Daily Calendar for Friday, October 20, 2023
Question of the Day
What was the biggest volcanic eruption in the United States?
The most recent notable volcanic eruption in the United States was the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, in the state of Washington, in which more than 50 people were killed. Most other volcanoes in the United States are not active and have not been for many years.
Advice of the Day
Much rain in October, much wind in December.
Home Hint of the Day
Next time you’re at the town landfill, look for old refrigerators with the grills still in them. As long as the grills are not vinyl coated, they’re great for cooking over a charcoal fire (or for use as cookie cooling racks).
Word of the Day
Solar eclipse
Earth enters the shadow of the new Moon, which cuts off all or part of the Sun’s light. Total: Earth passes through the umbra (central dark part) of the Moon’s shadow, resulting in totality for observers within a narrow band on Earth. Annular: The Moon appears silhouetted against the Sun, with a ring of sunlight showing around it. Partial: The Moon blocks only part of the Sun.
Puzzle of the Day
Why is summer like the letter N?
Because it makes ice nice.
Born
- Sir Christopher Wren (architect) –
- John Dewey (philosopher) –
- Charles Ives (composer) –
- Jelly Roll Morton (jazz musician) –
- Arlene Francis (actress) –
- Grandpa Jones (country music performer) –
- Art Buchwald (journalist) –
- Dr. Joyce Brothers (psychologist) –
- Mickey Mantle (baseball player) –
- Michael McClure (poet) –
- Jerry Orbach (actor) –
- Tom Petty (musician; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) –
- Keith Hernandez (baseball player) –
- Viggo Mortensen (actor) –
Died
- Sir Richard Burton (explorer) –
- Herbert Hoover (31st U.S. president) –
- Jane Wyatt (actress) –
- Oscar de la Renta (fashion designer) –
Events
- The town clock in Halifax, Nova Scotia, began keeping time–
- Louisiana Purchase ratified by U.S. Senate–
- 49th parallel determined as western U.S/Canadian border–
- Last day of Prince of Wales’s North American tour, Portland, Maine–
- Canadian newspaper La Presse debuted–
- The first cork-centered baseball, invented by Benjamin Shibe, was used in the World Series in Chicago–
- Laurel and Hardy’s The Flying Deuces debuted–
- Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis–
- John Bardeen became the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in the same field. He received the awards in 1956 and 1972 for his theory of superconductivity and development of electronic transistors–
- A plane carrying the group Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in Mississippi–
- Oakland/Berkeley firestorm began in California–
- The Boston Red Sox made baseball history by becoming the first baseball team to lose the first three games of a best-of-seven series, then come back with four victories to win it–
- ABC-TV pulled the plug on Miss America, leaving the famous beauty pageant without a network television sponsor for the first time in 50 years–
Weather
- Sheridan, Wyoming, experienced a bad snowstorm–