On This Day:
Tuesday January 24, 2012
This is the 24th day of the year, with 342 days remaining
in 2012.
Fact of the Day: tittle
It's called a "tittle." The "i" got it's dot sometime during
the 13th century, during the period of copying of
manuscripts. The "i" was made with one stoke and other
letters were made with two and three strokes......the dot
was used to distinguish the "i" from other letters. The dot
is not a diacritical mark -- it does not change the way
letter is pronounced. The "i" and the "j" were
indistinguishable in usage until the 1600's, they used the
same character, the single slash.... again the lower case
was given the dot to distinguish it, and the upper case came
to be invented with the invention of type.
Holidays
Feast day of St. Francis of Sales, St. Babylas of Antioch,
S. Felician of Foligno, and St. Macedonius the Barley-eater.
Bolivia:
Alacitas Fair.
Events
1848
- James
W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's
Mill in northern California,
a discovery that led to the gold rush of '49.
1908
- The first Boy
Scout troop was organized in England
by Robert
Baden-Powell.
1922
- Christian
K. Nelson of Iowa
patented the Eskimo Pie.
1935
- Beer in cans was first sold, in Virginia,
by the Kreuger
Brewing Company.
1942
- A special court of inquiry into America's
lack of preparedness for the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor placed much of the blame on Rear Admiral Husband
E. Kimmel and Lieutenant General Walter
C. Short, the U.S.
Navy and U.S.
Army commanders.
1964
- The first "Sports
Illustrated" swimsuit issue was published.
1978
- A nuclear-powered Soviet satellite plunged through Earth's
atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris
over parts of northern Canada.
1984
- The first Apple
Macintosh goes on sale.
2003
- The new U.S. Department
of Homeland Security officially opened and its head, Tom
Ridge, was sworn in.
2006
- Disney
agrees to purchase Pixar
for $7.4 billion.
Births
76 - Hadrian,
Roman emperor.
1712
- Frederick
the Great, King of Prussia.
1862
- Edith
Wharton, American Pulitzer
Prize-winning novelist.
1918
- Oral
Roberts, American neo-Pentecostal
televangelist.
1936
- Doug
Kershaw, American musician.
1947
- Warren
Zevon, American musician.
1949
- John
Belushi, American actor, comedian and singer most
notable for his work on Saturday
Night Live, National
Lampoon's Animal House, and The
Blues Brothers.
1968
- Mary
Lou Retton, Olympic
gold-medal
gymnast.
Deaths
1965
- Winston
Churchill, English statesman and author, and Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom during WWII.
1971
- Bill
W., American co-founder of Alcoholics
Anonymous.
1975
- Larry
Fine (born Louis Feinberg), American comedian and
actor, probably best known as a member of the comedy act The
Three Stooges.
1986
- L.
Ron Hubbard, American writer and founder of Scientology.
1993
- Thurgood
Marshall, U.S. jurist and civil rights leader, first
black member of the United
States Supreme Court.
2006
- Chris
Penn, American actor.
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