February 28 - The rarest of genetics

 On the last day of February we recognize that not every disease is known as widely as others with "Rare Disease Day".

Created in 2008 for those unknown or overlooked illnesses out there.  And it started as a day on February 29th, itself a rare day and then morphed into just the 'last day of February'.

On this day in 1953 Franklin, Watson and Crick used some Xrays to discover the form of the building blocks of life, DNA.

Exposure 51 shows how the DNA is made up of a double helix.

February 25 - The Greatest Nut Beatle

 In 1964 an underdog Muhammad Ali went against the World Heavyweight Champion, Sonny Liston, and beat him on this day for the title.

Ali won by TKO as Sonny wouldn't come out of the corner to start the 7th round.  They had a rematch in 1965 where Ali had a first round knockout.

Ali was called "The Greatest of All Time" and was enshrined as Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated in 1999 - I mean who couldn't like Ali with all his quips and commentary - he even called himself a "big-mouth and a bragger".

Someone else who used their mouth and was famous was George Harrison.  He had a few good Beatles hits himself.

He was born today in 1943 (and then passed away in 2001).

Celebrate these days with something sweet, like a chocolate covered nuts.  Such an important treat that the US celebrates National Chocolate Covered Nut Day today.

February 24 - Ashley's Education at the Bar

 For years I used a quote that I had found on the internet and made it my signature in emails.

It's:

Education's purpose to replace an empty mind with an open one.

It was written by a Malcolm S. Forbes, and I never realized who that was.  Well, he passed away on this day in 1990 at the age of 70.

Malcolm was an entrepreneur and politician.  I had always assumed he was involved in education somewhere.

Not probably someone with a lot of quotes, except the Hi, How Are You Today is Ashley MacIsaac a famous fiddler from Cape Breton; he was born today in 1975.

Being in the celtic scene he was 'one to watch' for years and I got to see him a few times.  Great stuff and crazy talented.  Also... apparently 'crazy' from those who interacted behind the scenes as he liked to party.  I mean, it goes hand in hand with kitchen music.  

So I imagine he probably celebrated World Bartender Day a time or two.

February 23 - Print the Bread Salk

 1455 ... if you wanted a book, someone had to painstakingly copy one out for you.  Can you imagine?  It's estimated that on this day Gutenberg printed his first bible with his fancy printing machine.  

Revolutionized the world by being able to create large amounts of texts and send it wider and farther easier.

In terms of another revolution, the polio virus was running rampant, but on this day in 1954 the first real mass vaccination to help rid the world of the virus started with a vaccine created by Dr. Jonas Salk.

Yup, a virus can be eliminated by vaccination.  In 2018 they officially were able to call it eliminated

As a reward for rolling up the sleeves, I hope those kids got some banana bread.  I just love banana bread.  And the US celebrates National Banana Bread on this day.

February 22 - Robert Clone Found Thinking

 On February 22, 1857 Robert Baden-Powell was born and he eventually became the founder of the Scouts program; so the Scouts celebrate today as Founders' Day.

I was a scout once upon a time with my kerchief and woggle.. can't remember how many badges I earned.

I do remember however the cloning of a sheep in Scotland that we knew as Dolly.

Dolly was the first mammal cloned and that was back in July of 1996, but the scientists didn't announce the success until this day in 1997.

Interesting fact, they named Dolly after Dolly Parton because the cell used for the cloning was from the mammary gland.

Another first was oddly Robert II - who on this day became King of Scotland, and was the first of the Stuart dynasty.

He was King in Scotland from this day in 1371 until he died in 1390.  He was grandson to the famous Robert the Bruce (his mom was Robert the Bruce's daughter).

Stuff to think about this February 22... a day that the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts use as World Thinking Day

The theme for 2022:  Our World, Our Equal Future.

February 18 - Painting a Planet on the River

 Pluto was discovered on this day in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, who was seeking a 'mysterious planet x' that they speculated should exist based on effects that Uranus and Neptune were showing.

