Daily Calendar for Saturday, March 11, 2023
Question of the Day
I understand that black walnut trees have a compound that inhibits growth in certain plants. I intend to garden several yards away from one. What precautions should I take to ensure the safety of my veggies? Also, since the leaves and twigs cannot be composted, what procedure is necessary to prevent this material from contaminating the rest of my compostable leaves?
It’s the roots of the black walnut that can cause the most damage to your veggies. They excrete a toxic substance that can harm some plants, including tomatoes and alfalfa. The toxic zone from a mature black walnut tree can extend up to 80 feet around the base of the tree, so if possible, plant your garden at least that far away.
You can compost black walnut leaves, but it’s recommended that you do so separately from your main compost pile. And since there’s no easy way to separate them from other leaves in your yard, we recommend just burning all the debris from the area around a black walnut.
Advice of the Day
Lose an hour in the morning and you’ll be all day hunting for it.
Home Hint of the Day
To remove plastic that’s melted onto a toaster oven, unplug the oven and let it cool. Soak a rag with ammonia and use it to cover the plastic. Leave the rag in place for a few minutes, then gently scrape off the plastic.
Word of the Day
Three Chilly Saints
Mamertus, Pancras, and Gervais were three early Christian saints. Because their feast days, on May 11, 12, and 13, respectively, are traditionally cold, they have come to be known as the Three Chilly Saints. An old French saying goes: “St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Gervais do not pass without a frost.”
Puzzle of the Day
When a person falls out a window, what does he always fall against?
Against his will
Born
- Robert Treat Paine (public official) –
- Urbain Le Verrier (astronomer) –
- Thomas Hastings (co-architect of N.Y. Public Library) –
- Vannevar Bush (electrical engineer) –
- Henry Dixon Cowell (composer) –
- Dorothy Gish (actress) –
- Lawrence Welk (bandleader) –
- Mercer Ellington (musician) –
- Ralph Abernathy (civil rights leader) –
- Sam Donaldson (broadcast journalist) –
- Antonin Scalia (Supreme Court justice) –
- Douglas Noel Adams (author) –
- Lisa Loeb (musician) –
- Terrence Howard (actor) –
- Joel & Benji Madden (musicians) –
- Thora Birch (actress) –
Died
- Oscar Mayer (manufacturer) –
- Philo T. Farnsworth (inventor) –
- James Tobin (Yale economist and Nobel Prize winner) –
- Frank Neuhauser (in 1925 won the first U.S. national spelling bee with the word gladiolus”“) –
Events
- A deadly Mt. Etna eruption began in Italy–
- The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in the U.S. War Department–
- Jennie Kidd Trout became the first Canadian woman to become licensed to practice medicine, earning her degree on this day from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Later in 1875, she passed the exams of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario, thereby becoming the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.–
- First public game of basketball played, Springfield, Massachusetts–
- The Bank of Canada opened as a privately owned and government-controlled corporation–
- Congress maintained U.S. neutrality in the war in Europe but passed the Lend-Lease Act, which enabled England to borrow aircraft, weapons, and merchant ships–
- Naval Unit Commendation awarded to light cruiser U.S.S. Helena–
- Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, opened in New York. It was the first play by an African American woman to appear on Broadway–
- Space probe Pioneer 5 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida–
- Florida panther was added to the endangered species list–
- Levi Strauss began selling bell-bottom jeans–
- U.S. Senator Harrison Williams resigned his Senate seat as a result of being charged with misconduct–
- Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to succeed Chernenko as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party–
- Former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress during Iran-Contra affair–
- Andrew Rotz made 11,123 consecutive Texas skips in 3 hours, 10 minutes in Las Vegas, Nevada–
- A magnitude-9.0 earthquake devastated Japan and spawned a 23-foot tsunami. The quake moved Honshu, Japan, 8 feet to the east.–
- Great white shark circled fisherman’s kayak for over one hour near Maui, Hawaii–
- After a stray cow in Pembroke Pines, Florida, could not be caught by police or assisting cow herders for weeks, police put up a notice on Twitter asking the public for help in locating the animal. The cow was described as Faster than it looks; talented fence jumper; enjoys pools. (The animal was eventually found.)–
Weather
- Great Blizzard of ‘88 started, East Coast — 400 died, 200 ships sank or were heavily damaged, and up to 40 inches of snow fell–
- Record U.S. snowdepth at Tamarack, California, 451 inches–