Today is January 6th. That means that it's Apple Tree Day, National Shortbread Day, and National Bean Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2006: Tropical Storm Zeta (2005) dissipated, ending the notorious 2005 hurricane season.

2004: Mijailo Mijailovic confessed to the fatal stabbing of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in September, 2003.

2001: With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress certified Republican George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.

1996: Don Shula announced his retirement after 25 years of being the Miami Dolphins head coach. He also retired as the winningist coach in the NFL.

1978: The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) was returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.

1942: Pan American Airlines became the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.

1936: Warner Bros. Loony Tunes character 'Porky Pig' made his debut.

1929: Mother Teresa arrived in Calcutta to begin her work amongst India's poorest and diseased people.

1929: Sheffeld Farms of New York began using wax paper cartons instead of glass bottles for milk delivery.

1649: The Rump Parliament voted to put Charles I on trial.

1066: Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England.

Births:
1745: Étienne Montgolfier (French inventor)

1832: Gustave Doré (French artist/engraver/illustrator/sculptor)

Deaths:
1884: Gregor Johann Mendel (Austrian botanist)

1901: Philip Danforth Armour (American industrialist) Pioneered the use of refrigeration and meat canning.


Word of the day: friable \FRY-uh-buhl\
Etymology: From Latin friabilis, from friare, "to rub, break, or crumble into small pieces."
(adjective)
1. Easily crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder.


Mistfox - who messed up the date yesterday, sorry

So that's why I wrote the date on my check at the grocery store wrong yesterday!

Today is January 7th. That means that it's National Tempura Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


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

2005: Actor Brad Pitt and actress Jennifer Aniston announced they were separating after four years of marriage.

1979: Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

1972: "American Pie" by Don McLean hit #1 on the charts.

1958: Ant Farms went on sale. Milton Levine had the idea at a July 4th family picnic.

1924: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) was founded in Paris by seven member states: Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain, and Switzerland.

1904: The distress signal "CQD" was established, only to be replaced two years later by "SOS"

1797: The modern Italian flag was first used.

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

1618: Francis Bacon became Lord Chancellor of England.

1608: Fire destroyed Jamestown, Virginia.

Births:
1768: Joseph Bonaparte ( King of Naples)

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

1937: Paul Revere (American musician) [Paul Revere & the Raiders]

1939: Michael Glücksburg (Prince of Greece and Denmark/author)

Deaths:
1536: Catherine of Aragon (Consort of Henry VIII of England)

1989: Hirohito [Showa] (Emperor of Japan)


Word of the day: scrabble \SKRAB-uhl\
Etymology: Derives from Dutch schrabbelen, from Middle Dutch, frequentative of schrabben, "to scrape; to scratch."
(intransitive verb)
1. To scrape or scratch with the hands or feet.
2. To struggle by or as if by scraping or scratching.
3. To proceed by clawing with the hands and feet; to scramble.
4. To make irregular, crooked, or unmeaning marks; to scribble; to scrawl.
5. To mark with irregular lines or letters; to scribble on or over.
6. To make or obtain by scraping together hastily.
7. The act or an instance of scrabbling.
8. A scribble.


Mistfox – who has to run to aqua aerobics this morning

Today is January 8th. That means that it's National English Toffee Day and the Feast of St. Erhard of Regensburg, patron of bakers.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2006: A magnitude 6.9 earthquake with its epicenter just off the Greek island of Kythira hit much of the country and was felt throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean Sea.

2004: Her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, christened RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built.

1999: The top two executives of Salt Lake City's Olympic Organizing Committee resigned after disclosures that civic boosters had given cash to members of the International Olympic Committee.

1994: Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 left for the Mir space station. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.

1992: President George H.W. Bush, suffering from stomach flu, collapsed during a state dinner in Tokyo.

1877: Crazy Horse and his warriors fought their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory).

1835: The U.S. national debt was 0 for the first and only time.

1800: The first soup kitchens in London were opened to serve the poor.

1297: Monaco gained its independence.

0871: At the Battle of Ashdown, Ethelred of Wessex defeated a Danish invasion army.

Births:
1862: Frank Nelson Doubleday (American publisher)

1935: Elvis Presley (American singer/guitarist)

1944: Terry Brooks (American writer) [The Sword of Shannara]

Deaths:
1825: Eli Whitney (American inventor)

1894: Pierre Joseph van Beneden (Belgian parasitologist) He discovered the life cycle of tapeworms.

1976: Chou En-lai (Chinese premier)


Word of the day: mimetic \mim-ET-ik\
Etymology: From Greek mimetikos, from mimesis, "imitation," from mimos, a kind of drama; also, "an imitator, a copyist, an actor." Related words include mimic and mime.
(adjective)
1. Apt to imitate; given to mimicry; imitative.
2. Characterized by mimicry; -- applied to animals and plants; as, "mimetic species; mimetic organisms."


