Tomorrow's food holiday is 'National Coffee Cake Day'.
From Wikipedia: 'Coffee cake is a sponge cake flavoured with coffee. The term can also be applied to a cake that is intended to be eaten with coffee or tea (like tea cake), offered to guests as a gesture of hospitality, or served as a brunch food. It is leavened with either baking soda (or baking powder), which results in a more cake-like texture, or yeast, which results in a more bread-like texture.
'Coffee cakes are generally round and consist of two layers separated by coffee flavoured butter icing, which also covers the top of the cake. Walnuts are a common addition to coffee cakes'.
[The Hankster says] Well, I've tried to make one. After cleaning several cups worth , out of the oven, I had no success ... wait a minute.... oh, with flour!
Other celebrations/observances tomorrow:
- 'International Snailpapers Day'. AKA: Newspapers.
[The Hankster says] Remember them? I guess this is the quickly readable version of the sneaker-net method of information dispersal.
Awareness / Observance Days on: April 7
o Health
- 'National Alcohol Screening Day'. During National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
From Wikipedia: 'Several tools may be used to detect a loss of control of alcohol use. These tools are mostly self-reports in questionnaire form. Another common theme is a score or tally that sums up the general severity of alcohol use.
The CAGE questionnaire, named for its four questions, is one such example that may be used to screen patients quickly in a doctor's office.
'Two "yes" responses indicate that the respondent should be investigated further.
Have you ever felt you needed to Cut down on your drinking?
Have people Annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
Have you ever felt Guilty about drinking?
Have you ever felt you needed a drink first thing in the morning (Eye-opener) to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?
The CAGE questionnaire has demonstrated a high effectiveness in detecting alcohol-related problems; however, it has limitations in people with less severe alcohol-related problems, white women and college students.
'Other tests are sometimes used for the detection of alcohol dependence, such as the Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire, which is a more sensitive diagnostic test than the CAGE questionnaire. It helps distinguish a diagnosis of alcohol dependence from one of heavy alcohol use. The Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) is a screening tool for alcoholism widely used by courts to determine the appropriate sentencing for people convicted of alcohol-related offenses, driving under the influence
being the most common. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a screening questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization, is unique in that it has been validated in six countries and is used internationally. Like the CAGE questionnaire, it uses a simple set of questions – a high score earning a deeper investigation. The Paddington Alcohol Test (PAT) was designed to screen for alcohol-related problems amongst those attending Accident and Emergency departments. It concords
well withthe AUDIT questionnaire but is administered in a fifth of the time. Certain blood tests may also indicate possible alcoholism'.
- 'Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Rwanda Genocide'. AKA: International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda. A U.N. observance of the event that began on April 7 1994.
From Wikipedia: 'The Rwandan genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority government. During the approximate 100-day period from April 7 to mid-July 1994, an estimated 501,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were killed, constituting as much as 70% of the Tutsi and 20% of Rwanda's total population'.
- 'World Health Day'. Their founding as part of the U.N. on April 7 1948.
The current focus is on diabetes..
o Animal and Pets
- 'International Beaver Day'. Beaver appreciation and wetlands preservation.
From Wikipedia: 'The beaver (genus Castor) is a primarily nocturnal, large, semiaquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) (native to North America) and Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara) Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float
food and building material. The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is the result of extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because the beavers' harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses'.
o Other
- 'Empowered Women Entrepreneurs Day'.
Historical events in the past on: April 7
- In 1827, John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
From Wikipedia: 'He developed a keen interest in trying to find a means of obtaining fire easily. Several chemical mixtures were already known which would ignite by a sudden explosion, but it had not been found possible to transmit the flame to a slow-burning substance like wood. While Walker was preparing a lighting mixture on one occasion, a match which had been dipped in it took fire by an accidental friction upon the hearth. He at once appreciated the practical value of the discovery, and started
making friction matches. They consisted of wooden splints or sticks of cardboard coated with sulphur and tipped with a mixture of sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum, the sulphur serving to communicate the flame to the wood.
The price of a box of 50 matches was one shilling. With each box was supplied a piece of sandpaper, folded double, through which the match had to be drawn to ignite it. He named the matches "Congreves" in honour of the inventor and rocket pioneer, Sir William Congreve. He did not divulge the exact composition of his matches.
Two and a half years after Walker's invention was made public, Isaac Holden arrived, independently, at the same idea of coating wooden splinters with sulphur. The exact date of his discovery, according to his own statement, was October 1829. Previously to this date, Walker's sales-book contains an account of no fewer than 250 sales of friction matches, the first entry bearing the date 7 April 1827. Already comfortably well off, he refused to patent his invention, despite being encouraged to by Michael
Faraday and others, making it freely available for anyone to make. He received neither fame nor wealth for his invention, although he was able to retire some years later. The credit for his invention was attributed only after his death.
'Following the ideas laid-out by the French chemist, Charles Sauria, who in 1830 invented the first phosphorus-based match by replacing the antimony sulfide in Walker’s matches with white phosphorus, matches were first patented in the United States in 1836, in Massachusetts, being smaller in size and safer to use. White phosphorus was later banned for public usage because of its toxicity. Today's modern matches were created by the Swedish chemist, Gustaf Erik Pasch'.
- In 1947, Du Mont Labs announces the 'Kinescop'.
From Wikipedia: 'Kinescope /'k?n?sko?p/, shortened to kine /'k?ni?/, also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor.
Typically, the term can refer to the process itself, the equipment used for the procedure (a 16 mm or 35 mm movie camera mounted in front of a video monitor, and synchronized to the monitor's scanning rate), or a film made using the process. Kinescopes were the only practical way to preserve live television broadcasts prior to the introduction of videotape in 1956. A small number of theatrically released feature films have also been produced as kinescopes.'
