Daily Calendar for Thursday, February 1, 2024
Question of the Day
Why do professional interior house painters wear white overalls rather than blue overalls?
By the mid-1800s, the colors were standardized — painters and plasterers wore white overalls, farmers wore blue or brown. Railway workers sported a variety of pinstripes.
Advice of the Day
Don’t light a candle from the fireplace if you hope to grow rich.
Home Hint of the Day
To clean cobwebs from the edges of hard-to-reach ceilings, slip an old nylon stocking over a yardstick and use it to reach the cobwebs.
Word of the Day
Dew
Droplets of water which have condensed on objects, such as plants, which have cooled below the dewpoint temperature of the air.
Puzzle of the Day
If all the letters of the alphabet were asked out to dinner, why could they not all go together?
Because six always go after tea (T).
Born
- Thomas Cole (painter) β
- Victor Herbert (cellist) β
- Louis Stephen St. Laurent (Canadian Prime Minister) β
- Clark Gable (actor) β
- Langston Hughes (poet) β
- John Hart (broadcast journalist) β
- Don Everly (musician) β
- Sherman Hemsley (actor) β
- Rick James (singer) β
- Princess StΓ©phanie of Monaco β
- Brandon Lee (actor) β
- Lisa Marie Presley (daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley) β
- Lee Thompson Young (actor) β
- Harry Styles (singer) β
Died
- Mary Shelley (author) β
- Buster Keaton (actor) β
- Heather O'Rourke (actress) β
- Don Cornelius (creator of Soul Train) β
- Edward "Ed" Koch (former mayor of New York City) β
- Carl Weathers (actor) β
Events
- Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was found on an island where he had been stranded for over 4 years. His experience was the basis for Daniel DeFoe’s novel, Robinson Crusoeβ
- First U.S. dental dispensary opened, New York Cityβ
- The first dental college was incorporated, Baltimore, Marylandβ
- Texas seceded from the Unionβ
- Battle Hymn of the Republic, a poem written by Julia Ward Howe, was published in Atlantic Monthlyβ
- βEdition Oneβ of the Oxford English Dictionary was publishedβ
- First automobile insurance policy issuedβ
- First U.S. Marine Division activatedβ
- Gordon Matthews received a patent for βvoice message exchangeβ system (better known as voicemail)β
- Space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry, killing all seven astronauts onboard β
- New England Patriotsβ quarterback Tom Brady became the youngest quarterback to lead his team to two Super Bowl victoriesβ
- During Super Bowl XLIII, Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison intercepted a pass on the goal line and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest play in Super Bowl historyβ
Weather
- Forty-five degrees below zero F in Pittsburg, New Hampshireβ
- The greatest ice storm of record in the United States produced a layer of ice up to four inches thick from Texas to Pennsylvania, causing 25 deaths, 500 serious injuries, and $100 million worth of damage. Communications and utilities were interrupted for a week to ten days.β
- -50 degrees F, Gavilan, New Mexicoβ
- A high temperature of 50 degrees F was reported in Burlington, Vermontβ