Mistfox - who is moving slow after her first aqua aerobics of the year yesterday

Ok, yeah.........

I really shouldn't read the magnetic poetry kit quote before I read the rest of Misty's post. Because I saw this:



And then I read this:



....and of course I read it as mimetic orgasams.

Happy Birthday Elvis!!!!!!!

Today is January 9th. That means that it's National Apricot Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, which went on sale the following June.

2005: Elections were held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Rawhi Fattouh succeeded him.

1969 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye hit #1 on the charts.

1968: The Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.

1968: The only known snowfall occurred in Mexico City, with additional snow falling on Jan. 10 and 11.

1905: According to the Julian Calendar, which was used at the time, Russian workers staged a march on the Winter Palace that ended in the massacre by Tsarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.

1903: Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the famous poet Alfred Tennyson, became the second Governor-General of Australia.

1880: The Great Gale of 1880 devastated parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow.

1863: The first section of the London Underground Railway opened -- between Paddington and Farringdon Street.

1861: Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.

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

1838: The first Flea Circus in the U.S. opened at 187 Broadway in New York City.

1822: The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decided to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese king João VI, starting the Brazilian independence process.

1788: Connecticut became the fifth state to join the United States.

1349: The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing bubonic plague, was rounded up and incinerated.

475: Byzantine Emperor Zeno was forced to flee his capital at Constantinople.

Births:
1936: Anne Rivers Siddons [Sybil Anne Rivers] (American author) [Heartbreak Hotel, Peachtree Road, The House Next Door]

1944: Jimmy Page (English guitarist/composer/record producer) [The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin]

Deaths:
1995: Peter Cook (British actor/comedian) [Beyond the Fringe, Bedazzled]


Word of the day: equipollent \ee-kwuh-POL-uhnt, ek-wuh-\
Etymology: From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin aequipollens, aequipollent- : aequi-, equi- + pollens, present participle of pollere, to be powerful.
(adjective)
1. Equal in power, effect, etc.; equivalent.
2. Logic. (of propositions, propositional forms, etc.) Logically equivalent in any of various specified ways.
(noun)
3. An equivalent.


Mistfox - who has to drag her sore muscles off to aqua aerobics shortly

Pssst.....it's January 9th, not the 8th.

Isn't it? LOL Don't tell me I lost another day this week. I woke up on Monday and thought it was Friday. That's a bad sign, man.

Thanks, Suz!

I'm blaming my watch. It kept showing me the wrong date (a day behind) and then I'd fix it and it'd show me a day ahead. Turns out I had the AM and PM switched. Sigh. But I fixed that yesterday. Oh. Um. Hm. The date was probably wrong today because I hit the wrong key. Or something. Hey, you're lucky I get on in the morning and type coherent sentences. (Considering most of "On This Day" is cut and paste, that's saying something.)

Mistfox - who has definitely not been the sharpest crayon in the box for the last couple of days

Today is January 10th. That means that it's National Bittersweet Chocolate Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: President George W. Bush announced he would send 21,500 additional U.S. forces to Iraq to quell violence there.

2005: A mudslide occurred in La Conchita, CA, killing 10 people, injuring many more and closing the Highway 101, the main coastal corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles, for 10 days.

2001: Wikipedia started as part of Nupedia. It became a separate site five days later.

1999: The HBO television series The Sopranos first aired.

1984: The U.S. and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations after 117 years.

1946: The first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.

1941: Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic and Old Lace," premiered in NYC.

1923: Four years after the end of World War I, President Warren G. Harding ordered U.S. occupation troops stationed in Germany to return home.

1901: The first great Texas oil gusher was discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.

1863: London's Metropolitan, the first underground passenger railroad opened at 6 a.m.

1861: Florida seceded from the Union.

1845: Poets Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning began corresponding.

1806: Dutch settlers in Cape Town surrendered to the British.

Births:
1738: Ethan Allen (American Revolution military leader)

1815: Sir John Alexander Macdonald (First Prime Minister of Canada)

1936: Stephen Ambrose (American historian/author) [D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, The Victors, Undaunted Courage, Band of Brothers]

Deaths:
1778: Carolus Linnaeus [Carl von Linné] (Swedish botanist/physician/zoologist) Developed the modern system for defining and naming plants.

