme Disease in Dogs Month
Rosacea Awareness Month
School Library Media Month
Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month
Sexual Assault Awareness Month of Action
Sports Eye Safety Awareness Month
Stress Awareness Month
Testicular Cancer Awareness Month
Tomatillo and Asian Pear Month
Women's Eye Health and Safety Month
Workplace Conflict Awareness Month
World Habitat Awareness Month
Worldwide Bereaved Spouses Awareness Month

April is:

April origin (from Wikipedia):
'The Romans gave this month the Latin name Aprilis but the derivation of this name is uncertain. The traditional etymology is from the verb aperire, 'to open', in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to 'open', which is supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of (anoixis) (opening) for spring. Since some of the Roman months were named in honor of divinities, and as April was sacred to the goddess Venus, her Veneralia being held on the first day, it has been suggested that April was the second month of the earliest Roman calendar, before Ianuarius and Februarius were added by King Numa Pompilius about 700 BC. It became the fourth month of the calendar year (the year when twelve months are displayed in order) during the time of the decemvirs about 450 BC, when it also was given 29 days. The 30th day was added during the reform of the calendar undertaken by Julius Caesar in the mid-40s BC, which produced the Julian calendar.'

April 'is commonly associated with the season of spring in parts of the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the seasonal equivalent to October in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.'

April at Wikipedia: More

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

Best selling books of 1965 More

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
• NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
• Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
• NASA TV: (video feed) More
  NASA TV schedule: More
• Public Domain eBook Links

  Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

• Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
  Home page: More
  RSS: More

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2015 Postal Holidays More
• 2015 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

• List of holidays by country More
• Holidays and Observances around the World More