Wet and Cold

"Well, that wasn't my best idea ever," Little Girl said.  She was standing in cut-off jean shorts over her swimsuit, a towel draped around her shoulders, dripping on the kitchen floor.

Giving her a quizzical look, she said, "Going swimming in the rain."

Rain! i retorted. You tried to go swimming in a downpour!

"Yes, I know, which is why I said it was not my best idea, maybe not even one of my better ones.  Taking my bowl of ice cream out there with me, though, that was totally worth it!"

Before i could think of something to say to that, we heard "Achoo!" from the hall.

"Uh, oh, here comes the walking germ factory!" Little Girl said with a grin.

"Achoo!" Bigger Girl said, coming into the kitchen.  Then, "I heard that, and I can't help it, I'm on the tail end of this cold!"

"Well, keep all the ends away from me, I don't want to miss work or swim team!" Little Girl said as she got her own tail out of there.  "I'm going back to the pool, rain or not!"

At that moment, lightning struck so close it was probably in our back yard, hitting the metal overhand again, and the resultant clap of thunder was so loud it shook the house and rumbled on for about 20 seconds.

"Um, never mind.  I think I'll go dry off and find something to read!"

Good idea, i told her as she left.

"Mom, we need more cough drops," Bigger Girl was telling me.

Wait a minute, i bought a bag of 80! i told her.

"Yeah, I know, and that's about how many I've had trying to numb my sore throat, so we need more.  I've been chomping them down like candy, and I think they are about as effective!"

At what point were you going to figure out that they weren't working too well? i asked.

"Sorry, I was desperate, I have to work, too.  And I have a very difficult chemistry lab.  The professor is from Nigeria, and he's very hard to understand.  He has a lisp!  A very good teacher, very nice, but a lisp!  About the only reason I'm catching what he says is that he's so polite, in his country you repeat yourself over and over to be polite and make sure people understood what you tried to teach them.  And I have to get this report done, he wants us to detail every safety precaution and where all of the safety equipment is located and how to use it.  So anyway, we need more cough drops."

How about i get you something more natural to soothe your throat, i'll see what they have at the health food store, and you drink some of that throat soothing tea, i told her.

"Okay, but I hate hot tea in the summer heat.  Oh, well, it's better than drowning.  My body is surrounding the viruses with mucus to get them out of me, but meanwhile the tail end of this cold is going to drown me!"

Let's hope not, i said as she set out to make some tea.

Today is

Abolition Day -- French Guiana

Alcoholics Anonymous Founders Day
    
Army Day -- Jordan

Ball Point Pen Day -- date, in 1943, Biro patented one of the early models of a ball point pen (it was as awful as the other early ones, though!)

Celtic Tree Month Duir (Oak) commences

Dia de Portugal e de Camoes -- Portugal (National Day)

Herbs & Spices Day

Holiday of the Wan Thing -- Fairy Calendar (the Wan Thing arrived in Fairyland this day an unremembered number of years ago and has sat there looking wan ever after, so the Fairies decided to give it its own holiday)

Kuopio Dance Festival -- Kuopio, Finland (exotic dance art by familiar and new artists from around the world on the sunlit summer nights; through next Tuesday)

Midnight Sun Film Festival -- Sodankyla, Lapland, Finland (one of the world's most unique film festivals; through Sunday)

National Black Cow Day

National Iced Tea Day

National Time Out Day -- US, sponsored by The Association of Operating Room Nurses, which want everyone involved in surgeries to take time out before the procedure to verify the surgery site, type, and patient and decrease OR errors 

Old Fort Days and Billy the Kid Tombstone Race -- Fort Sumner, NM, US (fun for all, including a rodeo, dance, demonstrations by Native Americans, and a race through an obstacle course carrying an 80lb tombstone! through Sunday)

Rape of Lidice/Lidice Memorial Day -- Czech Republic and Slovakia/New Jersey, US (in one of the most-remembered atrocities of WWII, the small town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, was invaded by Nazi troops who murdered every man, burned every house, and sent all the women and children for "reeducation.")