1951: [Harry] Sinclair Lewis (American writer) [Babbitt, Main Street, Elmer Gantry]


Word of the day: remonstrate \rih-MAHN-strayt; REH-mun-strayt\
Etymology: From Medieval Latin remonstrare, "to show again, to point back to, as a fault," from re- + monstrare, "to show."
(intransitive verb)
1. To present and urge reasons in opposition to an act, measure, or any course of proceedings -- usually used with 'with'.
2. To say or plead in protest, opposition, or reproof.


Mistfox - who hasn’t had to remonstrate her kids lately – maybe they’re finally growing up

Today is January 11th. That means that it's National Hot Toddy Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: English soccer star David Beckham announced a five-year deal to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

2001: The Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of AOL and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner.

2001: The Army acknowledged that U.S. soldiers killed an "unknown number" of South Korean refugees early in the Korean War at No Gun Ri.

1986: The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia was officially opened.

1974: The world's first surviving set of sextuplets was born to Susan Rosenkowitz in Cape Town, South Africa.

1972: East Pakistan renamed itself Bangladesh.

1943: The United States and United Kingdom gave up territorial rights in China.

1917: The French government regulated the price of Gruyere cheese as a war rationing method.

1902: Popular Mechanics magazine was published for the first time.

1861: Alabama seceded from the United States.

1805: The Michigan Territory was created.

1693: Mt. Etna erupted in Sicily, Italy. A powerful earthquake destroyed parts of Sicily and Malta

1569: The first recorded lottery was held in England.

1055: Theodora was crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.

Births:
1807: Ezra Cornell (American businessman/university founder)

1815: John A. Macdonald (First Prime Minister of Canada)

1870: Alexander Stirling Calder (American sculptor)

1961: Jasper Fforde (British author) [The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, The Big Over Easy]

Deaths:
1874: Gail Borden (American inventor/entrepreneur) Inventor of the process for making condensed milk, and founder of New York Condensed Milk Co., later to become the Borden Co.

2008: Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand mountaineer) The first person to climb Mt Everest in 1953


Word of the day: imprimatur \im-prih-MAH-tur; -MAY-\
Etymology: From New Latin imprimatur, "let it be printed," from imprimere, "to imprint," from Latin, from in- + premere, "to press."
(noun)
1. Official license or approval to print or publish a book, paper, etc.; especially, such a license issued by the Roman Catholic episcopal authority.
2. Approval; sanction.
3. A mark of approval or distinction.


Mistfox - who was surprised to see the entry for Sir Edmund Hilary in Wikipedia already

Today is January 12th. That means that it's National Marzipan Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Comet McNaught reached perihelion, becoming the brightest comet in more than 40 years.

2004: The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, made its maiden voyage.

1991: A deeply divided Congress gave President George H.W. Bush the authority to use force to expel Iraq from Kuwait. (The Senate vote was 52-47; the House followed suit 250-183.)

1967: Dr. James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.

1966: Batman (the TV series) debuted on ABC.

1966: Lyndon B. Johnson stated that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there was ended.

1948: The Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race.

1915: The Rocky Mountain National Park was formed by an act of U.S. Congress.

1895: The National Trust was founded in Britain.

1875: Kwang-su became emperor of China.

1777: Mission Santa Clara de Asís was founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.

0475: Basiliscus became Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople.

Births:
1916: Ruth Rogan Benerito (American chemist) She was a pioneer in the development of wash and wear fabrics and helped develop cotton fabrics that are stain resistant.

1856: John Singer Sargent (American artist)

1905: "Tex" [Maurice Woodward] Ritter (American country singer/actor) "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle"; "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin')", "Remember the Alamo"]

Deaths:
1519: Maximilian I (Holy Roman Emperor)

1833: Marie-Antoine Carême ["The cook of kings and the king of cooks"] (French chef) He was the founder and architect of French haute cuisine.

2001: Affirmed (American racehorse)

2001: William Hewlett (American engineer/businessman) Co-founder of Hewlett Packard Company.


Word of the day: sartorial \sahr-TAWR-ee-uh l, -TOHR- \
Etymology: From Late Latin sartor, "tailor," lit. "patcher, mender," from Latin sart-, past participle stem of sarcire "to patch, mend."
(adjective)
1. Of or pertaining to tailors or their trade: sartorial workmanship.
2. Of or pertaining to clothing or style or manner of dress: sartorial splendor.
3. Anatomy. Pertaining to the sartorius.


Mistfox - who loves marzipan

Today is January 13th. That means that it's National Peach Melba Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: There was a tsunami event at the Kuril Islands, Russia.

1999: Basketball player Michael Jordan announced his retirement. (He returned to the NBA in 2001.)

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. Coincidentally, a Washington DC Metro Rail train was derailed, killing 3 people.

1968: Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison.

