PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR JUNE 28

On this day in 1820, brave colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson disproved the myth that tomatoes are poisonous by eating a crate of them on the courthouse steps in Salem, New Jersey. Today, the typical American consumes about 80 pounds of tomatoes per year (true fact!) most of it in "sauce" or "salsa" form.

***

On this day in the year 1914, Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, are gunned down by a Serbian nationalist lunatic in the middle of a busy street in Sarajevo, thereby starting a little scrap the old-timers used to call World War One. That war would last five years to the DAY, ending with the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed in Paris on this day in 1919.

***

On this day in 1964, Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

***

On this day in 1969, the Stonewall Riots begin in New York City marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.

***

On this day in 1994, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan. Seven people are killed and 660 injured. The cult still exists, and it is now known as Aleph.

***

On this day in 1975, at the Western Open, golfer Lee Trevino is hit by a bolt of lightning. I don't have a joke to go with this factoid, I just enjoy thinking about golfers getting hit by lightning. PEE-OW! Man, that must sting!