Reconciliation Day -- Republic of the Congo

St. Brigid of Ireland's Day (Patron babies/infants/newborns, blacksmiths, boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, cattle, children whose parents are not married, dairymaids/dairy workers, fugitives, midwives, nuns, poets, poultry farmers, printing presses, scholars, travellers; Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Ireland; Ivrea, Turin, Italy; Kildare, Ireland; Leinster, Ireland)

Where the Wild Things Are Day -- birth anniversary of Maurice Sendak


Anniversary Today:

Alcoholics Anonymous is founded, 1925


Birthdays Today:

Joey Zimmerman, 1986
Tara Lipinski, 1982
Leelee Sobieski, 1982
Hoku Ho, 1981
Shane West, 1978
Doug McKeon, 1966
Elizabeth Hurley, 1965
Linda Evangelista, 1965
Jeanne Tripplehorn, 1963
Michael Burger, 1957
John Edwards, 1953
Jeff Greenfield, 1943
F. Lee Bailey, 1933
Maurice Sendak, 1928
Nat Hentoff, 1925
Judy Garland, 1922
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1921
Saul Bellow, 1915
Frederick Loewe, 1904
Hattie McDaniel, 1889


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Tales from the Crypt"(TV), 1989
"Paperback Writer"(UK song release), 1966
"Tristan und Isolde"(Opera), 1865


Today in History:

Frederick Barbarossa drowns leading his troops across the Saleph River to attack Jerusalem in the Crusades, 1190
The first American log cabin is built, at Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware, 1639
Bridget Bishop becomes the first person hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 1770
A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China, 1786
The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris; a year later, it becomes the first public zoo, 1793
The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place, 1829
Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered, 1838
The first class of the United States Naval Academy students graduate, 1854
Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces, 1886
Americus Callahan of Chicago patents the window envelope, 1902
The inaugural service for the United Church of Canada, a union of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist churches, is held in Toronto Arena, 1925
Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson, 1925
Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire, 1967
Apple ships its first Apple II personal computer, 1977
The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, 2003
Twenty inches of rainfall in Escambia County, Florida damages roadways and bridges, and leaving parts of the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama under water, 2012
German authorities are forced to evacuate 10 villages as heavy rains swell the Elbe River, breaching its banks, 2013
Heavy monsoon rains cause the collapse of a partially-finished building on a residential block in Mumbai, India, 2013

Photo-Finish Friday: Rare Sight

Up until recently, these were rare sights in the swamps.

Ice on a roof.

Icicle hanging from the bottom of the Jalopy.

So far, these have been rare sights in these parts.  With the way things are going, i'm afraid they may become much more common.  That's not good news, the flora and fauna down here aren't used to this.

Photo-Finish Friday is the brain child of Leah at The Goat's Lunch Pail.




Today is:

Backward Day -- no info on the origin, but if you want to do something backward, go ahead

Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo -- Rapid City, SD, US (everything you could want in such an event, including the stockman banquet and ball; through Feb. 9)

Carnaval de Quebec -- Quebec City, Canada (a vigorous winter celebration, where they have the cold around long enough to need it; through Feb. 16)

Eat Brussels Sprouts Day --  saute in olive oil with some garlic, they are worth it!

Eve of Brigantia -- Ireland (St. Bridget's Eve, the night when she crosses the countryside and bestows blessings)

Feast of Great Typos -- another that no one will claim inventing, but since we've all made them, we may as well celebrate them

Feast of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

H&ll is Freezing Over Day -- internet generated day to review the list of things you said you would do when h*ll freezes over

Independence Day -- Nauru(1968)

Inspire Your Heart With the Arts Day -- begun by Rev Jayne Howard Feldman as a day to use art to feed your soul

Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year/Lhosar/Seol-Nal/Tet -- celebrations throughout Asia before and after, some for up to a month; Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist celebrations
     Sonam Lhosar -- Nepal (Tamang New Year)

Mother's Day -- Israel (Shevat 30)

National Brandy Alexander Day

National Bug Busting Day -- UK (this is one idea that needs export to the whole world! the aim is to have every child checked for head lice on the same day, and thus get rid of them in one feel swoop, so they don't circulate endlessly)

National Gorilla Suit Day -- Mad Magazine's Maddest Artist, Don Martin, says this is the day to pull that gorilla suit out of the closet and step out in style.

