GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS SATURDAY, April 18, the 108th day of 2015 with 257 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 5:59 and sunset is @ 7:28. The NEW Moon is exact @ 2:59 PM EDT. The morning stars are stars are Mercury, Neptune & Saturn. The evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1521 – Martin Luther, the chief catalyst of Protestantism, defied the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V by refusing to recant his writings.
1775 – Paul Revere and William Dawes began the famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington,Massachusetts, warning American colonists that the British were coming.
1846 – The telegraph ticker was patented by R.E. House of New York City.
1906 – A devastating 8.3 earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires, killing an estimated 3,000 people.
1921 – Junior Achievement, created to encourage business skills in young people, was incorporated.
1923 – The first game was played at Yankee Stadium in New York City; the New York Yankeesdefeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1.
1924 – Simon and Schuster, Inc. published the first crossword puzzle book.
1934 – The first launderette (called a “washeteria”) was opened, in Fort Worth, Texas.
1937 – Leon Trotsky called for the overthrow of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
1942 – For the first time during World War II, the mainland of Japan was bombed.
1949 – The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed and it withdrew from the British Commonwealth.
1956 – U.S. actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a civil ceremony.
1978 – The U.S. Senate voted to turn the Panama Canal over to the Panama government on December 31, 1999.
1980 – Southern Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe.
1982 – The Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 provided Canada with new laws and civil rights.
1983 – The U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was almost completely destroyed by a car-bomb explosion that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans.
2003 – Scott Peterson was arrested in La Jolla, California in connection with the death of his wife, Laci, and unborn son, Conner.
2005 – Adobe Systems announced an agreement to acquire Macromedia.