In the kitchen, as in life, seek balance

Today, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, is the day to welcome the Kitchen God (Zao Jun), the God of Fortune, and other deities back to the home.

The Kitchen God - also known as the God of the Stove - originally left for Heaven a week before the new year (on the 23rd or 24th day of the 12th lunar month) to report the family's deeds to the Jade Emperor. To ensure a favorable report, families offered him sticky sweets like Nian Gao or honey to "seal his lips" or "sweeten his words" before his departure.



On this fourth day, he returns to the household. Traditionally, it is believed that the journey from Heaven to Earth takes time, so while he leaves Heaven in the morning, he arrives at people's houses in the afternoon. Therefore, the Welcome Ceremony is typically held in the afternoon. Families prepare a ceremonial table with offerings such as "three types of meat" (pork, chicken, and fish), fruits like oranges for prosperity, and wine. Incense is lit, and families stay home to prepare these abundant offerings, asking for ample food and protection in the coming year.

(this is my kitchen god.)

After the Welcome Ceremony, families will explore firecracker to welcome The God of Stove back into the house.

This day is also known as "Sheep Day" based on the creation myth of the goddess Nüwa, who created sheep on the fourth day of the world. The auspicious saying "three rams bring bliss" (San Yang Kai Tai) is connected to this day; it signifies that a good beginning leads to a happy ending and the arrival of new opportunities.


February 20, 1932 -
Tod Browning's incredible film, Freaks, about sideshow performers, was released on this date.



On the lot, one of the most beloved of the sideshow performers was Schlitze, the most prominently featured "pinhead." His fans on the lot included Norma Shearer, but when he asked to meet his favorite star, Jackie Cooper, the child actor was highly disturbed by this. Schlitze was so enamored with the filmmaking process he even came to the set on days he wasn't called.


February 20, 1936 -
United Artists released one of the early science fiction classics H.G. Wells The Shape of Things to Come directed by William Cameron Menzies on this date.



According to an article published in Variety, this was the first million-dollar movie produced in England. The budget for the movie was close to three hundred thousand British pounds sterling, but with an approximate exchange rate of five U.S. dollars for every one British pound sterling at the time, the budget easily exceeded the million-dollar mark.


February 20, 1943 -
The Merrie Melodies cartoon, Tortoise Wins by a Hare, a sequel to the 1941's Tortoise Beats Hare, directed by Bob McKimson and starring Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle, debuted on this date.



This is the first cartoon to use the modern Bugs Bunny design by Robert McKimson, which is taller, with puffier cheeks, rounded eyes, and more prominent front teeth. It would not become his standard look until the late 1940s, when all the animation directors of Warner Bros. Cartoons settled on using McKimson's Bugs design from this cartoon.


February 20, 1952 -
John Huston's excuse for big game hunting, The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, opened in general release at Capitol Theater in NYC on this date.



Humphrey Bogart hated Africa immediately and was miserable, but Katharine Hepburn adored it, calling it "utterly divine." Bogie complained about everything: the heat, the humidity, the dangers, the food. He recalled, "While I was griping, Katie was in her glory. She couldn't pass a fern or berry without wanting to know its pedigree, and insisted on getting the Latin name for everything she saw walking, swimming, flying or crawling. I wanted to cut our ten-week schedule, but the way she was wallowing in the stinking hole, we'd be there for years."


February 20, 1956 -
The wonderfully evil comedy, The Ladykillers, starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellars, opened in New York on this date.



The producers originally rejected director Alexander Mackendrick's choice of Katie Johnson for the role of Mrs. Wilberforce on the grounds that she might be too frail for the project, and so they cast a younger actress who died before filming began. Because Katie Johnson was already 76 when she got the role, director Alexander Mackendrick went to the distributor and asked if her name could be prominently above the title, saying that this might be her last movie. The distributor agreed. Two years later, Johnson died. She only made one more movie.


February 20, 1958 -
MGM's adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, directed by Richard Brooks from a screenplay co-written with Julius and Philip Epstein, and starring Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb, Albert Salmi, Richard Basehart, and William Shatner (in his film debut,) opened in New York City on this date.



It has been reported that one of the reasons Marilyn Monroe left Fox studio was because she wanted to play the role of Grushenka and they wouldn't loan her out to MGM. Fox lured her back to the studio with the film Bus Stop.


February 20, 1970 -
The Plastic Ono Band released the single Instant Karma! in the US, on this date.



