'National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day'.
From Wikipedia: 'Chocolate-covered raisins are a popular bulk vending product. They consist, as the name suggests, of raisins coated in a shell of milk, dark or white chocolate. They have a reputation in many countries of being food eaten in movie theaters, and are an item familiar from the concession counter. The supermarket chains also sell them in bags and they were traditionally sold by weight from jars in candy stores.'
The historical origins of the chocolate covered raisin are unknown. However, most early references tend to originate from the Germanic-speaking regions of Europe. A popular folk tale mentions "kleine Schokokugeln" (little chocolate balls). Schokokugeln are a popular form of candy treat found widely in modern Germany. A traditional Germanic children's Christmas prayer also contains "...Meine klei Schokokugeln, oh, wie edel man die Früchte hängen nach unten zu verherrlichen. Mein Weinberg weint mit guter
Laune an diesem Geschenk des Himmels" (...my little chocolate balls, oh, how nobly you glorify the fruit hanging down. My vineyard weeps with good cheer at this gift from heaven..). It is also likely that a precursor form of this food existed in Mesoamerican cultures, given the known consumption of cacao based foods within these ancient societies e.g. a chocolate coated nut, or berry'
[The Hankster says] Can you spell Raisinettes? I can't believe that my spell checking software does not know what Raisinettes?are.
Other celebrations/observances tomorrow:
- 'International Day for Achievers'.
[The Hankster says] Definition: achiever: 'to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish' So, if you want to be one, you must stick with it and finish this post, wether you want to or not.
Awareness / Observance Days on: March 24
o Health
- 'World TB Day'. A World Health Organization awareness day.
- 'Wear a Hat Day'.- In Great Britain. A fund raiser for brain tumor research.
k
o Other
- 'International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims'. A U.N. observance day.
Historical events in the past on: March 24
- In 1882, German scientist Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he had discovered the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis.
From Wikipedia: 'Tuberculosis (MTB, TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections do not have symptoms, known as latent tuberculosis. About 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated kills about half of those infected. The classic symptoms of active TB are a chronic cough with blood-containing sputum, fever, night sweats, and
weight loss. The historical term "consumption" came about due to the weight loss. Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms.
Tuberculosis is spread through the air when people who have active TB in their lungs cough, spit, speak, or sneeze. People with latent TB do not spread the disease. Active infection occurs more often in people with HIV/AIDS and in those who smoke. Diagnosis of active TB is based on chest X-rays, as well as microscopic examination and culture of body fluids. Diagnosis of latent TB relies on the tuberculin skin test (TST) or blood tests.
Prevention of TB involves screening those at high risk, early detection and treatment of cases, and vaccination with the bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine. Those at high risk include household, workplace, and social contacts of people with active TB. Treatment requires the use of multiple antibiotics over a long period of time. Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem with increasing rates of multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB)'.
'Skeletal remains show prehistoric humans (4000 BC) had TB, and researchers have found tubercular decay in the spines of Egyptian mummies dating from 3000–2400 BC. Genetic studies suggest TB was present in the Americas from about 100 AD'.
'The bacillus causing tuberculosis, M. tuberculosis, was identified and described on 24 March 1882 by Robert Koch. He received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1905 for this discovery. Koch did not believe the bovine (cattle) and human tuberculosis diseases were similar, which delayed the recognition of infected milk as a source of infection. Later, the risk of transmission from this source was dramatically reduced by the invention of the pasteurization process. Koch announced a glycerine
extract of the tubercle bacilli as a "remedy" for tuberculosis in 1890, calling it "tuberculin". While it was not effective, it was later successfully adapted as a screening test for the presence of pre-symptomatic tuberculosis'.
- In 1900, Ground is broken on New York's underground Rapid Transit Railroad, which would later become New York's subway system.
From Wikipedia: 'The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Opened in 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, one of the world's most used metro systems, and the metro system with the most stations and the most trackage. It offers service 24 hours per day and every day of the year.'
'The Great Blizzard of 1888 helped demonstrate the benefits of an underground transportation system. A plan for the construction of the subway was approved in 1894, and construction began in 1900. The first underground line of the subway opened on October 27, 1904, almost 36 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City, which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line. Opening prices for a ride cost riders $0.05 and in the first day alone carried over 150,000 passengers. The oldest structure
still in use opened in 1885 as part of the BMT Lexington Avenue Line in Brooklyn and is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line. The oldest right-of-way, which is part of the BMT West End Line near Coney Island Creek, was in use in 1864 as a steam railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road'.
- In 1930, The then planet (now dwarf planet, Kuiper-belt object) Pluto was named.
From Wikipedia: 'Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond Neptune. It was the first Kuiper belt object to be discovered. It is the largest and second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object directly orbiting the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume but is less massive than Eris, a dwarf planet in the scattered disc. Like other Kuiper belt
objects, Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock and is relatively small—about one-sixth the mass of Earth's Moon and one-third its volume. It has a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit during which it ranges from 30 to 49 astronomical units or AU (4.4–7.4 billion km) from the Sun. This means that Pluto periodically comes closer to the Sun than Neptune, but a stable orbital resonance with Neptune prevents them from colliding. Light from the Sun takes about 5.5 hours to reach Pluto at its average
distance (39.5 AU)'.