National Preschool Fitness Day -- get them loving moving early in life

Phlegm-Green, Moldy-Grey, and Gazzard Day -- Fairy Calendar (don't ask what color Gazzard is, it doesn't exist in the human world, and you don't want it to)

Play An Old Game You Haven’t Played in Years Night -- internet generated, and a great idea

Providence Boat Show -- Providence, RI, US (start of the boating season; through Sunday)

Saranac Lake Winter Carnival -- Saranac Lake, NY, US (oldest winter festival in the eastern US, a ten day celebration with this year's theme as "Celtic Carnival")

Scotch Tape Day -- it hit the market this day in 1928

St. John Bosco's Day (Patron of apprentices, boys, editors, laborers, schoolchildren, students, young people-especially youth of Mexican descent)

Traditional Day of Offering -- Bhutan (first day of 12th month of Tibetan calendar)

Winterlude Festival -- Ottawa, ON, Canada (enjoy parades, dances, snow races, and more; through the 17th, with most of the festivities on weekends)



Birthdays Today:

Justin Timberlake, 1981
Kerry Washington, 1977
Portia de Rossi, 1973
Minnie Driver, 1971
Kelly Lynch, 1959
Jhn Lydon, 1956
Nolan Ryan, 1947
Charlie Musselwhite, 1944
Richard Gephardt, 1941
Jessica Walter, 1941
Stuart Margolin, 1940
Queen Beatrix, 1938
suzanne Pleshette, 1937
Philip Glass, 1937
James Franciscus, 1934
Ernie Banks, 1931
Jean Simmons, 1929
Carol Channing, 1923
Norman Mailer, 1923
Mario Lanza, 1921
Jackie Robinson, 1919
Thomas Merton, 1915
Garry Moore, 1915
Tallulah Bankhead, 1903
Eddie Cantor, 1892
Zane Grey, 1872
Franz Schubert, 1797
Robert Morris, 1734
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan, 1543


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"These Are My Children"(TV), 1949 (first daytime TV Soap Opera)
"The Green Hornet"(Radio), 1936
"The Lone Ranger"(Radio), 1933
"Three Sisters"(Chekhov Play), 1901
"Hedda Gabler"(Ibsen Play), 1891


Today in History:

Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England, 1606
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, 1747
The Corn Laws (tariffs on imported grains) are abolished in Britain, paving the way for more free trade, 1849
The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations, 1876
The Bulletin of Sydney is founded, publishes for 128 years, 1880
An automobile exceeds 100 mph (161 kph) for the first time, at Daytona Beach, driven by A. G. MacDonald, 1905
The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky, 1929
Scotch tape is first marketed by the 3M Company, 1930
Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, US receives the first US Social Security monthly payment check, for $22.54, 1940
President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb, 1950
A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands, 1953
Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit, 1958
James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt, 1958
Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space, 1961
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program, 1966
Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon, 1971
The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, 1990
Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake, 1996
NASA reveals the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR), a lunar mining robot which could be used to produce fuel and water directly on the Moon, 2013

We Officially Announce

That school is canceled.  Like we couldn't have guessed.

It was plastered all over the news, and they robo-called us and sent home a letter to boot, just to make sure we knew.

Yes, it's another of those ice on the roads, interstate shut down, most streets impassible because they have a bridge over a creek that has ice on it, no school, no government workers to report except essential personnel, uni is closed, junior college is closed, everyone go home, stay home, and don't come out until it warms up enough that you Southerners won't kill yourselves trying to drive in the mess that you aren't used to kind of days.

As Bigger Girl says, "The South shut down."

These are the kind of days we don't get very often, and thank heavens.  Last Friday's big shutdown resulted in over 200 accidents that can be blamed on weather.

Yet, Sweetie has to go to work.  The women in his building do not have to report.  Maintenance, since they can't mow or weed or do set ups for meetings (there aren't any), do not have to report.  The whole university, except those who work the power plant so nothing freezes or is destroyed, is staying home.

He works for the alumni association, and he has to report for duty for a couple of hours so the Big Boss can brag that his people came to work when no one else at the university did.  It makes him feel superior.  We just hope Sweetie can get back home, there are so many road closures that "you can't get there from here" becomes a real possibility.

#1 Son keeps updating me on how cold it is in Chicago, Bigger Girl is lamenting her broken computer screen (yes, she broke it again) and begging Little Girl to allow her on the tablet, #2 Son is camping out with Festus and Young Jacob around a fire on the side porch, and Little Girl has turned the "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" song into "No School 'til Brooklyn" and is singing it with glee.

As for me, i'm tempted to hibernate with the heating pad.  Sweetie is accusing me of having a love affair with it.  Since he won't snuggle because he can't sleep with anything or anyone touching him except his blanket, it certainly is my second-best friend at the moment.

If you are in the cold weather places right now, i hope you thaw out soon, and i hope we do, too!