George Harrison played guitar and Billy Preston played piano on this song.


February 20, 1979 -
The iconic series, This Old House, starring Bob Vila premiered on PBS, on this date.



The show was originally intended to be a one-time, 13-part series documenting the renovation of a house, the show has now been running for 44 seasons, and has produced spin-offs, a magazine, and websites.


February 20, 1988 -
The Pet Shop Boys (featuring Dusty Springfield) song What Have I Done To Deserve This? climbed to No. #2 on the Billboard charts in America, on this date. The song marks Dusty Springfield first big hit since 1969.



The song's co-writer Allee Willis was later responsible for the Friends theme, I'll Be There For You. Among her other songwriting credits are September and Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire and Neutron Dance by the Pointer Sisters.


February 20, 1996 -
The VH-1 series Storytellers premiered with the episode featuring Ray Davies, on this date.



The series became popular around the world. Following the show's debut, VH-1 would continue producing new editions for nearly two decades.


February 20, 2009 -
Conan O'Brien made his last appearance as host of Late Night, on this date.



O'Brien, who succeeded David Letterman as the Late Night host in 1993, left the later timeslot to replace a reportedly retiring Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show. (Intead of retiring, Leno became host of a weeknight, prime-time program; comedian Jimmy Fallon replaced O'Brien as the Late Night host.)


Another unimportant moment in history.


Today in History:

February 20 is just one many dates on which Francois-Marie Arouet may have been born in 1694.

Francois-Marie was a supremely intelligent, fiercely independent man and was therefore instructed to leave Paris.



Each time he was kicked out, however, he simply came back, said something witty, and was kicked out yet again.

Eventually the French invented reverse psychology. They invited Francois-Marie back from his latest exile and threw a big party for him. The shock of his reception killed him and Paris has mourned his loss ever since.

Except now they call him Voltaire.


February 20, 1703 -
The Mount Gay Estate opened in Barbados, on this date.



It is the oldest existing brand of rum in the world.


February 20, 1829 -
The Yuengling Brewery opened in Pottsville Pennsylvania, on this date.



It is the oldest brewery still operating in the U.S.


February 20, 1872 -
The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its doors to the public for the first time. The Museum first was housed at the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets.



The Museum remained in its first home until 1873, when it moved to larger quarters in the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street. In 1880, the Metropolitan opened its first building at its current location in Central Park. Currently, its permanent collection contains more than two million works and most of it you can see on-line. (That's a lot of art to dust.)


February 20, 1907 -
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration act which excluded "idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, and insane persons" from being admitted to the US on this date.

I've said it before: Certain political operatives in this country should rejoice that there is not a 'sanity clause' for the native born citizen.


February 20, 1935 -
Although the Antarctic had been discovered almost 200 years before, Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot on the continent on this day.

She was part of a Danish expedition along with her husband Captain Klarius Mikkelsen. A mountain in Antarctica was named in her honor.


February 20, 1947 -
A chemical mistake at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Co. in Los Angeles caused a blast that destroyed/damaged more than 55 structures in a 300-foot radius, killing 15 people and injuring 150 more.

The incident resulted in the city's first ordinance stipulating regulations for the storage, transportation, production, processing, and use of hazardous chemicals and led to one of the first Hazmat Dictionaries in the U.S.

Oops.


February 20, 1962 -
... Godspeed John Glenn.



While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbited the Earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Remember, NASA hadn't invented the astronaut diaper yet; I bet he had to pee something wicked.



The people of Perth in Australia all turned their lights on at the same time on February 20, 1962 to greet astronaut John Glenn who was orbiting above them in Friendship 7.


February 20, 1967 -
I never wanted to sing. I just wanted to play rhythm guitar - hide in the back and just play.



Kurt Cobain, musician and lead guitarist of seminal grunge band Nirvana, was born on this date.


February 20, 1971 -
An erroneous warning is emitted on the Emergency Broadcast System causing a number of stations to go off the air (for more than 30 minutes,) and others to completely ignore the alert (thus pointing out that many key stations would not react to any emergency broadcast over the system.)



So remember (as they have proven in Hawaii) this just a test, unless it's not.


February 20, 1980 -
After some heavy drinking, Bon Scott, vocalist for heavy metal band AC/DC, was found in a friend's automobile - he apparently choked to death on his own vomit.



His family was comforted in the knowledge that he hadn't choked to death on someone else vomit.


