I was wandering the web, studying ridiculous conspiracy theories, keeping track of the stock market, and wasting an otherwise perfectly fine Friday evening, when I decided to research this date in history, May 23rd. And not surprisingly, it’s kind of scatologically interesting:

1701 - Infamous Pirate, Captain William Kidd, is hanged in London for his crimes on the high seas.
1900 - Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African-American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner during the Civil War, some 37 years after the fact.
1929 - The first all-talkie Mickey Mouse cartoon, The Karnival Kid, is released.
1934 - Notorious folk heroes/bank robbers/FBI most wanted/eventual 1960’s movie anti-heroes, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are ambushed and murdered on a desolate road near Bienville Parish, Louisiana by a posse of four Texas and three Louisiana police officers.
1958 - Mao Tse Tung starts his "Great Leap Forward" movement in China.
1960 - Israel’s Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured. Eichmann will be executed two years later on June 1, 1962.
1960 - "Cathy's Clown" by the Everly Brothers topped the pop-charts and will stay there for 5 weeks.
1966 - The Beatles release their eleventh single “Paperback Writer;” it will go to Number One everywhere in the world, even Canada.
1968 - Not that it was a good idea, but the Beatles open their second Apple Boutique at 161 New Kings Road in London.
1971 - And though I don’t believe this because I saw them in about 1977 when I really wasn’t old enough to get into the Whisky -A-Go-Go, the legendary rock group, Iron Butterfly -- creators of the 17:05 opus “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” disbands.

Birthdays:
1890 - Herbert Marshall, star of one of my all time favorite movies from 1934, an Ernst Lubitsch masterpiece, Trouble in Paradise, is born.
1910 - Hepcat/comic extraordinaire Scatman Crothers.
1910 - Clarinetist, bandleader and believe it or not, married 8 times to 8 very lucky women, Artie Shaw.
1928 - Rosemary Clooney, singer, Coronet paper towels spokesman and mother of actor Miguel Ferrer and aunt to George is born.
1933 - Uber- vixen and television diva Joan Collins.
1934 - Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer.
1952 - Boxer "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler.
1955 - Great Irish musician Luka Bloom.

Deaths:
1868 - Kit Carson: scout, trapper, and Indian agent meets his maker, reportedly, his last words were "Wish I had time for just one more bowl of chili."
1906 - The father of modern drama, Norwegian Henrik Ibsen dies.
1937 - The original Rockerfeller, John D., dies stubbornly at 98 years of age.
1975 - "The Funniest Woman in the World in 1962,” Moms Mabley dies-- she was old, really, really old and still damn funny.
1981 - George Jessel, actor, singer and inspiration for the Futurama character Dr. Zoidberg, kicks the bucket.