Today is Friday, May 18, the 139th day of 2012. There are 227 days left in the year.

1804 ― Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed emperor of France

1830 ― Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, the lawn mower; Saturdays are destroyed forever

1860 ― Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president

1899 ― World Goodwill Day; 26 nations meet in first Hague Peace Conference

1934 ― Academy Award first called Oscar in print (Sidney Skolsky)

1951 ― U.N. moves HQ to NYC

1951 ― U.S. General Collins predicts use of atom bomb in Korea

1980 ― People's Republic of China launch first intercontinental rocket

1982 ― Unification Church founder Reverend Moon Sun-myung convicted of tax evasion

1991 ― France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island