1957: The Frisbee was invented. The pie tins of the Frisbee Pie Company of Connecticut were the inspiration for the creation of the Frisbee. A Wham-O employee supposedly saw drivers for the pie company showing Yale students how to throw the pie tins.

1942: Henry Ford patented a plastic automobile, which was 30% lighter than a regular car.

1939: The Black Friday bush fires burned 20,000 square kilometres of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.

1938: The Church of England accepted the theory of evolution.

1898: Novelist Emile Zola's "J'accuse" - a defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew falsely convicted of treason - was published in a Paris newspaper.

1893: U.S. Marines landed in Honolulu from the U.S.S. Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.

1893: The Independent Labour Party of the UK had its first meeting

1830: The Great fire of New Orleans, Louisiana began.

1610: Galileo Galilei discovered Callisto, the 4th moon of Jupiter.

1607: The Bank of Genoa failed after the announcement of national bankruptcy in Spain.

Births:
1334: Henry II [Enrique de Trastámara] (King of Castile)

1949: Brandon Tartikoff (American television executive) [Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider, The A-Team, St. Elsewhere, Night Court,]

Deaths:
86 BCE: Gaius Marius (Roman general/politician)

1864: Stephen Foster (American composer) ["Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Old Black Joe", "Beautiful Dreamer"]

1929: Wyatt Earp (American farmer/teamster/buffalo hunter/officer of the law/gambler/saloon-keeper/miner)

1978: Hubert H. Humphrey (American Vice President)


Word of the day: supplicate \SUP-luh-kayt\
Etymology: Derives from the past participle of Latin supplicare, from supplex, "entreating for mercy." The noun form is supplication.
(intransitive verb)
1. To make a humble and earnest petition; to pray humbly.
2. To seek or ask for humbly and earnestly.
3. To make a humble petition to; to beseech.


Mistfox - who supplicated for brawn to help her kids move today

Today is January 14th. That means that it's National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day and in Bulgaria it's Vinegrower's Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2005: The Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon Titan and sent back the first detailed pictures of the frozen surface.

2004: The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", was restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.

2004: J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. struck a deal to buy Bank One Corp. for $58 billion.

1970: Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

1967: The Human Be-In, took place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love. Between 20,000 to 30,000 people attended.

1954: The Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form the American Motors Corporation.

1953: President Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia.

1952: The Today Show, the first morning/breakfast television show premiered on NBC.

1943: Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first President of the United States to travel via airplane while in office.

1832: American author Edgar Allan Poe published his first short story, "Metzengerstein".

1814: The last London Frost Fair was held on the frozen Thames River.

1539: Spain annexed Cuba.

Births:
83 BC: Marcus Antonius [Mark Anthony] (Roman politician/general)

1861: David Wesson (American chemist) In 1900 he developed a method to make pure cottonseed oil palatable, and formed the Southern Oil Company. Wesson Oil was the first vegetable oil used in the U.S.

1932: Don ["Big Daddy"] Garlits (American race car driver)

Deaths:
1742: Edmond Halley (English astronomer/geophysicist/mathematician/meteorologist/physicist)

1898: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson [Lewis Carroll] (English mathematician/author) [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]

1984: Ray Kroc (American entrepreneur) [McDonald's]

1986: Donna Reed [Donna Bell Mullenger] (American actress) {The Donna Reed Show, It's a Wonderful Life, From Here to Eternity]


Word of the day: primogeniture \pry-moh-JEN-ih-choor\
Etymology: From Late Latin primogenitura, from Latin primus, "first" + genitura, "a begetting, birth, generation," from the past participle of gignere, "to beget."
(noun)
1. The state of being the firstborn of the same parents; seniority by birth among children of the same family.
2. (Law) An exclusive right of inheritance that belongs to the eldest son.


Mistfox – who would rather go back to bed than go to aqua aerobics this morning

Today is January 15th. That means that it's National Strawberry Ice Cream Day and the UK observes National Soup Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Comet McNaught made perigee after coming close to the sun.

1992: The Yugoslav federation effectively collapsed as the European Community recognized the republics of Croatia and Slovenia.

1991: The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expired, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.

1990: AT&T's long distance telephone network suffered a cascade switching failure.

1990: Campbell's Soup produced its 20 billionth can of tomato soup.

1986: General Mills introduced pop Secret Microwave Popcorn.

1970: After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrendered.

1943: The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, was dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.

1942: Jawaharlal Nehru succeeded Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India's National Congress Party.

1936: The first building to be completely covered in glass was completed in Toledo, Ohio (the building was for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company).

1885: Wilson Bentley took the first photograph of a snowflake.

1799: John Hetherington, a London haberdasher, created the top hat. A large crowd gathered to see this new hat, and he was charged with disturbing the peace (charges later dropped). The hat was an immediate success.

