There were several air force activities on this date in history. The Royal Air Force (RAF) was created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Services in 1918. The Royal Canadian Air Force was formed in 1924. The Royal New Zealand Air Force was formed as an independent service in 1937. And the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado was authorized by Pres Eisenhower in 1954.
There was some mixed results news: General Franco declared the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, but his Fascist rule would continue for decades – and later that same year his country would be declared neutral in WWII and the fight against Hitler’s version of fascism. Canada would repeal Japanese-Canadian citizen internment in 1949, but that exposed that they had been doing the same thing the US had been doing for the past 7 years – discriminating against their own citizens based on race and family origin. And the Netherlands became the first country to make same-sex marriage legal, but that meant that the rest of the world had to play catch up in ending this discrimination.
And in tech news Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, Inc in 1976 and Google launched Gmail in 2004.
English physician William Harvey – who was the first to describe the human circulatory system – was born in 1578. The Romantic pianist, composer, and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff began to wiggle his fingers in 1873. American psychologist Abraham Maslow – who introduced us to the hierarchy of needs – began to examine his own needs in 1908.
The creator of Doctor Who -Canadian screenwriter and producer Sydney Newman- joined this reality in 1917. The creator Pern and its dragons and dragon riders – Anne McCaffery – started to explore this world in 1927. And the liberal icon and commentator Rachel Maddow stepped onto the world stage in 1973.
The music stopped for and from American ragtime pianist Scott Joplin in 1917. American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham ceased to dance in 1991. And Eleanor of Aquitaine ceased to be Queen of England and France in 1204
This is Edible Books Day, no fooling – there really are people who make up books out of food and then eat them.
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