Today is January 2nd. That means that Japan celebrates Kakizome, Switzerland celebrates Berchtoldstag, and Haiti celebrates Ancestors' Day or Hero's Day.


2006: A methane gas explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia killed one miner and trapped 12 others underground for more than 40 hours. Randal McCloy Jr. was the only survivor; the others succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

1999: A brutal snowstorm smashed into the Midwestern U.S., causing 14 inches (359mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunged to -13F (-25C), and 68 deaths were reported.

1983: The musical Annie was performed for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Uris Theatre on Broadway.

1974: Richard Nixon signed a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.

1965: Indonesia withdrew from the United Nations -- the first member to do so.

1929: The United States and Canada reached an agreement to preserve Niagara Falls.

1946: Unable to resume his rule over Albania after World War II, King Zog abdicated but retained his claim to the throne.

1879: Fred Spofforth claimed the first Hat-trick in test cricket on the Sydney Cricket Ground against England.

1870: Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began.

1839: French photographer Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of the Moon.

1832: The first Curling club in the U.S. (Orchard Lake Curling Club) opened.

1814: Lord Byron completed "The Corsair".

1790: Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutti" premiered in Vienna.

1788: Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the Constitution of the United State of America.

1492: The last Arab/Moors stronghold in Spain, the kingdom of Granada, surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

533: Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.

366: The Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman Empire.

Births:
1920: Isaac Asimov (Russian-born American author/biochemist) He has works in every major category of the Dewey Decimal System except Philosophy. [Foundation's Edge, The Gods Themselves, The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science, Lecherous Limericks]

1968: Cuba Gooding Jr. (American actor) [Jerry Maguire]

Deaths:
1974: "Tex" [Maurice Woodward] Ritter (American singing cowboy actor) [Song of the Buckaroo, Sundown on the Prairie, Rollin' Westward, Rainbow Over the Range]

1990: Alan Hale Jr., American actor [Gilligan's Island]


Word of the day: incipient \in-SIP-ee-uhnt\
Etymology: From Latin incipere, "to undertake, to begin" (literally "to take in"), from in-, "in" + capere, "to take." It is related to inception, "beginning, commencement."
(adjective)
1. Beginning to exist or appear.


Mistfox - who's blames being late on her dh today (since he didn't have to go to work)

Today is January 3rd. That means it's the feast day of St Genevieve.


2000: Charles Schulz created the last Peanuts comic strip.

1987: Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1959: Alaska was admitted as the 49th U.S. state.

1957: The Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first electric watch.

1951: Dragnet aired on television for the first time (NBC).

1938: Franklin Delano Roosevelt established The March of Dimes.

1925: Benito Mussolini announced he was taking dictatorial powers over Italy.

1899: The first known use of the word automobile was made in an editorial in the New York Times.

1868: The Japanese Meiji dynasty was restored and the Shogunate was abolished.

1861: Delaware voted not to secede from the United States

1834: The government of Mexico imprisoned Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City.

1833: Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

1823: Stephen F. Austin received a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico

1749: Benning Wentworth issued the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.

1521: Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther.

1496: Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine.

Births:
106 BC: Cicero (Roman statesman/philosopher)

1892: J. R. R. [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkien (South African-born writer/philologist) [The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings]

1956: Mel Gibson (Australian actor and director) [Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, Braveheart]

Deaths:
1795: Josiah Wedgwood (English potter)

1945: Edgar Cayce (American psychic)

1967: Jack Ruby (Convicted killer of Lee Harvey Oswald)


Word of the day: favonian \fuh-VOH-nee-uhn\
Etymology: Derived from Latin Favonius, "the west wind."
(adjective)
1. Pertaining to the west wind; soft; mild; gentle.

Mistfox - who had to cobble this together on her dh's computer because hers is being a pain this morning (grumble, bitch, moan)

Today is January 4th. That means that Myanmar celebrates Independence Day.


2006: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke and his powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert.

1999: Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

1965: President Lyndon Johnson outlined the goals of his "Great Society" in his State of the Union Address.

1954: Elvis Presley recorded a 10 minute demo in Nashville.

1948: Britain granted independence to Burma/Myanmar.

1936: The first pop-music chart was compiled, based on record sales published in New York, in "Billboard" magazine.

1896: Utah was admitted as the 45th state.

1885: Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa performed the first appendectomy.

1865: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) opened its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.

1850: The first American ice-skating club was formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).

1847: Samuel Colt sold his first revolver pistol to the United States government.

1762: England declared war on Spain and Naples.

1754: Columbia University was founded, as Kings College, in NYC.

Births:
1643: Sir Isaac Newton (English scientist)

1785: Jakob Ludwig Grimm (German librarian/author)

1809: Louis Braille (French inventor of reading system for the blind)

Deaths:
1965: T.S. [Thomas Stearns] Eliot (American-British poet/dramatist/critic) [Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats]


Word of the day: punctilio \punk-TIL-ee-oh\,
Etymology: From Obsolete Italian punctiglio, from Spanish puntillo, diminutive of punto, "point," from Latin punctum, from pungere, "to prick."
(noun)
1. A fine point of exactness in conduct, ceremony, or procedure.
2. Strictness or exactness in the observance of formalities; as, "the punctilios of a public ceremony."


Mistfox - who stayed up too late last night reading

Today is January 5th. That means that it's National Whipped Cream Day.


2004: Following 14 years of denials, Pete Rose publicly admitted that he'd bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

2002: Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashed a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.

1997: Russian troop withdrawal from the separatist Republic of Chechnya was completed.

1980: Hewlett-Packard announced the release of its first personal computer.

1970: The soap opera "All My Children" debuted on television.

1961: Mr. Ed debuted.

1959: "Bozo the Clown", the live children's show, premiered on TV.

1956: Elvis Presley recorded "Heartbreak Hotel."

1933: The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began in San Francisco Bay.

1925: Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first female governor in the United States.

1920: GOP women demanded equal representation at the Republican National Convention.

1914: Henry Ford announced that he would pay a minimum wage of $5 a day and would share with employees $10 million in the previous year's profits.

1887: The first U.S. school of librarianship opened at Columbia University.

1643: The Quarter Court of Boston, Massachusetts granted the first legal divorce in the American colonies to Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke.

1477: Charles the Bold, last of the great dukes of Burgundy, was killed at the Battle of Nancy.

Births:
1910: Hugh Brannum (American actor) [Captain Kangaroo - "Mister Greenjeans"]

1932: Umberto Eco (Italian novelist/philologist) [The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum]

1938: Juan Carlos (King of Spain)

1941: Miyazaki Hayao (Japanese animated film maker) [Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle] Spirited Away won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the first Oscar awarded to any anime production.

1969: Marilyn Manson [Brian Hugh Warner] (American musician/singer) [Marilyn Manson]

Deaths:
1066: Edward the Confessor (King of England)

1922: Sir Ernest Shackleton (Irish Antarctic explorer)

1933: Calvin Coolidge (President of the U.S.)

1943: George Washington Carver (American agricultural chemist/botanist/educator)

1994: Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill (U.S. House Speaker)

1998: "Sonny" [Salvatore Phillip] Bono (American record producer/song writer/singer/actor/politician) ["I Got You, Babe", "The Beat Goes On"]

2004: "Tug" [Frank Edwin] McGraw (American baseball pitcher) Father of country music singer Tim McGraw.


