Table of Contents February 15th History, Trivia, and Fun Facts |
February 15th History Highlights |
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February 15th is… |
| Annoy Squidward Day I Want Butterscotch Day Lupercalia National Gumdrop Day National Hippo Day Singles Awareness Day |
| February 15th is National Gumdrop Day in the United States. It is a day to celebrate the sweet and chewy candy known as gumdrops. The origins of the holiday are not clear. Still, it could have been created by candy manufacturers or gumdrop enthusiasts to promote the candy and encourage people to enjoy it. It’s a day to indulge in different varieties of gumdrops or make your gumdrop recipe; it’s also a way to remind us of the sweet things in life. Gumdrops are a type of candy that are made from a mixture of sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin, which gives them their chewy texture. The mixture is typically flavored with various fruit flavors and food coloring is added to give them their bright colors. The mixture is then poured into molds in the shape of small, round candies. The candies are then dusted with granulated sugar to prevent sticking and left to dry for several hours or overnight. Sugar-free and natural gumdrops are also made with natural sweeteners and food coloring. |
February 15th Birthday Quotes |
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” “Comics are a gateway drug to literacy.” “Indomitable perseverance in a business, properly understood, always ensures ultimate success.” “I am not a hero. I just did what any decent person would have done.” “The religious persecution of the ages has been done under what was claimed to be the command of God. I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows because it always coincides with their own desires.” “Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals … except the weasel.” “In 1908, you could easily earn $20 to $200 as a cartoonist. What’s amazing is that it’s still true!” “Funny is when you’re serious.” “I can only speak from my own personal experience, being behind the camera and in front of it, but every magazine cover you see is completely airbrushed.” |
February 15th Birthdays |
| 1564 – Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (died in 1642 1797 – Henry E. Steinway, German-American businessman, founded Steinway & Sons (died in 1871) 1803 – John Sutter, owned the property that started The Calfornia Gold Rush (died in 1880) 1809 – Cyrus McCormick, American and businessman, co-founded International Harvester (died in 1884) 1812 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, American jeweler (died in 1902) 1820 – Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist and activist (died in 1906) 1892 – James Forrestal, American politician, 1st United States Secretary of Defense (died in 1949) 1905 – Harold Arlen, American songwriter (died in 1986) 1907 – Cesar Romero, American actor (died in 1994) 1909 – Miep Gies (Hermine Santruschitz), Austrian/Hungarian citizen, protected Anne Frank’s family and held Anne’s diary (died in 2010) 1910 – Irena Sendler, Polish social worker who saved 2,500 Jewish children from Warsaw (died in 2007) 1927 – Harvey Korman, American comedic actor (died in 2008) 1948 – Art Spiegelman, Swedish-American cartoonist 1951 – Jane Seymour, English-American actress 1954 – Matt Groening, American animator, producer, and screenwriter 1955 – Janice Dickinson, American model 1964 – Chris Farley, American comedic actor (died in 1997) 1967 – Jane Child, Canadian singer-songwriter 1971 – Renee O’Connor, American actress 1972 – JaromÃr Jágr, Czech ice hockey player |
February 15th History |
| 1758 – Mustard was first advertised for sale in America, by Benjamin Jackson, in Philadelphia, PA. 1764 – The city of St. Louis was established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri, USA). 1879 – US President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. 1898 – An explosion sank the battleship, USS Maine, in Cuba’s Havana harbor, killing 260 of the fewer than 400 American crew members aboard, sparking the Spanish-American war. 1903 – The first Teddy Bear was introduced in Brooklyn, NY. 1932 – George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on The Guy Lombardo Show on CBS radio. 1950 – Disney’s Cinderella cartoon feature opened in theaters. It was one of the biggest films of the year and was theatrically re-released several times- 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981, and 1987. 1953 – The first American to win the women’s world figure skating championship was 17-year-old Tenley Albright. 1958 – #1 Hit February 15, 1958 – March 21, 1958: Elvis Presley – Don’t / I Beg Of You 1961 – The whole 18-member U.S. figure skating team was killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout, Belgium. The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. 1965 – The flag we know today, the red and white maple leaf was designed as the new flag of Canada. Prior to that, the official flag was Britain’s Union Jack. 1975 – #1 Hit February 15, 1975 – February 21, 1975: Linda Ronstadt – You’re No Good 1986 – #1 Hit February 15, 1986 – February 29, 1986: Whitney Houston – How Will I Know 1992 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison. 2001 – The first draft of the complete human genome was published in Nature. 2003 – It was estimated that between 8,000,000-30,000,000 people in 600 cities worldwide… the protest of the Iraq War was the largest protest in the history of the world. 2005 – YouTube was activated online. 2013 – A meteor exploded in the sky over Russia’s Ural Mountains, near Chelyabinsk, shattering glass and setting off car alarms for miles. Also, asteroid DA14 came with 18,000 miles of Earth. February 15, 2484 Birthday (fictional) Zoe Alleyne, Firefly, TV |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
| Useless Pronunciation: E as in Eureka The biggest film of 1980: Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes Back (Sci Fi) earned ~ $290,000,000 A group of Leopards is called a Leap. You would think that the Death Star, of all things, would have had even a basic level of IT security. But no, a common droid resembling a garbage can just be plugged right in and had access to everything on the network. Behind every successful student, there is a deactivated Facebook account. “I’ll be back.” – The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in Terminator, The Terminator, 1984 Janet Leigh – Real Name: Jeanette Morrison Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn was a baseball pitcher and Hall of Famer became the first person to be captured on camera giving the middle finger, on Opening Day 1886 team photo of Boston Beaneaters. One TeraKelvin (1,000,000,000,000 K) is the melting temperature of a proton. The shellfish in the logo used by Royal Dutch Shell is based on a giant scallop and the colors used are thought to relate to the colors of the flag of Spain. There are no recorded deaths of persons 118, 120, or 121 years old, though there are 23 at 115, 7 at 116, 3 at 117, one at 119, and one at 122. You are a conglomeration of eleven different elements… a miracle of a being, yet you still spend 99.99% of your time reading stuff like this on online. “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” – Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) #moviequotes Hello Kitty has an identical twin sister named Mimmy. The biggest film of 1952: The Greatest Show on Earth earned ~ $36,000,000 “Accelerating at 1G toward the center of the earth” sounds a lot more interesting than “laying on the couch doing nothing” You catch more flies with honey, and more honeys by being fly. |
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