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July 4, 2011 • The World’s Greatest Lizard Race is run today in Lovington, New Mexico. • Today is Koko Day, marking the 40th birthday of Koko the Gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo. Koko speaks sign language, knows some 1,000 signs. Her full name is Hanabi-Ko, Japanese for "Fireworks Child." • Today is Independence from Meat Day, sponsored by the Vegetarian Awareness Network in Knoxville, Tennessee. On this date in..... 1776: King George III of England noted in his diary, "Nothing of importance happened today." 1884: The first American bull fight was held in Dodge City, Kansas. The bull lost. 1929: In Emeryville, California, minor leaguer Roy "Dizzy" Carlyle hit history’s longest home run: 618 feet. 1929: Baseball's Lou Gehrig, "the Iron Horse," said goodbye to his fans at New York's Yankee Stadium. 1969: After 14 tries, 30-year-old Ann Jones or Britain became Wimbledon women's singles champ when she beat Billie Jean King. 1970: Casey Kasem first hosted radio’s "American Top 40." It was first broadcast on seven a.m. stations. 1972: Singer Willie Nelson inaugurated his first "4th of July Picnic" in Dripping Springs, Texas. 1982: Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne married Sharon, his manager. 1987: Martina Navratilova won her sixth consecutive singles title at Wimbledon. 1993: Participants numbered 2,000 at the annual Nude Chili Cookoff at the Treehouse Fun Ranch in Devore, California. 1994: Michael Jackson and new bride Lisa Marie Presley arrived in Paris for a two-day visit. 1996: An Oslo newspaper reported that the Arctic Circle had moved and was 913 yards north of where everyone thought it was. The Circle is the northern-most point that the sun can be seen on the shortest day of the year. It moves a few yards each year because of the Earth’s rotation. In 15-thousand years or so it’ll move back. 1996: HotMail, a free internet email service, began. 1997: The 400-millionth person visited Disneyland. 2003: Singer Barry White died in Los Angeles at age 58. 2003: After a single case of mad cow disease, Canadian beef prices in grocery stores fell to as low as 75 cents a pound. 2003: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. The charge was later dropped because his accuser did not want to go ahead with a trial. Birthdays:
Q: In the late 1980s, after
promising a high school junior class he would pay for their college
education, did Geraldo Rivera’s promise cost him: (a) $18,000; (b) $180,000;
or (c) $1.8-million? Q: Is the "World’s Greatest
Lizard Race" held today in: (a) Lovington, New Mexico; (b) Lovelock, Nevada,
or (c) Loveland, Colorado? Q: Before going to bed at night,
do more Americans: (a) set an alarm; (b) read; or (c) brush their teeth? 12 years ago today:
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