 
Today is:

Army Day -- Armenia

Data Privacy Day -- International

Feast of the Holy Family -- Catholic Christian

Festival of the Lenaia to Dionysus -- Ancient Greek Calendar, end January through early February

Jackhammer Day -- US (the pneumatic jackhammer was patented this day in 1894 by Charles Brady King of Detroit, MI)

National Blueberry Pancake Day

National Kazoo Day -- because anyone can play one!

National Speak Up and Succeed Day -- encouraging joining Toastmasters International, as fear of speaking can block your road to success!

National Spieling Day -- internet generated, and whatever your area of expertise, spiel about it today

Rinkydinks Annual Snowball Fight -- Fairy Calendar

Runic Half-month Elhaz (elk) commences

St. Charlemagne's Day (Patron of the University of Paris)

St. Thomas Aquinas's Day (Patron of academics, apologists, book sellers, chastity, colleges, learning, pencil makers, philosophers, publishers, scholars, schools, students, theologians, universities; Aquino, Italy; Belcastro, Italy; Falerna, Italy; University of Vigo; all Catholic academies, schools, and universities; against lightning, storms)

Telephone Exchange Day -- US (the first telephone exchange was set up in New Haven, CT with 22 subscribers on this day in 1878)

Up-Helly-AA Day -- Lerwick, Shetland (the largest fire festival in Europe, with tomorrow as a day off so everyone can recover)


Anniversary Today:

Adoption of the Great Seal of the United States, 1782


Birthdays Today:

Elijah Wood, 1981
Nick Carter, 1980
Joey Fatone, Jr. 1977
Kathryn Morris, 1969
Sarah McLachlan, 1968
Harley Jane Kozak, 1957
Nicolas Sarkozy, 1955
Rick Warren, 1954
John Beck, 1943
Susan Howard, 1943
Alan Alda, 1936
Susan Sontag, 1933
Claes Oldenburg, 1929
Jackson Pollack, 1912
Robert Stroud, 1890 (The Birdman of Alcatraz)
Arthur Rubenstein, 1887
Auguste Piccard, 1884
Jean Felix Piccard, 1884
Colette, 1873
Jose' Marti, 1853
Henry Morton Stanley, 1841
Alexander Mackenzie, 1822
Peter the Great of Russia, 1775
St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fantasy Island"(TV), 1978
"Barnaby Jones"(TV), 1973
"Symphony No. 1/Jeremiah"(Bernstein), 1944


Today in History:

The Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted by Pope Gregory VIII, 1077
The first Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria, 1099
Pope Alexander VI gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France, 1495
Edward VI, age nine, succeeds his father Henry VIII as king of England, 1547
By the Edict of Orleans, the persecution of French Huguenots is suspended, 1561
Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland, 1573
Sir Thomas Warner found the first British colony in the Caribbean, on St. Kitts, 1624
The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree (it was called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917), 1724
Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity, 1754
London's Pall Mall is the first street lit by gaslight, 1807
Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom, 1813
The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway, 1855
In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick, 1887
Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent became the first person to be convicted of speeding in an automobile. He is fined 1 shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h), 1896
The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie, 1902
An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard, 1915
The first Jewish  US Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, appointed by Wilson, 1916
A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to honor the unknown dead of World War I, 1921
The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence, 1933
The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today, 1958
The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament, 1965
Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region, 1984
Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief, 1985
Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff killing all seven astronauts on board, 1986
Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled up the Egyptian's streets in demonstrations referred to as "Friday of Anger" against the Mubarak regime, 2011

Cold Irony

It is cold in these here bayous, but not cold enough to sustain snow, as I predicted last night.

Oh, we got snow, during the night, but with temps just barely at freezing, it left nothing but a light dusting on sheltered rooftops. That did not stop the children from running around and catching it as it fell, making slushballs to throw at each other in the dark. They lasted about an hour before their lack of proper winter gear and inability to stand much cold caught up to them.

By this morning, it was gone except from a few roofs in the shade of trees, and that melted quickly.

The worst was that on Friday nights I go to the cat shelter to feed and clean up after the cats. Since the electricity went out at the shelter, I got called and told not to go up there. The volunteer coordinator was there, and she made sure every cat had food, that was all she could do in the dark while juggling a flashlight. This meant I didn't have to go out and drive in the wet, cold, and wind, but it also meant I ran out of kitten food! (Not kitten formula for the littlest babies, but chow for the bigger kittens.) I was going to pick up more while I was there. The kittens were in classic "I'm dying because no one ever feeds me" mode by this morning, the full blown act, complete with yowls and climbing my legs like I am a piece of playground equipment. They survived until I got up there and got food for them, but in their opinions, they have been sorely abused by having to wait.