'The discovery made headlines around the globe. The Lowell Observatory, which had the right to name the new object, received more than 1,000 suggestions from all over the world, ranging from Atlas to Zymal. Tombaugh urged Slipher to suggest a name for the new object quickly before someone else did. Constance Lowell proposed Zeus, then Percival and finally Constance. These suggestions were disregarded.
The name Pluto, after the god of the underworld, was proposed by Venetia Burney (1918–2009), a then eleven-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England, who was interested in classical mythology. She suggested it in a conversation with her grandfather Falconer Madan, a former librarian at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, who passed the name to astronomy professor Herbert Hall Turner, who cabled it to colleagues in the United States.
- In 1934,-The U.S. Congress passes the 'Tydings-McDuffie Act' (Philippine Independence Act, Pub.L. 73–127), declaring the Philippines independent after a period of 10 years.
From Wikipedia: 'The Tydings–McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act, Pub.L. 73–127, 48 Stat. 456, enacted March 24, 1934) was a United States federal law which provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from the United States after a period of ten years. It also established strict limitations on Filipino immigration'.
- In 1935, The 'Major Bowe's Original Amateur Hour', started in NY in 1934, goes national on NBC Radio Network and later to CBS. It had a run from 1934 to 1952.
From Wikipedia: 'The Major Bowes Amateur Hour was an American radio talent show broadcast in the 1930s and 1940s. It was created and hosted by Edward Bowes (1874–1946). Selected performers from the program participated in touring vaudeville performances, under the "Major Bowes" name. The program later transitioned to television under host Ted Mack.'
'Bowes brought his amateur hour to the New York City radio station WHN in April 1934. On March 24, 1935, Chase and Sanborn chose this show to fill The Chase and Sanborn Hour on NBC. This arrangement lasted until September 17, 1936, when the show moved to the CBS Radio Network. The show remained on CBS for the remainder of its run on radio. Bowes sent the more talented contestants on "Major Bowes" vaudeville tours, often with several units roaming the country simultaneously. Bowes presided over his radio
program until his death on his 72nd birthday, June 14, 1946'.
- In 1944, During World War II, in an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.
From Wikipedia: 'Stalag Luft III (German: Stammlager Luft, or main camp for aircrew) was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan (now Zagan in Poland), 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Berlin. The site was selected because it would be difficult to escape by tunnelling.
The camp is best known for two famous prisoner escapes that took place there by tunnelling, which were depicted in the films The Great Escape (1963) and The Wooden Horse (1950), and the books by former prisoners Paul Brickhill and Eric Williams from which these films were adapted.'
'In the spring of 1943, Squadron Leader Roger Bushell RAF conceived a plan for a mass escape from the camp, which occurred the night of 24/25 March 1944. Bushell was held in the North Compound where British and Commonwealth airmen were housed. He was in command of the Escape Committee charged with managing escape opportunities. Falling back on his legal background to represent his scheme, Bushell called a meeting of the Escape Committee to advocate for the escape.
The simultaneous digging of these tunnels would become an advantage if any one of them was discovered by the Germans, because the guards would scarcely imagine that another two could be well underway. The most radical aspect of the plan was not the scale of the construction but the number of men that Bushell intended to pass through the tunnels. Previous attempts had involved the escape of up to 20 men but Bushell was proposing to get in excess of 200 out, all of whom would be wearing civilian
clothes and some of whom would possess forged papers and escape equipment. It was an unprecedented undertaking and would require unparalleled organization. As the mastermind of the Great Escape, Roger Bushell inherited the codename of "Big X". The tunnel "Tom" began in a darkened corner next to a stove chimney in one of the buildings. "Dick"'s entrance was carefully hidden in a drain sump in one of the washrooms. The entrance to "Harry" was hidden under a stove. More than 600 prisoners were
involved in their construct'.
'Of 76 escapees, 73 were captured; Adolf Hitler initially wanted the escapees to be shot as an example to other prisoners, as well as Commandant von Lindeiner, the architect who designed the camp, the camp's security officer and the guards on duty at the time. Hermann Göring, Field Marshal Keitel, Major-General Westhoff and Major-General von Graevenitz, who was head of the department in charge of prisoners of war, all argued against any executions as a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Hitler
eventually relented and instead ordered SS head Himmler to execute more than
half of the escapees. Himmler passed the selection on to General
Arthur Nebe. Fifty were executed singly or in pairs. Roger Bushell,
the leader of the escape, was shot by Gestapo official Emil Schulz just
outside Saarbrucken, Germany'.
- In 1958, Elvis Presley is drafted into the U.S. Army.
