By Zola Elder
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Donald Charles Frederick Messer (May 9, 1909 – March 26, 1973) was a Canadian musician, band leader, radio broadcaster, and defining icon of folk music during the 1960s. His CBC Television series Don Messer’s Jubilee (1959–69) featured Messer’s down-east fiddle style and the “old-time” music of Don Messer and His Islanders, and was one of the most popular and enduring Canadian television programs of the 1960s. Messer was known as a shy fiddler, who preferred to have the other members of the band take the spotlight.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
What is a horse latitude?
A horse latitude is an area of high pressure and low winds that exists at about 30 degrees north latitude and 30 degrees south latitude. Early sailors dreaded these parts of the sea because the winds would become unpredictable, with periods of total calm. Particularly near Bermuda, ships were often stopped in their tracks when the winds gave out. To conserve the crew’s water supply, one survival tactic for a becalmed ship was to abandon any horses on board by letting them die of thirst or tossing them overboard. There were reports that the seas in these areas were “strewn with bodies of horses,” and hence the name “horse latitudes.”
Advice of the Day
Sprinkle baking soda on carpets to deodorize them. Leave it on for an hour and then vacuum.
Home Hint of the Day
When gluing the legs of a chair, fashion a tourniquet clamp by wrapping rope around the legs twice and tying it. Then insert a stick between the 2 rounds of rope and twist to tighten. Lock the stick in place by bracing it against a rung.
Word of the Day
Biddy
A name used in calling a hen or chicken. An Irish serving woman or girl.
Puzzle of the Day
The Natural State. (Name the U.S. state!)
Arkansas
Born
- Carl Ritter (geographer) –
- Rudolf C. Ising (co-creator of Looney Tunes”“) –
- Garrison Keillor (radio host) –
- B. J. Thomas (singer) –
- Wayne Knight (actor) –
- David Duchovny (actor) –
- Charlize Theron (actress) –
Died
- Oliver Hardy (comedian & actor) –
- Mickey Leland (U.S. congressman) –
- Peter Jennings (journalist) –
Events
- La Salle’s Le Griffon, first ship to sail upper Great Lakes, entered Lake Erie–
- George Washington established the Badge of Military Merit for U.S. soldiers injured in action. It later became known as the Purple Heart–
- The United States War Department established–
- Service began at first deaf church in U.S., St. Ann’s Church for Deaf Mutes, N.Y.C.–
- Silver discovered in northern Ontario–
- Peace Bridge opened–
- U.S. satellite Explorer VI launched–
- The Don Messer Show premiered on CBC television–
- Love Canal, N.Y., was declared a disaster area–
- Record-breaking flight around world by single-engine plane completed (6 days, 7 hours, 25 minutes, 47 seconds)–
- President George Bush ordered the military buildup known as Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait earlier in the month–
- At the Summer Olympics, Katie Ledecky swam the 400m freestyle in 3:56.46, setting a world record–
Weather
- New York City had a low of only 102 degrees F by day and 82 degrees F by night, and Philadelphia reached a record high of 106 degrees F–
- The temperature in Claysville, Pennsylvania, reached 108 degrees F–
- A hailstorm severely damaged a passenger train near Pinneo, Colorado.–
- Waco, Texas, recorded a temperature of 107 degrees F–
- Marquette, Michigan, experienced a high temperature of 88 degrees F–
- The temperature plummeted to 30 degrees F in Martin, South Dakota–
- The temperature plummeted to 37 degrees F in Belcourt, North Dakota–
- The temperature plummeted to 40 degrees F in Valentine, Nebraska–
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