FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. Spurred on by the universal female suffrage movement, IWD originated from labor movements in North America and Europe during the early 20th century.

The earliest version was purportedly a “Women’s Day” organized by the Socialist Party of America in New York City on February 28, 1909. This inspired German delegates at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference to propose “a special Women’s Day” be organized annually, albeit with no set date;^[8] the following year saw the first demonstrations and commemorations of International Women’s Day across Europe. After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917 (the beginning of the February Revolution), IWD was made a national holiday on March 8; it was subsequently celebrated on that date by the socialist movement and communist countries. The holiday was associated with far-left movements and governments until its adoption by the global feminist movement in the late 1960s. IWD became a mainstream global holiday following its adoption by the United Nations in 1977.

International Women’s Day is commemorated in a variety of ways worldwide; it is a public holiday in several countries, and observed socially or locally in others to celebrate and promote the achievements of women.

The UN observes the holiday in connection with a particular issue, campaign, or theme in women’s rights. In some parts of the world, IWD still reflects its political origins, being marked by protests and calls for radical change; in other areas, particularly in the West, it is largely sociocultural and centered on a celebration of womanhood. Some people say this day is not needed while others say it is a necessary step towards the representation of women, equal rights and justice.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

International Women’s Day

Question of the Day

What is the average wind speed inside a tornado?

The Fujita-Pearson scale ranks tornadoes by wind speed. The rankings range from F0 (very weak) to F6 (inconceivable). F0 denotes wind speeds of 40 to 72 mph; F1, 73 to 112 mph; F2, 113 to 157 mph; F3, 158 to 206 mph; F4, 207 to 260 mph; F5, 261 to 318 mph; and F6, 319 to 379 mph.

Advice of the Day

Providing is preventing.

Home Hint of the Day

Sugar maple dries slowly and splits hard, but it burns hot and lasts a long time.

Word of the Day

Dog Days

These are the hottest and most unhealthy days of the year. Also known as Canicular Days, the name derives from the Dog Star, Sirius. The traditional timing of Dog Days is the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the heliacal (at sunrise) rising of Sirius.

Puzzle of the Day

Which is swifter — heat or cold?

Heat, because you can catch cold.

Died

• King William III – 1702
• Millard Fillmore (13th U.S. president) – 1874
• William Howard Taft (27th U.S. president) – 1930
• Joe DiMaggio (baseball player) – 1999
• Elliott Jaques (scientist who coined the term midlife crisis”“) – 2003
• Robert Pastorelli (actor) – 2004
• John Inman (actor) – 2007
• Victor Manuel Blanco (astronomer who helped build the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile) – 2011

Born

• Simon Cameron (Pennsylvania political boss, U.S. senator, Secretary of War) – 1799
• Oliver Wendell Holmes (Supreme Court justice) – 1841
• Kenneth Grahame (author) – 1859
• Joseph Lee (American philanthropist) – 1862
• Sam Jaffee (journalist) – 1924
• Johnny Dollar (country singer) – 1933
• Lew DeWitt (singer, Statler Brothers) – 1938
• Lynn Redgrave (actress) – 1943
• Micky Dolenz (musician, actor, & director) – 1945
• Jim Rice (baseball player) – 1953
• Aidan Quinn (actor) – 1959
• Kathy Ireland (model & actress) – 1963
• Freddie Prinze Jr. (actor) – 1976
• James Van Der Beek (actor) – 1977
• Bob, Dave, & Clint Moffatt (musicians, of The Moffatts) – 1984
• Devon Werkheiser (actor) – 1991

Events

• First train crossed Niagara Railway Suspension bridge– 1855
• Confederate ironclad frigate Virginia (formerly Merrimack) sunk Union ship Cumberland at Hampton Roads, Virginia (U.S. Civil War)– 1862
• Everett Horton patented a fishing rod with telescoping metal tubes– 1887
• The first state dog licensing law in the United States was passed in New York state– 1894
• Yankee slugger Babe Ruth signed an $80,000 per year (2-year, $160,000) contract– 1930
• U.S. Supreme Court ruled in McCollum v. Board of Education that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional– 1948
• Whirlwind I’s Director, precursor to computer operating system, demonstrated– 1955
• First U.S. ground combat troops arrived in Vietnam– 1965
• First year free for students from Newfoundland at Memorial University, N.L.– 1965
• Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight boxing championship in New York– 1971
• Meteorites fell in northeastern China, with the largest fragment, weighing about 3,902 pounds, falling in Jilin Province.– 1976
• Daily artillery barrages between Christian and Syrian forces and their militia allies began in Beirut. At least 930 died before cease-fire took hold in September– 1989
• Wheeled suitcase with collapsible towing handle patented– 1994
• The body of actor-writer Spalding Gray was pulled from New York’s East River, two months after he walked out of his Manhattan apartment and disappeared– 2004

Weather

• 1.6-inch-diameter hail fell in Erin, Ontario– 1879
• A tornado in Arkansas killed 64 people– 1909
• A winter storm brought high winds, heavy rains, and snow to southern British Columbia– 2006
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire, had a record high temperature of 69 degrees Fahrenheit– 2012

COURTESY www.almanac.com