Daily Almanac for Saturday, February 5, 2022

On this date in 1952, The first Don’t Walk” automatic signs were installed in New York City”. Pedestrian traffic signal in New York City. 2017 photo By Epicgenius – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https commons.wikimedia.org

Saturday, February 5, 2022

Question of the Day

Are new stars being formed, or did they all form at the same time?They are continually being formed. The Pleiades are an example of a group of newly formed stars. When the dinosaurs walked the Earth, the Pleiades did not exist.

Advice of the Day

Violent north winds in February herald a fertile year.

Home Hint of the Day

For a handy way to keep your eyeglasses clean, fill a spray bottle with a solution of 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 2-1/2 cups of water. Spray on your glasses, then wipe off with a soft cloth or tissue.

Word of the Day

AnemometerAn instrument to measure the speed of the wind.

Puzzle of the Day

Why was the giant Goliath very much astonished when David hit him with a stone?Because such a thing had never entered his head before.

Born

  • Nancy Hanks Lincoln (mother of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln) – 1784
  • William Burroughs (author) – 1914
  • Red Buttons (actor) – 1919
  • Hank Aaron (baseball player) – 1934
  • Roger Staubach (football player) – 1942
  • Barbara Hershey (actress) – 1948
  • Laura Linney (actress) – 1964
  • Sara Evans (country music singer) – 1971

Died

  • Marianne Moore (poet) – 1972
  • Samuel M. Rubin (known as Sam the Popcorn Man, the first to pop corn in machines on a widespread basis in theaters) – 2004
  • Franklin Cover (actor) – 2006
  • Brian Jacques (children’s author) – 2011
  • Kirk Douglas (actor) – 2020

Events

  • Religious leader Roger Williams arrived in America (Boston)– 1631
  • First annual meeting of the American Statistical Association– 1840
  • The Oregon Spectator was the first newspaper published on the Pacific coast of the United States– 1846
  • Edwin Prescott was granted a patent for a centrifugal railway (an early design of a looping roller coaster)– 1901
  • The Yankees bought 10 acres in the Bronx, New York, for a stadium– 1921
  • Richard Button won Olympic gold for figure skating– 1948
  • The first Don’t Walk” automatic signs were installed in New York City”– 1952
  • Walt Disney’s Peter Pan premiered– 1953
  • Canadian industrialist and William Stephenson invested as Companion of Order of Canada– 1980
  • RHESSI (then called HESSI) launched to study solar flares. (RHESSI stands for Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager.)– 2002
  • The National Zoo’s first litter of cheetahs in 115 years went on display to the public– 2005

Weather

  • San Francisco, California, received 3.7” of snow downtown and 7” in the west hills– 1887
  • Two to 4 inches of snow fell in parts of southern Louisiana – more than had been received in any of the preceding 15 years.– 1988
  • Most of the western United States experienced a severe arctic outbreak– 1989
  • Northern Minnesota saw chilly temperatures of -38 F in Hallock and -42 F in Embarrass– 2007
  • Grand Fork, North Dakota, and International Falls, Minnesota, each recorded a temperature of -30 degrees F– 2007
  • The temperature dropped to -44 degrees F in Winnipeg, Manitoba– 2007
  • Dozens of twisters were reported in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama– 2008

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