Wednesday, February 29, 2012

February 29 - Leap Day




Not quite leaping


IMG_4410


Overheard
At snacktime:
D: Elanor, please finish your banana.
E: ['typing' on the table with both hands] No, I gotta do my email.


This Day In History
1504
Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
1892
St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
1940
For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
1950
Family Circus makes its debut.
1980
Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.



Famous Birthdays
1468
Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
1792
Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
1840
John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
1860
Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)
1904
Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)
1952
Tim Powers, American science fiction & fantasy author (and author of a book written for Daddy - "Drawing of the Dark," in which dark beer saves Western civilization)
1968
Howard Tayler, American cartoonist (Schlock Mercenary)

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

February 28 - Happy Anniversary, Jenn & Devin!




Happy Anniversary, Aunt Jenn & Uncle Devin!

IMG_4340


D with W


Overheard
The other morning:
E: [does something she knows she's not supposed to do]
M & D, in near-stereo: Elanor! You kn--
E: No! I don't know better!

This Day In History
1638
The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
1827
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
1849
Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
1885
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as a subsidiary of American Bell Telephone.
1935
DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
1953
James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2).
1998
First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.


Famous Birthdays
1261
Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (d. 1283)
1533
Michel de Montaigne, French writer (d. 1592)
1552
Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker (d. 1632)
1675
Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726)
1894
Ben Hecht, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1964)
1901
Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
1906
Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)
1939
Tommy Tune, American dancer, director, and choreographer
1946
Don Francisco, American singer, songwriter, and musician
1948
Patricia A. McKillip, American fantasy & science fiction author
1969
Robert Sean Leonard, American actor

Monday, February 27, 2012

February 27 - Hat Act




Hat Act


2012-02-24_16-46-37_709




This Day In History
425
The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.
1812
Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
1860
Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
1940
Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14


Famous Birthdays
272
Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (d. 337)
1807
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (d. 1882)
1888
Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
1902
John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1968)
1910
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, American aircraft engineer (Lockheed Skunk Works) (d. 1990)
1932
Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress (d.2011)
1940
Howard Hesseman, American actor
1962
Adam Baldwin, American actor

Sunday, February 26, 2012

February 26 - Untitled




Untitled


IMG_4405



This Day In History
1815
Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
1909
Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
1919
President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.
1929
President Calvin Coolidge signs an Executive Order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
1946
Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.


Famous Birthdays
1564
Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
1732
Francis Marion, American Revolutionary War officer (d. 1795)
1802
Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
1829
Levi Strauss, German-born clothing designer (d. 1902)
1846
William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, American frontiersman (d. 1917)
1908
Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
1916
Jackie Gleason, American actor, writer, composer, and comedian (d. 1987)
1918
Theodore Sturgeon, American science fiction & horror author
1920
Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
1928
Fats Domino, American musician
1932
Johnny Cash, American musician (d. 2003)
1946
Phyllis Eisenstein, Amercian science fiction author
1949
Elizabeth George, American novelist

Saturday, February 25, 2012

February 25 - Copter




'Copter


IMG_4404


This Day In History
1836
Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.
1933
The USS Ranger is launched, the first US Navy ship to be designed and built as an aircraft carrier.
1951
The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1971
The first unit of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, the first commercial nuclear power station in Canada, goes online.


Famous Birthdays
1778
Don José de San Martín, Argentine military commander (d. 1850)
1841
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (d. 1919)
1873
Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (d. 1921)
1901
Zeppo Marx, American actor (d. 1979)
1918
Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)
1928
Larry Gelbart, American comedy writer (d. 2009)
1943
George Harrison, English musician (d. 2001)
1966
Alexis Denisof, American actor
1971
Sean Astin, American actor
1986
James and Oliver Phelps, English actors

Friday, February 24, 2012

February 24 - Good Try




Good Try...


IMG_4397

...but there's no beer for you, Little Guy.


This Day In History
1582
Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
1607
L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.
1917
The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
1980
The United States Olympic Hockey team completes their Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal.
2011
Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).


Famous Birthdays
1304
Ibn Battuta, Arabian explorer (d. c.1368)
1786
Wilhelm Grimm, German philologist and folklorist (d. 1859)
1836
Winslow Homer, American artist (d. 1910)
1866
Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, Russian physicist (d. 1912)
1885
Chester Nimitz, U.S. admiral (d. 1966)
1945
Barry Bostwick, American actor
1955
Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer (d. 2011)
1966
Billy Zane, American actor
1971
Josh Bernstein, American explorer and television host


Thursday, February 23, 2012

February 23 - Matching




Matching


IMG_4364

Matching sweaters, made by Mommy


This Day In History
1455
Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
1778
Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
1896
The Tootsie Roll is invented.
1927
German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
1954
The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
1987
Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.


Famous Birthdays
1633
Samuel Pepys, English naval administrator and man of letters, posthumously famous as a diarist (d. 1703)
1685
George Frideric Handel, German/British Baroque composer (d. 1759)
1744
Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1812)
1868
W. E. B. Du Bois, American civil rights leader (d. 1963)
1932
Majel Barrett, American actress (d. 2008)
1944
Bernard Cornwell, English historical novelist
John Sandford, American novelist
1955
Howard Jones, British pop singer
1965
Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

February 22 - Beat




Beat


IMG_4388

When you're a toddler, everything is a potential percussion instrument.


This Day In History
1371
Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
1632
Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
1855
The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania)
1879
In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and dime Woolworth stores.
1980
In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3.
1983
The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
1997
In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.