Word of the day: interregnum \in-tuhr-REG-nuhm\
Plural interregnums \-nuhmz\ or interregna \-nuh\:
Etymology: From the Latin, from inter, "between" + regnum, "dominion, reign, rule," from rex, "king."
(noun)
1. The interval between two reigns; any period when a state is left without a ruler.
2. A period of freedom from authority or during which government functions are suspended.
3. Any breach of continuity in an order; a lapse or interval in a continuity.


Mistfox - who is sick and tired of this *#&$ cough

Today is January 6th. That means that Italy celebrates the Feast of La Befana and in Ancient Latvia Zvaigznes Diena was observed.


2005: Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter.)

2005: Andrea Yates' murder conviction for drowning her children in the bathtub was overturned by a Texas appeals court.

1994: An assailant, under orders from figure skating rival Tonya Harding, clubbed Nancy Kerrigan on the right leg.

1975: The "Wheel of Fortune" game show premiered on TV.

1975: The American soap opera Another World became the first daytime drama to air hour-long regularly scheduled episodes.

1973: Schoolhouse Rock premiered. Conjunction Junction, what's your function?

1968: The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour," album went #1 and stayed #1 for 8 weeks.

1963: "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins began on NBC.

1957: Elvis Presley made his 7th and final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1942: The Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrived in New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his "Four Freedoms" speech outlining four goals: freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.

1912: New Mexico became the 47th state.

1907: Maria Montessori opened her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome.

1838: Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, New Jersey.

1540: England's King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. This marriage lasted 6 months.

1066: Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England

Births:
1367: Richard II (King of England)

1412: Joan of Arc [Jeanne D'Arc] (French heroine/saint).

1822: Heinrich Schliemann (German-born Greek excavator)

1878: Carl Sandburg (American poet/author/journalist)

1924: Earl Scruggs (American bluegrass performer)

1955: Rowan Atkinson (English comedian/actor) [Blackadder, Mr. Bean]

Deaths:
1852: Louis Braille (French teacher) Developed writing system for the blind.

1919: Theodore Roosevelt (President of the U.S.)

1993: Rudolf Nureyev (Russian ballet dancer)

2006: Lou Rawls (American soul, jazz, and blues singer) ["You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine"] Released more than 70 albums, and sold more than 40 million records.


Word of the day: hinterland \HIN-tur-land\
Etymology: From German Hinterland, "the land behind (the coast)," from hinter, "behind" (from Middle High German, from Old High German hintar) + Land, "land" (from Middle High German lant, from Old High German).
(noun)
1. A region situated inland from a coast.
2. A region remote from urban areas; backcountry.
3. A region situated beyond the major metropolitan or cultural centers.


Mistfox - who had to work today

Today is January 7th. That means that Ethiopia celebrates Ganna and Japan celebrates Nanakusa no sekku (Seven Medicinal Herbs Festival).


2006: American journalist Jill Carroll was abducted in Iraq and her translator was killed. (She was released unharmed after 82 days.)

2005: Conservative columnist Armstrong Williams was dropped by a major syndication service because he'd accepted a payment from the Bush administration to promote the No Child Left Behind law.

1999: The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, formally charged with lying under oath and obstructing justice, began in the Senate.

1996: One of the worst blizzards in American history hit the eastern states killing more than 100.

1975: OPEC decided to raise crude oil prices by 10%, which began a tidal wave of world economic inflation.

1970: Farmers sued Max Yasgur for $35,000 in damages caused by "Woodstock".

1967: "The Newlywed Game" premiered on ABC TV.

1959: The United States recognized Fidel Castro's new government in Cuba.

1955: Contralto Marian Anderson made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the first African-American to do so.

1953: President Harry Truman announced in his State of the Union address that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb.

1949: Pease and Baker took the first photo of genes at U.S.C.

1927: Commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.

1924: George Gershwin completed the Rhapsody in Blue.

1913: William M. Burton of Chicago obtained a patent for the process to get gasoline from crude oil.

1896: Fannie Farmer published her first cookbook.

1890: W. B. Purvis patented a fountain pen.

1830: The first U.S. Railroad Station opened in Baltimore.

1789: The first U.S. presidential election was held. Americans voted for electors who, a month later, chose George Washington to be the nation's first President.

1785: Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries traveled from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon, becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air.

1782: The first commercial American bank, the Bank of North America, opened in Philadelphia.

1610: Astronomer Galileo Galilei sighted four of Jupiter's moons, naming them Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

1598: Boris Godunov seized the throne of Russia.

Births:
1745: Etienne Montgolfier (French inventor of hot-air balloon)

1800: Millard Fillmore (President of the U.S.)

1891: Zora Neale Hurston (American author) [Their Eyes Were Watching God]

1912: Charles Addams (American cartoonist) [The Addams Family]

1922: Jean-Pierre Rampal (French flutist)

1957: Katie Couric (American television host)

1964: Nicolas Cage [Nicholas Kim Coppola] (American actor) [Leaving Las Vegas, Captain Corelli's Mandolin]

Deaths:
1536: Catherine of Aragon (Queen of England)

1943: Nikola Tesla (Serbian-born inventor/electrical engineer)

1989: Michinomiya Hirohito (Emperor of Japan)


Word of the day: serendipity \ser-uhn-DIP-i-tee\
Etymology: Coined by Horace Walpole from the characters in the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, who made such discoveries, from Persian Sarandip (Sri Lanka) from Arabic sarandib.
(noun)
1. An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. Good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for.


Mistfox - who is going to take down her tree today

Today is January 8th. That means that Greece celebrates Midwife's Day or Women's Day and Indonesia celebrates Kassada.


2006: Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, facing corruption charges, stepped down as House majority leader.

1998: Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, was sentenced in New York to life in prison.

1982: AT&T's break-up took place as it was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement.

1975: Ella Grasso became Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.

1966: The Who and the Kinks performed on the last "Shindig" TV show on ABC.

1964: President Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty."

1962: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was exhibited in the United States for the first time at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

1959: Charles De Gaulle was inaugurated as president of France's Fifth Republic.

1956: Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog," single went to #1 and stayed #1 for a record 11 weeks (for a single).

1954: Elvis Presley paid $4 to a Memphis studio and recorded his first two songs, "Casual Love" and "I'll Never Stand in Your Way".

1926: Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud became the King of Hejaz and renamed it Saudi Arabia.

1908: A subway line opened linking the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan.

1902: The first National Bowling Championship was held in Chicago, Ill.

1889: American inventor Herman Hollerith patented his tabulator, the first device for data processing; his firm would later become one of IBM's founding companies.

1867: Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson's veto of a bill granting all adult male citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote, and the bill became law. It was the first law granting African-American men the right to vote.

1856: John Veatch discovered Borax.

1815: U.S. forces led by General Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans -- the closing engagement of the War of 1812. This occurred two weeks after the War of 1812 officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

1806: Cape Colony became a British colony.

1656: The oldest surviving commercial newspaper began in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

Births:
1935: Elvis Aaron Presley (American rock-and-roll singer/actor)

1941: Graham Chapman (British comedian) [Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian]

1942: Stephen Hawking (English physicist/mathematician/author). [A Brief History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell]

1947: David Bowie [David Robert Jones] (English rock artist/actor) [The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Labyrinth]

Deaths:
1324: Marco Polo (Italian trader/explorer)

1642: Galileo Galilei (Italian astronomer)

2002: Dave Thomas (American entrepreneur) Founder of Wendy's International.


