Fun Facts for Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The 141 day of the year--224 days left to go
TODAY IS
- American Red Cross Founder's Day
- I Need A Patch For That Day
- National Wait Staff Day
- Sister Maria Hummel Day
- World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue & Development
ON THIS DATE...
293: Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
1554: Queen Mary I grants a royal Charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.
1819: The first bicycles, imported from England, appeared on the streets of New York City. Within a month, the city banned the new-fangled machines as being hazardous to public safety.
1851: Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.
1856: Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
1863: Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
1881: The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C..
1898: History’s first car with a bumper, the prototype of a Czech-built Präsident, rolled out of the Imperial Nesseldorf factory in Moravia. It had a front bumper. On the test run, the bumper fell off and was not replaced.
1917: The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).
1927: Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
1932: Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1934: Oskaloosa, Iowa, became the first U.S. city to fingerprint its residents.
1945: Hollywood’s Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married. Both cried during the 3-minute ceremony. Their movies together included "To Have and Have Not," "Key Largo," and "The Big Sleep."
1990: In a classic final episode of the Newhart TV series, Bob Newhart woke up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette, his wife on a previous series, The Bob Newhart Show. He had been dreaming since 1978.
1995: A Lakeland, Florida, man lost a thumb when a barber who came to his home bit it off. The 30-year-old barber became irate when his customer decided he didn’t want a haircut after all. Doctors were not able to reattach the thumb.
1996: Actor Lash LaRue died in Toluca Lake, California, at age 78. In the 1940s he was "King of the Bullwhip" in 18 feature western movies.
1997: Three British soldiers were fined $300 each for running through Ayia Napa, Cyprus, naked in the middle of the night singing "God Save the Queen." The judge didn’t think it was funny.
1998: A Fullerton, California, man finally paid off his 1958 divorce with a check for $180 to his attorney. The 70-year-old client said he always intended to pay the bill, but with six kids and health problems, it took him 40 years to get caught up.
1999: Soap opera star Susan Lucci won a Daytime Emmy Award for best actress on her 19th nomination.
2001: The Club of Idiots was founded in Saint-Gilles, France. Eighty members had to solemnly swear to be idiots and always carry their idiot I.D. card. At its first annual meeting the club set a new world record of 11.78 meters in olive-stone spitting.
2003: Ruben Studdard beat out Clay Aiken to win the second "American Idol" competition on the Fox network.
2006: The FBI accused Democratic U.S. Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and claimed to have found $90,000 in cold cash at his home in a freezer.
QUICK TRIVIA
The Red Cross was founded on this date in 1881 (Taken from Link)
Clara Barton was born on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts. She became a teacher, worked in the U.S. Patent Office and was an independent nurse during the Civil War. While visiting Europe, she worked with a relief organization known as the International Red Cross, and lobbied for an American branch when she returned home. The American Red Cross was founded in 1881, and Barton served as its first president.
WORD OF THE DAY
Mellifluous
\muh-LIF-loo-us\, adjective:
Flowing as with honey; smooth; flowing sweetly or smoothly
"Although she sang was with a mellifluous voice, it was her heart that made the song worshipful"
INTRIGUING BIBLE FACT
Not only was King David a warrior--but he was also a musician and composer. David is attributed with writing 75 of the Psalms.
"So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me." One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him." Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul. David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, "Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him." Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him" (1 Samuel 16:17-23)
WORD FROM THE WORD
I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. —Isaiah 49:15-16 (Our Daily Bread)