Famous Birthdays
1440
Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1457)
1732
George Washington, First President of the United States (d. 1799)
1778
Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)
1857
Robert Baden-Powell, British soldier, author, and founder of the Scout movement (d. 1941)
1889
Olave Baden-Powell, English founder of the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
1892
Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (d. 1950)
1925
Edward Gorey, American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
1950
Julius "Dr. J" Erving, American basketball player
1971
Lea Salonga, Filipina actress and singer
1975
Drew Barrymore, American actress

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

February 21 - Hi, Pete!




Hi, Pete!


IMG_4380




This Day In History
1804
The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
1842
John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
1885
The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
1937
Initial flight of the first successful* flying car, Waldo Waterman's Aerobile.
1947
In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
1995
Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

Famous Birthdays
1801
John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890)
1821
Charles Scribner I, American publisher (d. 1871)
1844
Charles-Marie Widor, French composer (d. 1937)
1893
Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
1907
W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
1910
Douglas Bader, British pilot (d. 1982)
1927
Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d. 1996)
1946
Alan Rickman, English actor
1953
William Petersen, American actor
1958
Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer


* - Successful, in that it both flew like a plane and drove like a car. Commercially, not so much.

Monday, February 20, 2012

February 20 - Getting in Shape




Getting in Shape



Pass me another (root) beer, Mom...


This Day In History
1472
Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
1816
Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
1872
In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
1877
Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its première performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
1935
Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
1962
While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in 4 hours, 55 minutes.


Famous Birthdays
1743
Anna Laetitia Barbauld, English poet (d. 1825)
1844
Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
1848
Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)
1902
Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
1946
Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress
1954
Anthony Head, English actor
1960
Joel Hodgson, American comedian (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
1963
Charles Barkley, American basketball player

Sunday, February 19, 2012

February 19 - Hello, Kitty




Hello, Kitty


IMG_4353


This Day In History
1674
England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, and it is renamed New York.
1847
The first group of rescuers reaches the Donner Party.
1878
Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.
1985
1985 – Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital.
1986
The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for 10 of those years.
2002
NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

Famous Birthdays
1473
Nicolaus Copernicus, mathematician and astronomer (d. 1543)
1743
Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (d. 1805)
1800
Émilie Gamelin, French Canadian Roman Catholic Religious Sister, founder of the Sisters of Providence (d. 1851)
1911
Merle Oberon, British actress (d. 1979)
1916
Eddie Arcaro, American jockey (d. 1997)
1940
Smokey Robinson, American singer
1956
Dave Wakeling, English musician (The (English) Beat, General Public)


Saturday, February 18, 2012

February 18 - Happy Birthday, Uncle Devin!




Happy Birthday, Uncle Devin!

IMG_3045


Also, pitchers & catchers report for Spring Training today!




Family Birthdays
Devin F. Rushing-Schurr
This Day In History
1911
The first official flight with air mail takes place in Allahabad, British India, when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.
1930
While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
1930
Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
1977
The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.
1979
Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.



Famous Birthdays
1404
Leon Battista Alberti, Italian painter and philosopher (d. 1472)
1516
Queen Mary I of England (d. 1558)
1745
Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (d. 1827)
1838
Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist (d. 1916)
1848
Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)
1898
Enzo Ferrari, founder of Ferrari (d. 1988)
1929
Len Deighton, British author
1930
Gahan Wilson, American cartoonist
1931
Johnny Hart, American cartoonist (d. 2007)
1947
Dennis DeYoung, American musician (Styx)
1950
John Hughes, American film director (d. 2009)
1956
Paul Reed Smith, American luthier
1968
Molly Ringwald, American actress


Friday, February 17, 2012

February 17 - Ready to Go




Ready to Go


2012-02-12_15-52-37_824

Time to go to Camp yet?


This Day In History
1801
An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives.
1864
The  H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.
1904
Madama Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan.
1913
First avant-garde art show (the Armory Show) in America opens in New York City.
1933
The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.
1959
Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
1965
The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the "Sea of Tranquility" would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
1972
Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model-T.
1996
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.


Famous Birthdays
1844
Aaron Montgomery Ward, American department store founder (d. 1913)
1854
Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1902)
1874
Thomas J. Watson, American computer manufacturer (d. 1956)
1912
Andre Norton, American author (d. 2005)
1924
Margaret Truman, American novelist (d. 2008)
1936
Jim Brown, American football player
1957
Loreena McKennitt, Canadian musician
1963
Michael Jordan, American basketball player
1970
Dominic Purcell, English/Australian actor
1974
Bryan White, American singer
1991
Bonnie Wright, English actress


Thursday, February 16, 2012

February 16 - Mac & Cheese




Mac & Cheese


Must be genetic.



This Day In History
1852
Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
1899
Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur Iceland's first football club is founded.
1923
Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
1960
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1978
The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).



Famous Birthdays
1821
Heinrich Barth, German explorer (d. 1865)
1822
Sir Francis Galton, English explorer, biologist and statistician (d. 1911)
1903
Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist (d. 1978)
1918
Patty Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters)
1921
Vera-Ellen, American actress (d. 1981)
1951
William Katt, American actor
1954
Iain Banks, Scottish science fiction author
1957
LeVar Burton, American actor
1959
John McEnroe, American tennis player
1961
Andy Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran, The Power Station)
1964
Christopher Eccleston, English actor