Fabulous Facts & Timeless Trivia

National Puzzle Day 

Friday, January 29, 2016

The 29 day of the year

337 days left to go 

THIS WEEK IS

• National CRNA (Cerfified Registered Nurse Anesthetists)
• Clean Out Your Inbox Week
• Natinal School Choice Week
• Tax Identity Theft Week
• National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week
• National Medical Group Practice Week

TODAY IS

• Curmudgeons Day (See Quick Trivia below) 
• Fun at Work Day 
• Freethinkers Day
• National Pre-school Fitness Day
• National Puzzle Day 
• Seeing Eye Dog Day
• National Corn Chip Day
• Thomas Paine Day (Bio)

ON THIS DATE...

1802: John Beckley became the first Librarian of Congress.  His salary was two dollars a day (History of Librarian's of Congress)

1845: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" was published for the first time in the "New York Evening Mirror." 
1861: Kansas became the 34th state of the Union. 
1924: R. Taylor patented the ice cream cone rolling machine.  

1936: the Baseball Hall-of-Fame was established in Cooperstown, New York.  The first five players inducted were Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson (Link). 


1945: Lionel Barrymore became the host of radio's "Lux Theatre."  He replaced the previous host, Cecil B. DeMille. 

1949: the U.S.S. Newport News was commissioned as the first air-conditioned naval ship. 


1973: Johnny Rivers received a gold record for his hit "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu." (Song)

1977: one hit wonder Rose Royce hit the number one spot with "Car Wash." (Song)





1983: Men At Work topped the pop singles and pop album charts in both the United States and Britain.  The single was titled "Down Under," the album was named "Business As Usual." (Song)

1995: The San Francisco 49ers became the first team in NFL history to win five Super Bowl titles, beating the San Diego Chargers, 49-26.


1998: a top tobacco company executive admitted under oath to Congress for the first time that cigarettes are dangerous.  

2002: Oscar winner Harold Russell died on this date at the age of 88.  Russell, who lost both his hands in a dynamite explosion while training in the Army, received two Oscars  --  one for Best Supporting Actor and a second, honorary Oscar, for being an inspiration to fellow Army veterans.  He received the honors for his role as double amputee Homer Parish in the 1946 film "The Best Years Of Our Lives."  Russell is the only actor to receive two Oscars for the same role. 

2005: amid threats of violence voting polls opened in Iraq for the country's first multi-party election in 50 years.  

2006: ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and an ABC cameraman were seriously injured after a roadside bomb exploded near the Iraqi town of Taji.  Both men suffered head injuries in the blast and were taken to a U.S. military hospital in Iraq. 

2007: Miss Oklahoma Lauren Nelson was crowned Miss America.  The win made Nelson the second Miss Oklahoma in a row to take the title.  Fellow Oklahoman Jennifer Berry helped crown Nelson.   

2009: the Republican National Committee elected Michael Steele to chair the party.  Upon his election, the 50-year-old former Maryland Lieutenant Governor became the first African-American to serve as chairman of the party. 

2013: the U.S. Senate confirmed John Kerry as Secretary of State.  The Massachusetts Democrat was selected to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  



HISTORY SPOTLIGHT 

The Raven (Source)

Read Bio

Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven," beginning "Once upon a midnight dreary," was published on this day in the New York Evening Mirror.

Poe's dark and macabre work reflected his own tumultuous and difficult life. Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was orphaned at age three and went to live with the family of a Richmond, Virginia, businessman. Poe enrolled in a military academy but was expelled for gambling. He later studied briefly at the University of Virginia.

In 1827, Poe self-published a collection of poems. Six years later, his short story "MS Found in a Bottle" won $50 in a story contest. He edited a series of literary journals, including the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond starting in 1835, and Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in Philadelphia, starting in 1839. Poe's excessive drinking got him fired from several positions. His macabre work, often portraying motiveless crimes and intolerable guilt that induces growing mania in his characters, was a significant influence on such European writers as Charles Baudelaire, Stephane Mallarme, and even Dostoyevsky.



QUICK TRIVIA 

Curmudgeon means, "a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person" (Dictionay.com) (Stadler and Waldorf) 

Curmudgeons Day, some say, is a holiday where you’re supposed to stay home all day and do nothing. Others, however, suggest that you simply be as miserable and grouchy as you like--wherever you feel like it. (sorry, but couldn't find any original sources)




WORD OF THE DAY

Chilliness (based on the adjective--Chilly)
[chil-ee]  Noun

mildly cold or producing a sensation of cold; causing shivering; chill: a chilly breeze. 
feeling cold; sensitive to cold: Her hands were chilly. 

"Their first year in Kansas City, Wayne and Kimberly visited the plaza and had a wonderful time, but were in a contant state of chilliness"

WORD FROM THE WORD 

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.--Proverbs 12:10



Read today's "Our Daily Bread"