Answer of the Day
What's the correlation between heart attacks and strokes? Heart attacks are caused by a the blockage of one or more of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. A stroke occurs when there is a blockage of blood flow to the brain. Both diseases can be prevented by better blood circulation. February is American Heart Month and the first Friday in February — Wear Red Day — is traditionally reserved for focusing on women and cardiovascular health. Over 900,000 Americans die each year from cardiovascular disease. The main risk factors for heart disease are: high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides numbers, blood sugar levels, obesity, smoking, not enough physical activity and high-salt and fatty-foods diets. By walking 10 minutes a day, losing weight, quitting smoking and watching what we eat, we can significantly reduce our risk for heart disease.

Quote
"I believe that how you feel is very important to how you look — that healthy equals beautiful." — Victoria Principal

Word of the day
methuselah
(meh-THOO-zuh-luh)

noun:
1. An extremely old man.
2. An oversized wine bottle holding approx. 6 liters.

Etymology
After biblical figure Methuselah, who was said to have lived 969 years.

Usage
"Five restaurant years would be about equivalent to 30 human years, so Bambino's, which has been around since 1983, is a veritable Methuselah among eateries." — A.C. Stevens; Why Cook Tonight?; The Boston Herald; Feb 11, 2001.

"Meet Frank Ahern, the Methuselah of Seattle high-school coaches, a revered urban legend in his second half-century of helping city youth." — Craig Smith; A Coach For The Ages; The Seattle Times; Feb 27, 2000.

Weekly theme
eponyms (© Wordsmith.org)

Today's History

A Boarding School Student In Bed With 'Reader's Digest'

• United Artists: US film company was founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith; a current version of the studio is owned, in part, by Tom Cruise (1919)
• Reader's Digest: DeWitt and Lila Wallace published their first issue of condensed articles; the pocket-sized volume cost 25 cents (1922)
• BBC pips: six short tones used to mark the end of the hour were broadcast for the first time from the Royal Greenwich Observatory (1924)
• Tybee bomb: the US lost a hydrogen bomb off the coast of Georgia; some 14 nuclear weapons are known to be missing from the US arsenal alone (1958)

Today's Birthdays

Hank Aaron

• Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850): British PM who modernized the police force; Greek PM Andreas Papandreou (1919-1996) shared this birth date
• Andrew M. Greeley (82): priest and best-selling author; also, writers Ralph E. McGill (1898-1969), William Burroughs (1914-1997), Stephen J. Cannell (69) and Christopher Guest (62)
• Hank Aaron (76): MLB hall-of-famer and No. 2 on the all-time HR list; athletes Roger Staubach (68) and Roberto Alomar (42) also celebrate birthdays today
• Laura Linney (46): SAG-, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner for John Adams; other actors born today include John Carradine (1906-1988), Stuart Damon (73), David Selby (69), Charlotte Rampling (64), Barbara Hershey (62), Tim Meadows (49), Jennifer Jason Leigh (48) and Jeremy Sumpter (21)