February 20, 1984 -
The name of the bar, the bar is called Heaven

Ballerina Julia Pak married Heung Jin Moon, son of Sun Myung Moon, religious icon, on this date. The ceremony was a tasteful affair save one small detail - Heung Jin Moon was prevented from attending the service in person; he had died in an auto accident the previous December.

As adult Moonies are only allowed to enter Heaven once they are married; there was a dire need for this awkward necro-ceremony.

Don't forget, the traditional gift given for the 41st zombie wedding anniversary is topaz jewelry - nothing says I love you more to the undead than topaz - it sets off their unnaturally colored skin.


February 20, 1998 -
Ice skater Tara Lipinski of the U.S. became the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when she won the ladies’ figure skating title in Nagano, Japan, aged 15 years and 8 months.



The previous year Tara Lipinski was the youngest champion women's World Figure Skating Champion at the age of 14 years and 10 months.



And so it goes.

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed

It's the third day of The Lunar New Year, In Chinese folklore, Chigou, or the "Red Dog," is the deity of blazing wrath and fire. His presence defines the third day of the Lunar New Year (Chigou Day), making it one of the few days of the 15-day festival considered inauspicious

Traditionally, it is unlucky to visit friends or relatives on this day. Encountering the Red Dog is believed to bring misfortune, specifically poverty and intense arguments. Therefore, the Red Dog day is a good excuse for people who need a rest.



While Chigou represents a day of caution, the third day is also celebrated as the Mice Wedding Day.



They said that people should turn off the light and go to bed early, because the night is the Mice's Wedding and one shouldn't disturb them. The other reason people should turn out the lights, so the mice can’t see their wedding, which would slow down mice breeding. In the old farmer society, people would leave a few grains of rice or cake crumbs in the corner of a room for the mice at night.


February 19, 1912 -
Prizes were inserted into a Cracker Jack box for the first time on this date.



In ensuing decades, over seventeen billion prizes have been "awarded" to Cracker Jack purchasers. Among the numerous Cracker Jack prizes offered across the years are miniature plates, puzzles, books, bookmarks, pinball games, plastic figurines, and self-adhesive stickers.

Robert Rueckheim, grandson of F.W. Rueckheim (the driving force behind the Cracker Jack brand,) served as the model for Sailor Jack, whose image first appeared in advertisements in 1916 and was printed on every Cracker Jack box beginning in 1918. Sadly, Robert died of pneumonia at the age of 8, but Sailor Jack lives on today alongside his dog, Bingo, who was said to be modeled after a stray belonging to Henry Gottlieb Eckstein, developer of the "waxed sealed package," Cracker Jack is sealed in.


February 19, 1968 -
Everyone's favorite adult, Fred Rogers began telling everyone that It's a beautiful year in the neighborhood when the national broadcast of his program, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood premiered on this date.





Guests on the show were often surprised to find that although Rogers was just as gentle and patient in life as he was on television, he was nevertheless a perfectionist who did not allow "shoddy" ad-libbing. He believed that children were thoughtful people who deserved programming as good as anything produced for adults on television.


(Sorry for this Earworm) -
Badfinger was a British pop band signed to the Beatles' label, Apple. One of their best songs, Without You, appeared on their second album, No Dice, and was released as a single on November 9, 1970. Paul McCartney once famously described the ballad as "the killer song of all time."



Harry Nilsson started a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard charts with his cover of the Badfinger song Without You on this date in 1972. Nilsson first came across the song at a Laurel Canyon party in 1971 and initially thought it was a Beatles track. Badfinger was signed to Apple Records, the Beatles' label, and their original version was produced by Beatles associates Geoff Emerick and Mal Evans.



Nilsson's version added an orchestra and a more dramatic production. When he first recorded it, he played the song slow and dark, accompanied only by a piano. Producer Richard Perry recalled to Mojo magazine in April 2008 that he had to persuade an unwilling Nilsson to record it as a big ballad: "I had to force him to take a shot with the rhythm section. Even while we were doing it, he'd be saying to the musicians, 'This song's awful.'" (The track went on to become a staple of middle school dances in the early '70s.)



In a very odd piece of trivia, Mariah Carey also had her first UK No. 1 with her version of Without You on this same date in 1994. Her version was released on January 24, just over a week after Nilsson died following a heart attack. As the song's writers, Pete Ham and Tom Evans should have been set for life, but Badfinger's label, Apple Records, collapsed in 1973 and they never received their full due. Tragically, both Ham (in 1975) and Evans (in 1983) committed suicide following an ongoing battle to receive their royalties.


