Daily Calendar for Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Question of the Day
I have a cereus cactus that has never bloomed. It just keeps sending out shoots, getting long and leggy. How can I make it bloom?
Cereus cacti have spectacular, fragrant blossoms, but they aren’t known for blooming very often. We don’t think the legginess has anything to do with your plant’s inability to bloom, but perhaps you can trim some of the excess growth back and root the cuttings. To get your cactus to bloom annually, give it a mixture of equal parts water and 20-20-20 fertilizer monthly during the spring and summer. Don’t feed it at all during the fall and winter, and let the plant go a bit dry between waterings. Since this plant prefers to be root-bound, don’t repot it too often.
Advice of the Day
Bleach a pastry board or rolling pin with an occasional rubbing of fresh lemon.
Home Hint of the Day
Once an old metal file has grown too dull for further use, use an electric grinding wheel to grind down the end and make it into a chisel. You can make a handle out of a 6-inch length of broomstick.
Word of the Day
Sun Fast/Slow
When a sundial reading is behind (slow) or ahead of (fast) clock time.
Puzzle of the Day
What is lengthened by being cut at both ends?
A ditch
Born
- Johann Strauss, the Elder (composer) –
- Lucy Hobbs Taylor (first U.S. woman dentist) –
- John Luther Casey" Jones" (railroad engineer) –
- Albert Einstein (physicist) –
- Lester Brown (bandleader) –
- Max Shulman (novelist) –
- Hank Ketcham (cartoonist, creator of Dennis the Menace) –
- Frank Borman (astronaut) –
- Michael Caine (actor) –
- Quincy Jones (musician) –
- Billy Crystal (actor) –
- Kirby Puckett (baseball player) –
- Steph Curry (basketball player) –
- Simone Biles (Olympic gymnast) –
Died
- Emile Erckmann (novelist) –
- Henry Woods (federal judge) –
- Thomas Winship (editor of the Boston Globe from 1965-1984, Pulitzer Prize winner) –
- Peter Graves (actor) –
- Stephen Hawking (physicist) –
Events
- Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin–
- U.S. Congress adopted the gold standard–
- Pelican Island (Fla.) became first National Wildlife Refuge in the United States –
- Women granted the right to vote in Saskatchewan–
- Germany began retreat to Hindenburg Line (WWI)–
- First U.S. concrete seagoing ship, S.S. Faith, launched, Redwood City, California–
- U.S. President Warren G. Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax report–
- Shirley Temple left her footprints and handprints in the wet cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood–
- The U.S. Army Air Corp began bombing Osaka, Japan (WWII)–
- Possible UFO sighted in Healdsburg, California–
- Gordie Howe second player in NHL history to score 500 career goals–
- Jack Ruby was found guilty in Dallas of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy–
- Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, aired its last episode–
- OPEC agreed to lower the benchmark price for crude oil by 15%. It marked the first price cut since the group’s formation in 1960–
- Marc Garneau chosen as first Canadian astronaut to go into space–
- Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge founded in Manteo, North Carolina–
- Lebanese hijacker, Fawaz Younis, brought to U.S. to stand trial, found guilty of air piracy in 1985 hijacking–
- The Soviet Congress elected Mikhail Gorbachev to the country’s presidency, one day after clearing the post–
- Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love, Tom Waits, Jac Holzman, Art Rupe, and Leon Russell were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame–
Weather
- Red snow and hail fell in parts of Italy and present-day Slovenia–
- A tornado swept through Nashville, Tennessee–
- At the end of a four-day storm, a record for the state of Iowa was set in Iowa City, 27.2 inches of snowfall–