Daily Calendar for Friday, January 24, 2025
Question of the Day
What exactly do B.C. and A.D. stand for, and was there a year 0?
B.C. stands for before Christ,” and A.D. stands for “anno Domini,” a Latin phrase that translates as “in the year of the Lord.” There is no year 0; the years go from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1.”
Advice of the Day
Use a sponge dampened with vinegar to clean shower curtains.
Home Hint of the Day
To correct a loud banging when the furnace shuts off, locate the offending panel in the duct work and screw a 1-inch-wide metal strip onto that panel in a diagonal position.
Word of the Day
Relative humidity
The amount of moisture in the air compared to the maximum amount of moisture the air could hold at a given temperature; measured as a precentage of saturation.
Puzzle of the Day
What is it that occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and once in a million years?
The letter M
Born
- Edith Wharton (author) –
- Vicki Baum (novelist) –
- Leon Kirchner (composer) –
- Neil Diamond (singer) –
- John Belushi (actor) –
- Nastassja Kinski (actress) –
- Mary Lou Retton (gymnast) –
- Matthew Lillard (actor) –
- Mischa Barton (actress) –
Died
- Sir Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister) –
- George Cukor (film director) –
- Vincente Minnelli (film director) –
- Thurgood Marshall (first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court) –
- Jay Monahan (legal analyst for NBC News) –
- Bob Russell (creator of the Miss America Pageant and Name That Tune) –
- Chris Penn (actor) –
Events
- Gold nuggets discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, triggered the California Gold Rush –
- “Typewriter copy ribbon” patented by Jacob L. Wortman –
- Patent 1,404,539 granted for the Eskimo Pie (now Edy’s Pie) –
- Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Island, NY –
- Percy Spencer granted patent for microwave oven –
- Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 crashed in Canada’s Northwest Territories, leaking radioactive waste –
- An otter entertained crowds all winter at the mouth of the Ompompanoosuc River in Norwich, Vermont –
- Apple Computer, Inc. introduced the Macintosh personal computer –
- The Voyager 2 spacecraft sent back photographs from the planet Uranus –
- Rover Opportunity landed on Mars –
- A blizzard that took over New England with blinding snow and blustering wind kept the Cape Cod Times from publishing a print edition for the first time –
Weather
- The temperature in Browning, Montana, plunged 100 degrees in 24 hours, from 44F to -56F, establishing a U.S. record for a 24-hour temperature drop. –
- Fifteen degrees below zero F in Nashville, Tennessee –
- 4 inches of snow fell near Lake Jocassee in South Carolina –
- North Myrtle Beach experienced a low temperature of 16 degrees F –
- Thirty-eight inches of snow on Cape Cod after a 2-day winter blizzard –