Pluto lasted until 2006 and it's something they now give it the term 'plutoid'

What a tale of a planet.

A tale I used to like when I was a kid was by Mark Twain and it was on this day in 1885 that "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published.

Tho' I often get the 2 stories of his and Tom Sawyer's mixed up.

Mark Twain sure could paint a picture of the time.  And speaking of painting, it was on this day in 1564 that famous painter Michelangelo passed away.

February 17 - Five Chiefs

Could you lend me a Wilfrid... a fiver?

On the Canadian five dollar bill we have our first French speaking prime minister - Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

Sir Wilfrid died on this day in 1919.

He still holds the record for length of continuous time in office of Prime Minister from 1896 to 1911.

It was also on this day that Chief Geronimo had passed away in 1909.

February 16 - Mummy Stockings

 In 1923 on this day, Howard Carter opened King Tut's tomb...

...spooky.  I think I had originally said this was back in November of 1922... but just to get the dates right.  In November 1922 they found the steps to the entrance of a tomb, which turned out to eventually lead them to Tut's chamber on this day in 1923 they opened it up.

Mummies were often wrapped up in cloth , I wonder if it would have been better to use nylon.

Well, aside from the fact that Carothers didn't get to patent it until many centuries later.

This day in 1937 is when Carothers (working at DuPont at the time) patented the polymer.  He had 'invented' it on February 28, 1935 and was able to file for patent on this day... the patent wouldn't be awarded until September 1938.

February 15 - 10 Flag Codes

 Canada's telltale maple leaf was officially adopted on this day in 1965.

The official "National Flag Day of Canada" was declared in 1996.

Also on this day in 2001 in the journal "Nature" the human genome was officially first officially fully mapped and published.

Kind of a cool concept when you think about it, being able to go in and read allele by allele.  21 years later there's so much we can.

It's also on this day in 1971 that the Brits decided to start using 'decimalized' currency.  Meaning that currency was now based on 10s.  

Prior to this a pound was 20 shillings.  Each shilling was 12 pence.  Now a pound is just 100 p (instead of 240).

February 14 - Love is a bite on the neck

 Well today is an easy one.  February 14th is Valentine's Day.

Now, apparently the day comes about from some Saint Valentine of Rome who died on February 14th in 269AD.

It was on this day in 1931 that Bela Lugosi was seen as Dracula in the film.

Some say Dracula is a love story.

February 11 - Surely a Science Graph is Freedom

 It was on this day that Nelson Mandela was released from his prison after 27 years.

After visiting the Museum of Human Rights and seeing the Mandela you really gain new appreciation for the suffering he went through.  

Another person who brought a lot of smiles was Leslie Nielsen.  Canadian actor you may remember from The Naked Gun or Airplane... he was born today in 1926.

Sadly, he passed in 2010.

This day in 1650 Rene Descartes passed away.  

He was a very well known mathematician and philosopher (in those days you tended to be both) and came up with the idea of how to plot integers on a plane - what we now call a cartesian plane.

He also coined the phrase "Cogito ergo sum" - I think therefore I am.

Speaking of some math and science, it's International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

February 10 - Think about the falling beans

 Okay, so this one was a new thing for me.

I see that it's World Pulses Day.

Okay, so something about taking your pulse... something about hearts?

Nope, pulses are ... I guess another way of saying 'legume'.  So today is the world day to recognize the importance of types of crops.

Bleh, always hated lentils myself.

All them beans floating around, they need some rain to help them grow, but you may need an umbrella - good thing the US celebrates "National Umbrella Day".

Who was it that said you never 'own' an umbrella, merely borrow it from the universe for a period of time.

All the while under that umbrella thinking deep thoughts, and there's one computer who's probably thinking more - Deep Blue.

It was on this day Deep Blue (from IBM) played the world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1996.

This was their second match - Deep Blue had tried against Kasparov in 1989 and lost.  In 1996 however, of 6 games, Deep Blue actually won a game, caused them to draw twice, but Kasparov won 3.  But, Deep Blue won the first.