On This Day:
Saturday February 4, 2012
This is the 35th day of the year, with 331 days remaining
in 2012.
Fact of the Day: goldfish
Goldfish have been known to survive freezing into a block of
ice, with full recovery when the ice melts; however, the
fish themselves may not have been actually frozen, since all
animals have natural levels of dissolved substances in their
bodies which lower the freezing point of the tissues and
body fluids. Hence, one should not try putting the family
fishbowl in the freezer, as that may kill the fish. Almost
all fish are cold-blooded, and cold-blooded animals in
general do slow down when the temperature is lowered.
However, their bodies, senses and brains will operate the
same except in terms of speed, and the only behavioral
change which is likely would be eating at longer intervals.
Holidays
Sri
Lanka: Independence Day.
Feast day of St. Theophilus the Penitent, St. Nicholas
Studites, St. Andrew Corsini, bishop, St. Joan of Valois,
St. Isidore of Pelusium, St. John de Britto, St. Modan, St.
Phileas, St. Joseph of Leonessa, and St. Rembert.
Angola:
Armed Struggle Day.
Events
1783
- Britain
declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former
colonies, the United
States of America.
1789
- Electors unanimously chose George
Washington to be the first President of the United
States. John
Adams of Massachusetts,
who received 34 votes, was elected vice president.
1861
- Delegates from six southern states (South
Carolina, Mississippi,
Florida,
Alabama,
Georgia,
and Louisiana)
met in Montgomery,
Alabama,
to form the Confederate
States of America.
1887
- The Interstate
Commerce Commission was established.
1904
- The Russo-Japanese
War began after Japan
laid siege to Port
Arthur.
1913
- Louis
Perlman of New
York City received a patent for his demountable
tire-carrying rims, which we now call wheels.
1932
- The first Winter
Olympic Games in the United
States were held at Lake
Placid, New
York.
1941
- The United
Service Organizations (USO)
was founded order to provide recreation for on-leave members
of the U.S. armed forces and their families.
1945
- President Franklin
Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef
Stalin began the wartime Yalta
Conference meeting.
1948
- The island nation of Ceylon
(now Sri
Lanka) became an independent dominion within the British
Commonwealth.
1957
- Smith-Corona
began selling portable electric typewriters.
1974
- Newspaper heiress Patricia
Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley,
California,
by the Symbionese
Liberation Army.
1976
- More than 22,000 people died when a severe earthquake
struck Guatemala
and Honduras.
1997
- A civil jury in Santa
Monica, California,
found O.J.
Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole
Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald
Goldman.
2003
- Lawmakers formally dissolved Yugoslavia
and replaced it with a union of its remaining two republics,
Serbia
and Montenegro.
Births
1902
- Charles
Lindbergh, American aviator.
1913
- Rosa
Lee Parks, American civil rights activist.
1921
- Betty
Friedan (Goldstein), American feminist author, founder
of the National
Organization for Women.
1921
- Betty
Friedan (born Bettye Naomi Goldstein), American
feminist, activist and writer.
1945
- David
Brenner, American standup comedian, actor, author, and
filmmaker.
1947
- James
Danforth "Dan" Quayle, 44th Vice
President of the United States.
1948
- Alice
Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier), American rock
singer, songwriter, and musician.
1973
- Oscar
de la Hoya, a Mexican-American boxer who won a gold
medal for the United States Boxing Team at the Barcelona
Olympic Games.
Deaths
1983
- Karen
Carpenter, American singer.
1987
- Liberace
(born Wladziu Valentino Liberace), American entertainer.
2006
- Betty
Friedan (born Bettye Naomi Goldstein), American
feminist, activist and writer.
|