Word of the day: sunder \SUN-dur\
Etymology: From Old English sundrian, from Old Norse sundr, "aside, apart".
(transitive verb)
1. To break apart; to separate; to divide; to sever.
(intransitive verb)
2. To become parted, disunited, or severed.


Mistfox - who stayed up too late reading again last night

Today is January 9th. That means that Panama celebrates Martyrs' Day and the Philippines celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene.


2006: "The Phantom of the Opera" became the longest-running show in Broadway history, surpassing "Cats," which ran for 7,485 performances.

2002: The United States Department of Justice announced it was going to pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.

1989: The Sega Genesis was released in New York, New York and Los Angeles, California.

1984: Clara Peller was featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's Restaurants for the first time.

1972: In Hong Kong harbor, the Queen Elizabeth passenger line was destroyed by fire.

1964: Anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and three U.S. soldiers.

1959: "Rawhide" with Clint Eastwood premiered on CBS TV.

1956: The first "Dear Abby" column appeared in newspapers.

1951: The United Nations headquarters opened in New York City.

1929: The Seeing Eye was established with the mission to train dogs to assist the blind (Nashville, Tennessee).

1878: Humbert I became King of Italy.

1861: Mississippi seceded from the Union.

1839: The French Academy of Sciences announced the Daguerreotype photography process.

1811: The first Women's Golf Tournament was held.

1799: British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

1793: Jean-Pierre-Francois Blanchard made the first manned free-balloon flight in America, at Philadelphia, watched by President George Washington.

1788: Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America.

1768: Englishman Philip Astley staged the first modern circus, in London.

1719: Philip V of Spain declared war on France.

1431: The trial of Joan of Arc began in Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government.

Births:
1913: Richard Milhous Nixon (President of the U.S.) The first American president to resign from office (following his involvement in the Watergate scandal).

1914: Gypsy Rose Lee [Ellen June (Louise) Hovic] (American actress/dancer/stripper)

1928: Judith Krantz (American author) [Princess Daisy, Till We Meet Again]

1934: Bart Starr (American football star)

1935: Bob Denver (American actor) [Gilligan's Island, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]

1941: Joan Baez (American singer/activist.)

Deaths:
1873: Napoleon III (French emperor)

1878: Victor Emmanuel II (King of Italy)



Word of the day: didactic \dy-DAK-tik; duh-\
Etymology: From Greek didaktikos, "skillful in teaching," from didaktos, "taught," from didaskein, "to teach, to educate."
(adjective)
1. Fitted or intended to teach; conveying instruction; instructive; teaching some moral lesson; as, "didactic essays."
2. Inclined to teach or moralize excessively; moralistic.


Mistfox - who needs to make herself go out and walk this morning, which is gonna be hard

Today is January 10th. That means that it's Peculiar People Day in the U.S. and National Bittersweet Chocolate Day.


2006: Iran resumed nuclear research two years after halting the work to avoid possible U.N. economic sanctions. The United States and European governments denounced the move.

2005: CBS issued a damning independent review of mistakes related to a "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President George W. Bush's National Guard service and fired three news executives and a producer for their "myopic zeal" in rushing it to air.

2000: America Online agreed to buy Time-Warner for $162 billion, making it the largest corporate merger to date.

1994: Lorena Bobbitt went on trial for severing the penis of her husband John.

1984: The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in 117 years

1971: "Masterpiece Theatre" premiered on PBS with host Alistair Cooke introducing a drama series, "The First Churchills."

1969: After 147 years, the last issue of the Saturday Evening Post was published.

1967: PBS (National Educational TV) began as a 70 station network.

1964: The Beatles' first album in the United States, "Introducing the Beatles," was released.

1958: Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reached #1.

1957: Harold Macmillan became the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

1949: Vinyl records were launched by RCA (45 rpm) and Columbia (33.3 rpm).

1946: The first General Assembly of the United Nations convened at Westminster Central Hall in London.

1929: Tintin, a comic book character created by Herge, made his debut. He went on to be published in over 200 million comic books in 40 languages.

1922: Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Féin and one of the architects of the 1921 peace treaty with Britain, was elected president of the newly established Irish Free State.

1920: The League of Nations was established as the Covenant of the League of Nations/Treaty of Versailles went into effect and had its first meeting in Geneva.

1901: The Texas oil boom started in Beaumont.

1863: The first section of the London Underground Railway opened (Paddington to Farringdon Street).

1861: Florida seceded from the Union.

1839: Tea from India first arrived in the UK. Up until this time only tea from China had been available, and that was very expensive. The development and import of Indian tea brought the price down so all could afford it, and it quickly became the national drink.

1810: The marriage of Napoleon and Josephine was annulled.

1776: Thomas Paine published "Common Sense," a scathing attack on King George III's reign over the colonies and a call for complete independence.

49 BC: Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, which signaled civil war.

Births:
1904: Ray Bolger (American actor/singer/dancer) [The Wizard of Oz]

1943: Jim Croce (American singer/songwriter) [You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Time in a Bottle"]

1945: Rod Stewart (English singer) ["Tonight's the Night"]

1953: Pat Benatar [Patricia Mae Andrzejewski] (American singer) ["Hit Me With Your Best Shot", "Love is a Battlefield"]

Deaths:
1862: Samuel Colt (American inventor)

1917: William F. Cody ["Buffalo Bill"] (American frontiersman/showman)

1961: [Samuel] Dashiell Hammett (American writer) [The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man]

1971: "Coco" [Gabrielle] Chanel (French fashion designer)

1982: Paul Lynde (American comedian)



Word of the day: exonerate \ig-ZON-uh-reyt]
Etymology: From Middle English exoneraten, Latin exonerare to relieve, free, discharge, from ex- out + onerare to burden, from oner- onus load
(verb)
1. To clear, as of an accusation; free from guilt or blame; exculpate: He was exonerated from the accusation of cheating.
2. To relieve, as from an obligation, duty, or task.


Mistfox - who wishes this little bug would quit flying around her monitor screen

Oh look, it's my own special day. Why they didn't just name it goddessani day is beyond me!

Today is January 11th. That means that Albania celebrates Proclamation of the Republic Day, Nepal celebrates National Unity Day, Puerto Rico celebrates De Hostos' Birthday, Japan celebrates Kagami-Biraki (Rice Cakes Festival), and Morocco celebrates Independence Day.


2006: A Georgian court convicted a man of trying to assassinate President Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili with a grenade in Tbilisi on May 10, 2005, and sentenced him to life in prison.

2003: Declaring the death penalty "arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral," Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, emptying his state's death row two days before leaving office.

2003: Ford Motor Co. announced it was eliminating 35,000 jobs, closing five plants and dropping four models.

1974: ABC aired the final episode of "Love, American Style".

1973: The American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule in baseball.

1964: U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to one's health.

1963: The first disco in the USA, the Whisky A Go-Go nightclub in Los Angeles, opened.

1949: The first recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California was documented.

1940: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., became the United States Army's first black general.

1935: Aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.

1922: Leonard Thompson was the first person to be successfully treated with insulin, at Toronto General Hospital.

1919: Romania annexed Transylvania.

1908: The Grand Canyon National Monument was created.

1861: Alabama seceded from the Union.

1813: The first pineapples were planted in Hawaii.

1805: The Michigan Territory was created.

1787: William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.

