FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
What is the speed of the Earth’s rotation?
At the equator, the circumference of the Earth is 40,070 kilometers, and the day is 24 hours long so the speed is 1670 kilometers/hour ( 1070 miles/hr). This decreases by the cosine of your latitude so that at a latitude of 45 degrees, cos(45) = .707 and the speed is .707 x 1670 = 1180 kilometers/hr. You can use this formula to find the speed of rotation at any latitude.
Advice of the Day
Collars around seedlings will help keep cutworms at bay.
Home Hint of the Day
To keep oil paint from skinning over, pour a little thinner on top of the paint, then close the lid tight. The fumes from the thinner leave no air in the can to cause the paint to dry out.
Word of the Day
Florida
The name Florida comes from a Spanish phrase meaning “Feast of Flowers.”
Puzzle of the Day
What do you get when you cross a rooster and a duck?
A bird that gets up at the quack of dawn.
Died
- Nicolaus Copernicus (astronomer) – 1543
- William Lloyd Garrison (writer) – 1879
- Duke Ellington (jazz composer, pianist, & bandleader) – 1974
- Milton Shedd (co-founder of Sea World) – 2002
- Dick Martin (comedian) – 2008
Born
- Queen Victoria (British monarch) – 1819
- George Grey Barnard (sculptor) – 1863
- Bob Dylan (musician) – 1941
- Gary Burghoff (actor) – 1943
- Patti LaBelle (singer) – 1944
- Priscilla Presley (actress) – 1945
- Jim Broadbent (actor) – 1949
- Kristin Scott Thomas (actress) – 1960
- John C. Reilly (actor) – 1965
- Billy Gilman (country singer) – 1988
Events
- Canada’s first medical graduate, William Logie, awarded degree by McGill University– 1833
- Samuel Morse transmitted the first telegraphic message from the U.S. Supreme Court room, Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. The message: What hath God wrought– 1844
- The steamer, Victoria, sank in Thames River near London, Ontario– 1881
- Ohio Anti-Saloon League founded, Oberlin, Ohio– 1893
- First major league baseball night game was played in Cincinnati, Ohio– 1935
- Aurora 7 took flight. It was the second U.S. manned orbital space flight– 1962
- United States and USSR agreed to cooperate in space exploration– 1972
- Crop circle discovered in Haysville, Kansas– 2003
- Canada’s famous clock on the Peace Tower of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa stopped for the first time– 2006
Weather
- Snowstorm across Kentucky with accumulations of 4 to 6 inches of snow– 1894
- Hail fell to a depth of 6 to 8 inches near Ada, Oklahoma– 1940
- Snow whitened the Green Mountains of Vermont– 1967
COURTESY www.almanac.com
