Oops, forget Facts of the Day

Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) was a comic actor, writer, director, and producer in motion pictures. His father was a music hall entertainer and his mother was a singer. Charlie made his stage debut at age five, filling in when his mother lost her voice on stage. By age eight, Chaplain became a professional entertainer when he joined the Eight Lancashire Lads, a clog-dancing act. Chaplin improvised an outfit with a too-small coat, too-large pants, floppy shoes, and a battered derby - plus a postage-stamp mustache and a cane as a prop. His screen alter-ego, the Little Tramp, appeared in the second of the Keystone comedy films (1914).

Verrazano
Giovanni Verrazano 1485-1528), an Italian navigator and explorer for France, was the first European to sight New York and Narragansett bays. In early 1524 he sailed to the New World and reached Cape Fear, then sailed northward, exploring the eastern coast of North America. He made several discoveries on the voyage, including the sites of present-day New York Harbor, Block Island, and Narragansett Bay, and was the first European explorer to name North American sites after persons and places in the Old World.

Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual foot race. It starts in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and goes eight cities and towns to the Back Bay section of Boston, a distance of 26 miles, 385 yards. It was first held in 1897 and is run on the third Monday in April - the date picked, basically, to honor the 1775 ride of Paul Revere. In 1972, it became the first marathon race to officially admit women runners.

Switzerland
Why is Switzerland the site of neutrality in time of war? The nation's geography determined its role as the guardian of Europe's natural trans-Alpine routes. The country's neutrality was sanctioned by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and reinforced in 1919 at Versailles and in World War II was the only democracy in central Europe to be left alone by Hitler.

Caddy
In France, military cadets carried golf clubs for royalty. Some speculated that Mary, Queen of Scots, who grew up in France, brought the custom to Scotland, where the term evolved into the word "caddie/caddy." However, the Oxford English Dictionary finds the word for golf player's attendant in writing in 1857 - and Mary, Queen of Scots, lived from 1542-1587. Though Mary's existence coincides with the origins of golf, it does not coincide with the recording of the word "caddy" in English.

Facts of the Day

Tour de France
The Tour de France, the most prestigious road bicycle race in the world, takes place for three weeks in July. The Tour de France was established in 1903 by Henri Desgrange and covers some 2,235 miles, usually in 20 stages of one day each.

Edible Flowers
Which flowers are edible? Among the most common edible flowers are peonies, pansies, carnations, chamomile, chrysanthemums, dandelions, daylilies, gardenias, geraniums, gladioli, lavender, lilies, nasturtiums, primroses, roses, squash blossoms, sweet violets, pot marigolds, and yucca blossoms.

Scrabble
Scrabble, originally called Criss Cross, was developed by Alfred M. Butts, an out-of-work architect, in 1931. It was redesigned, renamed as Scrabble, and marketed by James Brunot in 1948. A Macy's executive saw the game being played at a resort in 1952 and the store (the world's largest at that time) began carrying it. Manufacturing of the game was turned over to Selchow & Righter. Scrabble has 225 squares on a board and 100 letter tiles, each imprinted with a point value for different letters, approximately corresponding to the frequency of occurrence of the letter in English words. More than 100 million sets have been sold, in 24 languages. It is considered the world's most popular word game.

Khaki and Chino
Khaki (from Hindi 'dust-colored') is light brown fabric used primarily for military uniforms. Khaki uniforms were introduced in 1848 for British colonial troops in India. Chino (from American Spanish 'toasted') is a cotton twill fabric, usually khaki in color.

American Dictionary
The first dictionary of American English was published in April 1828. The two-volume dictionary was written solely by the American lexicographer Noah Webster. He began work on it in 1807 and finished in 1824-1825. It contained 12,000 words and 30,000-40,000 definitions that had not appeared in any earlier dictionary. The rights to the dictionary were sold in 1843 by the Webster estate to George and Charles Merriam.

