February 21, 2016

Sunday, February 21, 2014

The 52 day of the year

313 days left to go 

THIS WEEK IS

• Bird Health Awareness Week
• National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
• National Secondhand Wardrobe Week
• Peace Corps Week

TODAY IS

• International Mother Language Day
• National Sticky Bun Day

ON THIS DATE...
1795: Freedom of worship was established in France.
1804: British engineer Richard Trevithick demonstrated the first steam engine to run on rails.
1838:  Samuel F.P. Morse gave the first public demonstration of his telegraph.
1842: the sewing machine was patented by John Greenough of Washington, D.C.. 
1866: Lucy B. Hobbs became the first woman to graduate from a dental school, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati.
1878: the first telephone directories were distributed to residents in New Haven, Connecticut. 
1885: the Washington Monument was dedicated. 
1916: the World War One Battle of Verdun began in France.  
1925: the first issue of "New Yorker" magazine was published. 
1931: Alka Seltzer was first introduced to consumers.  
1947: Edwin Land demonstrated his new camera which could take and develop a picture in about a minute.  It became known as the Polaroid Land Camera. 
1965: civil rights leader Malcolm X was shot to death while addressing a crowd at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.  He was 39.    
1972: President Nixon began his historic visit to China.  
1979: two Iowa girls high school basketball teams played four scoreless quarters and three scoreless overtime periods before the game was eventually won four-to-two in the fourth overtime.  
1980: U.S. speedskater Eric Heiden became the first Olympic athlete to win five individual gold medals. 
1981: country singer Dolly Parton hit the top of the pop charts with "Nine to Five."  
1981: REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity was the #1 U.S. album. Hi-Infidelity spent a total of fifteen weeks at number one. The tracks: Don’t Let Him Go, Keep on Loving You, Follow My Heart, In Your Letter, Take It on the Run, Tough Guys, Out of Season, Shakin’ It Loose, Someone Tonight, I Wish You Were There.
1988: televangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to his congregation that he had an improper relationship with a prostitute.  
1990: Milli Vanilli won a Grammy award for Best New Artist.  The duo was later forced to return the award after it was revealed that they did not actually sing on the album.  
1992: Kristi Yamaguchi of the U.S. captured the women's figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. 
1997: "The Empire Strikes Back: Special Edition" was re-released in theaters.  
1997: The Spice Girls topped the "Billboard" pop singles chart with "Wannabe."  They earned the honor of becoming the first British act since The Beatles 1964 to hit the number one spot with a debut single. 
2000: consumer advocate Ralph Nader entered the presidential race on the Green Party ticket.  
2000: David Letterman returned to the late night airwaves for the first time since undergoing quintuple bypass surgery five weeks earlier.  
2003: a deadly oil refinery explosion on Staten Island, New York shook homes and sent smoke and flames shooting hundreds of miles into the air.  The explosion took place at the Exxon Mobil storage complex.  At least two people were killed.  
2004: in one of his first major challenges since being elected Governor of California, Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the state's attorney general to immediately stop the issuance of marriage licenses to San Francisco gay couples, calling the action an "imminent risk to civil disorder."  
2007: after 80 years representing the school, the University of Illinois' controversial mascot, Chief Illiniwek, danced his last dance.  School officials pulled the mascot under pressure from Native American groups and the NCAA who said "Indian" mascots and team names were derogatory and demeaning to Native Americans.
2009: Mike Myers walked away with the big raspberries at the 2008 Razzie Awards in Los Angeles.  Myers was named worst actor and his film "The Love Guru" was selected as 2008's worst film.  One of the year's major films also brought home a Razzie.  The worst "prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel" award went to the Harrison Ford starrer, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.'' 
2011: more than 60 people were killed when a powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.  The quake struck just five months after a 7.1 magnitude quake hit Christchurch. 


HISTORY SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Monument (Taken from Link) 

The Washington Monument, built in honor of America's revolutionary hero and first president, was dedicated on this day in 1885. 

The 555-foot-high marble obelisk was first proposed in 1783, and Pierre L'Enfant left room for it in his designs for the new U.S. capital. After George Washington's death in 1799, plans for a memorial for the "father of the country" were discussed, but none were adopted until 1832--the centennial of Washington's birth. Architect Robert Mills' hollow Egyptian obelisk design was accepted for the monument, and on July 4, 1848, the cornerstone was laid. Work on the project was interrupted by political quarreling in the 1850s, and construction ceased entirely during the American Civil War. Finally, in 1876, Congress, inspired by the American centennial, passed legislation appropriating $200,000 for completion of the monument.

In February 1885, the Washington Monument was formally dedicated, and three years later it was opened to the public, who were permitted to climb to the top of the monument by stairs or elevator. The monument was the tallest structure in the world when completed and remains today, by District of Columbia law, the tallest building in the nation's capital.


QUICK TRIVIA 
Sticky buns were a Philadelphia specialty in the 19th century. They are a yeast cinnamon roll with currants, topped with brown sugar and butter. (Link)


WORD OF THE DAY 

discern  [dih-surn, -zurn]  

verb (used with object)

1. to perceive by the sight or some other sense or by the intellect; see, recognize, or apprehend: 

2. to distinguish mentally; recognize as distinct or different; discriminate: 


"Jeannie was asked by her mom to pick out a few good bananas, but as her skill in fruit-picking was somewhat limited, she was not able to discern a good one from a bad one."



WORD FROM THE WORD 

And He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him. —Mark 3:13

Read today's "Our Daily Bread"