588 BCE: Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasted until July 18, 586 BCE.

Births:
1622: Molière [Jean-Baptiste Poquelin] (French playwright) [The Misanthrope, The School for Wives, Tartuffe or the Hypocrite]

1902: Saud ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman Al Saud (King of Saudi Arabia)

1918: Gamal Abdal Nasser (President of Egypt)

1929: Martin Luther King Jr. (American Baptist minister/civil rights leader)

Deaths:
0069: [Servius Sulpicius] Galba (Roman Emperor)

2005: Ruth Warrick (American singer/actress/activist) [Citizen Kane, The Corsican Brothers, All My Children]

2007: James Hillier (Canadian-born scientist/inventor) Invented the electron microscope


Word of the day: supererogatory \soo-puhr-uh-ROG-uh-tor-ee\
Etymology: From Latin supererogare "to pay over and above", from super- "above" + erogare "to spend", from rogare "to ask". Ultimately from the Indo-European reg- "to move in a straight line, to lead or rule" that is also the source of regime.
(adjective)
1. Going beyond the call of duty.
2. Superfluous.


Mistfox - who frequently is supererogatory (by both definitions)

Today is January 16th. That means that it's National Fig Newton Day and Hot & Spicy International Food Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2003: Space Shuttle Columbia took off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.

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 United States of America declared war on Iraq, beginning the Persian Gulf War.

1968: The Youth International Party (Yippies) was founded.

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

1957: Three B-52's made the first nonstop, around the world flight by jet planes, taking off from Castle Air Force Base in California.

1920: Prohibition began in the U.S., which banned the sale of all alcoholic beverages.

1777: Vermont declared its independence from New York.

1707: The Scottish Parliament ratified the Act of Union, paving way for the creation of Great Britain.

1412: The Medici family was appointed official banker of the Papacy.

0550: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquered Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

Births:
1910: "Dizzy" [Jerome Hanna] Dean (American baseball player)

1943: Ronnie Milsap (American singer/songwriter) ["Smoky Mountain Rain", "Lost In the Fifties Tonight]

Deaths:
1815: Emma, Lady Hamilton [Amy Lyon, Emma Hart] (English mistress of Horatio Nelson)

1967: Robert J. Van de Graaff (American nuclear physicist ) Designed the Van de Graaff generator.

1972: Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. [Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian, David Seville] (American pianist/singer/songwriter/actor/record producer) Created Alvin and The Chipmunks. ["Witch Doctor", "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)"]

2007: Ron Carey [Ronald Joseph Cicenia] (American actor) [High Anxiety, Barney Miller, Johnny Dangerously]


Word of the day: scorbutic \skor-BYOO-tik\
Etymology: From New Latin scorbuticus, from scorbutus, "scurvy", perhaps of Germanic origin. Related to ascorbic acid (the scientific name of vitamin C), the deficiency of which causes scurvy.
(adjective)
1. Pertaining to or afflicted with scurvy.


Mistfox - who is feeling chilly this morning, not scorbutic

Today is January 17th. That means that it's National Hot Buttered Rum Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


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: Norway lifted a ban on exports of whale meat.

1995: A magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated the city of Kobe, Japan; more than 6,000 people were killed.

1994: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Northridge, California. Seventy-two people died as a result of the earthquake and over 11,000 were injured. In addition, the earthquake caused an estimated $12.5 billion in damage, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

1991: Harald V became King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.

1982: "Cold Sunday" in the United States saw temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.

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

1961: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warned against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex".

1950: During the Great Brinks Robbery, 11 thieves stole more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.

1929: Popeye, the spinach loving sailor, first appeared in the comic strip 'Thimble Theatre."

1917: The United States paid Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

1904: Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard received its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.

1852: The United Kingdom recognized the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.

1806: Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Martha, gave birth to James Madison Randolph, the first child born in the White House.

1648: England's Long Parliament passed the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

1377: Pope Gregory XI moved the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.

Births:
1501: Leonhard Fuchs (German botanist) Compiled the first modern glossary of botanical terms. The plant and the color fuchsia were named for him.

1706: Benjamin Franklin (American diplomat, publisher, inventor)

1925: Robert Cormier (American author) [The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, After the First Death]

1970: Genndy Tartakovsky (Russian-born animator) [Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars]

Deaths:
1927: Juliette Gordon Low (American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA)

1933: Louis Comfort Tiffany (American artist/designer) Tiffany designed stained glass windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, jewelry, enamels and metalwork.

