Daily Calendar for Friday, May 12, 2023
Question of the Day
How can I kill poison ivy and poison oak? I have not had much success digging it up.
The only successful method of eradication is the use of chemicals. Even those who are environmentally conscious usually resort to them. Pulling the plants doesn’t stop the broken-off rootlets from forming again the next year, and some of the worst cases of poison ivy and oak dermatitis come from “grubbing out” the plants and roots. It is also unsafe to burn poison ivy and oak. The tiny urushiol (the oil that causes blistering in humans) molecules are carried in smoke and can be deposited on clothing and skin, in eyes and ears, and even on food. They also can be inhaled, causing a reaction in the lungs. So stick with the chemicals. You can find several commercial products at farm and garden stores.
Advice of the Day
Keep a few bay leaves in grain and flour canisters to repel bugs.
Home Hint of the Day
Blackflies bite most fiercely under cover — up sleeves and trouser legs. To discourage them, wear rubber bands over clothing at these openings.
Word of the Day
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane’s intensity. It is used to estimate a hurricane’s potential impact on coastal areas, including property damage and flooding. Wind speed, measured using a 1-minute average, is the determining factor in the scale.
Category 1: wind speeds 74-95 mph
Category 2: wind speeds 96-110 mph
Category 3: wind speeds 111-130 mph
Category 4: wind speeds 131-155 mph
Category 5: wind speeds over 155 mph
Category 1: wind speeds 74-95 mph
Category 2: wind speeds 96-110 mph
Category 3: wind speeds 111-130 mph
Category 4: wind speeds 131-155 mph
Category 5: wind speeds over 155 mph
Puzzle of the Day
Why did the spider buy a car?
Because he wanted to take it out for a spin!
Born
- Florence Nightingale (nurse) –
- Katharine Hepburn (actress) –
- Yogi Berra (baseball player) –
- George Carlin (comedian; first to host Saturday Night Live) –
- Emilio Estevez (actor) –
- Tony Hawk (skateboarder) –
- Kim Fields (actress) –
- Emily VanCamp (actress) –
- Malcolm David Kelley (actor) –
- Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten (actors who played Geoffrey and Michael Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond) –
Died
- John Cadbury (chocolate manufacturer) –
- Winnie (the bear Christopher Robin Milne named his toy bear after) –
- Robert Reed (actor) –
- Adam Petty (race car driver) –
- Perry Como (singer) –
- Emanuel Gluck (Yankee Stadium’s longest-working vendor; wore badge No. 1) –
Events
- The oldest university in Poland, Jagiellonian University, was founded–
- Manitoba Act passed, approving Manitoba to become a Canadian province–
- Charles Sherrill first demonstrated a crouching start for sprinters–
- Adler Planetarium, first in U.S., opened–
- Manitoba’s flag officially adopted–
- Montreal was chosen as the site for the 1976 Summer Olympics–
- U.S. Commerce Department announced hurricanes would no longer be named solely after women–
- Susie Maroney swam from Cuba to Florida in 24.5 hours–
- The discovery of what is likely the Library of Alexandria was announced–
- American sprinter Justin Gatlin, Olympic champion, broke the 100-meter world record with a time of 9.76 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar. Previous record was 9.77 seconds by Jamaica’s Asafa Powell on June 14, 2005, in Athens, Greece.–
- 7.8-magnitude earthquake, Sichuan province, China–
- A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal less than 3 weeks after a 7.8-magnitude quake–
Weather
- Massive tornado struck Xenia, Ohio–
- The Colorado Rockies were struck by a late-season storm that dropped 46 inches of snow on Coal Creek Canyon, near Boulder–
- Ice out, Lake Winnipesaukee, NH–