Daily Calendar for Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Question of the Day
When my daughter and I wish on the “first star I see tonight,” are we really wishing on a planet? How can we tell one from the other?
Most likely that first bright star is a planet, but binoculars can probably help you tell for sure. Even a cheap pair will usually add enough magnification so that you can make out a planet. You can also try looking for the bright star night after night and notice if it seems to move across the sky against the backdrop of the other stars. If so, it’s a planet, living up to its Greek name, which means “wanderer.”
Advice of the Day
Fickle drops sprinkle crops.
Home Hint of the Day
When you lime and fertilize your lawn, apply half the dosage in one direction and the other half in the opposite direction. This greatly reduces the likelihood of missing any strips or corners.
Word of the Day
Hail
Hail falls mainly in the summer. It forms in thunderstorm clouds, which can extend high into the atmoshpere where extremely cold temperatures prevail. When a cloud releases rain, the rain can be forced upward, where it freezes into tiny ice pellets. If updrafts keep buffeting the pellets, layer upon layer of frozen water will be added to the pellets until, finally, hailstones are released.
Puzzle of the Day
How do you mend a broken jack-o’-lantern?
With a pumpkin patch.
Died
- Sandro Botticelli (artist; works include the painting Birth of Venus”“) –
- John Jay (first Chief Justice of the U.S.) –
- John Deere (American manufacturer) –
- Lawrence Welk (musician) –
- Joe Black (baseball player) –
- Tony Randall (actor; well known for his role as Felix Unger on the sitcom The Odd Couple) –
- Frank Gorshin (actor best known for role as the Riddler on the Batman television series) –
- Donna Summer (singer; Queen of Disco”“) –
Born
- Edward Jenner (physician) –
- Maureen O'Sullivan (actress) –
- Dennis Hopper (actor) –
- Bill Paxton (actor) –
- Sugar Ray Leonard (boxer) –
- Bob Saget (actor & comedian) –
- Enya (New Age singer) –
- Craig Ferguson (actor & television host) –
- Tony Parker (basketball player) –
Events
- Joliet-Marquette Mississippi River expedition began–
- The New York Stock Exchange established at Merchants Coffee House, New York City–
- Fire began that destroyed part of St. Louis, Missouri–
- First Kentucky Derby held–
- District of Alaska created–
- Clifton Fadiman hosted the NBC Blue network quiz show Information Please–
- First coin-operated mailbox, the Mailomat, installed–
- First U.S. cross-country helicopter flight ended–
- U.S. Supreme Court issued Brown v. Board of Education decision, ruling that segregated schools are unconstitutional–
- Senate Watergate Committee began public hearings–
- Massachusetts became the first state to process marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples–
- A team of rocketeers led by a Bloomington, MN, man claimed success in their goal of launching the first amateur rocket into space, sending a 21-foot rocket named GoFast an estimated 70 miles above the Nevada desert–
- Peter Phillips, son of British Princess Anne, wed Canadian Autumn Kelly–
- Allan Ganz honored for 67-year career (and counting) as ice-cream man–
Weather
- A hard frost covered southern New England–
- Portland, Maine, had 4.12 inches of rain in 12 hours–
- The worst May blizzard in seven years hit Denver, Colorado–
- Temperatures dipped to a mere 12 degrees F at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii–