By Marie Reader
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland’s Opus, Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles between 2004 and 2006. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Hustle & Flow.
Howard has had prominent roles in many other movies, including Winnie Mandela, Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Crash, Four Brothers, Big Momma’s House, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Idlewild, Biker Boyz, August Rush, The Brave One, and Prisoners. Howard played James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the first Iron Man film. He starred as the lead character Lucious Lyon in the television series Empire. His debut album, Shine Through It, was released in September 2008. In December 2022, he announced that he planned to retire from acting.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
A day for the 53 Commonwealth countries to acknowledge their shared values, their diversity, and their combined contributions to international harmony and prosperity. Since 1977, this day of observance occurs in Canada on the second Monday in March. The Royal Union flag is flown at many federal locations, and students learn about the Commonwealth via special activities.
Question of the Day
I understand that black walnut trees have a compound that inhibits growth in certain plants. I intend to garden several yards away from one. What precautions should I take to ensure the safety of my veggies? Also, can black walnut leaves be composted?
It’s the roots of the black walnut that can cause the most damage to your veggies. They excrete a toxic substance that can harm some plants, including tomatoes and alfalfa. The toxic zone from a mature black walnut tree can extend up to 80 feet around the base of the tree, so if possible, plant your garden at least that far away.
You can compost black walnut leaves, but it’s recommended that you do so separately from your main compost pile. And since there’s no easy way to separate them from other leaves in your yard, we recommend just burning all the debris from the area around a black walnut.
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Robert Treat Paine (public official) –
- Urbain Le Verrier (astronomer) –
- Thomas Hastings (co-architect of N.Y. Public Library) –
- Vannevar Bush (electrical engineer) –
- Henry Dixon Cowell (composer) –
- Dorothy Gish (actress) –
- Lawrence Welk (bandleader) –
- Mercer Ellington (musician) –
- Ralph Abernathy (civil rights leader) –
- Sam Donaldson (broadcast journalist) –
- Antonin Scalia (Supreme Court justice) –
- Douglas Noel Adams (author) –
- Lisa Loeb (musician) –
- Terrence Howard (actor) –
- Joel & Benji Madden (musicians) –
- Thora Birch (actress) –
Died
- Oscar Mayer (manufacturer) –
- Philo T. Farnsworth (inventor) –
- James Tobin (Yale economist and Nobel Prize winner) –
- Frank Neuhauser (in 1925 won the first U.S. national spelling bee with the word gladiolus”“) –
Events
- A deadly Mt. Etna eruption began in Italy–
- The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in the U.S. War Department–
- Jennie Kidd Trout became the first Canadian woman to become licensed to practice medicine, earning her degree on this day from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Later in 1875, she passed the exams of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario, thereby becoming the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.–
- First public game of basketball played, Springfield, Massachusetts–
- The Bank of Canada opened as a privately owned and government-controlled corporation–
- Congress maintained U.S. neutrality in the war in Europe but passed the Lend-Lease Act, which enabled England to borrow aircraft, weapons, and merchant ships–
- Naval Unit Commendation awarded to light cruiser U.S.S. Helena–
- Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, opened in New York. It was the first play by an African American woman to appear on Broadway–
- Space probe Pioneer 5 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida–
- Florida panther was added to the endangered species list–
- Levi Strauss began selling bell-bottom jeans–
- U.S. Senator Harrison Williams resigned his Senate seat as a result of being charged with misconduct–
- Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to succeed Chernenko as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party–
- Former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress during Iran-Contra affair–
- Andrew Rotz made 11,123 consecutive Texas skips in 3 hours, 10 minutes in Las Vegas, Nevada–
- A magnitude-9.0 earthquake devastated Japan and spawned a 23-foot tsunami. The quake moved Honshu, Japan, 8 feet to the east.–
- Great white shark circled fisherman’s kayak for over one hour near Maui, Hawaii–
- After a stray cow in Pembroke Pines, Florida, could not be caught by police or assisting cow herders for weeks, police put up a notice on Twitter asking the public for help in locating the animal. The cow was described as Faster than it looks; talented fence jumper; enjoys pools. (The animal was eventually found.)–
Weather
- Great Blizzard of ‘88 started, East Coast — 400 died, 200 ships sank or were heavily damaged, and up to 40 inches of snow fell–
- Record U.S. snowdepth at Tamarack, California, 451 inches–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