From Wikipedia: 'On March 24, Presley was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private at Fort Chaffee, near Fort Smith, Arkansas. His arrival was a major media event. Hundreds of people descended on Presley as he stepped from the bus; photographers then accompanied him into the fort. Presley announced that he was looking forward to his military stint, saying he did not want to be treated any differently from anyone else: "The Army can do anything it wants with me".'
- In 1965, Images are broadcast from the NASA's Ranger 9 to TV sets on Earth, before crashing into the Moon.
From Wikipedia: 'Ranger 9 was a Lunar probe, launched in 1965 by NASA. It was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. The spacecraft carried six television vidicon cameras - two wide-angle (channel F, cameras A and B) and four narrow-angle (channel P) - to accomplish these objectives. The cameras were arranged in two separate chains, or channels, each self-contained with separate
power supplies, timers, and transmitters so as to afford the greatest reliability and probability of obtaining high-quality television pictures.These images were broadcast live on television to millions of viewers across the United States. No other experiments were carried on the spacecraft.'
- In 1980, ABC's nightly Iran Hostage crisis program was renamed 'Nightline'.
From Wikipedia: 'Nightline (or ABC News Nightline) is a late-night news program broadcast by ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main anchor from March 1980 until his retirement in November 2005. It is currently anchored by Dan Harris, Byron Pitts and Juju Chang on an alternating basis.'
'The program had its beginnings on November 8, 1979, just four days after the start of the Iran hostage crisis. ABC News president Roone Arledge felt that the best way to compete against NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was to update Americans on the latest news from Iran. At that time, the show was called The Iran Crisis– America Held Hostage: Day "xxx", where xxx represented each day that Iranians held the occupants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran hostage. Originally, World News
Tonight lead anchor Frank Reynolds hosted the 20-minute-long special reports'.
- In 1986, At the 58th Academy Awards:
-- Best Picture is, Out of Africa
-- Best Actor is William Hurt for 'Kiss of the Spider Woman'
-- Best Actress is Geraldine Page for 'The Trip to Bountiful'
-- Best Supporting Actor is Don Ameche for 'Cocoonb'
-- Best Supporting Actress is Anjelica Huston for 'Prizzi's Honor'
-- Best Song is Out of Africa from 'Out of Africa'
- In 1997, At the 69th Academy Awards:
-- Best Picture is, The English Patient
-- Best Actor is Geoffrey Rush for 'Shine'
-- Best Actress is Frances McDormand for 'Fargo'
-- Best Supporting Actor is Cuba Gooding for 'Jr., Jerry Maguire'
-- Best Supporting Actress is Juliette Binoche for 'The English Patient'
-- Best Song is You Must Love Me from 'Evita'
- In 2002, At the 74th Academy Awards:
-- Best Picture is, A Beautiful Mind
-- Best Actor is Denzel Washington for 'Training Day'
-- Best Actress is Halle Berry for 'Monster's Ball
-- Best Supporting Actor is Jim Broadbent for 'Iris'
-- Best Supporting Actress is Jennifer Connelly for 'A Beautiful Mind'
-- Best Song is If I Didn't Have You from Monsters, Inc.
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in March
Food
National Frozen Food Month
National Noodle Month
National Nutrition Month
National Peanut Month
Health
Alport Syndrome Awareness Month
American Red Cross Month
Brain Injury Awareness Month
Colic Awareness Month
Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Month
Endometriosis Month
Malignant Hypertension Awareness and Training Month
National Caffeine Awareness Month
National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month
National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
National Essential Tremor Awareness Month
National Eye Donor Month
National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month
National Kidney Month
Poison Prevention Awareness Month
Save Your Vision Month
Vascular Abnormalities Awareness Month
Workplace Eye Wellness Month
Animal / Pet
Adopt A Rescued Guinea Pig Month
Other
Credit Education Month
Employee Spirit Month
Expanding Girls' Horizons in Science and Engineering Month
Honor Society Awareness Month
Humorists Are Artists Month
International Expect Success Month
International Ideas Month
International Mirth Month
Irish-American Heritage Month
Mad for Plaid Month
Music In Our Schools Month
National Cheerleading Safety Month
National Craft Month
National Ethics Awareness Month
National Kite Month (3/28-5/3)
National March Into Literacy Month
National Social Work Month
National Umbrella Month
National Women's History Month
Optimism Month
Play The Recorder Month
Women's History Month
Youth Art Month
March is:
March origin (from Wikipedia):
'The name of March comes from Latin Martius, the first month of the earliest
Roman calendar. It was named for Mars, the Roman god of war who was also
regarded as a guardian of agriculture and an ancestor of the Roman people
through his sons Romulus and Remus.
'
March
'is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
It is one of seven months that are 31 days long. In the Northern Hemisphere,
the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March.
The March equinox on the 20th or 21st marks the astronomical beginning of
spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of autumn in the
Southern Hemisphere, where September is the seasonal equivalent of the
Northern Hemisphere's March.
'
March at Wikipedia: More
If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago,
or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More
Best selling books of 1966 More
Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More