GMT Hump Day

Today in History: March 27

1350 While besieging Gibraltar, Alfonso XI of Castile dies of the black death.

1512 Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sights Florida.

1814 U.S. troops under Gen. Andrew Jackson inflict a crushing defeat on the Creek Indians at Horshoe Bend in Northern Alabama.

1836 The Mexican army massacres Texan rebels at Goliad.

1866 President Andrew Johnson vetoes the civil rights bill, which later becomes the 14th amendment.

1884 The first long-distance telephone call is made from Boston to New York.

1912 The first cherry blossom trees, a gift from Japan, are planted in Washington, D.C.

1945 General Dwight Eisenhower declares that the German defenses on the Western Front have been broken.

1952 Elements of the U.S. Eighth Army reach the 38th parallel in Korea, the original dividing line between the two Koreas.

1976 Washington, D.C. opens its subway system.


Born on March 27

1863 Sir Henry Royce, cofounder of the Rolls-Royce automotive company.


JOTD

A boy in Brooklyn is outside of a candy shop shoveling candy in his mouth. A man approaches the boy and says, "Don't eat candy, kid. It's not good for you."

The boy replied, "My grandfather lived until he was 97."

"Really," said the man. "Did he eat a lot of candy, too?"

The boy replied, "No, but he minded his own fricking business."