Daily Calendar for Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Question of the Day
I have a sick bonsai tree and need help.
We’re out of our depth when it comes to discussing bonsai, so we can offer just the basics. Watering depends very much on the type of bonsai, but as a general rule, water once a day for a well-drained pot. The appearance of liverwort on the soil means either poor drainage or overwatering. Dry soil and brown moss are signs of underwatering. Fertilizer should be used sparingly. Check the wiring on the tree and remove it before it starts biting into the bark. We suggest checking the Internet for more information. There should be expert sources out there to help you.
Advice of the Day
Remove felt-tip ink stains from kitchen counters by rubbing them with alcohol.
Home Hint of the Day
Sometimes the tiny screws on your glasses won’t stay tight. Unscrew them, dab with a drop of shellac or super glue (available at hardware stores), and put them back in. Tighten the screws firmly, and they shouldn’t come loose again.
Word of the Day
Roman indiction
A number in a 15-year cycle, established January 1, a.d. 313, as a fiscal term. Add 3 to any given year in the Christian era and divide by 15; the remainder is the Roman Indiction. If there is no remainder, it is 15.
Puzzle of the Day
When does a caterpillar improve in morals?
When it turns over a new leaf.
Born
- John C. Calhoun (7th U.S. vice president) –
- Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th U.S. president) –
- Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (composer) –
- Rudolf Diesel (inventor) –
- Tristram Coffin (writer) –
- Robert Donat (actor) –
- Herman Tarnower (physician) –
- Wesley Buchele (American agricultural engineer ) –
- Peter Graves (actor) –
- George Plimpton (author) –
- John Updike (author) –
- Charley Pride (singer) –
- Wilson Pickett (singer) –
- Kevin Dobson (actor) –
- Ingemar Stenmark (skier) –
- Mike Rowe (television host) –
- Vanessa Williams (actress) –
- Bonnie Blair (speedskater, Olympic gold medalist) –
- Queen Latifah (singer & actress) –
- Dane Cook (comedian) –
- Adam Levine (musician) –
- Lily Collins (actress) –
Died
- Louis Bromfield (author) –
- Eric Fromm (author) –
- Maude Farris-Luse (died at 115 years, 56 days) –
- Alonzo Decker, Jr. (turned tool manufacturer Black & Decker into corporate giant) –
- Natasha Richardson (actress) –
- Fess Parker (actor) –
Events
- British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act –
- Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourned for the last time –
- Telephone communication established between London and the Continent –
- Mahatma Gandhi sentenced to six years in jail after his first civil disobedience campaign against British rule in India –
- First electric razor marketed –
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states must supply free legal aid to indigent clients charged with serious criminal offenses –
- Russian cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov became the first man to float freely in space, on a lifeline attached to Soviet spacecraft Voskhod –
- Fourteen NATO members (all except France) expressed their support for the North Atlantic Treaty and the principle of military integration –
- The tanker Torrey Canyon was wrecked near Cornwall, England, and discharged more than 31,000,000 gallons of crude oil –
- U.S. postal workers went on strike –
- Most Arab oil companies ended oil embargo against U.S. –
- Capital Cities Communications, Inc., announced the purchase of American Broadcasting Companies for $3.5 billion –
- Fleet Financial Corp. and Norstar Bancorp swapped stock in a $1.3 billion merger –
- Daylilies return to Earth on space shuttle Discovery –
- Largest art theft in the United States at the time ($500 million) occurred in Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston –
- Sumatran tiger born, Sacramento Zoo, California –
Weather
- Great Tri-State Tornado: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana - most deadly in U.S. history - killed 695 people –
- Flooding worsened when more than 6.27 inches of rain (and 4.05 inches the next day) fell in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire –
- Over 9 inches of rain caused severe flooding in the Catskill Mountains in New York –
- A haboob rose up to 1,000 feet high and 200 miles wide across western Texas and New Mexico –
- NOAA announced that February 2019 was the world’s 5th warmest February since 1880 –