1775: Francis Salvador, the first Jew to be elected in the Americas, took his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress.

1759: In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company was incorporated.

1571: Austrian nobility were granted freedom of religion.

Births:
1757: Alexander Hamilton (U.S. statesman/first Secretary of the Treasury)

1885: Alice Paul (American suffragette) Author of the Equal Rights Amendment.

1934: Jean Chretien (Prime Minister of Canada)

Deaths:
1843: Francis Scott Key (American lawyer) Composed The Star-Spangled Banner.

1928: Thomas Hardy (English poet/novelist) [The Return of the Native, Jude the Obscure, Tess of the d'Urbervilles]


Word of the day: bowdlerize \BODE-luh-rise; BOWD-\
Etymology: derives from the name Thomas Bowdler, an editor in Victorian times who rewrote Shakespeare, removing all profanity and sexual references so as not to offend the sensibilities of the audiences of his day.
(verb)
1. To remove or modify the parts (of a book, for example) considered offensive.
2. To modify, as by shortening, simplifying, or distorting in style or content.


Mistfox - who thinks yesterday could have been named Mistfox day just as well as goddessani day

Today is January 12th. That means that the U.S. celebrates National Handwriting Day and Tanzania celebrates Zanzibar Revolution Day.


2006: Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who'd shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from an Istanbul prison after serving more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist.

2006: A stampede broke out during the Islamic hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, killing 363 people.

1998: Nineteen European nations agreed to forbid human cloning.

1995: Malcolm X's daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, was arrested for conspiring to kill Louis Farrakhan.

1981: "Dynasty" with Joan Collins premiered on ABC-TV.

1969: The hard rock band Led Zeppelin released their eponymous first album.

1966: "Batman" premiered on TV.

1964: Rebels in Zanzibar began a revolt and later proclaimed a republic.

1948: The first Supermarket in the UK opened.

1932: Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

1915: The United States House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.

1915: Congress established Rocky Mountain National Park.

1906: A football rules committee legalized the forward pass.

1879: The British-Zulu War began.

1773: The first public museum (the Charleston Museum) in America was established, in Charleston, South Carolina.

1709: During what is called the Little Ice Age, a two-month freezing period began in France: The coast of the Atlantic and Seine River froze, crops failed and at least 24.000 Parisians died.

1528: Gustav I of Sweden was crowned king of Sweden.

Births:
1628: Charles Perrault (French folklorist) [Tales of Mother Goose (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Puss-in-Boots, Little Red Riding Hood)]

1737: John Hancock (American statesman/first signer of the Declaration of Independence)

1876: Jack London [John Chaney] (American author) [The Call of the Wild, White Fang]

1930: "Tim" [Miles Gilbert] Horton (Canadian ice hockey player/entrepreneur) [Tim Horton's doughnut chain]

1935: Kreskin [George Kresge] (American mentalist)

1951: Rush Limbaugh (American radio personality)

1954: Howard Stern (American "shock-jock" radio host)

1966: Rob Zombie [Rob Cummings] (American musician/artist/writer)

Deaths:
1976: Agatha Christie (English detective-story writer) [Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, The Mousetrap]

2003: Maurice Gibb (British-Australian singer/bassist/songwriter) [The Bee Gees]


Word of the day: incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\
Etymology: From Italian incarnatino, which came from the Latin incarnato, something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites."
(adjective)
1. Having a fleshy pink color.
2. Red; blood-red.
(transitive verb)
3. To make red or crimson.


Mistfox - who was interested in seeing where carnation got its name

Today is January 13th. That means that Sweden celebrates St. Knut's Day, Switzerland celebrates Silvesterklause or Meitlisunntig, Norway celebrates Tyvendedagen or Tjugandedagen, Togo celebrates National Liberation Day, and Russia celebrates Old New Year's Eve.


2003: The owners of toy store chain FAO Schwarz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

2002: U.S. President George W. Bush fainted after choking on a pretzel.

2002: The off-Broadway musical "The Fantasticks" was performed for the last time, ending a run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 shows.

2000: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stepped aside as chief executive and promoted company president Steve Ballmer to the position.

1992: Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

1990: L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia took the oath of office, becoming the nation's first elected black governor.

1989: The final episode of the American soap opera Ryan's Hope was aired, ending a 14-year run on the network.

1982: Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90 737 jet crashed into Washington, DC's 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists. The plane was not properly de-iced. There were five survivors.

1979: YMCA filed a libel suit against The Village People's YMCA song.

1964: Capitol Records released the Beatles' first single in the U.S.A. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" sold one million copies in the first three weeks.

1957: The Wham-O Company produced the first Frisbee.

1955: Chase National and the Bank of Manhattan agreed to merge, resulting in the second largest U.S. bank.

1931: The bridge connecting New York and New Jersey was named the George Washington Memorial Bridge.

1910: Opera was broadcast on the radio for the first time. Enrico Caruso sang from the stage of New York's Metropolitan Opera House.

1906: The first radio set was advertised (by Telimco for $7.50 in Scientific American magazine). It claimed to receive signals up to one mile.

1888: The National Geographic Society was founded.

1863: Thomas Crapper pioneered a one-piece pedestal flushing toilet.

1854: Anthony Faas patented the accordion.

1794: President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union.

1605: The controversial play Eastward Ho! by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston was performed, landing two of the authors in prison.

1602: William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor was published.

1559: Elizabeth I was crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey.

0888: Odo, Count of Paris became King of the Franks.

Births:
1808: Salmon P. Chase (U.S. Treasury Secretary/sixth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court)

1926: Michael Bond (English author) Creator of the Paddington Bear stories.

1977: Orlando Bloom (British actor) [The Lord of the Rings, Black Hawk Down, Pirates of the Caribbean, Troy]

Deaths:
0858: Ethelwulf (King of Wessex)

0888: Charles the Fat (Holy Roman Emperor/King of Swabia, East Francia, Saxony, Bavaria and Italy)

1941: James Joyce (Irish writer) [Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake]


Word of the day: tractable \TRAK-tuh-buhl\
Etymology: Derives from Latin tractabilis, from tractare, to handle, to manage, frequentative of traho, to draw, to drag.
(adjective)
1. Capable of being easily led, taught, or managed; docile.
2. Easily handled, managed, or worked; malleable.


Mistfox - who isn't very tractable some times

Today is January 14th. That means that Uzbekistan celebrates Army Day and India celebrates Makar Sankranti.


2005: Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. (He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.

2004: Former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to conspiracy as he accepted a 10-year prison sentence.

1990: The Simpsons debuted on FOX as a regular series with the episode "Bart the Genius".

1980: "Blues Brothers" movie with Dan Akroyd and John Belushi opened.

1967: Sonny and Cher released "The Beat Goes On".

1963: George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of "segregation forever."

1954: Baseball hero Joe DiMaggio married film star Marilyn Monroe.

1952: NBC's "Today" show premiered on TV.

1943: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at Casablanca.

1914: Henry Ford started his first manufacturing assembly line.

1900: Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca premiered in Rome.

1814: During the Treaty of Kiel, Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for Pomerania.

1794: Dr. Jesse Bennett of Virginia performed the first successful Caesarean section in the U.S. The patient was his wife.

1784: The United States ratified The Treaty of Paris with England, ending the Revolutionary War.

1699: Massachusetts held a day of fasting for wrongly persecuting "witches".

1690: The clarinet was invented in Nuremberg, Germany.

