February 9, 2016

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The 40 day of the year

326 days left to go 

THIS WEEK IS

• 
  
• Celebration of Love Week
• Children of Alcoholics Week
• Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week
• Have A Heart for A Chained Dog Week
• Risk Awareness Week
• Jell-O Week
• Freelance Writers Appreciation Week
• National Secondhand Wardrobe Week
• Love Makes the World Go Round; But, Laughter Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week
• American Camp Week

TODAY IS

• Mardi Gras (Link)
• National Stop Bullying Day (Link)
• National Pizza Day 
• Paczki Day
• Read in the Bathtub Day
• Safer Internet Day
• Toothache Day 
• Extraterrestrial Culture Day
• Extraterrestrial Visitor Day 
• International Pancake Day
• National Bagel Day (Formerly Bagel and Lox Day)

ON THIS DATE...

1825: The U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams the 6th President after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes. He had won fewer votes than Andrew Jackson in the popular election. (Read more)

1870: the United States Weather Bureau was authorized by Congress.  The organization is now known as the National Weather Service. 
1895: the first college basketball game was played.  Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated Hamline College nine-to-three. 
1942: Congress pushes ahead standard time for the United States by one hour in each time zone, imposing daylight saving time--called at the time "war time." (See History Spotlight) 

1950: Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed the State Department was filled with Communists. 



1951: actress Greta Garbo was granted U.S. citizenship. 
1963: the first Boeing 727 took off.  The 727 quickly became the world's most popular way to fly. 

1964: more than 73-million people tuned in to see The Beatles make an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."  It was the U.S. television debut of the "Fab Four."  More than 50-thousand requests were sent for the 750 available seats at the show (Read and watch). 

1964: the "G-I Joe" action figure made its debut. (Brief history)



1969: the Boeing 747 made its inaugural flight.  It was the world's first jumbo jet. 

1971: the Apollo 14 spacecraft returned to Earth.  (Video)



1987: 20 years after the first woman was admitted to the New York Stock Exchange, the Exchange Luncheon Club installed a women's restroom. 
1992: Los Angeles Lakers guard Magic Johnson came out of retirement to play in the NBA All-Star Game.  He wound up winning the game's most valuable player award. 
1994: Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. 

1997: the 167th episode of "The Simpsons" aired on the Fox television network, making it the longest-running animated series in history.  The show topped "The Flintstones," which aired 166 episodes over a six-year period. 


1999: the Rev. Jerry Falwell suggested that "Tinky Winky," one of the characters on the popular children's TV show "Teletubbies," was gay. 
2001: An American submarine accidentally strikes and sinks a Japanese fishing vessel off the coast of Hawaii, killing nine.

2009: baseball star Alex Rodriguez admitted to using performance enhancing drugs between 2001 and 2003. 


2014: in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," CBS aired the star-studded special "The Night That Changed America: Grammy Salute to the Beatles," which featured performances from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, among others. 



HISTORY SPOTLIGHT 

Daylight Saving Time (Source) 

Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 30 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.



QUICK TRIVIA 

Sixty-three percent of people read books, magazines, and newspapers while in the bathroom. Men and people age 34 or younger are significantly more likely to read in the bathroom than other demographics  (Source)




WORD FOR THE DAY 

thingamajig  [thing-uh-muh-jig] 

noun, Informal.

1. a gadget or other thing for which the speaker does not know or has forgotten the name.


"Marsha, trying to point the exploding bottle away from her face, saturated in Mountain Dew, screamed out to her friend to hand her the thingamajig."




WORD FROM THE WORD 

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. — Genesis 2:24


Read today's "Our Daily Bread"