Facts of the Day

Pirate
"A pirate or buccaneer was a person who seized a ship and took the property aboard. They stole from any ship that came by and disrupted the trade of many nations. There are many tales - tall and true - about pirates. The stories go back 4,000 years, but we are most familiar with those who were active between 1500-1800 - Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Jean Lafitte. Pirates used small, fast ships that were easy to maneuver. They had lots of weapons and cannons. There are still pirates today - especially in the South China Sea close to Vietnam. Pirates are often confused with privateers who have the blessing of their nation to seize enemy property. Famous ones were Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Walter Raleigh. True pirates only stole for themselves. Pirates often buried their stolen treasure in secret places and some drew up treasure maps and charts marking the spot with an X."

Happy Birthday
Mildred J. Hill, a schoolteacher born in Louisville, Kentucky, composed the melody "Happy Birthday to You." Her younger sister, Patty Smith Hill, wrote the lyrics. The song was first published in 1893 as "Good Morning to All," a classroom greeting, in the book Song Stories for Sunday School. Mildred Hill died in 1916 without knowing that her melody would become the world's most popular song, but her sister Patty did not die until 1946. The lyrics were amended in 1924 to include a stanza beginning, "Happy Birthday to You." It is now sung somewhere in the world every minute of every day. Though its writers earned very little from the song, its copyright owner earns about $1 million a year. The song is expected to enter the public domain upon expiration of the copyright in 2010.

Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and Associated Powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, France. It took effect on January 10, 1920. The population and territory of Germany was reduced by about 10 percent by the treaty. The "war guilt clause" of the treaty deemed Germany the aggressor in the war and consequently made Germany responsible for making reparations to the Allied nations in payment for the losses and damage they had sustained in the war. The Treaty of Versailles was revised and altered over the years, mostly in Germany's favor. Numerous concessions were made to Germany before the rise of Adolf Hitler, and by 1938 only the territorial settlement articles remained in effect. The harsh treaty and its lax enforcement are blamed by many historians for Hitler's rise and his militarism setting the stage for World War II.

Leap Second
June 30 is one of the two times (the other being December 31) when the addition or subtraction of a second from our clock time is allowed to coordinate atomic and astronomical time. The determination to adjust is made by the International Earth Rotation Service of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Paris. A leap second is an intercalary, one-second adjustment that keeps broadcast standards for time of day close to mean solar time. Leap seconds are necessary to keep time standards synchronized with civil calendars, the basis of which is astronomical. The announcement to insert a leap second is given whenever the difference between UTC and UT1 approaches one-half second, to keep the difference between UTC and UT1 from exceeding ±0.9 s. After UTC 23:59:59, a positive leap second at 23:59:60 would be counted, before the clock indicates 00:00:00 of the next day. Negative leap seconds are also possible should the Earth's rotation become slightly faster; in that case, 23:59:58 would be followed by 00:00:00.

Postage stamp
The first postage stamps were issued for sale by the United States Postal Service in 1847. The 5-cent stamp depicted Benjamin Franklin and the 10-cent stamp depicted George Washington. Prior to this date, stamps were issued by private postal services.

Facts of the Day

Baby Boom
After World War II, many industrialized countries experienced a "baby boom." Four countries in particular - the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand - experienced sustained and substantial rises in fertility from the depressed levels of the prewar period. In the U.S., for example, fertility rose by two-thirds, reaching levels between the 1950s and 1980 not seen since 1910, before World War I. Some even demarcate the Baby Boom period as being January 1, 1946-December 31, 1964 - in which over 77 million births occurred.

Tornado
Tornadoes are violent windstorms that are also called twisters or cyclones. Extremely fast, rotating columns of air descend from cumulonimbus clouds and the winds can either cause explosions within buildings or sweep objects up into its eye. A tornado sounds like a thundering train coming through. Tornadoes occur all over the world except on the two poles and are the most common in the U.S. A tornado over water is called a cyclone. They occur in unstable air, as that caused by a thunderstorm. In the center of a tornado, winds can get to 400 miles per hour (650 km).