1639: The first constitution in the American colonies, the "Fundamental Orders" of Connecticut, was adopted.

1514: Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against slavery.

Births:
1875: Albert Schweitzer (German philosopher/musician/physician/humanitarian/Nobel Peace Prize winner)

1919: Andy Rooney (American writer/columnist/commentator)

1941: Faye Dunaway (American actress) [Bonnie and Clyde, Little Big Man, Chinatown, Mommie Dearest, Network]

Deaths:
1742: Edmund Halley (English astronomer)

1898: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson [Lewis Carroll] (British writer/mathematician) [Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass)

1957: Humphrey Bogart (American actor) [Angels With Dirty Faces, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, In a Lonely Place, The African Queen]

1977: Anais Nin (French author) [Little Birds, Delta of Venus, A Spy in the House of Love]



Word of the day: bromide \BROH-myd\
Etymology: Formed from the first element of English bromine and the suffix -ide; the pair of bromine/bromide parallel chlorine/chloride. Bromine itself comes from French brome, from Greek bromos, "bad smell." The figurative sense of "dull, conventional person or trite saying" was popularized by U.S. humorist Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) in his book "Are You a Bromide?" (1906).
(noun)
1. A compound of bromine and another element or a positive organic radical.
2. A dose of potassium bromide taken as a sedative.
3. A dull person with conventional thoughts.
4. A commonplace or conventional saying.

Mistfox - who hopes she's not a bromide

Today is January 15th. That means that Guatemala celebrates the Feast of Christ of Esquipulas or the Black Christ Festival, Japan celebrates Coming of Age Day, and the United States celebrate Martin Luther King Day.

There's a comet you can see during the day today. Spaceweather-Comet McNaught


2006: After a seven-year journey, a NASA space capsule, Stardust, returned safely to Earth with the first dust ever fetched from a comet.

2006: Michelle Bachelet was elected Chile's first woman president.

2001: Wikipedia, a Wiki free content encyclopedia, went online.

1992: The European Community recognized the republics of Croatia and Slovenia, ending the Yugoslav federation.

1978: Two students at Florida State University in Tallahassee were murdered in their sorority house. Serial killer Ted Bundy was later convicted of the crime and executed.

1977: The Coneheads debuted on "Saturday Night Live".

1974: "Happy Days" premiered on television.

1973: President Richard Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

1970: The so-called General People's Congress proclaimed Muammar al-Qaddafi, the Libyan army captain who deposed King Idris in September 1969, premier of Libya.

1967: The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League in the first Super Bowl, 35-10. :cheesehead:

1962: The centigrade scale or Celsius scale was used for the first time in British Meteorological Office weather forecasts. It was invented 200 years earlier.

1947: The mutilated remains of 22-year-old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, known as the ''Black Dahlia'' for her dark outfits, were found in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. The case has never been solved.

1943: Work was completed on the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.

1927: The Dumbarton Bridge opened in San Francisco carrying the first automobile traffic across the bay.

1922: The Irish Free State was established.

1919: The Boston Molasses Disaster killed 21 people. Boston Molasses Disaster Website

1919: Pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski became the first premier of the newly created republic of Poland.

1892: James Naismith published the rules for basketball.

1870: A political cartoon for the first time symbolized the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).

1844: The University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.

1797: John Etherington of London wore the first top hat.

1777: The people of New Connecticut declared their independence; the tiny republic later became the state of Vermont.

1759: The British Museum opened, at Montague House, Bloomsbury, London.

1559: Elizabeth I of England was crowned in Westminster Abbey by Owen Oglethorpe, the Bishop of Carlisle, instead of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

1535: Henry VIII assumed the title "Supreme Head of the Church."

0069: Otho seized power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but he only survived for three months before committing suicide.

Births:
1908: Edward Teller ["Father of the Hydrogen Bomb"] (Hungarian-born American scientist)

1913: Lloyd Bridges (American actor) [Sea Hunt, High Noon, Airplane!, Hot Shots!]

1929: Martin Luther King, Jr. (American civil rights leader/minister/Nobel Peace Prize winner)

1948: Ronnie VanZant (American singer) [Lynyrd Skynyrd]

Deaths:
1987: Ray Bolger (American actor/singer/dancer) [The Wizard of Oz]

1993: Sammy Cahn (American lyricist)

1994: Harry Edward Nilsson III (American songwriter/singer/pianist/guitarist)
["Without You", "Everybody's Talkin'"]


Word of the day: eddy \ED-ee\
Etymology: From Middle English ydy, probably of Scandinavian origin ("whirlpool").
(noun)
1. A current of air or water running in a direction contrary to the main current, or moving in a circular direction; a whirlpool.
2. A tendency or current (as of opinion or history) contrary to or separate from a main current.
(intransitive verb)
4. To move in an eddy or as if in an eddy; to move in a circle.
(transitive verb)
5. To cause to move in an eddy or as if in an eddy.

Mistfox - having a lazy day off

Today is January 16th. That means that El Salvador celebrates National Day of Peace, Japan celebrates Haru-n-Yabuiri, and Malawai celebrates John Chilembwe Day.


2006: Africa's first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was sworn in as Liberia's new president.

2005: Adriana Iliescu gave birth at age 66 and became the oldest woman in the world to do so.

1992: The government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war that had killed at least 75,000 people.

1991: The Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) began, with the first fighter aircraft launched from Saudi Arabia and off U.S. and British aircraft carriers on bombing missions over Iraq. The goal was to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

1979: Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the leader of Iran since 1941, was forced to flee the country. Two weeks later, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the Islamic revolution, returned after 15 years of exile and took control of Iran.

1978: NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America's first woman in space, and Guion S. Bluford Jr., who became America's first black in space.

1974: "Jaws" by Peter Benchley was published.

1966: The Metropolitan Opera House opened at Lincoln Center in New York City.

1965: "The Outer Limits" last aired on ABC-TV.

1964: The musical ''Hello, Dolly!'' starring Carol Channing opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.

1939: The comic strip "Superman" debuted.

1920: The League of Nations held its first meeting, in Paris.

1920: Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America took effect; it was later repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition found the magnetic South Pole.

1809: During the Peninsular War, the British defeated the French at the Battle of La Coruna.

1786: The legislature of Virginia adopted a religious freedom statute, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and introduced by James Madison. It was the model for the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.

1605: The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.

1581: The English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism.

1547: Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia.

1492: The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, was presented to Queen Isabella.

0027 BCE: The Roman Senate gave Octavian Caesar the title Augustus.

Births:
1909: Ethel Merman [Zimmerman] (American singer/actress) [Annie Get Your Gun, Anything Goes]

1935: A.J. [Anthony Joseph] Foyt (American automobile racer)

1947: Laura Schlessinger (American psychiatrist/radio talk show host)

Deaths:
1806: William Pitt the Younger (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)

1942: Carole Lombard [Jane Alice Peters] (American actress) [My Man Godfrey, To Be or Not to Be] She, her mother, and about 20 other people, were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, returning from a war-bond promotion tour.

1957: Arturo Toscanini (Italian conductor)

1979: Ted Cassidy (American actor) [The Addams Family: Lurch and Thing]

1997: Ennis Cosby (Only son of American comedian Bill Cosby) He was shot to death on a freeway ramp in Los Angeles while changing a flat tire.


