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Today in History: April 4

0527 In Constantinople, Justin, seriously ill, crowns his nephew Justinian as his co-emperor.

1581 Francis Drake completes circumnavigation of the world.

1812 The territory of Orleans becomes the 18th state and will become known as Louisiana.

1818 The United States flag is declared to have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars.

1841 President William Henry Harrison, aged 68, becomes the first president to die in office, just a month after being sworn in.

1917 The U.S. Senate votes 90-6 to enter World War I on Allied side.

1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee

1973 World Trade Center, then the world's tallest building, opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.

1974 Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth's home-run record.

1975 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800

1979 Ex-President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

1989 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last NBA game in Seattle

2017 Pink Star diamond sets world record price of $71 million for a gem at an action in Hong Kong

2022 Eon Musk buys 9.2% of Twitter stock, making him the company's largest shareholder

2023 Finland officially joins NATO at a ceremony in Brussels, becoming its 31st member and doubling NATO's border with Russia

2024 President Joe Biden warns Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that the US could shift its policy if Israel does not immediately address humanitarian concerns in Gaza and work towards a ceasefire

Born on April 4

1780 Edward Hicks, Quaker preacher and painter (The Peaceable Kingdom).

1915 Muddy Waters, American blues musician.

1932 Anthony Perkins, actor (Psycho).

1963 Armymann50, American Soldier


JOTD
A Russian, an American, and a British admiral were having a drink on an American aircraft carrier

They were talking about the bravery of their sailors.
The Russian said, “I will demonstrate the bravery of our sailors.” He calls a sailor over and says, “Jump off the ship. Swim under it and climb back up”. The sailor promptly salutes and jumps off the flight deck, swims under the ship, climbs up the davits and stands in front of the admiral and salutes. The Russian says, “That gentlemen, is courage"
The American says that's nothing. He calls over a PO and says, "I want you to jump off the bows. Swim under the ship to the stern and then return". The PO salutes jumps off the bow, swims to the stern and climbs back up to stand in front of the admiral and salutes. The American says, “That gentlemen, is courage"
The British admiral says, “That's nothing. Sailor, come here!". The matelot comes to attention and salutes. The admiral says, “I want you to climb the highest mast on the carrier, jump off, swim under the boat from bow to stern and then from beam to beam then climb up the mast and do it again" The matelot looks at the admiral and says, “You can frick right off". The admiral turns to the other two and says, “And that gentlemen, is courage"