February 19, 1974 -
KISS appeared on Dick Clark's IN CONCERT! on this date. This marks their first time on national television.



One of the songs they preformed for the show was Nothin' to Lose. How KISS got a song about anal sex on national TV back in 1974 passed the censors is amazing.


February 19, 1977 -
Manfred Mann's Earth Band's cover of Bruce Springsteen's Blinded By The Light hits #1 on the Billboard Charts in America, on this date.



Manfred Mann's version replaces the line "cut loose like a deuce" with "revved up like a deuce." In their version, "Deuce" was commonly misheard as "Douche." Springsteen's original line makes a lot more sense - a deuce is a 1932 Ford hot rod. On his Storytellers special, Springsteen said (in a jesting manner): "I have a feeling that is why the song skyrocketed to #1."


February 19, 1982 -
The Wes Craven film Swamp Thing, starring Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, Ray Wise and Dick Durock, was released on this date.



This was the second time Dick Durock played a green, monstrous, mutated version of a "normal" man in a comic book adaptation, after the two-part Incredible Hulk episode The First.


February 18, 1983 -
The Patti Austin and James Ingram duet Baby, Come To Me hits #1 on the Billboard Charts in America, on this date.



Quincy Jones produced this track. Both Austin and Ingram had worked with Jones in the past and signed to his record label, Qwest. Austin had another connection with Jones as well: He's her godfather.


February 19, 1995 -
The mini series A Woman of Independent Means, starring Sally Fields, Ron Silver, Tony Goldwyn, Jack Thompson, Sheila McCarthy, Brenda Fricker, and Charles Durning premiered on NBC TV on this date.



Sally Field is 14 years older than Tony Goldwyn, the man that plays her husband. She was 49 and he was 35 during filming.


February 19, 2010 -
The animated series, The Ricky Gervais Show, starring Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington debuted on HBO on this date.



This television show was basically the podcast set to new animation. The podcasts were edited down to fit into the half-hour format and additional sound effects and music were added for comic effect.


Another little known Monopoly card.


Today in History:
February 19, 1329 -
(Antipope) Nicholas V presided at a bizarre ceremony in the Duomo of Pisa, at which a straw puppet representing his rival, Pope John XXII and dressed in pontifical robes was formally condemned, degraded, and handed over to the secular arm (to be "executed").

John XXII had the last laugh when he excommunicated Nicholas V in April 1329

and had him imprisoned until his death in August 1333.

Oh those wacky Antipopes.


February 19, 1473 -
Nicolaus Copernicus (or Mikolaj Kopernik or Nicolaus Koppernigk - apparently he was running some sort of ponzi scheme at an early age and was giving different names to different people) was born in Poland on this date.



He stated an early theory that the Earth and the planets move around the Sun that led the way to our understanding of planetary movement.


In the presidential election of 1800, Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson drew to a tie. The House of Representatives broke the tie by throwing their weight behind Jefferson, making him president, on February 17, 1801. Burr was given the vice-presidency as either a consolation prize or a practical joke.



Like many other people, Vice-President Burr was often irritated by Alexander Hamilton. Unlike most other people, he shot and killed him. Although it had been a fair duel, the vice-president was indicted for murder. He was never actually arrested for the shooting, nor was he removed from office, because there was no controlling legal authority in place to prevent a vice-president from shooting Alexander Hamilton.



Instead of reviving Burr's political career, the duel helped to end it. Burr was charged with two counts of murder. After his term as vice president ended, he would never hold elective office again. And his next plot to gain power would end with charges of treason.

Civilized political discourse?

(A subsequent constitutional amendment that would have made it illegal for members of the executive branch to shoot Alexander Hamilton was defeated on the grounds of its limited usefulness to the deceased.) After serving out his term as VP, Mr. Burr moved to the southwest and decided to establish his own empire. Fortunately there were controlling legal authorities that prohibited the establishment of empires. President Jefferson had him arrested on February 19, 1807.



Burr was ultimately acquitted. (His descendant Raymond Burr would go on to restore a bit of luster to the family name as Perry Mason and as spokesmodel for Raymond Burr Nipple Rouge - one of our favorite corporate sponsors - but that's for another day.)


February 19, 1910 -
Another unimportant moment in history:



Remember, take human bites!


February 19, 1960 -
The cartoon-strip The Family Circus by Bil Keane debuted in newspapers on this date.

For several months prior, it had been called The Family Circle.


