February 4, 2016

National Thank a Mailperson Day

Thursday, February 4, 2016

The 35 day of the year

331 days left to go 

THIS WEEK IS

• African Heritage and Health Week
• Burn Awareness Week
• Children's Authors and Illustrators Week
• International Coaching Week
• Just Say No to PowerPoint Week
• Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend
• Women's Heart Week
• National School Counseling Week
• International Networking Week
• International Hoof-Care Week
• Publicity for Profit Week

TODAY IS

• Facebook's Birthday
• Liberace Day
• Medjoola Date Day
• National Signing Day
• Quacker Day
• USO Day
• World Cancer Day 
• National Thank a Mailman Day
• National Homemade Soup Day
• National Create a Vacuum day
• National Stuffed Mushroom Day

ON THIS DATE...

1789: Electors unanimously chose George Washington to be the first President of the United States. John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice president.

1895: The first rolling lift bridge opened over the Chicago River at Van Buren Street, Chicago. The bridge used steel trusses or girders across the navigable channel supported by, and rigidly connected to, large steel rollers as curved steel bases, like rocking chair rockers, weighted in the rear to counterbalance the span. To open, the bridge rolled back on its rockers until upright, like a jackknife.

1861: Apache Chief Cochise was arrested for raiding a ranch.  He declared war on the U.S. soon after escaping capture (bio) 


1913: Louis Perlman of New York received a patent for demountable tire carrying rims.  They are better known as wheels. 
1932: The first Winter Olympics in the United States were held at Lake Placid, NY. The venue would again be the home of the Winter Olympics in 1980.
1938: the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Our Town" opened in New York City.  

1938: the animated classic, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," opened in theaters across the U.S.. 


1939: World mile record-holder Glenn Cunningham said in the newspaper that “running a four-minute mile is beyond human effort,” and that the best mile run will always be 4:01.66. 

1951: Sugar Ray Robinson won the world middleweight boxing title by beating Jake LaMotta. 


1957: Smith-Corona Manufacturing began selling portable electric typewriters. 
1971: British car maker Rolls Royce declared bankruptcy. 
1974: newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. 
1977: Fleetwood Mac released their breakthrough album "Rumours." 

1983: singer Karen Carpenter died at the age of 32.  She and brother Richard formed the successful duo, The Carpenters (song Rainy Days and Mondays) 





1984: Culture Club topped the pop singles chart with "Karma Chameleon"  (Song)



1987: pianist and showman Liberace died at the age of 67. 
1989: Sheriff topped the pop singles chart with "When I'm With You." 

1993: the Boston Celtics retired Larry Bird's number 33 during a ceremony at Boston Garden. (Read more)


1993: The “Family and Medical Leave Act” was passed by the U.S. Congress this day. The law gives employees unpaid leave in the event of a birth or a medical emergency in their family.

1998: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates got a faceful of cream pie as he arrived for a business meeting in Brussels.  


2004: Mark Zuckerberg and some friends launched the social network in a Harvard dorm room.  
2006: Coretta Scott King became the first woman and first African-American to lie in state at Georgia's state Capitol building.  The 78-year-old widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King died four days earlier following a battle with cancer.  
2006: Troy Aikman, Harry Carson, John Madden, Warren Moon, Reggie White and Rayfield Wright were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 
2007: the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears, 29-17: to win Super Bowl 41 in Miami.  It was the Colts' first championship in 36 years, when they were known as the Baltimore Colts.  The matchup between the two teams also marked an historic first for the Super Bowl.  It was the first time that two African-American head coaches, Tony Dungy for the Colts and Lovie Smith for the Bears, squared off in the NFL championship game.  The Colts' win made Dungy  the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl. 

2008: controversial college basketball coach Bobby Knight announced his resignation from the head coach position for the Texas Tech men's basketball team.  In his seven seasons with the Red Raiders, Knight racked up 138 wins.  Knight, who also coached Army and at Indiana University, held a career record of 902-and-371.  He guided the Hoosiers to national championships 1976: 1981 and 1987.  



HISTORY SPOTLIGHT

On this day in 1789, George Washington becomes the first and only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. He repeated this notable feat on the same day in 1792. (Source) 

The peculiarities of early American voting procedure meant that although Washington 
won unanimous election, he still had a runner-up, John Adams, who served as vice president during both of Washington's terms. Electors in what is now called the Electoral College named two choices for president. They each cast two ballots without noting a distinction between their choice for president and vice president. Washington was chosen by all of the electors and therefore is considered to have been unanimously elected. Of those also named on the electors' ballots, Adams had the most votes and became vice president.

In 1800, the system led to a tie between the Democratic-Republican candidates for president and vice president, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. This sent the vote to the House of Representatives, where Federalists voted for Burr instead of Jefferson, whom they despised. As a result, the Congressional vote ended in a tie 35 times before the Federalists decided to hand in blank ballots and concede the White House to Jefferson.

In 1804, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution ended this particular form of electoral chaos by stipulating that separate votes be cast for president and vice president.



QUICK TRIVIA 

Creation of Facebook (Source) 

Twenty-three-year-old, Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while studying psychology at Harvard University. A keen computer programmer, Mr Zuckerberg had already developed a number of social-networking websites for fellow students, including Coursematch, which allowed users to view people taking their degree, and Facemash, where you could rate people's attractiveness. 
In February 2004 Mr Zuckerberg launched "The facebook", as it was originally known; the name taken from the sheets of paper distributed to freshmen, profiling students and staff. Within 24 hours, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up, and after one month, over half of the undergraduate population had a profile.



WORD OF THE DAY

Momentous
[moh-men-tuhs]
–adjective 
of great or far-reaching importance or consequence


"Charlie was hoping that his birthday would, once again, be a momentous occasion"



WORD FROM THE WORD 

If thou seekest her [insight and understanding] as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;--Proverbs 2:4


Read today's "Our Daily Bread"