Today in History, 7/4

Today is Earth's aphelion, when the Earth is at the farthest point away from Mr. Sun.
Happy Fourth of Juy, kids! Don't blow off your fingers with illegal M-80's!

1054: A supernova occurs that is recorded by the Chinese, Arabs and possibly Mayans. Wikipedia goes for the blander "Amerinds" instead of the Mayans. If we're talking about non-European technologically advanced societies who would be recording events seen in the heavens in 1054, then we mean the Arabs, Chinese and Mayans. If all of the Native Americans (or Amerinds, if you prefer) could see it, then there's a good chance that everyone on Earth with functioning eyeball saw it too. And, given that the explosion was visible for several months, even during the day, it's a good chance that everyone got to take a good long look. In any event, that nova forms what we call the Crab Nebula these days.1634: The city of Trois-Rivieres is founded in New France, or Quebec.
1636: The city of Providence, Rhode Island is founded.
1776: The Declaration of Independence is issued by the Second Continental Congress, declaring itself free of British rule.1790: George Everest is born. He surveyed large chunks of unexplored areas north of India and Mount Everest is named after him.1804: Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlett Letter, is born.1802: The US Military Academy at West Point opens.
1817: At Rome, New York, construction of the Erie Canal begins.1838: The Iowa Territory is organized.
1840: The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle wheel steamer RMS Britannia departs Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is the first trans-Atlantic crossing with a scheduled end.1845: Near Concord, MA, Henry David Thoreau begins a two year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond.1855: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman is published.
1862: Lewis Carroll begins telling Alice Liddell a story that would become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.1863: The Siege of Vicksburg ends after 47 days.
1872: Calvin Coolidge is born in Plymouth, Vermont. He was known for a taciturn nature that hid a sharp mind. At a party, a woman said to him, "I made a bet that I could get you to say three words." His response: "You lose."1881: The Tuskegee Institute opens in Alabama.
1882: Louis B. Mayer, film titan is born. He is one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios and is credited with creating the Hollywood star system. He's who Michael Lerner is parodying in Barton Fink.1883: Rube Goldberg is born. His name is now synonymous with impractical contraptions and I think he'd be amused by that.1898: Western Samoa changes the location of the International Dateline with the side effect of having two Monday, July 4th's. I wonder if they got both days off.
1902: Meyer Lansky, gangster, is born. He headed up Murder, Incorporated for Mafia, was instrumental (along with Lucky Luciano) in creating the modern Las Vegas and worked closely with Batista in making Cuba a gangster's paradise.1918: Ann Landers, advice maven, is born.
1918: Abigail van Buren, another advice maven is born.
1924: Eva Marie Saint is born.1927: Gina Lollobrigida is born. Ka-pow!1927: Neil Simon is born.
1927: The first flight of the Lockheed Vega. Its cargo capacity, ruggedness and fuel efficiency made it the darling of aviators of the day. Amelia Earhart flew the Atlantic in one and Wiley Post circumnavigated the Earth twice in one.1930: George Steinbrenner is born.
1934: Leo Szilard patents the chain reaction design used in the atomic bomb.
1939: Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells the crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself the "luckiest man on the face of the Earth" as he announces his retirement from baseball. I don't care how you feel about the Yankees, you can't watch this clip without getting emotional.

1943: Geraldo Rivera is born.1946: After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule, the Phillipines is granted independence by the United States.
1947: The Indian Independence Bill, suggesting the partitioning of British India into two soveriegn countries, India and Pakistan, is presented to the House of Commons.
1950: The first broadcast of Radio Free Europe.
1959: With the admission of Alaska as the 49th state, the 49-star US flag is introduced.
1960: With the admission of Hawaii as the 50th state, the 50-star US flag is introduced.
1966: President Lyndon Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into law.
1968: Two teens are killed at Lake Herman Road in California. They are the first known victims of the Zodiac Killer.
1971: Koko, the sign language-using gorilla is born.
Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.