Approximately 25 towns have been linked to the origin of Memorial Day, including Macon, Ga.; Richmond, Va.; and Boalsburg, Pa. In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., as the birthplace of the holiday. Congress established Memorial Day as a national holiday in 1971 and set it for the last Monday in May. The observance was originally called Decoration Day, a name still used by some. http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1243240355284420.xml&coll=2

Memorial Day was a response to the unprecedented carnage of the Civil War, in which some 620,000 soldiers on both sides died. The loss of life and its effect on communities throughout the North and South led to spontaneous commemorations of the dead. Calling Memorial Day a "national holiday" is a bit of a misnomer. While there are 11 "federal holidays" created by Congress--including Memorial Day--they apply only to Federal employees and the District of Columbia. Federal Memorial Day, established in 1888, allowed Civil War veterans, many of whom were drawing a government paycheck, to honor their fallen comrades with out being docked a day's pay. For the rest of us, our holidays were enacted state by state. New York was the first state to designate Memorial Day a legal holiday, in 1873. Most Northern states had followed suit by the 1890s. The South didn't adopt the May 30 Memorial Day until after World War I, by which time its purpose had been broadened to include those who died in all the country's wars.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/05/25/mf.holiday.memorial.day/

Sculptor Richard Serra, writer John McPhee, priest and creator of liberation theology Gustavo Gutierrez, composer Sofia Gubaidulina, scientist Leroy Hood, Nobel Prize winner Thomas Schelling, choreographer Bill T. Jones and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received honorary degrees at Yale University's 308th graduation ceremony on May 25. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/05/26/cheers_and_honors_for_clinton_at_yale/

Some of the artifacts that come to life in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" are very familiar (Oscar the Grouch, the giant squid), while other landmarks and props (Rodin's "The Thinker," which technically resides in Paris and doesn't speak with the voice of Hank Azaria) are entirely Hollywood fantasy. The movie marks the first time a commercial studio has been allowed to film inside the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall or any of the Smithsonian's museums. The PG-rated action comedy stars Ben Stiller, Azaria, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson and Robin Williams and follows a former security guard trying to rescue his museum "friends" after a transfer from New York to Washington. In the deal with 20th Century Fox, the Smithsonian received $550,000 for the use of its name, and $200,000 for the four days of filming. After the movie's release, the Smithsonian will receive flat payments when the movie reaches certain benchmarks at the box office. It will get $250,000 when the box-office take reaches $150 million; $125,000 when it reaches $200 million and $250 million, respectively, the Smithsonian confirmed. The Smithsonian is also earning 7.5% from the movie merchandise sold in its stores. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-smithsonian23-2009may23,0,1385648.story

Espresso: A one-ounce shot of intense, rich black coffee made and served at once. A pump-driven machine forces hot water through fine grounds at around nine atmospheres of pressure. Comes from the Latin word Expresere which means "to press out". See coffee dictionary at: http://www.realcoffee.co.uk/Article.asp?Cat=Trivia&Page=4

The maître d' (short for maître d'hôtel, in the original French, literally "master of the hotel") in a suitably staffed restaurant or hotel is the person in charge of assigning customers to tables in the establishment and dividing the dining area into areas of responsibility for the various servers on duty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%C3%AEtre_d'

Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, or Old St. Patrick's, is located at 260-264 Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston Streets in Manhattan. It was the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the current Saint Patrick's Cathedral opened in 1879. Construction on Old Saint Patrick's began in 1809, the cornerstone being laid on June 8 of that year. It was finished to a design by architect Joseph-Francois Mangin, who had also designed New York's City Hall, in just under six years, being dedicated May 14, 1815. The church measures 120 by 80 feet and the inner vault is 85 feet high. In 1866 the structure was gutted by fire, but though the new St. Patrick's was already under construction, it was restored under the direction of architect Henry Engelbert and reopened in 1868. See pictures and learn of movies filmed there at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Old_Cathedral,_New_York

May 23 is the birthday of essayist and conservationist Paul Gruchow, (books by this author) born in Montevideo, Minnesota (1947), who wrote books of essays about the farm where he grew up and the landscape of Minnesota, including The Necessity of Empty Places (1988) and Grass Roots: the Universe of Home (1995).
May 23 is the birthday of novelist Ursula Hegi, (books by this author) born in Düsseldorf, Germany (1946). She started writing her own stories when she was six, sitting along the Rhine River that ran by her house. And she read everything—classics by Dostoevsky and Thomas Mann, mysteries, religious texts, and the romance novels her housekeeper kept hidden under the ironing board. She immigrated to the United States when she was 18, wrote two novels that were rejected, but finally got one published, and she went on to write her most famous novel, Stones from the River (1994). It got good reviews, sold pretty well, and then in 1997 it was chosen as an Oprah Book Club novel and became a big best seller.
May 23 is the birthday of Mitch Albom, (books by this author) born in Passaic, New Jersey (1958) . He was the lead sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, and soon he became one of the most popular sports columnists in the nation. He wrote a couple of books about sports, both New York Times best sellers. Then he was watching ABC News and he saw one of his old professors, Morrie Schwartz, being interviewed about his experience with ALS, which is also called Lou Gehrig's disease. Mitch Albom had promised to keep in touch with Schwartz, but he hadn't So he contacted his old professor, and for the last 14 weeks of Schwartz's life, Albom visited him every Tuesday, and Morrie would give Mitch advice on how to lead a good and peaceful life. Morrie Schwartz said things like, "The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." And, "Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." So Mitch Albom wrote a book based on these conversations, Tuesdays with Morrie (1997), which became a huge best seller, the best-selling nonfiction book of 1998, and remained on the New York Times best seller list for 205 weeks. It has sold more than 14 million copies.
May 24 is the birthday of Bob Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota (1941). After he heard Little Richard on the radio, he wanted to play rock and roll, so his dad bought him an electric guitar and he formed a rock band at his high school, The Golden Chords. T hen he went to the University of Minnesota, and as soon as he got to Minneapolis and heard a record by the folk singer Odetta, he went and traded in his electric guitar for an acoustic one. He said, "A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."
May 24 is the birthday of novelist Michael Chabon, (books by this author) who was born in Washington, D.C. (1963), and grew up with his mom in Columbia, Maryland, a planned suburban community with utopian ideals. He was in his mid-20s, a graduate student in creative writing at the University of California Irvine, when he submitted his master's thesis, a novel about a young man coming to terms with his sexuality. His professor was so impressed that he sent the manuscript off to an agent as soon as he finished reading it, and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988) was published to rave reviews. The Writer’s Almanac