FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Simon Willard (April 3, 1753 – August 30, 1848) was a celebrated American clockmaker. Simon Willard clocks were produced in Massachusetts in the towns of Grafton and Roxbury, near Boston. Among his many innovations and timekeeping improvements, Simon Willard is best known for inventing the eight-day patent timepiece that came to be known as the gallery or banjo clock.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
What is the quickest and easiest method to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit?
These are the easiest formulas that we’re aware of:
If you know the degrees Celsius: degrees F = (degrees C x 1.8) + 32.
If you know the degrees Fahrenheit: degrees C = (degrees F – 32) / 1.8.
Check out our Temperature Conversion page for an automatic conversion calculator and conversion charts.
Advice of the Day
A February spring is not worth a pin.
Home Hint of the Day
If you have an infestation of earwigs around firewood, sprinkle borax around the woodpile. Keep borax away from pets and children, however.
Word of the Day
Cumulus cloud
Fair-weather cloud with flat base and domeshaped top.
Puzzle of the Day
How would securely hitching a horse affect his speed?
It would make him fast.
Died
- Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) – 1725
- John Hay Whitney (multimillionaire) – 1982
- Raymond Scott (composer) – 1994
- William Dillard, Sr. (founder of the retail chain Dillard’s) – 2002
- Joe Edwards (cartoonist) – 2007
Born
- Henry Walter Bates (naturalist) – 1825
- Jules Verne (writer) – 1828
- King Vidor (director of film) – 1894
- Jack Lemmon (actor) – 1925
- Thelma Chalifoux (politician) – 1929
- James Dean (actor) – 1931
- John Williams (composer) – 1932
- Ted Koppel (newscaster) – 1940
- Mary Steenburgen (actress) – 1953
- John Grisham (author) – 1955
- Seth Green (actor) – 1974
- Jordan Todosey (actress) – 1995
Events
- French and Indians attacked Schenectady, New York– 1690
- College of William & Mary chartered.– 1693
- Simon Willard granted patent for the banjo clock– 1802
- Sandford Fleming proposed Universal Standard Time, Toronto, Ontario– 1879
- Boy Scouts of America incorporated– 1910
- Stars and Stripes newspaper published for the first time– 1918
- President Harding had the first radio installed in the White House– 1922
- Jay Berwanger became the first player to be drafted by the National Football League– 1936
- JFK administration banned travel of U.S. citizens to Cuba– 1963
- Last issue of Saturday Evening Post until the magazine’s 1971 re-emergence– 1969
- Debi Thomas won Women’s Singles, U.S. National Figure Skating Championship– 1986
- Disney’s California Adventure Park opened– 2001
Weather
- Great Arctic outbreak in the Southeast. 8 degrees F in Jacksonville, Florida—extensive crop damage– 1835
- The Lindsay Storm left 20 inches of snow in New York City, where areas went unplowed for more than a week– 1969
- The beaches of Malibu were hit by a winter snowstorm, which also created traffic jams in the Los Angeles area– 1989
- Snow fell in Los Angeles, California– 1989
COURTESY www.almanac.com
