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Daily Calendar for Wednesday, February 15, 2023 | Almanac.com

Daily Calendar for Wednesday, February 15, 2023

The Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, New York, was the home of this women’s rights leader during the most politically active period of her life. It was here that she was arrested for voting in 1872, before women had the right to vote. Today the house is a National Historic Landmark and museum. Anthony, born in 1820, is best known as an advocate for woman suffrage, but she began her career as an outspoken proponent of temperance. She was not allowed to speak publicly, however, because she was a woman. In response to this outrage, she teamed up with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1852 and dedicated her life to winning voting rights for women. She died in 1906 without realizing her dream. (Women didn’t get the right to vote nationally until 1920, with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.) Connect with the Ken Burns/PBS documentary Not for Ourselves Alone, which examines Anthony’s and Stanton’s roles in the early women’s movement. The Web site also features their original writings and speeches.

This marks the day in 1965 when Canada’s red and white maple leaf flag was first raised over Parliament Hill and in communities across Canada. On this day in 1965, the current Canadian flag was first raised over Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. Red and white were designated as Canada’s official colors in 1921 by His Majesty King George V. Its design had been hotly debated, but eventually the government chose an idea by historian George Stanley: a red flag with a white square in its center containing a red maple leaf. In 1996, National Flag of Canada Day was designated to take place every February 15 to honor the official unfurling of the new flag.

Question of the Day

Is there such a thing as a bacterium that eats stone?
Yes, a genus called Thiobacillus is responsible, and one microbe in that family has the ability to convert sulfur dioxide gas (found in the air) into sulfuric acid. The microbe then uses the acid to transform marble into calcium sulfate, better known as plaster. It can attack marble statues, tombs, monuments, and historic buildings, to name just a few objects. In recent years, public concern has arisen because historical monuments have shown a marked increase in such destruction. Automotive and industrial emissions put free sulfur dioxide gas into the atmosphere, and these bacteria take advantage of it.

Advice of the Day

For better tone, allow good airflow between your piano and the wall.

Home Hint of the Day

To revive cookies that have become hard and dry, place them in a closed tin with a piece of fresh bread.

Word of the Day

Cirrocumulus cloud
Thin cloud that appears as small β€œcotton patches.”

Puzzle of the Day

What is the difference between a locomotive and a hound?
One runs on the track, and the other tracks on the run.

Born

  • Galileo Galilei (astronomer) –
  • Henry E. Steinway (piano manufacturer) –
  • John Sutter (pioneer) –
  • Susan B. Anthony (American social reformer ) –
  • Melissa Manchester (singer) –
  • Jane Seymour (actress) –
  • Matt Groening (cartoonist; creator of The Simpsons) –
  • Chris Farley (actor) –

Died

  • Nat King Cole (singer) –
  • Ethel Merman (singer & actress) –
  • Howard K. Smith (newscaster) –
  • Jan Miner (actress who gained fame as Madge, the manicurist in Palmolive television ads) –

Events

  • First mustard manufactured in U.S. advertised in Philadelphia, PA–
  • Canada officially adopted a new flag; the Red Maple Leaf became the new symbol, replacing the Union Jack–
  • Ocean Ranger offshore drilling rig sank in storm off Newfoundland–
  • Rare sighting of yellow-billed loon, Lake Powell, Utah–
  • Kyoto Protocol global climate treaty took effect–

Weather

  • Parshal, North Dakota, had a low temperature of-60 degrees F–
  • Thirty-nine inches of snow fell on Callicoon, New York–

Explore Other Dates on the Calendar