1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

1835 – In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.

1862 – Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla. Beating the French makes this a Mexican holiday. Germany celebrates the days it beat the French: Sonntag, Montag, Dienstag, etc.

1865 – In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio), the first train robbery in the United States takes place. I thought this stuff only happened with those cowboys in the Wild West…

1886 – Coca-Cola first goes on sale in Atlanta, Georgia.

1912 – Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing. Its function as an organ of communist propaganda has been recently superceded by the New York Times.

1934 – The first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, is released.

1949 – The Treaty of London establishes the Council of Europe in Strasbourg as the first European institution working for European integration. Oh, sure… When Hitler wanted to do it, it was a BAD idea.

1961 – The Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, making a sub-orbital flight of 15 minutes. This was momentous event, such that I, in the sixth grade, watched previous scrubbed attempts with my classmates on a TV brought into the classroom. This one, though, was a Saturday, so we watched it at home.

1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that many in the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime. However, significant numbers of Americans were also in favor of it, like me. I see it as an alternative to expensive and counter-productive imprisonment. Humiliation and pain are excellent training tools.

2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis. Wait for it here!