Daily Calendar for Thursday, October 3, 2024
Question of the Day
Has Halloween been celebrated in America since the first settlers arrived?
Not really. Not until large populations of Irish immigrants came to the United States in the mid-19th century did many of the well-known Halloween customs become popular here.
Advice of the Day
Plant evergreens, lilacs, and privet hedges. Dig a hole now for a live Christmas tree later.
Home Hint of the Day
The world’s best home air fresheners might be green plants. One study done by NASA found that one plant for about every 100 square feet of floor space can remove up to 87 percent of toxic organic pollutants such as benzene and formaldehyde. Plants produce oxygen, too.
Word of the Day
Precession
The slowly changing position of the stars and equinoxes in the sky resulting from variations in the orientation of Earth’s axis.
Puzzle of the Day
(Blank) is (Blank) day. (What’s the saying? Fill in the blanks!)
1) Tomorrow 2) another
Died
- St. Francis of Assisi –
- Woody Guthrie (singer) –
- Roddy McDowall (actor) –
- William Steig (illustrator for The New Yorker, known as the King of Cartoons for his award-winning, best-selling children’s books including Shrek) –
- Janet Leigh (actress) –
Born
- John Ross (Cherokee Nation chief) –
- Leo McCarey (producer) –
- Gertrude Berg (actress) –
- Thomas Wolfe (author) –
- James Herriot (author) –
- Harvey Kurtzman (founding editor of Mad magazine) –
- Gore Vidal (author) –
- Eddie Cochran (singer) –
- Chubby Checker (singer) –
- Dave Winfield (baseball player) –
- Al Sharpton (minister & politician) –
- Gwen Stefani (singer) –
- Keiko Agena (actress) –
- Seann William Scott (actor) –
- Ashlee Simpson (singer) –
- Kaci (singer) –
- Noah Schnapp (actor) –
Events
- President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day –
- Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women first published –
- First Canadian troops left for Britain to fight in World War I –
- The Andy Griffith Show made its television debut –
- The Dick Van Dyke Show debuted on television –
- At midnight, East and West Germany were reunited as one nation, the Federal Republic of Germany –
- The comic strip Cathy came to an end after 34 years –
- Rare yellow male northern cardinal spotted in Port St. Lucie, Florida. –
- A meteorite crashed through a roof in Golden, B.C. The homeowner, Ruth Hamilton, heard an explosion and found bits of the meteorite near her bed pillow, mere inches from where her head had been. –
Weather
- October Gale hit southern New England –
- Start of a 767-day dry spell in Bagdad, California. –
- A tornado hit Windsor Locks, Connecticut –