Daily Almanac for Tuesday July 9, 2024

By Cynthia Charlene Greason

Actor Jimmy Smits turns 69 today. Here he is at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con. By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https commons.wikimedia.org

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Jimmy L. Smits (born July 9, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for playing attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s–1990s legal drama L.A. LawNYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s–2000s police drama NYPD BlueMatt Santos on the political drama The West Wing, and for appearing in Switch (1991), My Family (1995), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), and In the Heights (2021). He also appeared as Bail Organa in the Star Wars franchise and as ADA Miguel Prado in Dexter. From 2012 to 2014, he joined the main cast of Sons of Anarchy as Nero Padilla. Smits also portrayed Elijah Strait in the NBC drama series Bluff City Law.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Celebrated by the residents of Nunavut, Canada, on July 9 each year, Nunavut is a time to honor the efforts of those who helped to bring this territory into being. For many years, the Inuit had worked toward forming their own territory. On July 9, 1993, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act took effect, and Nunavut was established on April 1, 1999. Nunavut Day was declared an official government holiday in 2001.

Question of the Day

How can I keep crickets, which seem to arrive every August, out of my house?

Crickets are said to bring good luck, but if you want to get rid of them, fill a plastic squeeze bottle, such as the kind baby powder comes in, with borax. Sprinkle the borax in any cracks, as well as along the baseboards, in the area where the crickets gather or appear to be coming into your home. Don’t do this in areas that are accessible to children or pets, however.

Advice of the Day

Marrying for love is risky, but God smiles on it.

Home Hint of the Day

If you’re going to use a new paintbrush on a finicky job, wash the brush once before you begin, and you’ll avoid getting loose hairs in the finish. The higher the quality of the brush, the less likely it is to shed.

Word of the Day

October

From the Latin word octo, “eight,” because this had been the eighth month of the early Roman calendar.

Puzzle of the Day

My first is female; my second the same; my whole is much dreaded; pray what is its name?(What’s the word? Each clue is a syllable!)

Ma-lady

Born

  • Ann Radcliffe (novelist) – 
  • Elias Howe (inventor) – 
  • The Earl of Minto (Canadian Governor General 1898-1904) – 
  • Franz Boas (anthropologist) – 
  • Dean R. Koontz (author) – 
  • Jimmy Smits (actor) – 
  • Tom Hanks (actor) – 
  • Fred Savage (actor) – 

Died

  • Zachary Taylor (12th U.S. president) – 
  • Eric Sevareid (journalist) – 
  • Douglas George Chapman (Canadian-born American wildlife statistician) – 
  • Rod Steiger (actor) – 
  • Isabel Sanford (actress) – 
  • Kevin Hagen (actor) – 
  • Milan B. Williams (musician) – 
  • Rip Torn (actor) – 

Events

  • Henry VIII of England annulled his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves– 
  • Samuel Latham Mitchill became the first agriculture college professor in the United States when he was appointed by Columbia College in New York City.– 
  • First natural gas well discovered near what is now Charleston, West Virginia– 
  • Argentina declared independence from Spain– 
  • The U.S. Congress ratified the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves– 
  • John F. Blondel received a patent for a doughnut cutter– 
  • Henry Tibbe patented an improved corn cob pipe– 
  • In his Wright biplane, aviator Walter Brookins flew higher than a mile– 
  • New York Mayor LaGuardia read the comics over the radio during a newspaper strike– 
  • At age seven, Roger Woodward became the first person to fall accidentally over the Niagara River’s Horseshoe Falls and live– 
  • Canada’s Official Languages Act adopted– 
  • Clarence M. Kelley, is sworn in as director of the FBI– 
  • Jim Purol set a Guinness World Record for Most Seats Sat in 48 Hours by sitting in 39,250 seats– 

Weather

  • 43 degrees F, Williamstown, Massachusetts– 
  • Tucson, Arizona, hit 102 degrees F in its 33rd consecutive day with temperatures above 100– 
  • 96 degrees F, Glennallen, Alaska– 

 

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