Question of the Day

What exactly do B.C. and A.D. stand for, and was there a year 0?B.C. stands for before Christ,” and A.D. stands for “anno Domini,” a Latin phrase that translates as “in the year of the Lord.” There is no year 0; the years go from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1.”

Advice of the Day

Use a sponge dampened with vinegar to clean shower curtains.

Home Hint of the Day

To correct a loud banging when the furnace shuts off, locate the offending panel in the duct work and screw a 1-inch-wide metal strip onto that panel in a diagonal position.

Word of the Day

Relative humidityThe amount of moisture in the air compared to the maximum amount of moisture the air could hold at a given temperature; measured as a precentage of saturation.

Puzzle of the Day

What is it that occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and once in a million years?The letter M

Born

• Edith Wharton (author) – 1862
• Vicki Baum (novelist) – 1888
• Leon Kirchner (composer) – 1919
• Neil Diamond (singer) – 1941
• John Belushi (actor) – 1949
• Nastassja Kinski (actress) – 1961
• Mary Lou Retton (gymnast) – 1968
• Matthew Lillard (actor) – 1970
• Mischa Barton (actress) – 1986

Died

• Sir Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister) – 1965
• George Cukor (film director) – 1983
• Vincente Minnelli (film director) – 1986
• Thurgood Marshall (first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court) – 1993
• Jay Monahan (legal analyst for NBC News) – 1998
• Bob Russell (creator of the Miss America Pageant and Name That Tune) – 1998
• Chris Penn (actor) – 2006

Events

• Gold nuggets discovered at Sutter’s Mill in northern California, triggered the gold rush of 1849– 1848
• Typewriter copy” ribbon patented by Jacob L. Wortman”– 1888
• Patent 1,404,539 granted for the Eskimo Pie (now Edy’s Pie)– 1922
• Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Island, NY– 1925
• Percy Spencer granted patent for microwave oven– 1950
• Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 crashed in Canada’s Northwest Territories, leaking radioactive waste– 1978
• An otter entertained crowds all winter at the mouth of the Ompompanoosuc River in Norwich, Vermont– 1981
• Apple Computer, Inc. introduced the Macintosh personal computer– 1984
• The Voyager 2 spacecraft sent back photographs from the planet Uranus– 1986
• Rover Opportunity landed on Mars– 2004
• A blizzard that took over New England with blinding snow and blustering wind kept the Cape Cod Times from publishing a print edition for the first time– 2005

Weather

• The temperature in Browning, Montana, plunged 100 degrees in 24 hours, from 44F to -56F, establishing a U.S. record for a 24-hour temperature drop.– 1916
• Fifteen degrees below zero F in Nashville, Tennessee– 1963
• 4 inches of snow fell near Lake Jocassee in South Carolina– 1991
• North Myrtle Beach experienced a low temperature of 16 degrees F– 2003
• Thirty-eight inches of snow on Cape Cod after a 2-day winter blizzard– 2005

COURTESY www.almanac.com