Thought for Today

 History: 1646: Roger Scott tried for sleeping in church 1749: First edition of "Tom Jones" published 1784: John Wesley charters the Methodist Church 1827: First commercial railroad in US chartered--B&O 1854: Republican Party formally organized in Ripon Wisconsin 1933: First female member of the Cabinet--Frances Perkins Secretary of Labor 1953: Francis Crick and James Watson discover the structure of DNA 1983: Final episode of MASH 1988: British TV program "That's Life" honors Nicholas Winton and he is surprised when the audience is filled with children he saved from German occupied Czechoslovakia. You can view this on You Tube. One of the great stories of what one person can do.  Born: Linus Pauling, Frank Gehry, Mario Andretti, Zero Mostel, Gavin MacLeod ["Love Boat"],  Bubba Smith, Jason Aldean,  Died: Paul Harvey, Mr. Ed, the talking horse, Jane Russell,  Thought: I have underlined Matthew 3:8--"Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with ...

 History: 1670: Jews expelled from Austria 1693: First women's magazine--Ladies Mercury of London 1813: First federal vaccination legislation 1814: Beethoven's Eighth Symphony premiers 1827: First Mardi Gras in New Orleans 1872: Charlotte Ray is the first African American layer in the US 1879: Saccharin discovered 1940: Carbon 14 discovered--radiocarbon dating 1951: 22nd Amendment ratified--President limited to two terms 1974: First issue of People Magazine 1981: Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder record "Ebony and Ivory" 1996: First Pokemon appearance in a video game 2019: Captain Marvel premiers 2020: Dow has largest point loss in history--1,190.95 Born: Constantine, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Demarest ["My Three Sons"], Hugo Black, Gene Sarazen, John Steinbeck, Joan Bennett, John Connally, Joanne Woodward, Elizabeth Taylor, Raymond Berry, Ralph Nader, Tony Gonzalez, Josh Groban, Judi Adkisson, John Fielden, Timothy Zielisnki Died: Francis Marion, L...

  History: 1791: First Bank of the United States chartered 1793: First cabinet meeting at the home of George Washington 1799: Congress passes first federal quarantine legislation 1836: Samuel Colt patents first multi-shot revolver 1859: First use of the insanity plea 1901: JP Morgan organizes US Steel 1913: 13th Amendment becomes effective authorizing graduated income tax 1932: Adolph Hitler gains German citizenship after immigrating from Austria 1964: Ali wins his first heavyweight title beating Sonny Liston 1982: Final episode of the Lawrence Welk Show--still on TV 2020: Memorial service for Kobe Bryant Born: Renoir, Enrico Caruso, John Foster Dulles, Gert Frobe [Goldfinger], Jim Bakkus, Bobby Riggs, Sally Jessy Raphael, George Harrison, Lee Evans [raised fist at Mexico Olympics], James Brown [NFL Today] Died: Christopher Wren [architect], Elijah Muhammad [Nation of Islam], Tennessee Williams, C Everett Koop,  Thought: A last thought on Malachi this morning. I am thinking ab...

  History: 1582: Pope Gregory announces a new calendar 1803: Marbury v. Madison, first time a statute ruled unconstitutional 1868: First parade with floats--Mardi Gras in Mobile 1868: House votes to impeach Andrew Johnson 1909: Hudson Motor Car Company founded 1930: Harry Ironside called to pastor Moody Bible Church 1969: "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" premiers 1981: Prince Charles announces his engagement to Diana Spencer 2008: Fidel Castro retires 2020: Scientist identify the first animal that does not require oxygen--a parasite living in salmon tissue Born: Wilhelm Grimm [Fairy Tales], Honus Wagner, Chester Nimitz, Abe Vigoda, John Vernon, Phil Knight, Joe Lieberman, Steve Jobs, Paula Zahn, Zach Johnson,  Died: Robert Fulton, Charles Monroe Sheldon [wrote "In His Steps" from which we got "What Would Jesus Do"], Malcom Forbes, George Gobel, Dinah Shore, Don Knotts, Dennis Weaver, Jan Berenstain, Harold Ramis Thought: Yesterday I was looking at Malachi 2:17 ...