Typewriter
In 1867, the American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes read an article in the journal Scientific American describing a new British-invented machine and was inspired to create what became the first practical typewriter. His second model was patented the next year and "wrote" at a speed far faster than a pen. Though the first typewriter was crude and large, it underwent improvements each year and in 1873 Sholes signed a contract with E. Remington and Sons for its manufacture and the machine was soon named a "Remington." It wrote capital letters only; the first shift-key typewriter (Remington 2) appeared on the market in 1878 and could write uppercase and lowercase. There was a serious problem with jamming, so one of Sholes's business associates, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together, thereby creating the slowest keyboard arrangement possible. This arrangement - known as the QWERTY keyboard - is still used in almost all computers today. Mark Twain purchased a Remington and became the first author to submit a typewritten book manuscript.

Custer's Last Stand
The Battle of Little Bighorn, otherwise known as Custer's Last Stand, was fought at the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory between federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and band of combined Indian tribes. Custer and all of his men were killed. The outcome of the battle was so upsetting to Americans that government troops flooded the area, forcing the Indians to surrender.

Korean War
The Korean War started out being between North Korea and South Korea. After World War II, Korea was hurriedly divided for administrative purposes at the 38th parallel. Almost immediately, the Soviets began a short-lived reign of terror in northern Korea that quickly politicized the division by driving thousands of refugees south. An independent South Korea became UN policy in early 1948 and southern communists opposed this, so warfare began in parts of every Korean province below the 38th parallel. The war became international in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviets, invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal participant, joined the war on the side of the South Koreans, and the People's Republic of China came to North Korea's aid. In 1953, Joseph Stalin died, and within weeks the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party voted that the war in Korea should be ended. After more than a million combat casualties on both sides, the fighting ended in July 1953 with Korea still divided into two hostile states.

Facts of the Day

Watergate
Watergate is the political scandal involving illegal activities on the part of the incumbent Republican administration of President Richard M. Nixon during and after the 1972 presidential election campaign. The first inkling of the scandal was the arrests at Democratic Party Headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., of five men who broke into the headquarters - which eventually led to Nixon's resignation in August 1974. So much did the Watergate scandal affect the national and international consciousness that many scandals since then have been labeled with the suffix "-gate."

War of 1812
"The War of 1812 was fought between the U.S. and Great Britain from 1812-14, though some fighting continued after the Treaty of Ghent was signed in December of 1814. Most of the fighting took place along the Canadian border, in Chesapeake Bay, and along the Gulf of Mexico. After the American Revolution, the U.S. was anxious for the British to withdraw from American territory and their unwillingness to sign trade agreements with the U.S. The British were keeping the U.S. from trade with themselves and with France, with whom they were battling (French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars). They captured U.S. ships and took hostages and goods and, by 1812, the British had blockaded America's coasts, ruining American trade and finances. So, the U.S. attacked the British colony of Canada. There was fighting on land and at sea - and though the Americans were not prepared at first, they started to gain power. There was strong opposition to the war from its citizens. In 1814, Britain defeated Napoleon and France. They could easily have turned all their force against the U.S., but they were tired of war. They signed the Treaty of Ghent (Belgium) in December, in which neither side gained anything, but the war ended. The War of 1812 marked the first time the U.S. got involved in foreign affairs and it was the beginning of its movement to becoming a world power."

Wagon Trail, Wagon Train
In U.S. history, the most famous wagon trail was the Santa Fe from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was an important commercial route (as were the Oregon Trail, Smoky Hill Trail, and later the Southern Overland Mail route) between the 1820s until railroads took over around 1880. Merchant wagon caravans traveled in parallel columns and when they were attacked by Indians, which was often, formed a circular line of defense. A wagon train was a caravan of settlers emigrating to the American West. One type of wagon, the Conestoga, became famous as a freight wagon and as part of wagon trains, and its descendant, the prairie schooner, was the most common vehicle used by settlers in the opening of the American West. Wagon trains tended to follow a fixed daily schedule from 4am rising to 7am departure, then 4pm encampment.