1991: Olav V [Alexander Edward Christian Frederik] (King of Norway)

2007: Art Buchwald (American humorist/newspaper columnist) [I'll Always Have Paris, A Gift From The Boys, Too Soon To Say Goodbye]


Word of the day: upbraid \uhp-BRAYD\
Etymology: From Middle English upbreiden, from Old English upbregdan, "to twist up, hence to reproach," from up-, "up" + bregdan, "to move back and forth; to weave."
(transitive verb)
1. To scold or criticize harshly.


Mistfox - who doesn't like to upbraid people

Today is January 18th. That means that it's National Peking Duck Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: European windstorm Kyrill made landfall in the U.K., being the strongest storm in the U.K. for 17 years and the worst storm in Germany since 1999. It killed 14 people in the U.K., 13 in Germany, and caused at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.

1998: Matt Drudge broke the Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website The Drudge Report.

1990: The first McDonald’s in Moscow opened.

1982: The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds "Diamond Crash" killed four team members.

1944: Soviet forces liberated Leningrad, effectively ending a three year Nazi siege, known as the Siege of Leningrad.

1944: The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosted a jazz concert for the first time; the performers were Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.

1916: A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite stuck a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.

1903: Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States, sent a radio message to King Edward VII, the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.

1871: Wilhelm I of Germany was proclaimed the first German Emperor in the “Hall of Mirrors” of the Palace of Versailles towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War.

1861: Georgia joined South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in seceding from the United States.

1777: Representatives of the New Hampshire Grants declared the independence of the Vermont Republic from Britain.

1701: Frederick I became King of Prussia.

1670: Henry Morgan captured Panama.

1486: King Henry VII of England married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV.

350: Generallus Magnentius deposed Roman Emperor Constans and proclaimed himself Emperor.

Births:
1795: Anna Pavlovna of Russia (Queen of The Netherlands)

1908: Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västerbotten)

1955: Kevin Costner (American actor) [Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Postman, Waterworld]

1974: Claire [Claire Louise Coombs] (Princess of Belgium)

Deaths:
0350: Constans [Flavius Julius Constans] Roman Emperor

1927: Carlotta [Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine] (Empress of Mexico)


Word of the day: nonagenarian \non-uh-juh-NAIR-ee-uhn; no-nuh-\
Etymology: Derives from Latin nonagenarius, "containing or consisting of ninety," from nonageni-, "ninety each", ultimately from novem, "nine," as in November, originally the ninth month of the old Roman calendar.
(noun)
1. A ninety year old person; someone whose age is in the nineties.


Mistfox - who feels like a nonagenarian some mornings

Today is January 19th. That means that it's National Popcorn Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.

2007: Former Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for his role in a lobbying scandal.

2006: NASA launched the New Horizons probe on the first mission to Pluto.

2006: Jet Airways announced its purchase of Air Sahara, creating the largest domestic airline in India.

1997: Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron after more than 30 years and joined celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

1978: The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany left VW's plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America would continue until 2003.

1915: During World War I, German zeppelins bombed the cities of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.

1853: Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premiered in Rome.

1817: An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crossed the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.

1812: During the Peninsular War, after a ten-day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, ordered British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.

1806: The United Kingdom occupied the Cape of Good Hope.

Births:
1807: Robert E. Lee (American Civil War general)

1809: Edgar Allan Poe (American writer/poet) [The Tell-tale Heart, “The Raven”]

1947: Paula Deen (American chef/restaurateur/author) [The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking]

Deaths:
0639: Dagobert I (King of the Franks)

2007: Denny Doherty (Canadian singer) [The Mamas and the Papas]


Word of the day: quietus \kwy-EE-tuhs\
Etymology: From Medieval Latin quietus (est), "(it is) at rest" (said of an obligation that has been discharged), from Latin quietus, "at rest."
(noun)
1. Final discharge or acquittance, as from debt or obligation.
2. Removal from activity; rest; death.
3. Something that serves to suppress or quiet.


Mistfox - who'll believe we're getting snow when she sees it

OTD ... 70 years ago ... my mom was born.

Today would be her 6th birthday in Heaven.

Mom!

--

52 years ago with my dad --



All my love, Mom.

~Sue <<-- misses her mom every single day--but especially yesterday & today

Today is January 20th. That means that it's National Buttercrunch Day and Reindeer Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2006: High School Musical aired on Disney Channel.

2004: The Salvation Army announced it had received a $1.5 billion donation from the estate of Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc.

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

1988: Russian gold miners found the remains of a prehistoric mammoth with flesh so well preserved that it looked edible.

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

1986: Martin Luther King, Jr., day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.

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

1964: The world's largest cheese was made, a 34,000 pound cheddar. It was created by the Wisconsin Cheese Foundation for the 1964/65 New York World's Fair. It took 170,000 quarts of milk from 16,000 cows. It was eaten at the 1965 annual meeting of the Wisconsin Dairymen & Cheesemakers Association.