 History: 1455: Johnannes Gutenberg prints his first Bible 1758: Jonathan Edwards receives a smallpox vaccination, contracts the disease and dies in March 1778: Baron Von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge--training is instrumental in the success of Washington's army 1821: First US pharmacy college organized in Philadelphia 1836: Siege of the Alamo begins--falls March 6 1886: Times of London publishes the first classified ad 1896: Tootsie Roll introduced 1904: US buys control of the Panama Canal for $10 million 1940: "Pinocchio" released 1945: Flag raised by Marines on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima 1954: First mass inoculation with Salk polio vaccine 1967: 25th Amendment adopted--Presidential succession 1985: Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game 2020: First Covid outbreak in Europe [152 cases in Italy] Born: Samuel Pepys, George Frederic Handel, John Sutter [gold in California], W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Tibbets [Enola Gay], Tom Osborne, Peter Fonda, Ed "To...

  History: 1349: Jews expelled from Zurich 1819: Adams-Onis Treaty cedes Florida to the US 1854: First meeting of the Republican Party 1876: Johns Hopkins University opens 1879: Frank W. Woolworth opens first 5&dime store--it fails 1893: First Iron Bowl--Auburn beats Alabama 1935: "The Little Colonel" premiers--first inter-racial dance in the movies--Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson on the stairs 1936: Sonja Henie wins her 10th straight world figure skating title 1959: First Daytona 500-- Lee Petty wins in a contested finish 1978: 2 propane tankers explode in Waverly Tennessee killing 15 1980: Miracle on Ice--Lake Placid Born: George Washington, Robert Baden-Powell [scouting], Edna St. Vincent Millay, Charlie Finley, Marni Nixon [dubbed the singing for Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady," Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," and Deborah Kerr in "The King and I"], Ted Kennedy, Sparky Anderson, Tommy Aaron, Oliver ["Jean" and "Good mo...

  History: 1173: Thomas Becket canonized  1431: First day of the trial of Joan of Arc 1613: Michael Romanov elected first Tsar of Russia of the House of Romanov 1804: First locomotive runs along the tramway in Wales 1848: Engels and Marx publish "The Communist Manifesto" in London 1866: Lucy Hobbs is first US woman to earn DDS degree 1878: World's first telephone directory--50 subscribers in New Harbor Connecticut 1885: Washington Monument dedicated 1916: Battle of Verdun begins--lasts 9 months and creates 1 million casualties 1931: Alka Seltzer introduced 1970: Jackson 5 first television appearance--American Bandstand 1972: Nixon is first US President to visit China 1980: Eric Heiden wins 4th of 5 Gold Medals at Lake Placid 1988: Jimmy Swaggert confesses his sins to his congregation 2003: "Real Time" with Bill Maher debuts Born: Hubert de Givenchy, Santa Ana, Erma Bombeck, Nina Simone, Alan Rickman, Jennifer Love Hewitt, John Lewis, Anthony Daniels [C-3PO], Tyn...

  History: 1792: US Postal Service created 1816: Rossini's "Barber of Seville" premiers 1865: MIT forms first US architectural school 1869: Tennessee Governor declares martial law because of KKK 1927: Golfers in South Carolina arrested for violating the Sabbath 1935: Caroline Mikkelson is the first woman to land on Antarctica 1941: Polish Jews barred from public transportation 1944: Batman and Robin comic strip debuts 1952: "The African Queen" premiers [one of my favorites] 1953: August Busch buys the St. Louis Cardinals for $3.75 million 1962: John Glenn is the first American to orbit the earth Born: Ansel Adams, Gale Gordon, Gloria Vanderbilt, Sidney Portier, Amanda Blake [Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke], Bobby Unser, Nancy Wilson, Roger Penske, Mitch McConnell, Phil Esposito, Jennifer O'Neill, Patty Hearst, Charles Barkley, Cindy Crawford, Rihanna Died: Frederick Douglass, Henri Moissan [isolated fluorine], Robert Peary, Chester Nimitz, Kathryn Kuhlman [faith hea...

  History: 1678: John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" published 1856: The American Party [Know-Nothings] convene to nominate Millard Fillmore for President 1885: Mark Twain publishes "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" 1908: First US postage stamps in rolls 1930: Pluto discovered 1948: Father Butrus Sowny of St. Mark's Orthodox Monastery asks John Trever to examine an old manuscript--first discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls 1954: Church of Scientology formed in L.A. 1965: Jimmie Lee Jackson is beaten and shot during a march in Marion Alabama inspiring the Selma to Montgomery marches Born: Allessandro Volta [battery], George Peabody, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Wendell Wilkie, Hans Asperger [Nazi doctor for whom Asperger's syndrome is named], Bill Cullen, Jack Palance, Helen Gurley Brown, George Kennedy, Toni Morrison, Yoko Ono, Judy Rankin, Cybil Shepherd, John Hughes, John Travolta, Matt Dillon, Dr. Dre, Molly Ringwald,  Died: Kublai Khan, Martin Luther, M...