Ed Sullivan
The "Ed Sullivan Show" premiered in 1948 - but was first called "Toast of the Town" (till 1955). It became the longest-running variety show (through 1971) and showcased all types of acts. Thousands of performers made their television debut on the show, among them Fred Astaire, Irving Berlin, Victor Borge, Walt Disney, Hedy Lamarr, and Jane Powell. The largest audiences were attracted by the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

Wimbledon
Wimbledon, England, is the site of the All-England Championships in tennis. The tournament, first held in 1877, is now one of the four grand slam events in professional tennis. Wimbledon was originally played by amateurs but the championships were opened up to professionals in 1968. Women joined the tournament in 1884, mixed doubles and women's doubles in 1913. Rod Laver of Australia and Billie Jean King of the United States won the singles events in 1968.

Facts of the Day finally!

I missed a couple of days because our computer was messed up. Hubby had to restore/rebuild it. We think a cd game we bought from Best Buy (hate that place!) corrupted our cd drive. That's the only thing we can think of since we didn't have ANY problems before we tried to install that game. Of course no one is at fault for this (only the designer and manufacturer!) and we are out $30.00. When I tried to explain to the geek at BB, all he wanted me to do was bring my computer in for a diagnostic. Well I'm not so stupid that I will let some else work on my computer and my husband for sure isn't going to let someone else mess up the computer when he can do it all by himself! lol! From what I have read on the internet, you don't want to take your computer to BB to have them check it out. All they'll do is mess it up even more. Sure wish I could take that game cd back to them and have them try to install it on their computer. Then they'd find out that it was bad and refund my money!


Okay, so here are some Facts of the Day:

Mint
The first U.S. mint was established in 1652 - in defiance of English colonial law - by John Hull, a silversmith in Massachusetts. The first coin issued was the Pine Tree Shilling. The initial issue consisted of simple round planchets with NE punched on the obverse and the denomination on the reverse. John Hull's share in the profits of the mint was fifteen pence out of every twenty shillings and he rapidly amassed a fortune. With the exception of Maryland, where Lord Baltimore struck off a few silver coins, Massachusetts is the only one of the 13 colonies that had a mint before the American Revolution. The mint in Philadelphia was founded in 1792 and still makes the majority of the coins used in daily circulation in the United States. The mint in Denver, founded in 1906, also produces general coinage. The mint in San Francisco, founded in 1854, discontinued making general coinage in 1955; but was reestablished in 1965 to make proof sets of coins for collectors. The mint at West Point, New York, is now used primarily for gold minting.

Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York, in 1939. The year 1939 was chosen to celebrate the supposed centennial of baseball as it was then believed that Abner Doubleday had developed the game at Cooperstown in 1839 - a story that was later discredited. Of the 25 immortals who had been elected to the Hall of Fame up to that point, 11 were still living; and all of them journeyed to Cooperstown to attend the centennial celebration. Selections to the Hall of Fame are made annually by two groups: the Baseball Writers' Association of America and the Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans. More than 200 individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame and the first players chosen (in 1936) were Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson.

Flag Day
A Presidential Proclamation (1335) was issued in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson declaring June 14 as "Flag Day," but it was not until 1949 that President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day. The idea started in 1885 when BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of "The Stars and Stripes") as "Flag Birthday." In 1983, the world's largest flag was displayed in Washington, D.C. The flag, which measured 411 feet by 210 feet, weighed 7 tons and each star measured 13 feet across.

Magna Carta
In 1215, King John of England sealed the Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter") - the first charter of English liberties and one of the most important documents in the history of political freedom and human rights. It became a symbol and a battle cry against oppression. It guaranteed the freedom of the church, restricted taxes and fines, and promised justice to all. Four original copies of the 1215 charter survive; two are held at the British Library while the others can be seen in the cathedral archives at Lincoln and Salisbury.

Golf
Though the Dutch game of kolf has been claimed as the origin, the first undoubted reference to golf was in 1457 when the Scottish Parliament deplored its popularity, since it took young men away from archery practice. At first, golf was played on seaside links with their crisp turf and natural hazards. Later, play on downs, moorland, and parkland courses began. In the U.S., golf balls and sticks from Scotland arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in the mid-18th century, but not until the late 1880s did the nation's first permanent courses and country clubs get started, mainly for elite white males.

