Daily Calendar for Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Question of the Day
Can you tell me a bit about Ansel Adams?
Ansel Adams was born on February 20, 1902. Four years later, in 1906, he broke his nose by falling during an aftershock of the San Francisco earthquake—an accident that left a permanent scar. As an adult, Ansel became a world-famous photographer of the American West.
Advice of the Day
Pisceans tend to be sensitive, compassionate, sympathetic, and imaginative.
Home Hint of the Day
Don’t bother to burn wet or green firewood. Aside from the creosote problem it causes, it takes a lot of heat to boil the moisture out of wood, and that heat isn’t recoverable.
Word of the Day
Span
9 inches; derived from the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger when both are outstretched.
Puzzle of the Day
What sort of face does an auctioneer like best?
One that is for-bidding.
Died
- Frederick Douglass (abolitionist) –
- Walter Winchell (journalist) –
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth (last surviving child of Teddy Roosevelt) –
- Rene Dubos (environmentalist, microbiologist) –
- Dick York (actor) –
- Gene Siskel (film critic) –
- Sandra Dee (actress) –
- John Raitt (actor) –
- Hunter S. Thompson (journalist and author who unleashed the concept of gonzo journalism” in books like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”) –
Born
- Ansel Adams (photographer) –
- Sidney Poitier (actor) –
- Phil Esposito (hockey player) –
- Charles Barkley (basketball player) –
- Cindy Crawford (model) –
- Lili Taylor (actress) –
- Trevor Noah (television host, comedian) –
- Rihanna (singer) –
- Olivia Rodrigo (singer) –
Events
- George Washington signed the Postal Act, creating the Federal Postal System with a per-mile rate structure–
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City–
- Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake premiered–
- An auto-airplane combination, Arrowbile, completed for testing–
- V-2 rocket launched fruit flies to 68-mile altitude–
- Carolyn Cummins gave birth to the first of her five children. The second was born in 1953, 3rd in 1956, 4th in 1961 and the 5th in 1966. All five children have the same birthday.–
- Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. He made 3 trips around the earth in his Mercury-Atlas spacecraft, Friendship 7, in just under 5 hours–
- U.S.S.R.’s Mir space station launched–
- The Station nightclub experienced the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, killing 100 people and injuring more than 200. The fire started when pyrotechnics set off by Great White, the rock band playing that night, lit flammable soundproofing foam behind the stage–
- Regeneration of Silene stenophylla from 30,000-year-old fruit tissue announced–
Weather
- A tornado tracked 15 miles from Shreveport to Abner, Louisiana, killed 8 people, and injured 50–
- The temperature in Los Angeles, California, hit 95 degrees F, a record high for the month of February–