 History: 1621: Miles Standish elected first commander of Plymouth Colony 1791: John Wesley becomes ill--will die on March 2 1801: House of Representatives breaks Electoral College tie and elects Thomas Jefferson President 1815: Treaty of Ghent signed ending the War of 1812 1976: Sardines first canned 1897: Organization of Mothers forms [PTA] 1904: Puccini's "Madam Butterfly" premiers 1933: First issue of "Newsweek" 1936: First superhero appears in comics--"The Phantom" 1958: Comic strip "BC" first published 1967: Beatles release "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields" 2008: Furious that his wife has become a Christian, husband hires Home Guard in Sri Lanka to attack and kill Pastor Neil Edirisinghe--his wife and 2-year old son are also injured 2014: Jimmy Fallon premiers on the "Tonight Show" 2014: Davis and White win their first of six U.S. Championships in Ice Dancing--also won Olympic Gold Born: Montgomery Ward,...

  History: 309: Pamphilius of Caesarea is beheaded for his Christian faith; he trained Eusebius, the first notable church historian 600: Pope Gregory decrees that "God Bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze 1857: Gallaudet University for the Deaf forms in Washington DC 1883: "Ladies Home Journal" begins publication 1911: "Rise Up O Men of God" by William Merrill is published 1923: King Tut's burial chamber opened by Howard Carter 1945: US forces land on Corregidor 1950: "What's My Line" premiers 1959: Castro becomes Prime Minister of Cuba 1968: Elvis receives a gold record for "How Great Thou Art" 1984: Scott Hamilton wins Olympic Gold 1985: Hezbollah founded 2019: Archbishop of Washington is the first Cardinal removed for sexual abuse of minors Born: Charles Russell [Jehovah's Witnesses], Edgar Bergen [Charley McCarthy], Hugh Beaumont [Leave it to Beaver], Anna Mae Hays [First female General in US military], Vera-El...

 History: 399 BC: Socrates is sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of youths. How many would die if this were a crime today? 1764: St. Louis is founded as a French trading post 1842: First adhesive postage stamp in the U.S.  1862: Grant assaults Fort Donelson 1967: "Blue Danube Waltz" by Strauss premiers 1879: Women authorized to practice before the Supreme Court 1898: U.S. Maine sinks in Havana Harbor 1903: First Teddy Bear introduced 1919: American Legion organizes in France 1932: George Burns and Gracie Allen debut on the Guy Lombardo Show 1933: FDR survives assassination attempt that kills Chicago Mayor 1936: Hitler announces the Volkswagen Beetle 1941: Duke Ellington records "Take the A Train" 1950: Disney's "Cinderella" premiers 1961: U.S. Figure Skating Team killed in plane crash--Brussels 1965: Red Maple Leaf flag becomes official flag of Canada 1996: Bill Belichick fired by the Cleveland Browns 1997: Todd Eldridge and Tara Lipinski win ...

 History: 1924: Thomas Watson renames the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company as International Business Machines 1929: St. Valentine's Day massacre 1931: Original "Dracula" released with Bela Lugosi 1971: Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in the White house 1978: First "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments 1984: Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean ice dance to Bolero in Sarajevo Born: Frederick Douglas, Jack Benny, Mickey Wright, Carl Bernstein Died: Richard II, James Cook, William Tecumseh Sherman, Dolly the Sheep Happy Valentine's Day Thought: Back in 2021, I wrote about writing a love letter to Jesus on Valentine's Day. I first suggested reading "How Do I Love Thee" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Let me count the ways I love. I will love the Lord To the depths, to the breadths, to the heights.  In the day and in the night Freely, purely, passionately, faithfully In smiles and tears, in life and if God allows, after death...

 History: 1633: Galileo arrives in Rome to be tried for asserting that the earth revolves around the sun 1826: American Temperance Society forms 1866: Jesse James robs his first bank--Liberty Missouri 1917: Mata Hari arrested 1920: National Negro Baseball League organized 1935: Bruno Hauptmann found guilty in Lindbergh kidnapping 1957: SCLC forms in New Orleans with Matin Luther King as President 1971: Spiro Agnew hits tee shots into crowd injuring 2 1976: Dorothy Hamill wins Olympic Gold 1980: Lake Placid Olympics open--Do you believe in Miracles? 2000: Last Peanuts comic strip [Charles Schulz died on February 12] Born: Thomas Malthus [population will exceed food supply so population control is necessary]; Bess Truman, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Eddie Robinson, Kim Novak, George Seagal, Jerry Springer, Mike Krzyzewski, Peter Gabriel,  Randy Moss Died: Catherine Howard, Richard Wagner, David Janssen, Waylon Jennings, Antonin Scalia Thought: Reading in Micah 6 this morning, particul...

