Facts of the Day

Pirate
"A pirate or buccaneer was a person who seized a ship and took the property aboard. They stole from any ship that came by and disrupted the trade of many nations. There are many tales - tall and true - about pirates. The stories go back 4,000 years, but we are most familiar with those who were active between 1500-1800 - Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Jean Lafitte. Pirates used small, fast ships that were easy to maneuver. They had lots of weapons and cannons. There are still pirates today - especially in the South China Sea close to Vietnam. Pirates are often confused with privateers who have the blessing of their nation to seize enemy property. Famous ones were Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Walter Raleigh. True pirates only stole for themselves. Pirates often buried their stolen treasure in secret places and some drew up treasure maps and charts marking the spot with an X."

Happy Birthday
Mildred J. Hill, a schoolteacher born in Louisville, Kentucky, composed the melody "Happy Birthday to You." Her younger sister, Patty Smith Hill, wrote the lyrics. The song was first published in 1893 as "Good Morning to All," a classroom greeting, in the book Song Stories for Sunday School. Mildred Hill died in 1916 without knowing that her melody would become the world's most popular song, but her sister Patty did not die until 1946. The lyrics were amended in 1924 to include a stanza beginning, "Happy Birthday to You." It is now sung somewhere in the world every minute of every day. Though its writers earned very little from the song, its copyright owner earns about $1 million a year. The song is expected to enter the public domain upon expiration of the copyright in 2010.

Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and Associated Powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, France. It took effect on January 10, 1920. The population and territory of Germany was reduced by about 10 percent by the treaty. The "war guilt clause" of the treaty deemed Germany the aggressor in the war and consequently made Germany responsible for making reparations to the Allied nations in payment for the losses and damage they had sustained in the war. The Treaty of Versailles was revised and altered over the years, mostly in Germany's favor. Numerous concessions were made to Germany before the rise of Adolf Hitler, and by 1938 only the territorial settlement articles remained in effect. The harsh treaty and its lax enforcement are blamed by many historians for Hitler's rise and his militarism setting the stage for World War II.

Leap Second
June 30 is one of the two times (the other being December 31) when the addition or subtraction of a second from our clock time is allowed to coordinate atomic and astronomical time. The determination to adjust is made by the International Earth Rotation Service of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Paris. A leap second is an intercalary, one-second adjustment that keeps broadcast standards for time of day close to mean solar time. Leap seconds are necessary to keep time standards synchronized with civil calendars, the basis of which is astronomical. The announcement to insert a leap second is given whenever the difference between UTC and UT1 approaches one-half second, to keep the difference between UTC and UT1 from exceeding ±0.9 s. After UTC 23:59:59, a positive leap second at 23:59:60 would be counted, before the clock indicates 00:00:00 of the next day. Negative leap seconds are also possible should the Earth's rotation become slightly faster; in that case, 23:59:58 would be followed by 00:00:00.

Postage stamp
The first postage stamps were issued for sale by the United States Postal Service in 1847. The 5-cent stamp depicted Benjamin Franklin and the 10-cent stamp depicted George Washington. Prior to this date, stamps were issued by private postal services.