Word of the day: imprecation \im-prih-KAY-shuhn\
Etymology: Derives from Latin imprecatio, from imprecari, "to invoke harm upon, to pray against," from in- + precari, "to pray."
(noun)
1. The act of imprecating, or invoking evil upon someone.
2. A curse.


Mistfox - who had too many clouds to see the comet yesterday

Today is January 17th. That means that Mexico celebrates San Antonio Abad/the Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral, Philippines celebrates Constitution Day, and Poland celebrates Liberation Day.


2006: The Supreme Court protected Oregon's assisted-suicide law, ruling that doctors there who helped terminally ill patients die could not be arrested under federal drug laws.

2001: Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people.

2000: British pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Wellcome PLC and SmithKline Beecham PLC agreed to a merger that would create the world's largest drug maker.

1997: A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history.

1997: Israel handed over its military headquarters in Hebron to the Palestinians, ending 30 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank city.

1995: More than 6000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

1994: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred in Northridge, California, killing 61 people.

1985: British Telecom announced the retirement of Britain's famous red telephone boxes.

1984: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the private use of home video cassette recorders to tape TV programs did not violate federal copyright laws.

1973: Ferdinand Marcos became "President for Life" of the Philippines.

1972: A section of Memphis' Highway 51 South was renamed Elvis Presley Blvd.

1966: Simon and Garfunkel released their second album, Sounds of Silence, on Columbia Records.

1959: Senegal and the French Sudan joined to form the Federal State of Mali.

1945: Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II.

1945: Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, was arrested by secret police in Hungary.

1929: Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appeared in a newspaper comic strip.

1916: The Professional Golfers' Association of America was founded.

1893: Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown by a group of American businessmen and sugar planters, led by the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, forcing Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory and in 1959 entered the United States as the 50th state.

1871: San Franciscan Andrew Smith Hallidie patented the first cable car.

1819: Simon Bolivar (the "Liberator") proclaimed Columbia a republic.

1773: Captain Cook's ship Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle.

1746: Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie", defeated a Hanoverian army at Falkirk in his ultimately unsuccessful campaign to recover the throne for the Jacobite dynasty.

1377: The Papal See was transferred from Avignon in France back to Rome.

Births:
1706: Benjamin Franklin (American statesman/signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the U.S.A./ printer/author/publisher/scientist/inventor/founder of the University of Pennsylvania)

1899: Al Capone (American gangster)

1931: James Earl [Todd] Jones (American actor) [Dr. Strangelove, voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, Mufasa in The Lion King]

1933: Shari Lewis [Sonia Hurwitz] (American ventriloquist/puppeteer/children's television show host)

1942: Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] (American boxer)

1962: Jim Carrey (Canadian/American film actor/comedian/writer/producer) [Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Bruce Almighty, The Mask]

Deaths:
1893: Rutherford B. Hayes (President of the U.S.A.)

1964: T.H. [Terence Hanbury] White (British author) [The Once and Future King]


Word of the day: foofaraw \FOO-fuh-raw\
Etymology: Perhaps from Spanish fanfarrón, "a braggart."
(noun)
1. Excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration.
2. A fuss over a matter of little importance.


Mistfox - who doesn't like a lot of foofaraw

Today is January 18th. That means that it's Winnie the Pooh Day.


2005: The world's largest commercial jet, an Airbus A380 that can carry 800 passengers, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.

2003: A bushfire killed four people and destroyed more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.

1993: The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.

1991: After 62 years in service, Eastern Air Lines shut down, citing financial problems.

1983: The International Olympic Committee restored Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals 70 years after they were taken from him for being paid $25 in semipro baseball.

1978: The European Court of Human Rights found the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.

1974: "The $6 Million Man" starring Lee Majors premiered on ABC TV.

1973: John Cleese appeared in his final episode on "Monty Python's Flying Circus," on BBC.

1967: Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Massachusetts of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. He was sentenced to life and killed by a fellow inmate in 1973.

1943: A wartime ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread in the U.S. went into effect. It was aimed at reducing the bakeries' demand for metal replacement parts.

1912: English explorer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole, only to find out that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had gotten there a month earlier. Scott and his party perished during the return trip.

1911: The first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.

1896: The first college basketball game was played, between the University of Iowa and University of Chicago.

1896: The X-ray machine was exhibited for the first time in the U.S.

1886: Modern field hockey was born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.

1788: The first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony.

1777: San Jose, California was founded.

1778: English explorer Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, naming them the Sandwich Islands.

1644: Perplexed Pilgrims in Boston reported America's first UFO sighting.

1535: Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, Peru.

Births:
1779: Peter Mark Roget (English lexicographer/thesaurus compiler)

1882: A.A. [Alan Alexander] Milne (British author) [The House at Pooh Corner, Now We are Six]

1904: Cary Grant [Archibald Leach] (British-born American actor) [The Philadelphia Story, Suspicion, Operation Petticoat, Father Goose]

1913: Danny Kaye [David Kaminski] (American comedian/dancer/singer/actor) [Hans Christian Andersen, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Inspector General, White Christmas, The Court Jester]

Deaths:
1862: John Tyler (President of the U.S./member of the Congress of the Confederate States of America)

1936: Rudyard Kipling (English author/poet) [The Jungle Book, Kim, "Gunga Din"]

2003: Richard Crenna (American actor) [The Real McCoys, The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, First Blood, Hot Shots! Part Deux]

1952: Curly Howard [Jerome Lester Horwitz] (American comedian/actor) [The Three Stooges]


Word of the day: cudgel \KUH-juhl\
Etymology: Derives from Old English cycgel.
(noun)
1. A short heavy stick used as a weapon; a club.
2. To beat with or as if with a cudgel.


Mistfox - who's getting the first snowfall of the season

Today is January 19th. That means that Singapore celebrates the Singapore Kite Festival, Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day, Ethiopia-Eritrea celebrates Timket (sometimes celebrated on Jan. 20), and the Philippines celebrate the Ati-Atihan Festival.


2006: Osama bin Laden, in an audiotape that was his first in more than a year, said al-Qaida was preparing for attacks in the United States; at the same time, he offered a "long-term truce" without specifying the conditions.

2000: Michael Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy, surrendered to police in Greenwich, Connecticut, to face charges in the 1975 death of a 15-year-old girl.

1985: "Born In The USA" by Bruce Springsteen peaked at #9.

1983: The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Computer, Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, was announced.

1983: Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Gestapo chief of Lyons, France, during the German occupation, was arrested in Bolivia for his crimes against humanity.

1977: Snow fell in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that this has occurred.

1966: Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.

1955: The Scrabble board game debuted.

1953: 68% of all United States television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.

1937: Millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles, California to Newark, New Jersey, in seven hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

1935: Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs.

1915: George Claude patented the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

1903: A new bicycle race, the "Tour de France", was announced.

1883: The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires began service in Roselle, New Jersey. It was built by Thomas Edison.

1861: Georgia seceded from the Union.

1840: During an expedition, Captain Charles Wilkes sighted the coast of eastern Antarctica and claimed it for the United States.

1825: Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett patented a process for canning food in tin containers.

1793: King Louis XVI was tried by the French Convention, found guilty of treason and sentenced to the guillotine.

1783: William Pitt became the youngest Prime Minister of England at age 24.

1419: Rouen surrendered to Henry V, completing his conquest of Normandy.