Facts of the Day

Drive-In Movie
The first drive-in movie theatre was opened in 1933 in Camden, New Jersey by Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. Hollingshead designed it for his mother, who complained about the uncomfortable seats at theatres. A drive-in would allow her to enjoy the comfortable, plush bench seats of a vehicle of that era. Then known as an "automobile theater," the drive-in had room for 500 vehicles and charged a rate of 25¢ per person or $1 a car. The sound was provided by a public-address system with a single large speaker mounted on the projection booth. After the locals complained about the noise, Hollingshead tried other solutions before deciding to install smaller speakers mounted on poles at each parking spot. At the height of their popularity (1958), there were more than 4000 drive-in movies in the U.S. Now, only a few hundred still exist.

Volcano
"A volcano is an opening in the earth from which molten rock and gas erupts. The molten rock (magma) forms a hill or mountain around the opening and the burning gas, ash, and hot lava may explode out or pour down the sides. The explosion of a volcano is called an eruption and can do much damage, as seen in Pompeii and Washington state's Mount St. Helens. There are about 800 places in the world where volcanoes are active, including 80 below the sea. There are belts were there are volcanoes, including one large one circling the Pacific Ocean and others running east-west in Indonesia and the Mediterranean Sea. The materials deep underground move around and push up to the mouth of the volcano. The theory of plate tectonics says that huge plates of material making up the Earth's crust shift and volcanoes erupt where the plates meet and push together. Some can be dormant for years and then suddenly erupt. Others become extinct. Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the world's largest volcano. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology."

IMAX
IMAX is a cinematographic technique which produces an image approximately ten times larger than that from standard 35 mm film. The name is probably "i" as a representation of "eye" or "image," plus "max" as short for "maximum." It is a trademark for a giant-screen, large-format movie and motion-simulation entertainment complex, with a motion-picture screen that is eight stories high and compatible with 3-D technology. The first IMAX film was demonstrated in 1970 and first system set up in 1971 (in Toronto) on which was shown North of Superior. Film types are usually described by their gauge, or approximate width. The 65-mm format is used chiefly for special effects and for special systems such as IMAX and Showscan. It was formerly used for original photography in conjunction with 70-mm release prints; now 70-mm theatrical films are generally shot in 35-mm and blown up in printing. With some exceptions the 35-mm format is for theatrical use, 16-mm for institutional application s, and 8-mm for home movies.

Hong Kong
A lease was signed by Great Britain in 1898 for the 400 square miles of Hong Kong. The 99-year lease expired in 1997 and Hong Kong's sovereignty reverted to the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong Island was originally ceded by China to Great Britain in 1842, the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters (Ngong Shuen) Island (now joined to the mainland) ceded in 1860. The New Territories, which include the mainland area lying largely to the north, together with 230 large and small offshore islands were part of the 99-year lease. The name Hong Kong (in Chinese, Xianggang) means "fragrant harbor."

Pens
Reed was the first real "pen" (c 3000 BC) and the first inks contained a gelatin derived from boiled donkey skin, which gave the ink its viscosity - but also a very unpleasant odor that had to be perfumed with musk oil. Around the 6th century BC and for more than a thousand years thereon, the quill reigned as the standard writing instrument for people of many civilizations. Swans, turkeys, and geese's large wing feather made the best quill pens. Archaeologists discovered bronze pen points embedded in the ruins of Pompeii but not until the late 1700s were steel-point pens used. A century later, fountain pens were developed - the name chosen because the ink of these pens flowed continuously, like water in a fountain. L.E. Waterman, a New York stationer, devised the practical ink reservoir system. Lazlo Biro relied on improved methods for grinding ball bearings for machines and weapons and produced the first ball-point pens suitable for writing on paper around 1944. The Pentel, introduced by Tokyo's Stationery Company, was the world's first felt-tip pen, c 1960.