Trivia for January 11, 2010

Holidays for Today: National Clean Off Your Desk Day* Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friend's Day* Plough Monday (UK)*
Independence Day (Morocco)* National Unity Day (Nepal)
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TODAY IN BIRTHDAYS:
1755 – Alexander Hamilton, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury
1807 – Ezra Cornell, Westchester Co. NY, businessman and university founder (Cornell University)
1814 – James Paget, British surgeon and pathologist (Paget's Disease, founder modern pathology, discovered parasite causing trichinosis)
1870 – Alexander Stirling Calder, Philadelphia PA, sculptor (Washington as President)
1885 – Jack Hoxie, Kingfisher Creek OK, actor, rodeo performer (Lightning Bryce, Where Is This West?)
1895 – Laurens Hammond, Evanston IL, inventor tonewheel generator; founder Hammond Organ Co. (patents for an automobile transmission, a barometer, a "tickless" clock, guided missile controls)
1923 – Carroll Shelby, Leesburg TX, race car driver, automobile designer and businessman (Cobra cars)
1923 – Jerome Bixby, Los Angeles, writer/ editor (Planet Stories; Star Trek "Mirror, Mirror" & "Requiem for Methuselah" & "Day of the Dove"; Fantastic Voyage)
1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-born American actor (The Time Machine, Oregon Trail, Twilight Zone)
1946 – Naomi Judd, Ashland KY, singer (The Judds)
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HAPPENED THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
1759 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.
1878 – Milk is first delivered in bottles.
1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
1935 – Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
1943 – World War II: The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
1949 – First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
1964 – US Surgeon General Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., publishes a report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health. It is the first such statement ever made by the U.S. government.
1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.
1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.
2007 – JK Rowling completes the 7th novel in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
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