Daily Calendar for Friday, March 31, 2023
Question of the Day
How long can an average person live without eating?
Without water, a human being can live just 20 days at most. A person with water will, generally speaking, last twice as long — 40 days.
Advice of the Day
No mother-in-law ever remembers that she was once a daughter-in-law.
Home Hint of the Day
Bluestone makes a good top layer for a gravel driveway. Bluestone is gravel that has been run through a rock crusher. Consisting of particles ranging from acorn size to rock dust, it compacts into a tough, durable surface.
Word of the Day
Celestial equator
The circle around the celestial sphere that is halfway between the celestial poles. It can be thought of as the plane of Earth’s equator projected out onto the sphere.
Puzzle of the Day
What kind of shoes do frogs wear?
Open-toad!
Born
- Rene Descartes (philosopher) –
- Andrew Marvell (poet) –
- Franz Joseph Haydn (composer) –
- Robert Bunsen (chemist) –
- John La Farge (painter) –
- Jack Johnson (boxer) –
- Kenneth Red" Norvo" (musician) –
- Octavio Paz (poet) –
- William Daniels (actor) –
- Cesar Chavez (founder of United Farm Workers) –
- Liz Claiborne (fashion designer) –
- Shirley Jones (actress) –
- Richard Chamberlain (actor) –
- Christopher Walken (actor) –
- Rhea Perlman (actress) –
- Al Gore (45th U.S. vice president) –
- Pavel Bure (hockey player) –
- Ewan McGregor (actor) –
- Josh Saviano (actor) –
Died
- Knute Rockne (football coach) –
- Brandon Lee (actor) –
- Frank Perdue (transformed a backyard egg business into one of the nation’s largest poultry processors, Perdue Farms) –
- Terri Schiavo (died after a national controversy about the legality of terminating her medical life-support system) –
- Bob Clarke (illustrator) –
Events
- Abigail Adams wrote her husband, John, at the second Continental Congress about the proposed Declaration of Independence, Remember the ladies and be more favorable and generous to them than your ancestors.–
- President Van Buren issued executive order establishing 10-hour workday for federal employees–
- Commodore Matthew C. Perry signed Treaty of Kanagawa of friendship and trade with Japan–
- Wabash, Indiana, became first incorporated community to be completely illuminated by electricity–
- The Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris, France–
- United States took formal possession of Virgin Islands from Denmark–
- Daylight Saving Time, greeted by opposition from farmers, went into effect for first time–
- First dance marathon held in U.S.–
- Longview Bridge (Lewis and Clark Bridge) opened in Washington/Oregon–
- Act creating Civilian Conservation Corps for unemployed young men signed by President FDR–
- Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma opened on Broadway–
- Newfoundland joined Canadian Federation as the tenth province–
- The Dalai Lama fleeing Chinese occupation of Tibet, was given political asylum by India–
- NATO Supreme Military Headquarters formally opened in Casteau, Belgium–
- In a television speech, President Lyndon Johnson announced he would neither seek nor accept nomination for another term–
- Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five, published–
- The first U.S. satellite, Explorer I, returned to the earth’s atmosphere more than 12 years after its launch–
- U.S. Army jury sentenced Lt. William Calley to life imprisonment for murder of S. Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in 1968–
- The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the mechanical life sustaining system could be removed from Karen Ann Quinlan–
- Team owners and the National Basketball Players Association agreed on a four-year labor contract which introduced revenue sharing for players for the first time in professional sports–
- New Jersey judge Harvey R. Sorkow awarded custody of Baby M” to William and Elizabeth Stern and ruled that the surrogate parents’ contracts were constitutionally protected”–
- Crayola announced that the color dandelion would be retired from its 24-crayon pack to be replaced by a color in the blue family–
Weather
- March 30-31: St. Louis, Missouri, got 20.4 inches of snow in 24 hours–
- The temperature reached 108 degrees F, Rio Grande City, Texas–