Monday, March 14, 2016
The 74 day of the year
292 days left to go
THIS WEEK IS
- Campfire USA Birthday Week
- Consider Christianity Week
- Termite Awareness Week
- National Agriculture Week
- International Brain Awareness Week
- International Ask A Question Day
- International Day of Action for Rivers
- MOTH-ER Day
- Napping Day (Monday after daylight savings times)
- Potato Chip Day (Link)
- Pi Day (as in the math pie = 3.14159265 etc.--See Quick Trivia)
- Bake a Pie Day (connected to Pi Day)
- National Learn About Butterflies Day
- National Children’s Craft Day
1528: The Swiss city of Basel passes a law fining Anabaptists five-pounds for not repenting. Those who aid them are also fined.
1743: The first recorded town meeting in America was held, at Faneuil Hall in Boston (Read More)
1794: Eli Whitney patented his cotton gin (See History Spotlight)
1812: War Bonds were authorized by the United States for the first time (Read more)
1883: Communist writer Karl Marx died at the age of 64.
1900: Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.
1923: President Warren G. Harding became the first president to pay taxes and account for his income.
1925: football legend Walter Camp died at the age of 65. Known as the Father of American Football, he is credited with developing such rules as the eleven man team, the line of scrimmage and the existing system of downs and yards.
1941: Xavier Cugat and his orchestra recorded the song "Babalu." It later became a hit when performed by Desi Arnaz on the "I Love Lucy" show.
1950: the FBI released its first Ten Most Wanted list.
1958: the Recording Industry Association of America certified the first gold record. The song was Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star" (Song)
1967: Michigan State University defensive lineman Bubba Smith became the first player chosen in the first combined draft of the the NFL and the AFL. He was selected by the Baltimore Colts.
1967: the body of President John F. Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to its permanent location at Arlington National Cemetery.
1968: ABC television aired the last episode of "Batman." The adventure series starred Adam West and Burt Ward as the caped crusaders.
1980: music producer Quincy Jones was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame.
1985: Bill Cosby won four People's Choice Awards for "The Cosby Show."
1994: Apple introduced the Power Macintosh computer (Read more).
1998: "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" by Will Smith peaked at number one on the pop singles chart (Song).
2000: the "Come On Over" album by Shania Twain was certified Multi Platinum.
2003: a day after country music radio stations stopped playing Dixie Chicks music over controversial remarks group member Natalie Maines made against President Bush, the Texas-based country trio issued an apology. In her original statement, Maines told a concert audience in London that she was ashamed the president is from Texas, adding that she felt he was ignoring the opinions of many in the United States by promoting a war with Iraq. Maines later apologized, saying her remark was disrespectful (Read more).
2004: singer Whitney Houston entered an undisclosed rehabilitation facility, but her reps would not say for what she was getting treatment. Houston reportedly left the facility just a few days after voluntarily checking in.
2008: a heavy storm ripped through Atlanta, damaging sections of the Georgia Dome where thousands of basketball fans were watching a college game. The game between Mississippi State and Alabama was temporarily halted and a second game set for the Georgia Dome was postponed. The storm also blew out windows and sections of the roof at the CNN Center, scattering debris in the building's food court. No major injuries were reported.
2010: "Mission: Impossible" TV star Peter Graves died at the age of 83
HISTORY SPOTLIGHT
Cotton Gin (Source)
On March 14, 1794, inventor Eli Whitney patented on the cotton gin. A patent gives the patent-holder (usually the inventor) all the rights associated with their invention for a certain period of time. Whitney, however, did not profit from his invention, because he couldn’t stop other people from copying and selling his design.
The cotton gin revolutionized American agriculture. Cotton grows on seeds, and the soft, fluffy part of the cotton needs to be separated from the seeds before it can be used for things like clothes and cotton balls. Before the cotton gin was invented, people (often, slaves) had to separate the cotton from the seeds—an incredibly time-consuming and difficult task. The cotton gin mechanically separated the seed from the cotton, and cotton was harvested more easily and efficiently.
QUICK TRIVIA
Pi Day (Source)
Pi has been known for almost 4000 years—but even if we calculated the number of seconds in those 4000 years and calculated pi to that number of places, we would still only be approximating its actual value. Here’s a brief history of finding pi:
The ancient Babylonians calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius, which gave a value of pi = 3. One Babylonian tablet (ca. 1900–1680 BC) indicates a value of 3.125 for pi, which is a closer approximation.
The Rhind Papyrus (ca.1650 BC) gives us insight into the mathematics of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians calculated the area of a circle by a formula that gave the approximate value of 3.1605 for pi.
The first calculation of pi was done by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world. Archimedes approximated the area of a circle by using the Pythagorean Theorem to find the areas of two regular polygons: the polygon inscribed within the circle and the polygon within which the circle was circumscribed. Since the actual area of the circle lies between the areas of the inscribed and circumscribed polygons, the areas of the polygons gave upper and lower bounds for the area of the circle. Archimedes knew that he had not found the value of pi but only an approximation within those limits. In this way, Archimedes showed that pi is between 3 1/7 and 3 10/71.
A similar approach was used by Zu Chongzhi (429–501), a brilliant Chinese mathematician and astronomer. Zu Chongzhi would not have been familiar with Archimedes’ method—but because his book has been lost, little is known of his work. He calculated the value of the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter to be 355/113. To compute this accuracy for pi, he must have started with an inscribed regular 24,576-gon and performed lengthy calculations involving hundreds of square roots carried out to 9 decimal places.
Mathematicians began using the Greek letter π in the 1700s. Introduced by William Jones in 1706, use of the symbol was popularized by Leonhard Euler, who adopted it in 1737.
WORD OF THE DAY
scintilla \sin-TIL-uh\, noun:
A tiny or scarcely detectable amount; the slightest particle; a trace; a spark.
"I looked into my paycheck envelope, hoping to find a cornucopia of currency, but found scintilla instead"
WORD FROM THE WORD
For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.--Hebrews 4:15
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