May 15,1252: Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, authorizing the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. Innocent, my ass.

May 16, 1918: The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the US Congress, making criticism of the government a jailable offense. Remember, kids, exercise your first amendment right outside of designated "protest areas" at your own risk…

May 17, 2007: Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed to by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.

May 18, 1953: Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.

May 19, 1991: Croatians vote for independence at their independence referendum.

May 20, 1996: The US Supreme Court rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town, or county in Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians. 2002: The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal (the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976), formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration.

May 21, 1934: Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the US to fingerprint each of its citizens.

May 22, 2002: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

May 23, 1900: For his conduct during the American Civil War, Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African-American to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

May 24, 1990: A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both.

May 25, 2001: 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

May 26, 1908: At Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.

May 27, 1895: Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for sodomy.

May 28, 1952: The women of Greece gain suffrage.

May 29, 1886: Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which he invented. The ubiquitous beverage, presently found in 160 countries, was originally advertised as a cure for morphine and opium addictions.