Today is...

[MUSEical]

Today is Flag Day!



Flag Day is being observed today! It has always been observed annually on June 14th.

Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which took place on June 14, 1777. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson made a proclamation establishing June 14th as Flag Day. In August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an act of Congress, which was signed by Harry Truman. However, Flag Day is not an official federal holiday. Before the government recognized Flag Day, citizens had been celebrating it and working to bring it to prominence for many years. Bernard J. Cigrand, a schoolteacher from Waubeka, Wisconsin, held the first formal observance of “Flag Day”, or “Flag Birthday”, at Stony Hill School in 1885. Cigrand continued to advocate for Flag Day and became the president of the American Flag Day Association and the National Flag Day Society. Cigrand is usually described as the “Father of Flag Day”. On June 14, 1894, over 300,000 public school students celebrated Flag Day in parks across Chicago. In the 1890's, observances took place in other cities such as New York City and Philadelphia. Currently, the week of June 14th is known as “National Flag Week”, and the president makes a proclamation urging people to fly flags for its duration. Flags are flown on government buildings as well.




And




World Blood Donor Day



The history of blood donation goes back further than you might expect, reaching as far back as the 17th century. The medical specialists of the time knew that blood was a vital element in the body and losing too much of it was bound to have tragic consequences on the patient. So it was that experimentation began, and a whole new breed of heroes was born that contribute their blood so that others may live. Blood Donors save lives every day by giving of themselves so that accident victims and those in need of transfusions for surgeries can live.

History of World Blood Donor Day

The first transfusions were done using poorly understood science and resulted in some rather tragic results for the patients. Richard lower was the first one to examine animals and blood circulation and finding ways to stop blood clotting. While he was of course only working with animals, he managed to drain the blood off of a medium sized dog and then transfuse the blood of a large mastiff into the smaller animal. Both dogs recovered with no appreciable ill effects.

So it was that he gained great notoriety for his efforts, and was asked to speak on and teach this technique to the Royal Society. There were some odd beliefs about blood back then, and the first human transfusion involved putting the blood of a sheep into a patient who was suffering from a mild form of insanity. It was thought that perhaps the blood of so gentle a creature as a lamb might help to calm his insanity. The act of transferring animal blood into patients was strongly questioned by the tightly superstitious and morally rigid authorities of the time, and the practice was outlawed. Vanishing for 150 years.

It was an obstetrician that brought blood transfusions back into modern medical technology, starting in 1818. After he saved the life of a woman who had hemorrhaged terribly after giving birth, he started publishing works on how it was done and the study thereof. Throughout his life, he performed 10 transfusions, 5 of which saved the lives of the recipients.
World Blood Donor Day celebrates the hard work and daring of these early medical professionals and recognizes the efforts they put into developing a technology that saves so many lives today.

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June 14 Birthdays



Donald Trump - 71




Boy George - 56




Pat Summitt - (1952 - 2016) (64)




Harriet Beecher Stowe - (1811 - 1896) (85)





Marla Gibbs - 86








June 14th

1995: Police in Columbus, OH received 20 complaints of noise that a Ted Nugent concert was too loud. Nugent didn’t turn down the volume because he was within the legal noise limits.

1995: Rory Gallagher died of complications after a liver transplant in London. He was 47 years old.

1982: The Pretenders fired founding bassist Pete Farndon, due to the bassist’s battle with heroin addiction.

1980: Peter Gabriel reached number one on the U.K. Album Chart for the first time with his third self-titled album which spent two weeks on top.

1980: Billy Joel reached number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart for the second time with Glass Houses which spent six weeks on top of the chart.

1974: David Bowie kicked off his tour in support of Diamond Dogs at the Forum in Montreal.

1970: Derek and the Dominos performed their first gig at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

1970: Grand Funk Railroad unveiled their $100,000 Closer to Home block long billboard on New York City’s Times Square.

1965: Paul McCartney went into the studio for the first of two days to record “Yesterday” which would become the most recorded song in history with over 3,000 recorded covers of the song to date.



Birthdays:

Rod Argent - Keyboardist for The Zombie & Argent born in 1945

Alan White - Drummer for Yes born in 1949

Chris DeGarmo - Guitarist for Queensryche born in 1963