Daily Calendar for Monday, May 20, 2024
Question of the Day
What is the origin of American football, and when was the first game played?
Football is an American version of English rugby. It was first played, on the college level, in 1869 — in a 6-4 victory of Rutgers over Princeton.
Advice of the Day
Strong chamomile tea, rubbed over your skin, is a natural bug repellent.
Home Hint of the Day
If the bricks in your chimney are starting to crumble from age, seal the outsides with a clear masonry sealer, applied with a paintbrush. Preventing the bricks from absorbing rainwater will extend their life.
Word of the Day
Nephelococcygia
Sometimes clouds look like other objects, such as dragons, elephants, letters, and even people. Cloud naming is called nephelococcygia.
Puzzle of the Day
Why do seagulls live by the sea?
Because if they lived by the bay, they’d be bagels.
Died
- Christopher Columbus (explorer) β
- Joseph Carr (president of NFL) β
- Gilda Radner (actress) β
- Stephen Jay Gould (paleontologist & author) β
- Robin Gibb (musician; member of the Bee Gees) β
Born
- William Thornton (architect) β
- Dolley Madison (U.S. First Lady) β
- William Fargo (businessman) β
- Allan Nevins (historian) β
- Jimmy Stewart (actor) β
- Joe Cocker (musician) β
- Cher (singer & actress) β
- Tony Stewart (race car driver) β
- Trinity Rodman (soccer player) β
Events
- First Council of Nicaea (which standardized how to calculate the date of Easter) likely convenedβ
- D. Hyde patented the fountain penβ
- Homestead Act signedβ
- The Saturday Evening Post published its first cover with a Norman Rockwell paintingβ
- Charles Lindbergh began first nonstop solo flight across Atlanticβ
- First airplane catapulted from a dirigibleβ
- A 680-pound goliath grouper was caught off Fernandina Beach, Floridaβ
- Rare Madagascar teal duck born, Louisville Zoo, Kentuckyβ
- Up to 20 million honeybees escaped from a tractor-trailer after it overturned on a highway in Newark, Delewareβ
Weather
- Strafford, Vermont, received 10 inches of snowβ
- Six inches of snow fell on Lexington, Kentuckyβ
- Codell, Kansas, hit by a tornadoβ
- For the second year in a row, Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on this dateβ
- For the third year in a row, Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on this dateβ
- A tornado took to the ground in Kansas City, Missouri, and traveled 71 milesβ
- Near Eloy, Arizona, scientists began a 3.5 week experiment to study the nature of dust devils.β