Pluto Day - February 18, 2020

DIANE'S CORNER ... Celebrate Pluto Day

I refuse to accept Pluto’s resignation as a planet.

Amy Lee

If you’re like us, you grew up with a solar system that had nine planets in it. You also grew up in world that didn’t teach new math, but that’s a rant for a different day. Then one day they suddenly decided that designating Pluto as a planet was just wrong, and our most distant friend in the solar system suddenly was told he wasn’t good enough for the planet club anymore, and would forever be considered a ‘dwarf planet’. Kind of a consolation prize for those not cool enough for the big planets club. Pluto Day celebrates the discovery of Pluto in 1930, when it was designated as a planet, and that’s how it should have stayed!

History of Pluto Day

The story of how Pluto was discovered actually starts in the 1840’s, when one Urbain Le Verrier determined that there was a planet outside of Uranus, but that planet obviously wasn’t Pluto, it was Neptune. But the same methods by which Neptune was discovered led to another beyond it. You see, Uranus was demonstrating some oddities in its orbit, oddities caused by its nearest, yet undiscovered, neighbor, Neptune. Once they were able to actually observe Neptune, they realized that another planet must be disturbing Uranus’s orbit as well, what they were seeing couldn’t be explained merely by Neptune.

This led to a search for Planet X (an Amazing name that we think Pluto should have kept, but we’re not able to do anything about that, obviously) headed by Percival Lowell. Unfortunately Powell would pass from this mortal coil (and into the hands of Pluto, God of the Dead) before Pluto was discovered… At least, before he would know about it. You see, during their surveys of the deep sky in search of ‘Planet X’, two faint smudges would appear that were later to be revealed to be Pluto.

The actual discovery of Pluto happened in February of 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. After so many years and so many lives spent searching for it, we think that Pluto deserves to remain a planet, don’t you?

Joke of the Day

THE MOUSETRAP

A man bought a mousetrap. When he brought it home, he discovered that he had no cheese to bait it with. So he found a picture of some cheese and put the picture in the trap.

The next morning he went to the trap to see if it had caught anything. The picture of the cheese was gone. In its place was a picture of a mouse.

Word of the Day

scroop

MEANING:

verb intr.: To make a scraping or grating sound.
noun: A scraping sound, especially the rustle of a silk fabric.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1787.

USAGE:

“I heard a soft scroop as the front door latch clicked home.”
Jane K. Cleland; Consigned to Death; St. Martin’s Press; 2007.

Idiom of the Day

SIT TIGHT

To wait patiently
Sit tight! The nurse will be with you in just a moment.

This Day in History

1564 - The artist Michelanglelo died in Rome

1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time.


1930 - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane.


1930 - The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. The discovery was made as a result of photographs taken in January 1930.


1953 - "Bwana Devil" opened. It was the first three-dimensional feature.


1970 - The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.


1977 - The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden "flight" sitting on top of a Boeing 747.


2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.


2006 - American Shani Davis won the men's 1,000-meter speedskating in Turin. He was the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.


2006 - In Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, the Rolling Stones gave a free concert before a crowd of over 1 million people at Copacabana Beach.

thanks, Dana



DAILY SQU-EEK

If You Were Born Today, February 18

You have a true love of beauty and harmony, as well as exceptional appeal. While comfort and pleasure are important to you, you are no stranger to hard work. Work hard and play hard could be your motto. You go over the top for those you love. You are generous and well-liked. The spiritual and idealistic side to you is well-developed. Famous people born today: 

1745 Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and inventor of the 1st battery, born in Como, Italy (d. 1827)

1896 André Breton, French writer and poet, founder of Surrealism, born in Tinchebray, France (d. 1966)

1931 Toni Morrison [Chloe Anthony Wofford], American writer (Tar Baby, Beloved, Song of Solomon), first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize (2010) born in Lorain, Ohio (d. 2019)

1933 Yoko Ono Lennon [Mrs John Lennon], Japanese singer & artist, born in Tokyo, Japan

1954 John Travolta, American actor (Grease, Pulp Fiction), born in Englewood, New Jersey

1965 Dr. Dre [Andre Romelle Young], American rapper & record producer (Still D.R.E., The Next Episode), born in Compton, California

READERS INFO

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(Not So) Totally Useless Facts of The Day:

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Pictures of the day

knit
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knit
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knit
knit
knit


Crochet Pattern of the Day: 

thanks, Valerie, Canadian Correspondent
or
Knit Pattern of the Day: 

thanks, Valerie, Canadian Correspondent


crochet
thanks, 
crochet
thanks, 
crochet
crochet
crochet





RECIPE

thanks, Shelley, New York Food Correspondent

CROCKPOT RECIPE






SWEETS

ADULT COLORING

CRAFTS

CHILDREN'S CORNER ... 

PUZZLE

WORD SEARCH

SUDOKU ... 

QUOTE

thanks, Karla

CLEVER 

KEEP YOUR BOOTS AT ATTENTION

No more floppy ankles if you use pool noodles to keep boots upright. Also great for drying mukluks!

EYE OPENER 

thanks, Debbie

The 15 most awe-inspiring space images of the decade

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

It's not a business with me. ... I'm not a professional of poetry; I'm a farmer of poetry. -Jack Gilbert, poet (18 Feb 1925-2012)

OPTICAL ILLUSION

This visual illusion consists of 12 lilac dots separated like the numbers on a clock, with a black cross in the middle. Each dot is blotted out briefly, for 0.1 seconds, in a clockwise rotation.

If you stare at the cross, the movement of the disks is replaced by a green dot, and gaps appear throughout the circle.