 History: 1809: Robert Fulton patents the steamboat 1858: Bernadette has first vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes 1896: Oscar Wilde's "Salome" premiers [fictionalized telling of the beheading of John the Baptist) 1942: "Archie" comic book premiers 1945: Yalta Conference--Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin 1979: Ayatollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran 1990: Nelson Madela released from prison after 27 years 1993: Janet Reno is first female Attorney General 2013: Pope Benedict resigns, first Pope to resign since 1415 Born: Thomas Edison, Sidney Sheldon, Eva Gabor, Leslie Nielson, Tina Louise, Manuel Noriega, Burt Reynolds, Jeb Bush, Sheryl Crow, Jennifer Aniston Died: Hugh of St. Victor [He died in 1141 and I read his "Didascalicon" in a philosophy class], Rene Descartes ["I think therefore I am"], Leon Foucalt [Foucalt pendulum demonstrates rotation of the earth], Sylvia Plath, George Stephen [invented the Webber Kettle Grill], Peter Benchley, Whit...

Sorry, no bold today. My computer crashed and I’m trying to post on my iPad.  History: 1763: Treaty of Paris surrenders Canada to Britain 1855: Citizenship law changed so that children of US citizens born abroad have US citizenship 1863: First fire extinguisher patent issued 1897: NY Times starts using the slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print" 1933: First singing telegram delivered 1939: "Stagecoach" with John Wayne premiers 1940: "Tom & Jerry" cartoon premiers 1942: First gold record--"Chattanooga Cho Cho" by Glenn Miller 1968: Peggy Fleming wins Gold at Grenoble 2005: Prince Charles and Camilla Parker are engaged Born: Boris Pasternak ["Dr. Zhivago"], Alan Hale, Jimmy Durante, Bill Tilden, Leontyne Price, Robert Wagner, Roberta Flack, Mark Spitz,Greg Norman, Jim Cramer ["Mad Money"], George Stephanopoulos, Laura Dern, Lexi Thompson Died: David Brewster [invented kaleidoscope], Joseph Lister, Wilhem Rontgen [disco...

  History: 1555: Bishop John Hooper and Dr. Rowland Taylor burned at the stake as Protestant heretics 1775: Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion 1825: John Quincy Adams elected President by the House of Representatives after no candidate got a majority of the electoral votes 1870: National Weather Service established 1895: Volleyball invented 1900: Davis Cup established by Dwight Davis 1909: U.S. outlaws opium 1926: Atlanta schools prohibit teaching evolution 1942: Daylight Savings Time goes into effect 1943: Alexander Solzhenitsyn arrested and charged with conspiracy to overthrow Stalin's government. Sent to a Gulag where he will find faith. 1964: Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan 1969: First flight of the Boeing 747 1974: Dorothy Hamill wins Gold  1995: Riverdance first opens in Dublin Born: William Henry Harrison, Wilhelm Maybach, Carmen Miranda, Dean Rusk, Ernest Tubb, Roger Mudd, Garner Ted Armstrong, Clete Boyer, Joe Pesci, Alice Walker ["The Color Purple"], M...

 History:  1693: William & Mary College chartered 1861: Confederate States of America form 1883: Louis Waterman begins experiments to invent fountain pen 1910: Boy Scouts of America incorporated 1918: Stars & Stripes Magazine first published 1930: #1 song--"Happy Days are Here Again" 1936: First NFL Draft--Jay Berwanger is the first pick 1965: First combat troops sent to Vietnam 1968: "Planet of the Apes" premiers 1969: Last issue of "The Saturday Evening Post" 1984: Olympics open in Sarajevo 2002: Olympics open in Salt Lake Born William Tecumseh Sherman, Jules Verne, Dmitri Mendeleev, Thomas Selfridge [1st to die in an airplane crash], Lana Turner, Audrey Meadows, Jack Lemon. James Dean, John Williams [composer], Ted Koppel, Nick Nolte, John Grisham, Gary Coleman, Bethany Hamilton [Soul Surfer] Died: Mary Queen of Scots [Bloody Mary], Peter the great, Connie Mack, William Fulbright, Anna Nicole Smith, Robert Conrad Thought: Looking at two passages...