1929: In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, was released.

1920: The 50-50 Club opened, supposedly the first "speakeasy."

1788: The third and main part of First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decided Botany Bay was unsuitable for location of a penal colony, and decided to move to Port Jackson.

1649: Charles I of England went on trial for treason and other "high crimes".

1502: The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro was first explored.

1320: Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek became king of Poland.

0250: Emperor Decius began a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian was martyred.

Births:
0225: Gordian III [Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius] (Roman Emperor)

1775: André-Marie Ampère (French physicist) Credited as one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. The SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere, is named after him.

1910: Joy Adamson (Austrian naturalist/writer) [Born Free]

1920: Federico Fellini (Italian film director) [Ginger and Fred, Il Casanova di Federico Fellini, Satyricon, Amarcord, La dolce vita]

2002: Tassilo (Prince of Bulgaria)

Deaths:
1479: John II (King of Aragon)

1990: Barbara Stanwyck [Ruby Catherine Stevens] (American actress) [The Lady Eve; The Night Walker; Stella Dallas; Ball of Fire; Double Indemnity; Sorry, Wrong Number; The Big Valley]


Word of the day: jobbernowl \JOB-uh-nowl\
Etymology: From French jobard "stupid, gullible", from Old French jobe "stupid" + noll "top or crown of the head".
(noun)
1. A blockhead.


Mistfox – wonders if Sue liked the picture of “tighty-whities” on her birthday – Happy Belated Birthday, Sue!

Today is January 21st. That means that it's National Granola Bar Day, International Hot & Spicy Food Day, and Rid the World of Fad Diets Day. Martin Luther King day is observed in the U.S and Flag Day is observed in Quebec.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Awashima Marine Park in Japan caught a videotape of the rare frilled shark.

1999: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepted a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg) of cocaine on board.

1997: Newt Gingrich became the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.

1948: The Flag of Quebec was adopted and flown for the first time, over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Quebec Flag Day.

1942: Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded "One O'Clock Jump" in New York City for Okeh Records.

1925: Albania declared itself a republic.

1924: Joseph Stalin began to purge his rivals to clear way for his leadership.

1915: The first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit.

1911: The first Monte Carlo Rally (Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo) was held.

1907: The Kenora Thistles won the Stanley Cup, representing the smallest town (Kenora, Ontario) ever to win ice hockey's ultimate prize, or any major North American sports title.

1899: Opel manufactured its first automobile .

1887: Brisbane received a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres (18.3 inches), a record for any Australian capital city.

1525: The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.

Births:
1338: Charles V (King of France)

1938: Wolfman Jack [Robert Weston (Bob) Smith] (American disk jockey/actor)

1940: Jack Nicklaus (American golfer)

2004: Ingrid Alexandra (Princess of Norway)

Deaths:
1519: Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Spanish explorer)

1985: James Beard (American chef/author)



Word of the day: cordon bleu \kawr-don-BLOO\
Etymology: From French, literally, "blue ribbon". Under the Bourbon kings in France, knights of the highest order wore a blue ribbon.
(adjective)
1. Of the highest class.
(noun)
2. A person of great distinction in a field, especially applied to a chef.


Mistfox - who is seriously thinking of taking a nap after this morning's aqua aerobics

Today is January 22nd. That means that it's National Blonde Brownie Day

See why I could have used a "blue light" smilie last year HERE.


2007: The jury portion of the trial against Robert Pickton, accused of being Canada's worst serial killer, opened in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

2001: President George W. Bush signed a memorandum reinstating full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid.

1997: Lottie Williams, 48, of Tulas, Oklahoma became the only person known to have been hit by man made debris from space. She was struck on the shoulder while walking in a park, by a small piece of a used Delta II rocket that had been used to launch a military satellite in April, 1996.

1988: Schiphol airport in Amsterdam opened a special departure lounge for cows, serving pre-flight food and drink to traveling cattle.


1987: Pennsylvania politician R. Budd Dwyer shot and killed himself at a press conference on live national television, leading to debates on boundaries in journalism.

1983: Björn Borg retired from tennis after winning five consecutive Wimbledon championships.


1973: The Supreme Court of the United States delivered its decision in Roe v. Wade striking down state laws restricting abortion during the first six months of pregnancy.

1946: The Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency, was created.

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

1890: The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio.

1863: The January Uprising broke out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement was to regain Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation of Russia.

1506: The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrived at the Vatican.

565: John Scholasticus deposed Eutychius as Patriarch of Constantinople.

Births:
1934: Graham Kerr (British-born chef) [The Galloping Gourmet]

1939: Jeff Smith (American chef) [The Frugal Gourmet]

Deaths:
1779: Jeremiah Dixon (English surveyor/astronomer) Surveyed the Mason-Dixon line.

