On This Day:
Sunday April 12, 2015 This is the 102nd day of the year, with 263 days remaining in 2015. Fact of the Day: firefly The firefly, also called lightning bug, is any of the nocturnal luminous insects of the beetle family Lampyridae (order Coleoptera), consisting of about 1,900 species that inhabit tropical and temperate regions. The common glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca) is a member of this family. The name "firefly" comes from the fact that they light up like "fire". Firefly light is produced under nervous control within special cells (photocytes) richly supplied with air tubes (tracheae). Only light in the visible spectrum is emitted.
Holidays Feast day of St. Zeno of Verona, St. Julius I, pope, St. Sabas the Goth and Others, and St.Alferius.
Events 1606 - Great Britain adopted the Union Jack as its flag.
1861 - The American Civil War began as Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
1877 - The catcher's mask was first used in a baseball game.
1934 - The highest velocity natural wind ever recorded occurred at Mount Washington, New Hampshire -- 231 mph.
1955 - The polio vaccine of Dr. Jonas Salk was termed "safe, effective and potent."
1961 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, aboard Vostok 1, became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once and landing safely.
1966 - Emmett Ashford became the first African-American major league umpire.
1981 - The space shuttle Columbia was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, becoming the first reusable manned spacecraft to travel into space.
1992 - Euro Disneyland opened in Marne-La-Vallee, France.
Births 1777 - Henry Clay, U.S. congressman and senator (1806-52).
1903 - Sally Rand (Helen Beck), American dancer, actress.
1919 - Ann Miller (Lucy Ann Collier), American actress, dancer.
1947 - David Letterman, American TV host, comedian.
Deaths 1945 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States of America.
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