February 19, 1986 -
The Soviets launched the first part of space station Mir, (the orbiting laboratory–the main module that included the crew quarters, with airlocks for docking and more,) and with it, a new phase in space exploration, on this date.



Mir, which means both peace and world in Russian, would provide the home base for a permanently manned international complex orbiting the Earth– and was occupied for 10 years of its 15 in orbit.


February 19 is also notable for the 1995 marriage of Pamela Anderson to rocker Tommy Lee. Their marriage is best remembered for having produced the most widely-distributed honeymoon pictures in the history of the world.

Sorry folks, you're going to have to find the link to the video yourself.


February 19, 1997 -
Supreme Chinese leader and one time replacement for Diana Ross, Deng Xiaoping died on this date.



Dying took the shine off of being Supreme.



And so it goes.

If you're not covered in dog hair, your life is empty

Today is the second day of the Lunar New Year. In Chinese mythology, this day is believed to be the birthday of all dogs, so it is a common custom to treat pets and stray dogs with extra kindness and good food. .



The God of Wealth presides over a vast bureaucracy with many minor deities under his authority. A majestic figure robed in exquisite silks, he is often pictured riding a black tiger; a golden yuanbao (an ancient ingot used for currency) is always close to him. Legend says that every Lunar New Year, Tsai Shen descends from heaven to inspect his followers.

People eat dumplings to honor the god because they are thought to resemble the yuanbao. Tsai Shen returns to heaven on the second day of the Lunar New Year to report on who should receive good fortune in the coming year.



Traditionally, this is the time for married women to visit their parents. In ancient China, women rarely visited their natal homes once they were married. Today, people continue the tradition of visiting their birth parents on the second day of the Lunar New Year. (Remember, these holiday commercials are sometimes real tearjerkers!)


I don't need the calendar to remember that today is Ash Wednesday,

please don't try to wipe the the smudge mark off your friend's forehead.



Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori! -



(Anyway, did you find the coin in the King Cake? )



So begins forty days (remember that the six Sundays between today and Easter don't count as part of the 40 days) of prayer, fasting, contemplation and community service and not the Lentil season, which is marked by forty days of legume eating and gas passing (but that's another story.)


Today is National Drink Wine Day, (this is opposed to National Wine Day, which is May 25th.) Stop yourself - before you make the joke, I know, it's National Drink Wine Day every day in my home.

I can make wine disappear. What’s your superpower?

While, I can't find the basis for the holiday, I have my suspicions: George, the English Duke of Clarence, was convicted of treason against his brother King Edward IV and murdered in the Tower of London on February 18, 1478.



The legend arose that he had been drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine.


February 18, 1938 -
Bob Hope's film The Big Broadcast of 1938 debuted in New York on this date.



The movie introduced Hope's signature song, Thanks For The Memory.


February 18, 1938 -
If only he had his intercostal clavicle ... ...

The greatest screwball comedy, directed by Howard Hawks, Bringing Up Baby, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant was released on this date.



Katharine Hepburn loved to talk, which caused problems for Howard Hawks when he needed to shoot scenes. When she ignored the assistant director's repeated cries of "Quiet," Hawks just motioned the rest of the crew to stop what they were doing until she realized she was the only one talking. She asked, "What's the matter?" and Hawks said, "You're acting a good part of a parrot, and if you're going to keep on doing it, we'll just sit here and watch you." At that, she took Hawks aside and told him not to talk to her like that because she had a lot of friends working on the film. Hawks called to an electrician on a scaffold overhead and said, "If you had a choice of dropping a lamp on Miss Hepburn or me, who would you drop it on?" The man told Hawks to get out of the way, and Hepburn just said, "I guess I'm wrong," and never misbehaved again.


February 18, 1939 -
Universal Studios released the WC Fields' comedy You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, also starring Edgar Bergen, on this date.



Legend has it that on the set of this film a stagehand was cleaning out W.C. Fields' dressing room and accidentally bumped into a table on which Fields had placed a bottle of whiskey. He caught the bottle before it hit the floor, but the cork had popped out and he couldn't find it. He placed the bottle back on the table and left. Later Fields came back to the dressing room, and a few minutes afterwards stormed out, roaring "Who took the cork out of my lunch?" Whether this story is apocryphal or not, Fields actually uses that line at one point in the film.


February 18, 1962 -
On weekend leave from marine training, The Everly Brothers appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, in full uniform and with regulation cropped hair, singing their new single, Crying In The Rain, on this date.



