FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) (/ˈæskæp/) is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that protects its members’ musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music, whether via a broadcast or live performance and compensating them accordingly.

ASCAP collects licensing fees from users of music created by ASCAP members, then distributes them back to its members as royalties. In effect, the arrangement is the product of a compromise: when a song is played, the user does not have to pay the copyright holder directly, nor does the music creator have to bill a radio station for use of a song.

In 2019, ASCAP collected over US$1.274 billion in revenue and distributed $1.184 billion in royalties to its members. As of September 2020, ASCAP membership included over 775,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, with over 11 million registered works.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

Who was the youngest U.S. president?Theodore Roosevelt. He assumed the presidency in September 1901, after the assassination of William McKinley and shortly before his 43rd birthday. John F. Kennedy was the youngest elected president, being just 43 years of age when he took office in 1961.

Advice of the Day

Have a thought for the birds: Put out suet and seeds.

Home Hint of the Day

To remove a bloodstain from carpeting, sprinkle on salt, then cold water. Gently blot the area with a sponge, then wipe up the mixture.

Word of the Day

Stratus cloudThin, gray sheet-like cloud with low base; may bring drizzle or snow.

Puzzle of the Day

What is that which is full of holes and yet holds water?A sponge

Born

• Bess Truman (U.S. First Lady) – 1885
• Chuck Yeager (pilot) – 1923
• George Segal (actor) – 1934
• Peter Tork (musician, member of The Monkees) – 1942
• Peter Gabriel (musician) – 1950
• Robbie Williams (singer) – 1974
• Kristy Powell (Olympic gymnast) – 1980

Died

• Lily Pons (soprano) – 1976
• Pauline Trigere (fashion designer) – 2002
• Waylon Jennings (singer) – 2002
• Ralph Waite (actor; best known as John Walton on The Waltons) – 2014

Events

• Astronomer Tycho Brahe outlined his solar system structure– 1588
• Jesse James robbed his first bank– 1866
• Strauss’s Blue Danube premiered in Vienna– 1867
• First U.S. quintuplets born, in Watertown, Wisconsin– 1875
• Novocain (procaine) patented– 1906
• The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) established– 1914
• The first Barbie dolls went on sale– 1959
• First women Royal Canadian Air Force pilots (Captains Nora Bottomley, Dee Brasseur, and Leah Mosher) graduated– 1981
• Winter Olympics began, Calgary, Alberta– 1988
• Second tune-up for the Hubble Space Telescope began– 1997
• The last original Peanuts comic strip ran in newspapers– 2000
• Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II– 2002

Weather

• Ice floes formed in the Gulf of Mexico– 1784
• -2 degrees F, Tallahassee, Florida– 1899
• A snowstorm that began late in the day eventually dropped 15 inches of snow on Boise, Idaho– 1949
• -72 degrees F at Shepherd Bay, Nunavut– 1973

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