'In September 1947, Eastman Kodak introduced the Eastman Television Recording Camera, in cooperation with DuMont Laboratories, Inc. and NBC, for recording images from a television screen under the trademark "Kinephoto". Prior to the introduction of videotape in 1956, kinescopes were the only way to record television broadcasts, or to distribute network television programs that were broadcast live from New York or other originating cities, to stations not connected to the network, or to stations that
wishedto show a program at a different time than the network broadcast. Although the quality was less than desirable, television programs of all types from prestigious dramas to regular news shows were handled in this manner'.
- In 1948, World Health Organization was founded.
From Wikipedia: 'The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO is a member of the United Nations Development Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organization, was an agency of the League of Nations'.
- In 1969, The beginning of the Internet with ARPANET.
From Wikipedia: 'The Internet is the global system of interconnected mainframe, personal, and wireless computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link billions of devices worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and
services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, Usenet newsgroups, telephony, and peer-to-peer networks for file sharing.
'The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was an early packet switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet. ARPANET was initially funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense.'
'By mid-1968, Taylor had prepared a complete plan for a computer network, and, after ARPA's approval, a Request for Quotation (RFQ) was issued for 140 potential bidders. Most computer science companies regarded the ARPA–Taylor proposal as outlandish, and only twelve submitted bids to build a network; of the twelve, ARPA regarded only four as top-rank contractors. At year's end, ARPA considered only two contractors, and awarded the contract to build the network to BBN Technologies on 7 April 1969.
The initial, seven-person BBN team were much aided by the technical specificity of their response to the ARPA RFQ, and thus quickly produced the first working system'.
- In 1970, At the 42nd Academy Awards:
From Wikipedia'.
-- Best Picture is, Midnight Cowboy
-- Best Actor is John Wayne for 'True Grit'
-- Best Actress is Maggie Smith for 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'
-- Best Supporting Actor is Gig Young for 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'
-- Best Supporting Actress is Goldie Hawn for 'Cactus Flower'
-- Best Song is Raindrops Keep Fallin on My Head' from 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'
- In 2001, Mars Odyssey is launched.
From Wikipedia: '2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectrometers and a thermal imager to detect evidence of past or present water and ice, as well as study the planet's geology and radiation environment. It is hoped that the data Odyssey obtains will help answer the question of whether life has ever existed
on Mars and create a risk-assessment of the radiation future astronauts on Mars might experience. It also acts as a relay for communications between the Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory, and the Phoenix lander to Earth. The mission was named as a tribute to Arthur C. Clarke, evoking the name of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001 on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and reached Mars orbit on October 24, 2001, at 02:30 UTC (October 23, 19:30 PDT, 22:30 EDT). It is currently in a polar orbit around Mars with an altitude of about 3,800 km or 2,400 miles.'
By December 15, 2010 it broke the record for longest serving spacecraft at Mars, with 3,340 days of operation, claiming the title from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. It currently holds the record for the longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, ahead of the European Space Agency's Mars Express, at 14 years, 5 months and 13 days'.
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in April
Food
Fresh Florida Tomatoes Month
National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month
National Licorice Month
National Pecan Month
Soy Foods Month
Health
Alcohol Awareness Month
Autism Awareness Month
Cancer Control Month
Child Abuse Prevention Month
Cesarean Awareness Month
Defeat Diabetes Month
Emotional Overeating Awareness Month
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Month
National Autism Awareness Month
National Cancer Control Month
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
National Multiple Birth Awareness Month
National Parkinson's Awareness Month
National Sarcoidosis Awareness Month Note: Sarcoidosis Day is August 29
Nationally Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) Month
Stress Awareness Month
Testicular Cancer Awareness Month
Women's Eye Health and Safety Month
Women Helping Women Heal Month
Animal / Pet
Adopt A Greyhound Month
ASPCA Month
Frog Month
National Heartworm Awareness Month
National Pet Month
Pet First Aid Awareness Month
Prevent Lyme in Dogs Month
Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month
Other
Arab American Heritage Month
Amateur Radio Month
Car Care Month
Celebrate Diversity Month
Community Spirit Days (1-30)
Couple Appreciation Month
Fair Housing Month
Financial Literacy Month
Global Astronomy Month
Informed Women Month
International Customer Loyalty Month
International Guitar Month
Jazz Appreciation Month
Keep America Beautiful
Math Awareness Month
National African American Women's Fitness Month
National Garden Month
National Humor Month
National Kite Month
National Landscape Architecture Month
National Poetry Month
National Safe Digging Month
National Youth Sports Safety Month
World Habitat Awareness Month
April is:
April origin (from Wikipedia):
'The Romans gave this month the Latin name Aprilis but the derivation of
this name is uncertain. The traditional etymology is from the verb aperire,
'to open', in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin
to 'open', which is supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of
(anoixis) (opening) for spring. Since some of the Roman months were named
in honor of divinities, and as April was sacred to the goddess Venus, her
Veneralia being held on the first day, it has been suggested that
April was the second month of the earliest Roman calendar, before
Ianuarius and Februarius were added by King Numa Pompilius about 700 BC.
It became the fourth month of the calendar year (the year when twelve
months are displayed in order) during the time of the decemvirs about
450 BC, when it also was given 29 days. The 30th day was added during
the reform of the calendar undertaken by Julius Caesar in the mid-40s BC,
which produced the Julian calendar.'
April
'is commonly associated with the season of spring in parts of the
Northern Hemisphere and autumn in parts of the Southern Hemisphere,
where it is the seasonal equivalent to October in the
Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.'
April 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