Today is the 140th day of 2015 and the 62nd day of spring.
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TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which provided Western settlers free land for farms.
In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received the U.S. patent for blue jeans.
In 1902, Cuba declared independence from the United States.
In 1969, the Battle of Hamburger Hill ended in South Vietnam.
In 2006, Nouri al-Maliki took office as prime minister of Iraq.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), author; John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), philosopher; William Fargo (1818-1881), Wells Fargo co-founder; Jimmy Stewart (1908-1997), actor; Joe Cocker (1944- ), singer-songwriter; Cher (1946- ), singer-songwriter/actress; Ted Allen (1965- ), TV personality; Timothy Olyphant (1968- ), actor; Tony Stewart (1971- ), race car driver; Busta Rhymes (1972- ), rapper; Matt Czuchry (1977- ), actor.
TODAY'S FACT: In 1916, the Saturday Evening Post published its first issue featuring a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage") on the cover.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer by a nose in the 114th Preakness Stakes, the horse race's closest margin.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing." -- John Stuart Mill
TODAY'S NUMBER: 270 million -- acres of U.S. land given away through the Homestead Act.
TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (May 17) and first quarter moon (May 25).