Friday, February 16, 2024

On This Day February 16th

 OTD

February 16th is the Forty-seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 318 days remain until the end of the year.

 

Events

1646 – Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the First English Civil War.

1804 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia.

1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1899 – Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.

1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.

1945 – The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, was signed into law.

1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system enters service.

1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).

2006 – The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.

 

Birthdays

1497 – Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic (d. 1560)

1727 – Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian botanist, chemist, and mycologist (d. 1817)

1822 – Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician (d. 1911)

1843 – Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln (d. 1932)

1903 – Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist and actor (d. 1978)

1920 – Anna Mae Hays, American general (d. 2018)

1935 – Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician (d. 1998)

1957 – LeVar Burton, American actor, director, and producer

1959 – John McEnroe, American tennis player and sportscaster

1974 – Mahershala Ali, an American actor

1990 – The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer

 

Holiday Spotlight

Friday Fish Fry Day

Friday Fish Fry Day didn’t start as an American cultural tradition as you may think. Consuming fish at the start of Lent originated in the Biblical times of 30 A.D. when Jesus Christ began fasting and abstaining from consuming warm-blooded animals. He only ate fish, a cold-blooded animal, leading up to his crucifixion. Abstaining from eating warm-blooded flesh is honoring Christ for his sacrifice. Apart from becoming a vital tradition of Catholicism, this also later became a driver of the global fishing economy.

The tradition was started by German Catholic settlers who came to Wisconsin in the 19th century. At the time, the Church was strict and only allowed Catholics to consume fish — not just for Lent but every Friday of the year! This was quickly adopted by Wisconsin locals, who started finding creative ways to serve their fish. Fried fish became popular because it was both easy to prepare and delicious.

Besides Lent, Friday fish nights became a cultural tradition in Wisconsin because of beer. Breweries like Blatz, Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz were based in Wisconsin. Not only does fried fish go well with beer, but beer-battered fish fry has become a popular way to coat the fish. In the 1920s, fishing became a rising industry in the state.

The first annual Friday Fish Fry Day took place on February 19, 2021, and was organized by Wisconsin local and fish enthusiast Caleb Westphal.

 

Others Include.

Daytona Pole Day

Do a Grouch a Favor Day

Elizabeth Peratrovich Day

Innovation Day

Kyoto Protocol Day

National Almond Day

National Caregivers Day

National Tartar Sauce Day

Tim Tam Day

World Information Architecture Day

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