The song was recorded shortly before Don and Phil Everly were inducted into the Marine Corps Reserves on November 25, 1961. On March 3, the song reached its peak of #6 on the US charts. Don and Phil got out of the Corps on May 24, after six months of service. It was the only Everly Brothers song released during their time in the military.


February 18, 1967 -
The Buckinghams' song Kind of a Drag hits #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



Kind of a Drag was written by Jim Holvay, who was a friend of the band's from Chicago. It is The Buckingham's only #1 hit, although they peeked into the Top 10 twice more and charted a couple more times after that. Holvay went on to write Don't You Care, Susan and Hey Baby They're Playing Our Song for The Buckinghams.


February 18, 1983 -
Martin Scorsese's black comedy, The King of Comedy, starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard premiered in the US on this date.



Martin Scorsese said later that making this film was an "unsettling" experience, in part because of the embarrassing, bitter material of the script. Scorsese said that he and Robert De Niro may have not worked together again for seven years because making The King of Comedy was so emotionally gruelling.


February 18, 1998 -
In the tradition of Godzilla Vs. Rodan battling it out over Tokyo, The Cure's Robert Smith beats Barbra Streisand on an episode of South Park on this date.



The episode was seen by 5.4 million viewers, a record high viewership for a South Park episode at the time. There was no real reason to note this but I thought you might want to see the clip.


Another episode of ACME's Little Known Animal Facts


Today in History:
February 18, 1268 -
On this date, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword are defeated by Dovmont of Pskov in the Battle of Rakovor.

If you hurry, I believe you can still send flowers or candy to friends and family to commemorate the event.


February 18, 1405 -
Timur Lenk, (also known as Timur the Lame, Tamerlane, Tamerlaine or Mr. Tambourine man,) caught a cold and died on an expedition to China on this date.



While he was the inspiration for many a poet and playwright and known as The Scourge of God, Timur didn't listen to his mother and button his jacket while outside.

Let this be a lesson to us all.


February 18, 1564 -
Michelangelo (Buonarotti), Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer died on this date.



He may have gotten the last laugh as he thought about the number of penises he got to paint on the ceiling of any church.


February 18, 1856 -
The American Party (Know-Nothings) convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on this date to nominate its first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.

And yes, he does look exactly like Alec Baldwin; thanks for noticing.


February 18, 1930 -
Elm Farm Ollie (known as "Nellie Jay" and post-flight as "Sky Queen") was the first cow to fly in an airplane, doing so on this date, as part of the International Air Exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri.

On the same trip, which covered 72 miles from Bismarck, Missouri, to St. Louis, she also became the first cow milked in flight. (Does that mean that she was the first cow to join the mile high club?) This was done ostensibly to allow scientists to observe midair effects on animals, as well as for publicity purposes. And somehow Charles Lindbergh was involved.



A St. Louis newspaper trumpeted her mission as being "to blaze a trail for the transportation of livestock by air."



Your life is better for knowing this.


February 18, 1930 -
Clyde Tombaugh liked to look at French Postcards. He like to look into his neighbors' windows. When he got tired of that, he started studying photos of the night sky where astronomers predicted a "Planet X" would show up.



Tombaugh ended up discovering the dwarf planet Pluto on this date. He also discovered more than 800 asteroids during his search for "Planet X."

Our Alien Overlords were very wily avoiding Clyde.


February 18, 1933 -
Yoko Ono was born on this date.

What else is there to say?


February 18, 1967 -
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, died on this date.



His children never even send him flowers.


February 18, 1979 -
Snow fell in Sahara Desert, in Southern Algeria during a storm which lasts about half an hour on this date.

It didn't snow again until January 18, 2012. Perhaps, some of you may wish to move there now.


February 18, 1977 -
The first experimental orbiter of the Space Shuttle System, Enterprise, was a high-altitude glider, launched from the back of a specially modified Boeing 747, on this date.



The first orbiter was originally planned to be named Constitution, but a massive write-in campaign from fans of Star Trek convinced the White House to change its name to Enterprise.


February 18, 2001 -
Race car driver Dale Earnhardt crashed into the wall at the Daytona 500, killing him instantly. His widow files a lawsuit to force the autopsy photos to be sealed, and a Florida law is subsequently passed to prevent them from ever being released.



Earnhardt was the most well known and most successful driver in the history of the sport.


And so it goes.


Also, on a personal note - Happy Birthday Matt.

And so it goes.