Births:
1736: James Watt (Scottish inventor of the steam engine)

1807: Robert E. Lee (American commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies)

1809: Edgar Allan Poe (American poet/author) [The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart]

1839: Paul Cézanne (French painter)

1943: Janis Joplin (American blues and pop singer)

1946: Dolly Parton (American songwriter/singer/actress) [9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias]

Deaths:
1998: Carl Perkins (American pioneer of rockabilly music) ["Blue Suede Shoes"]

2006: Wilson Pickett (American R&B and soul singer) ["In the Midnight Hour", "Mustang Sally"]


Word of the day: penchant \PEN-chunt\
Etymology: From the present participle of French pencher, "to incline, to bend," from (assumed) Late Latin pendicare, "to lean," from Latin pendere, "to weigh."
(noun)
1. Inclination; decided taste; a strong liking.


Mistfox - who has a penchant for chocolate

Today is January 20th. That means that Bulgaria celebrates Babin Den, Brazil celebrates St. Sebastian Day, the United States celebrates Inauguration Day, Azerbaijan celebrates Martyrs' Day, Guinea-Bissau celebrates National Heroes Day, and Lesotho celebrates Army Day.


2001: Hundreds of thousands of protesting Filipinos forced President Joseph Estrada to step down; Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was sworn in as the new president.

1996: Yasser Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian National Council, becoming the first democratically elected leader of the Palestinian people in history.

1991: Sudan's government imposed Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.

1986: The United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

1986: The United Kingdom and France announced plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.

1981: Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

1977: President Jimmy Carter was sworn in and then surprised the nation as he walked from the U.S. Capitol to the White House.

1965: The Byrds recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man".

1964: The "Meet The Beatles" album was released in the U.S.

1958: Elvis Presley received his draft notice.

1945: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only president to be elected to three terms in office, was inaugurated to his fourth term.

1942: Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee Conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Jews.

1937: Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. president sworn into office in January. Inaugurations had previously been on March 4. It was FDR's second of four inaugurations.

1936: Edward VIII became King of the United Kingdom.

1930: The first radio broadcast of "The Lone Ranger" was made.

1921: The first constitution of Turkey was adopted, which made fundamental change in the source and exercise of sovereignty.

1887: The U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.

1885: L.A. Thompson patented the roller coaster.

1841: The island of Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain; it returned to Chinese control in July 1997.

1356: Edward Balliol resigned as King of Scotland.

1265: The first English parliament met in Westminster Hall, convened by the Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort.

Births:
1896: George Burns [Nathan Birnbaum] (American comedian/entertainer) [The Sunshine Boys; Oh, God!]

1920: [Jackson] DeForest Kelly (American actor) [Star Trek]

1930: "Buzz" [Edwin] Aldrin, Jr. (American astronaut) The second man to walk on the moon.

1934: Tom Baker (British actor) [Nicholas and Alexandra, Doctor Who]

1956: Bill Maher (American comedian/actor/writer/political analyst)

Deaths:
1907: Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (Russian chemist) Inventor of the Periodic table

1936: George V (King of the United Kingdom)

1984: Johnny Weissmuller [Janos Weissmueller] (Romanian-born American swimmer/actor) [Tarzan the Ape Man, Jungle Jim]

1993: Audrey Hepburn [Audrey Kathleen Ruston], (Belgian-born British actress) [My Fair Lady, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's]

2003: Al Hirschfeld (American graphic artist)


Word of the day: pettifogger \PET-ee-fog-ur\
Etymology: Probably from petty + obsolete fogger, "pettifogger."
(noun)
1. A petty, unscrupulous lawyer; a shyster.
2. A person who quibbles over trivia.


Mistfox - who is just kind of zoning out today

Today is January 21st. That means that it's National Hugging Day.


2005: In Belize's capital city, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.

2004: The recording industry sued 532 computer users it said were illegally distributing songs over the Internet.

2003: The U.S. Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America's largest minority group.

1994: Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity for severing the penis of her husband John Bobbitt.

1977: President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

1976: The first supersonic Concordes with commercial passengers simultaneously took off from London's Heathrow and the Paris Orly airports.

1968: Simon & Garfunkel released the original soundtrack to The Graduate, which quickly went to #1 on the pop charts and which would bring Simon a Grammy for Best Original Score.

1954: The USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, was launched at Groton, Connecticut.

1919: Meeting in the Mansion House Dublin, the Sinn Fein adopted Ireland's first constitution.

1908: New York City passed a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to be vetoed by the mayor.

1861: The future president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, and four other Southerners resigned from the U.S. Senate.

1789: The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, was printed in Boston, Massachusetts.

1785: Chippewa, Delaware, Ottawa, and Wyandot Indians signed the treaty of Fort McIntosh, ceding present-day Ohio to the United States.

1189: Philip II of France and Richard I of England began to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade.

Births:
1824: "Stonewall" [Thomas] Jackson (Confederate General of the Civil War)

1905: Christian Dior (French fashion designer)

1941: Placido Domingo (Spanish operatic tenor)

1957: "Geena" [Virginia Elizabeth] Davis (American film actress) [The Accidental Tourist, Thelma and Louise, Earth Girls are Easy, Cutthroat Island] In 1999 she placed 24th out of 28 semi-finalists in tryouts for the United States Olympic Archery team.

Deaths:
1793: Louis XVI (King of France) Executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris, one day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention.

1924: Vladimir Lenin (First leader of the USSR)

1950: George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair] (Indian-born British novelist/essayist) [Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four]

1997: "Colonel" Tom Parker [Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk] (Dutch-born manager of Elvis Presley)

2002: Peggy Lee [Norma Dolores Engstrom] (American singer/songwriter/actress) ["Why Don't You Do Right?", "Fever", Lady and the Tramp]


Word of the day: bellicose \BEL-ih-kohs\
Etymology: From Latin bellicosus, from bellicus, "of war," from bellum, "war."
(adjective)
1. Inclined to or favoring war or strife; warlike; pugnacious.


Mistfox - who is not known to be bellicose

Today is January 22nd. That means that Netherlands celebrates Elfstedentocht, New Zealand celebrates Anniversary Day, St. Vincent celebrates Discovery Day, and Ukraine celebrates Ukrainian Day.


2006: Evo Morales was inaugurated as President of Bolivia.

2002: Kmart Corp became the largest retailer in American history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

1998: Theodore Kaczynski pleaded guilty in California to being the Unabomber, in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

1997: The Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the nation's first female Secretary of State.

1984: The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with the famous television commercial "1984".

1973: The Supreme Court handed down its Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion during the first two trimesters.

1970: The first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 took place, starting in New York and landing in London about 6.5 hours later.

1968: The comedy show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" premiered on TV.

1964: The world's largest cheese (15,723 kg) was manufactured in Wisconsin.

1953: The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opened on Broadway.

1947: KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, began operation in Hollywood, California.

1939: The uranium atom was first split at Columbia University.

1931: Sir Isaac Isaacs was sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.

1905: The first Russian Revolution began when czarist troops opened fire on a peaceful group of workers marching to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition their grievances to Czar Nicholas II. It became known as "Bloody Sunday."

1901: Edward VII became King after his mother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, died.

1840: The first British colonists to New Zealand arrived at Port Nicholson on Auckland Island.

1807: President Thomas Jefferson exposed a plot by Aaron Burr to form a new republic in the Southwest.

1689: England's "Bloodless Revolution" reached its climax when parliament invited William and Mary to become joint sovereigns.

1673: Postal service between New York and Boston was inaugurated.