1901: Victoria (Queen of the U.K.)

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


Word of the day: jactitation \jak-ti-TEY-shuhn\
Etymology: From Medieval Latin iactitatio, iactitation-, "false declaration", from Latin iactitatus, past participle of iactitare, "to utter", frequentative of iactare, "to boast", frequentative of iacere, to throw".
(noun)
1. Speaking of yourself in superlatives.
2. (law) A false boast that can harm others; especially a false claim to be married to someone (formerly actionable at law).
3. (pathology) Extremely restless tossing and twitching usually by a person with a severe illness.


Mistfox - who never indulges in jactitation

As a matter of fact, Jean, I did!

~Sue <<-- has to get her thrills any which way she can at *this age*

Today is January 23rd. That means that it's National Rhubarb Pie Day, National Pie Day, and Women's Healthy Weight Day.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: A new rule requiring U.S. airline passengers to show a passport upon their return from Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean took effect.

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

1997: A judge in Fairfax, Va., sentenced Mir Aimal Kasi to death for an assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 that killed two people and wounded three.

1996: The first version of the Java programming language was released.

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

1971: The coldest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was recorded at Prospect Creek Camp on the Alaskan Pipeline in northern Alaska - minus 80 degrees F.

1960: The bathyscaphe USS Trieste broke a depth record by descending to 10,911 m (35,798 feet) in the Pacific Ocean.

1941: Charles Lindbergh testified before the U.S. Congress and recommended that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

1937: In Moscow, 17 leading Communists went on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders.

1897: Elva Zona Heaster was found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.

1862: Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa brought 1,400 varieties of grapevines from Europe to California in 1862, and planted the first large vineyard in California in the Sonoma Valley. After the phyloxera blight destroyed much of Europe’s vineyards, some of these same vines, now on resistant American rootstock, helped save the European wine industries.

1368: In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.

393: Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor.

Births:
1737: John Hancock (American statesman)

1898: Sergei Eisenstein (Russian film director/innovator)

1915: Potter Stewart (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)

Deaths:
1806: William Pitt the Younger (Prime Minister of the U.K.)

1883: Gustave Doré (French artist/engraver/illustrator)

1931: Anna Pavlova (Russian ballerina)


Word of the day: effusive \ih-FYOO-siv\
Etymology: From Latin effusus, past participle of effundere, "to pour out," from ex-, "out" + fundere, "to pour," so literally "pouring out."
(adjective)
1. Excessively demonstrative; giving or involving extravagant or excessive emotional expression; gushing.


Mistfox – who is sorry this is late – I forgot I had to do it after getting back from aqua aerobics

Today is January 24th. That means that it's National Peanut Butter Day.


See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2006: Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito won a 10-8 party-line approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

2004: NASA's Opportunity rover landed on Mars three weeks after its identical twin, Spirit.

1972: The Supreme Court struck down laws that denied welfare benefits to people who had resided in a state for less than a year.

1972: Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi was found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.

1952: Vincent Massey was sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.

1935: The beer can (created by the American Can Co.) was introduced in Richmond, Virginia by the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey. The products were Krueger's Finest Beer and Krueger's Cream Ale.

1927: Director Alfred Hitchcock released his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.

1924: Petrograd, formerly St. Petersburg, Russia, was renamed Leningrad.

1862: Bucharest was proclaimed the capital of Romania.

1857: The University of Calcutta was formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia.

1826: Mississippi College was founded in Clinton, becoming the first college in the state of Mississippi.

1679: King Charles II of England disbanded Parliament.

Births:
1776: E.T.A. Hoffmann (German author/jurist/composer/music critic/draftsman/caricaturist) [The Serapion Brothers, Nocturnes]

1925: Maria Tallchief (American ballerina)

1947: Warren Zevon (American musician/songwriter.) ["Keep Me In Your Heart", "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner", "Werewolves of London"]

Deaths:
0041: Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus [Caligula] (Roman emperor) Known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, he was assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Claudius succeeds his nephew.

1920: Amedeo Modigliani (Italian painter/sculptor)

1965: Winston Churchill (British soldier/politician/historian/Prime Minister of the U.K.)

1988: Charles Glen King (American biochemist) Discovered vitamin C (extracted and isolated it from lemon juice) in 1932.


Word of the day: nolens volens \NO-lenz-VO-lenz\
Etymology: From the Latin, from nolle, "to be unwilling" + velle, "to wish, to be willing."
(adverb)
1. Whether unwilling or willing (mostly the latter), willy-nilly.


Mistfox - who has missed congratulating a lot of people for their birthdays this months, ooops