FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate schools, including the Walsh School of Foreign Service, McDonough School of Business, Medical School, Law School, and a campus in Qatar. The school’s main campus, on a hill above the Potomac River, is identifiable by its flagship Healy Hall, a National Historic Landmark. The school was founded by and is affiliated with the Society of Jesus, and is the oldest Catholic institution of higher education in the United States, though the majority of students presently are not Catholic.

Admission to Georgetown is considered highly selective. The university offers degree programs in forty-eight disciplines, enrolling an average of 7,500 undergraduate and 10,000 post-graduate students from more than 135 countries. The school’s athletic teams are nicknamed the Hoyas and include a men’s basketball team, which has won a record eight Big East championships, appeared in five Final Fours, and won a national championship in 1984. Georgetown’s notable alumni include 13 Nobel Prize Laureates, 28 Rhodes Scholars, 32 Marshall Scholars, 33 Truman Scholars, 429 Fulbright Scholars, 2 U.S. Presidents, and 2 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, as well as international royalty and 14 foreign heads of state. Among the world’s leading institutions in government and international relations, the school’s alumni include more U.S. diplomats than any other university and many members of the United States Congress.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

St. David’s Day

This day commemorates the patron saint of Wales, St. David, who was born in the sixth century at Henfynw, Cardigan.

St. David’s Day also celebrates the Welsh victory over the Saxons in 640. Legend has it that the clever Welsh farmers pinned leeks to their coats so they could recognize one another in the melee; the Saxons killed many of their own kind, not having such a sign to tell friend form foe.

Today, St. David’s symbol is the leek. In honor of St. David, plant a bulb of aromatic leek as soon as the ground can be worked. See our page on planting leeks.

An old adage suggests eating leeks all month to keep the doctor away all year!

Month of March

March is named for the Roman god of war, Mars. Read all about the merry month of March!

Question of the Day

I recently moved into a very old home that came with a very old raspberry patch. I pruned and cleaned it out last year, but it didn’t do well. Is there anything in particular that raspberry bushes like that may give my berries a boost for the coming summer?

Pruning is the key. Make sure that you prune out all the old brown canes. Lop them off at ground level. Leave only six of the strongest green canes per 12 inches of running row, or nine canes per 18 inches. And don’t let plants grow outside an 18-inch-wide row. Mow down new unruly shoots, or you’ll end up with a jungle instead of neat rows. Learn more about growing raspberries.

Advice of the Day

March comes in with adders’ heads and goes out with peacocks’ tails.

Home Hint of the Day

To reduce moisture in any basement crawl space, be sure to install at least two vents, and locate them on opposite walls. One vent on every wall is better.

Word of the Day

Semidiurnal Tide

A tide with one high water and one low water every half day. East Coast tides, for example, are semidiurnal, with two highs and two lows during a tidal day of approximately 24 hours.

Puzzle of the Day

What is the difference between a professor and a mosquito?

One is a mentor, and the other is a torment.

Born

• Frederic Chopin (composer) – 1810
• Glenn Miller (musician) – 1904
• David Niven (actor) – 1909
• Yitzhak Rabin (Israeli politician) – 1922
• Harry Belafonte (singer) – 1927
• Robert Conrad (actor) – 1935
• Roger Daltrey (lead singer for The Who) – 1944
• Alan Thicke (actor) – 1947
• Ron Howard (actor & director) – 1954
• Tim Daly (actor) – 1956
• George Eads (actor) – 1967
• Chris Webber (basketball player) – 1973
• Mark-Paul Gosselaar (actor) – 1974
• Lupita Nyong’o (actress) – 1983

Died

• Peter Barlow (mathematician) – 1862
• The Earl of Minto (Canadian Governor General 1898-1904) – 1914
• Gabriele d’Annunzio (Italian poet and novelist) – 1938
• Jackie Coogan (actor) – 1984
• Edwin Land (inventor) – 1991
• Jack Wild (actor & singer) – 2006
• Bonnie Franklin (actress) – 2013

Events

• Salem Witch Trials began in Massachusetts with the conviction of West Indian slave, Tituba, for witchcraft– 1692
• First U.S. Census authorized by Congress– 1790
• Ohio became the 17th state of the union– 1803
• Georgetown College (now University) chartered; had been established in 1789 as first Catholic college in the U.S.– 1815
• Nebraska became the 37th state of the union– 1867
• Congress created Yellowstone National Park, the nation’s first national park– 1872
• The son of Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped– 1932
• Canned goods rationed– 1943
• Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! made its television debut– 1949
• Joe Louis announced his first retirement– 1949
• Klaus E.J. Fuchs, a British atomic scientist, found guilty of communicating information to the Soviets concerning atomic research– 1950
• Several Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire in the U.S. House of Representatives, injuring five people– 1954
• President Kennedy created Peace Corps– 1961
• Ticker-tape parade in New York City for John Glenn and fellow astronauts– 1962
• Russian spacecraft Venus 3, launched November 16, 1965, crashed on Venus, the first man-made object to reach another planet– 1966
• Johnny Cash and June Carter were married– 1968
• Mickey Mantle announced retirement– 1969
• Seven former White House and Nixon campaign officials were indicted by a grand jury investigating the Watergate Incident– 1974

Weather

• Bridge between Hanover, New Hampshire, and Norwich, Vermont, collapsed from heavy snow weight– 1804
• Avalanche hit trains in Wellington, WA. 96 people died– 1910
• Heavy, wet snow fell in a New York and New Jersey blizzard– 1914
• Thirty-two degrees below zero F in Minneapolis, Minnesota– 1962
• Norfolk, Virginia, received 13.7 inches of snow– 1980

COURTESY www.almanac.com