Today's Highlights:
Monday, April 7, 2008
| Monday, April 7, 2008 |
|
|
| Lighting Matches |
Spotlight: Imagine a world without fire. Now, imagine a world without the match. It was only in the 19th century that English chemist and pharmacist John Walker came up with the idea of coating the end of a wooden stick with antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch. Once the chemicals dried, he found he could start a fire just by striking the stick anywhere. He called his invention "Congreves" after the Congreve's rocket. On this date in 1827, Walker first sold his friction matches. Walker never patented the idea and someone else later marketed them as "lucifers."
Quote:
"The best way to make a fire with two sticks is to make sure one of them is a match."
Question of the Day: Who invented safety matches?Johan Edvard Lundstrom patented his safety match in 1855, in Sweden. He had come up with the idea of putting some red phosphorous on sandpaper inside the box of matches, with different chemicals on the match head. The match would remain unlit unless it was struck against the specially prepared striking surface.
The matchbook was developed and patented by Joshua Pusey in 1889, with the striking surface on the inside. The Diamond Match Company had invented a similar matchbook, but with the striker on the outside. More
Word of the day: laveTo wash or bathe. Also: What is left over.
Usage: They will stop early to lave in the river before it gets too cold.
Some believe that the time-honored practice of spring cleaning came from the Jewish world's traditional pre-Passover cleaning. In the spirit of the season, dust off your thinking cap, clear the cobwebs from your mind and have some good clean fun with this week's words.
Today's History:
|
|
| Launching 'Odyssey' |
- World Health Organization: was established by the United Nations (1948)
- Rwandan genocide: 100-day massacre began; more than a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists (1994)
- Mars Odyssey: robotic spacecraft took off; it continues to orbit the red planet (2001)
Today's Birthdays:
|
|
| James Garner |
- William Wordsworth (1770-1850): England's Romantic poet laureate; he wrote "Daffodils"
- Billie Holliday (1915-1959): singer whose autobiography was made into the film Lady Sings the Blues; musicians Ravi Shankar (88), Freddie Hubbard (70), John Oates (59) and Janis Ian (57) were also born on this date
- James Garner (80): actor, Maverick, The Notebook; other actors born today include Wayne Rogers (75), Jackie Chan (54) and Russell Crowe (44)
- Francis Ford Coppola (69): film director, The Godfather
- Gerhard Schröder (64): former chancellor of Germany
- Tony Dorsett (54): football hall-of-famer; twin NFL players Tiki and Ronde Barber (33) also celebrate a birthday today
