Daily Calendar for Friday, May 31, 2024
Question of the Day
Is a thistle the same as a nettle, and do they both sting?
Both thistles and nettles have been called the devil’s plant or devil’s vegetable because of their thorns, and both are considered prickly weeds, although they’re often used medicinally. But that’s where the resemblance ends. Nettles are commonly of the family Urticaceae, and their tiny hairs release an irritant that gives them the name stinging nettle. Thistles are of the family Asteraceae. One variety, the Scotch thistle, sports purple flowers and prickly leaves and has become the national emblem of Scotland. Legend has it that in the tenth century, the invading Danes gave themselves away by their screams when they tried to steal away barefoot through a dry moat full of thistles. Like nettles, thistles have been prescribed for toothaches, as a restorative tonic, and to impart warmth through their counterirritant action.
Advice of the Day
Shear your sheep in May,And shear them all away.
Home Hint of the Day
Before moving granite blocks or large stones on your property, consider how much the material weighs. Generally speaking, 1 cubic foot of rock weighs somewhere around 100 pounds.
Word of the Day
Utah
Named after the Ute tribe. The word ute means “people of the mountains.”
Puzzle of the Day
What is the difference between a person starting to cook a meal and a forgotten chicken on a barbecue spit?
One turns on a burner, and the other burns on a turner.
Born
- Walt Whitman (poet) –
- Emily Perkins Bissell (social worker) –
- Sir Victor Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (Canadian Governor-General 1916-1921) –
- Clint Eastwood (actor & director) –
- Joe Namath (football player) –
- Jim Craig (hockey player & Olympic gold medalist) –
- Lea Thompson (actress) –
- Brooke Shields (actress) –
- Colin Farrell (actor) –
Died
- Elizabeth Blackwell (first woman to earn an MD degree in the U.S.) –
- Jack Dempsey (boxer) –
- Alberta Martin (one of the last widows from the Confederate side, died nearly 140 years after the Civil War ended) –
- Millvina Dean (last survivor of the RMS Titanic) –
- Jean Stapleton (American actress ) –
Events
- The first Catholic cathedral in the United States was dedicated in Baltimore, Maryland.–
- The Great Clock (aka Big Ben) in London officially began keeping time. (On July 11, the Great Bell first struck the hour.) The 315-foot-high tower, part of the Houses of Parliament building, has no elevator; there are 334 steps to the belfry. The four quarter bells, or chimes, ring out every 15 minutes. The Great Bell tolls every hour. The minute hand measures almost 14 feet long. The clock mechanism weighs 5.6 tons, and is wound three times a week. The clock’s time is adjusted by changing the number of old pennies sitting on a shelf near the top of the pendulum. The tune played each hour is from the aria I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, part of Handel’s Messiah.–
- 7.8 earthquake left over 60,000 dead in Peru–
- 1,376-lb. Pacific blue marlin caught, Kaiwi Point, Kona, Hawaii–
- A summer replacement television show called Seinfeld first aired on NBC–
- The legendary source “Deep Throat” in the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon was identified as W. Mark Felt–
- Stratolaunch plane debuted–
Weather
- Following seven inches of rain, the South Fork Dam near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, burst, killing more than 2,200 people.–
- 98 degrees F in Chicago, Illinois–
- The National Weather Service office in Washington, D.C., reported the driest spring on record, with only 3.47 inches of precipitation from March 1 to May 31–
- Waterspout formed in Dollar Lake, Riverton, Wyoming–