Daily Calendar for Friday, January 19, 2024
Question of the Day
Why do we measure daylength in hours?
The ancients divided the day in half, roughly corresponding to sunrise and sunset, with 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. The length of an hour varied, depending on the time of year, until mechanical clocks were invented in the late Middle Ages.
Advice of the Day
A thing done at a wrong time should be regarded as not done.
Home Hint of the Day
Wallpaper that has been painted over can be difficult to soften and remove. Try scoring the paper with a razor knife and spraying the scores with liquid wallpaper remover (available at hardware stores).
Word of the Day
Doldrums
A part of the ocean near the equator, abounding in calms, squalls, and light, baffling winds, which sometimes prevent all progress for weeks; — so called by sailors. To be in the doldrums, to be in a state of listlessness ennui, or tedium.
Puzzle of the Day
When is a clock guilty of a misdemeanor?
When it strikes one.
Born
- James Watt (inventor) –
- Robert E. Lee (Confederate general) –
- Edgar Allen Poe (author) –
- Paul Cézanne (painter) –
- Jean Stapleton (American actress ) –
- Patsy Rowlands (actress) –
- Janis Joplin (singer ) –
- Dolly Parton (singer) –
- Paula Deen (chef) –
- Desi Arnaz, Jr. (actor, son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) –
- Drea de Matteo (actress) –
Died
- Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart (Canadian religious sister ) –
- William O. Douglas (Supreme Court Justice) –
- James Dickey (writer/poet) –
- Carl Perkins (musician) –
- Wilson Pickett (singer) –
- Denny Doherty (one of the founding members of the musical group The Mamas & The Papas) –
- Suzanne Pleshette (actress) –
- Stan "The Man" Musial (baseball player) –
Events
- Tin can patented–
- Explorer Charles Wilkes claimed discovery of Antarctica–
- First Brown vs. Harvard ice hockey game took place–
- Law raised salary of U.S. president to $100,000–
- U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized first space satellite communications link between the United States and Europe on an experimental basis.–
- The last old-style, German-made Volkswagen Beetle left the plant in Emden, Germany–
- Astronaut Roberta Bondar became the first Canadian woman to be selected for a space mission–
Weather
- Twenty-four degrees below zero F in Hartford, Connecticut–
- Temperature dropped 50 degrees in Portsmouth, New Hampshire–
- The temperature rose 43 degrees in 15 minutes at Fort Assiniboine, near Havre, Montana.–
- Lake Erie froze from bank to bank for the first time in modern history–
- Snow fell in Miami, Florida–
- A record-low barometer reading of 29.25 inches occurred due to a West Coast storm–
- Temperature dipped to -36 degrees F, New Whiteland, Indiana–
