GMT

Today in History: March 18

0037 The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Caligula emperor.

1863 Confederate women riot in Salisbury, N.C. to protest the lack of flour and salt in the South.

1865 The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time.

1874 Hawaii signs a treaty giving exclusive trading rights with the islands to the United States.

1911 Theodore Roosevelt opens the Roosevelt Dam in Phoenix, Ariz., the largest dam in the United States to date.

1916 On the Eastern Front, the Russians counter the Verdun assault with an attack at Lake Naroch. The Russians lose 100,000 men and the Germans lose 20,000.

1939 Georgia finally ratifies the Bill of Rights, 150 years after the birth of the federal government. Connecticut and Massachusetts, the only other states to hold out, also ratify the Bill of Rights in this year.

1942 The third military draft begins in the United States.

1953 The Braves baseball team announces that they are moving from Boston to Milwaukee.

1986 Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson.


Born on March 18

1858 Rudolf Diesel, German engineer who designed the compression-ignition engine.

1869 Neville Chamberlin, British Prime Minister (1937-40).

1932 John Updike, American poet and novelist.

JOTD
A teacher asked his students a math question.

"You have one dollar. Your parents give you five dollars. How much money do you have?"
After some thinking, about half the class raised their hands. The teacher called on a little girl in the front.
"One dollar!" she said.
The teacher, conflicted on why the girl can't add, explained to her and the whole class how adding 1+5 works. At the end of class, the students were dismissed. A staff member oversaw the whole thing, and approached the teacher.
"What the hell were you thinking asking that type of question?" the staff member asked.
"What? I just asked them how much money 1+5 is- They couldn't even answer it!"
"You said their parents gave them five dollars."
"Yeah, so?"
"You work at an orphanage, you moron!"