I find it ironic that it is during this very cold time of year that the first US nudist society was founded (see Today in History). This is the time of year that I wish they had nice lingerie made of flannel, with feet! ;)


Today is:

AFL-CIO Day

Bathtub Party Day

Discovery Day, Haiti

Festival of Faunus -- Ancient Roman Calendar

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development

King's Birthday, Thailand

National Sacher Torte Day

Repeal Day, celebrating the repeal of Prohibition

Skywarn Recognition Day

St. Clement of Alexandria's Day

St. Nicholas' Eve

St. Saba's Day


Birthdays Today:

Gary Allan, 1967
John Rzeznik, 1965
Morgan Brittany, 1951
Jim Messina, 1947
J.J. Cale, 1938
Little Richard, 1932
Otto Preminger, 1906
Strom Thurmond, 1902
Walt Disney, 1901
George Armstrong Custer, 1839
Martin Van Buren, 1782


Today in History:

Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations, BC63
The French franc is created, a gold coin to celebrate the release of King John II, whom the English had captured, 1360
An earthquake in Naples leave about 35,000 dead, 1465
All Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I, 1496
London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale, 1766
Henry Knox begins the transport of Fort Ticonderoga artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a key to later forcing the British Fleet out of Boston Harbor, 1775
C F Schoenbein obtains a patent for cellulose nitrate explosive, 1846
President Polk confirms that gold has been discovered in California, triggering the next year's "Gold Rush", 1848
Daniel Stillson of Massachusetts patents the first practical pipe wrench, 1876
The first automated telephone switching system is patented, 1879
The first electric car makes its debut; it could go 15 miles between charges, 1893
University of Pittsburg makes the first use of numbers on football jerseys, 1908
The American League for Physical Culture is founded in NYC, the first US nudist organization, 1929
The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, is ratified, 1933
Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis receives approval, 1941

It is

It is a 50*F morning yesterday, 43*F today.

Wow, around here, I call that cold, for October.

I know, those of you who live where it really gets cold, that is nothing at all. I get cold very, very easily, however, and my hands and feet ache with it.

I knew our lack of tropical type weather this year meant an earlier cold season. I wasn't quite ready for it to be mid October.

Someday, I want to visit Canada, and lots of other places where the winters are truly cold. It will have to be during their summers, though.

Stay warm, wherever you are!


Today is:

Alaska Day

Great Horn Fair, Kent, England

Independence Day, Chile

International Credit Union Day

King Look Under Your Mattress's Unique Hiding Display -- Fairy Calendar (Finally! Proof, on the internet, that you do, indeed, need to look under the matress!)

National Chocolate Cupcake Day

National Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day

Nike Awareness Day (I hope they are talking the Greek Winged Victory Nike here!)

No Beard Day

Pandrosos -- Ancient Greek Calendar (all-refreshing goddess)

Persons Day, Canada (Marking the ruling that women are persons in 1929.)

Shemini Atzeret, Eighth Day of Assembly -- Jewish

St. Luke's Day (patron of doctors, painters, glassmakers, artists, butchers, notaries, sculptors)

World Menopause Day


Birthdays Today:

Wynton Marsalis, 1961
Erin Moran, 1960
Jean-Claude Van Damme, 1960
Martina Navratilova, 1956
Pam Dawber, 1951
Laura Nyro, 1947
Mike Ditka, 1939
Dawn Wells, 1938
Peter Boyle, 1935
George C. Scott, 1927
Chuck Berry, 1926
Melina Mercouri, 1923
Jesse Helms, 1921
Anita O'Day, 1919
Lotte Lenya, 1900


Today in History:

Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroys the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, 1009
Battle of Assadun (Ashingdon), Danes defeat Saxons, 1016
Basel, Switzerland is destroyed by the Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, 1356
University of Heidelberg opens, 1386
Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima -- Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts in feudal Japan, 1561
The shoemakers of Boston form the first labor organization in the Colonies/US, 1648
The Mason/Dixon line is agreed upon, 1767
The US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, for $7.2 million, 1867
Edison makes electricity available for household use, 1878
John Owen becomes the first foramlly timed person to run 100 yd dash in under 10 seconds, 1890