0871: During the Battle at Basing, a Danish invasion army beat Ethelred of Wessex.

Births:
1440: Ivan III [Ivan the Great] (Grand prince of Moscow)

1561: Francis Bacon (English philosopher/writer)

1788: Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (British poet) [Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Don Juan]

Deaths:
1901: Victoria I (Queen of the United Kingdom)

1973: Lyndon B Johnson (President of the U.S.A.)

2003: Bill Mauldin (American World War II cartoonist)

2004: Ann Miller [Johnnie Lucille Collier] (American actress/singer/dancer) [Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade, On the Town.]


Word of the day: censure \SEN-shur\
Etymology: From Latin censura, "censorship, judgment," from censere, "to form or express an opinion, to appraise."
(noun)
1. The act of blaming or finding fault with and condemning as wrong; reprehension; blame.
2. An official reprimand or expression of disapproval.
(transitive verb)
3. To find fault with and condemn as wrong; to blame; to criticize severely.
4. To express official disapproval of.


Mistfox - who is not moving real fast this morning

Today is January 23rd. That means that Bulgaria celebrates Babin Den and Brazil celebrates the Festa do Bonfim.


2006: Stephen Harper's Conservative Party won the most seats in the Canadian federal election becoming the 22nd Prime Minister with a minority government.

2005: Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as president of Ukraine.

2002: Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and subsequently murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.

1986: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley became the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1978: Sweden banned aerosol sprays because of damage to environment; it was the first country to do so.

1977: The TV mini-series ''Roots,'' based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.

1973: President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War.

1968: North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship "Pueblo," charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was released 11 months later.)

1964: The 24th amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, eliminating poll taxes for voting in federal elections.

1950: The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

1879: National Archery Association formed in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

1855: The first bridge over the Mississippi River opened in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.

1849: English-born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree, from the Geneva College in New York.

1845: The U.S. Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

1843: The flip of a coin determined whether a new city in Oregon was named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning

1789: Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington D.C.

1719: The Principality of Liechtenstein was created within the Holy Roman Empire.

1570: The assassination of regent James Stewart, the 1st Earl of Moray threw Scotland into civil war.

1556: The Shaanxi earthquake, the deadliest earthquake in history, occurred with its epicenter in Shaanxi province, China. 830,000 people may have been killed.

1510: Henry VIII of England, 18, appeared incognito in the lists at Richmond, and was applauded for his jousting before he reveals himself.

Births:
1832: Édouard Manet (French impressionist artist)

1950: Richard Dean Anderson (American actor) [General Hospital, MacGyver, Stargate SG-1]

1957: Caroline (Princess of Monaco)

Deaths:
1944: Edvard Munch (Norwegian artist) [The Scream]

1989: Salvador Dali (Spanish artist)

2004: Bob Keeshan (American television personality) [Captain Kangaroo]

2005: Johnny Carson (American television talk show host) [The Tonight Show]


Word of the day: supine \soo-PYN; SOO-pyn\
Etymology: Derives from Latin supinus, "lying on the back."
(adjective)
1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward.
2. Indolent; listless; inactive; mentally or morally lethargic.


Mistfox - who would rather be supine today

Today is January 24th. That means that Bolivia celebrates the Alacitas Fair.


2006: Disney agreed to purchase Pixar for $7.4 billion.

2003: The new U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially opened and its head, Tom Ridge, was sworn in.

1984: The first Apple Macintosh went on sale.

1964: The first "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue was published.

1935: The Kreuger Brewing Company first sold Beer in cans, in Virginia.

1922: Christian K. Nelson of Iowa patented the Eskimo Pie.

1916: In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court of the United States declared the federal income tax void.

1908: Robert Baden-Powell organized the first Boy Scout troop in England.

1888: Jacob L. Wortman patented the typewriter ribbon.

1848: James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of '49.

1458: Matthias I Corvinus became king of Hungary.

Births:
0076: Hadrian (Roman emperor)

1712: Frederick the Great (King of Prussia)

1862: Edith Wharton (American novelist) [The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence]

1941: Neil Diamond (American singer/songwriter) [Sweet Caroline", "Song Sung Blue"]

1949: John Belushi (American actor/comedian/singer) [Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon's Animal House, The Blues Brothers]

Deaths:
0041: Caligula (Emperor of Rome) He was assassinated by his own guards.

1965: Winston Churchill (English statesman/author/Prime Minister of the U.K.)

1975: Larry Fine [Louis Feinberg] (American comedian/actor) [The Three Stooges]

1989: Ted Bundy (American serial killer) Executed in Florida's electric chair.

1986: L. Ron Hubbard (American writer/founder of Scientology)

1993: Thurgood Marshall (U.S. jurist/civil rights leader/first black member of the U.S. Supreme Court)


Word of the day: piebald \PY-bald\
Etymology: From pie "magpie" + bald "spotted, white".
(adjective)
1. Having spots and patches of black and white, or other colors; mottled.
2. Mixed; composed of incongruous parts.


Mistfox - who isn't quite piebald, though she does have a couple of white patches in her hair

Today is January 25th. That means that Burns Night is celebrated wherever there are people of Scottish descent.


2006: The Islamic militant group Hamas won a large majority of seats in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

2005: A stampede during a pilgrimage in India killed at least 215 people.

1999: An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter Scale hit western Colombia, killing at least 1,000 people.

1995: The defense presented its opening statement in the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles.

1971: Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate.

1961: Walt Disney's "101 Dalmatians" was released to theaters.

1961: President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television.

1959: American Airlines opened the jet age in the United States with the first scheduled transcontinental flight of a Boeing 707.

1949: At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards were presented.

1949: The first Israeli election was held. David Ben-Gurion became Prime Minister.

1945: Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first U.S. city to fluoridate its water.

1942: Thailand declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom.

1925: The first Winter Olympics opened at Chamonix in the French Alps.

1917: The United States of America purchased the Danish West Indies (now the Virgin Islands) for $25 million.

1915: Alexander Graham Bell inaugurated U.S. transcontinental telephone service.

1905: The largest diamond, the Cullinan (3106 carets), was found in South Africa.

1890: Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the "New York World" completed a round-the-world journey in 72 days, six hours, 11 minutes.

1870: Gustavus Dows patented the soda fountain.

1858: The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn became a popular wedding recessional after it was played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.

1825: The first U.S. engineering college opened - Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, NY

1791: The British Parliament split the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.

1533: Henry VIII secretly married Anne Boleyn.

1327: Edward III became King of England.

Births:
1759: Robert Burns (Scottish poet) [Auld Lang Syne]

1874: W. [William] Somerset Maugham (British author) [Of Human Bondage]

1882: Virginia Woolf [Adeline Virginia Stephen] (English author) [The Voyage Out, A Room of One's Own, Three Guineas, Mrs. Dalloway]

Deaths:
477: Geiseric (King of the Vandals and Alans)

1947: Al Capone (American gangster)


Word of the day: dissimulate \dih-SIM-yuh-layt\
Etymology: From Latin dissimulare, "to conceal, to pretend that things are not as they are," from dis- + simulare, "to make like, to copy," from similis, "like." The noun form is dissimulation.
(transitive verb)
1. To conceal under a false appearance.
(intransitive verb)
2. To hide one's feelings or intentions; to put on a false appearance; to feign; to pretend.


Mistfox - who doesn't dissimulate well