Will Rogers, a great American humorist, was born on November 4, 1879 in the Cooweescoowee District of the Cherokee Nation—in what would become Oklahoma. Starting life on a large ranch in Indian territory, Rogers was part Cherokee. He was taught by a former slave how to use a lasso as a tool to work Texas longhorn cattle. He became a rope-tricking cowboy and all-around entertainer and his rope tricks eventually led to a career on Broadway and in the movies. Rogers later became a popular broadcaster and syndicated newspaper columnist. Rogers died in a plane crash in Point Barrow, Alaska, on August 15, 1935. Will Rogers had a folksy persona and some of his best quotes are still timeless. Here’s a few that you should enjoy: “I don’t make jokes, I just watch the government and report the facts.” “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” “We can’t all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by.” “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Question of the Day
What’s the best method, without cutting into it, to tell when a turkey is done?
Do the wiggle test. Grab one of the legs and check to see if the leg joint moves freely when you rotate the drumstick. If it does not, your turkey is not done. Also, insert a long fork into the deepest part of the leg joint and check the juices. If they are clear, not pink, the turkey is done.
Advice of the Day
A pretreatment of lemon juice and salt helps remove perspiration stains from clothes.
Home Hint of the Day
Soap is an effective lubricant for screws that are hard to drive. Just scrape the threads of the screw across a dry bar of soap.
Word of the Day
Rostrum
The beak or head of a ship. Beaklike projection of the anterior part of the head of certain insects such as e.g. weevils. The long, projecting nose of a beast, as of swine.
Puzzle of the Day
When will there be but 24 letters in the alphabet?
When U and I are 1. (If the two letters, U and I, became the number 1, that would eliminate two letters from the alphabet, making a total of 24.)
Born
Guido Reni(artist)–
Benjamin F. Goodrich(manufacturer)–
Will Rogers(humorist)–
Walter Cronkite(newscaster)–
Art Carney(actor)–
Doris Roberts(actress)–
Shakuntala Devi(computational genius)–
Loretta Swit(actress)–
Laura Bush(U.S. First Lady)–
Ralph Macchio(actor)–
Jeff Probst(host of Survivor)–
Matthew McConaughey(actor)–
Died
Felix Mendelssohn(composer)–
Grover Cleveland Alexander(baseball player)–
Cy Young(baseball player)–
Albert Franklin Yeager(horticulturist)–
Dominique Dunne(actress)–
Michael Crichton(author)–
Andy Rooney(news commentator)–
Events
Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd were married –
The Royal Montreal Golf Club (oldest golf club in North America) was founded –
An earthquake rang bells in the Notre Dame basilica in Montreal –
An earthquake shook New York state, New England, and eastern Canada –
The first cash register was patented by James and John Ritty of Dayton, Ohio –
Grover Cleveland elected president of the U.S. –
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s first piano recital in the U.S., Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts –
T. S. Eliot won the Nobel Prize for literature –
Dwight D. Eisenhower elected president of the U.S. –
Ronald Reagan elected president of U.S. –
The biggest ever solar flare, sunspot 486, saturated X-ray detectors onboard GOES satellites for 11 minutes. It was estimated to be an X40-class solar flare –
Senator Barack Obama was elected U.S. president. This marked the first time in U.S. history that an African American was elected to the position –
EPOXI spacecraft flew by comet Hartley 2 –
Weather
Tropical rains flooded the Green Mountain area of Vermont causing the worst flood in the history of the state –