 History: 1817: Baltimore is first US city lit by gas street lamps 1839: Henry Clay says, "I'd rather be right than President" 1893: Vanderbilt claims to have participated in the first organized intercollegiate basketball game beating the YMCA 9-3 at the YMCA Gymnasium 1940: Pinocchio" premiers 1945: Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila 1958: Dodgers officially become Los Angeles Dodgers 1964: Beatles land at JFK for first tour of US 1970: Pete Maravich scores 69 for LSU in a loss 1974: "Blazing Saddles" premiers 1987: Brian Boitano wins US Figure Skating Gold 1990: Lisa Leslie scores 101 points for Morningside HS in the first half--opponents refuse to play second half and lose 102-24 1992: Maastricht Treaty to create the European Union 2010 Saints beat the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV 2016: Bronco's beat Panthers in Super Bowl L 2021: Bucs beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV Born: John Deere, Charles Dickens, Garth Brooks, Chris Rock, Steve Nash, Ashton Kutche...

  History: 1564: John Calvin preaches his last sermon 1812: Ordination of first foreign missionaries from the U.S.--Adoniram Judson, Gordon Hall, Luther Rice, Samuel Newell and Samuel Nott 1820: 86 American immigrants begin the settlement of Liberia 1894: Bottle opener invented 1911; First old-age home opens in Prescott AZ 1935: Monopoly game goes on sale 1952: Queen Elizabeth II assumes the throne 1965: "You've Lost the Loving Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers is #1 1971: Alan Shepherd hits golf ball on the moon 1998: Washington National becomes Ronald Reagan National Airport 2014: Jay Leno ends his hosting on The Tonight Show Born: Aaron Burr, JEB Stuart, Babe Ruth, Ronald Reagan, Eva Braun, Mary Leakey, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mike Ferrell, Tom Brokaw, Fabian, Bob Marley, Natalie Cole, Axl Rose Died: Joseph Priestly [discovered oxygen and carbonated water], Barbara Tuchman ["Guns of August"], Danny Thomas, Arthur Ashe, Carl Wilson [Beach Boys], Jack Hyles [First Bapt...

  History: 1555: John Rogers burned at the stake for his faith during reign of Bloody Mary 1794: French National Convention abolishes slavery 1861: Jefferson Davis elected President of the Confederacy 1928: Manche Masemola is killed by her parents for worshipping in the Anglican Church in South Africa 1945: Yalta Conference--Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin 1957: First portable electric typewriter goes on sale 1969: John Madden becomes coach of the Raiders 1970: "Patton" premiers with George C Scott 1974: Patty Hearst kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army 2004: Facebook launched from Harvard dorm room Born: Charles Lindbergh, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Byron Nelson, Rosa Parks, Dan Quayle, Lawrence Taylor, Clint Black Died: Adolphe Sax, Karen Carpenter, Liberace, Ossie Davis, Florence Green [last surviving veteran of WWI dies in 2012 at age 110] Thought: Reading and weeping over Jeremiah 2:11-13 this morning. "Has a nation changed gods, when they were not gods?" Here Go...

 History: 1834: Wake Forest University founded 1863: Samuel Clemens first uses "Mark Twain" 1882: PT Barnum purchases Jumbo the elephant 1887: To avoid disputes, Congress adopts Electoral Count Act--didn't work 1913: 16th Amendment ratified--income tax 1943: Troopship SS Dorchester torpedoed and sunk near Greenland with 600 lives lost. Among the dead, four chaplains who gave their life jackets to soldiers--Clark Poling [Dutch Reformed], George Lansing Fox [Methodist], Father John Washington [Catholic], Alexander David Goode [Jewish Rabbi] 1953: J Fred Muggs [chimp] becomes a regular on the Today Show. I'll keep my thought to myself about the talking heads. 1959: Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper die in a plane crash--the day the music died 1967: Jimi Hendrix records "Purple Haze" 2020: Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan with 3700 passengers--Covid Born: Ferdinand Magellan, Felix Mendelssohn, Horace Greeley, Elizabeth Blackwell [1st...

History: 1709: Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on an island for 5 years--inspires the writing of "Robinson Crusoe." 1738: George Whitefield departs for Georgia as a missionary 1876: National Baseball League is formed 1887: First Groundhog Day celebrated in Punxsutawney 1913: Grand Central Terminal opens in NYC 1922: James Joyce publishes "Ulysses"  1925: Dog sleds reach Nome with diphtheria medicine--origin of the Iditarod 1949: Ben Hogan almost dies in a car wreck 1959: Vince Lombardi hired as Packers coach 1974: Barbara Streisand's first #1 hit--"The Way We Were" 1975: Dorothy Hamill wins US Figure Skating Championship 2020: Palindrome Day--02022020. Last previous 11111111 [November 11, 1111] Born: Solomon Guggenheim, James Joyce, George Halas, Howard Johnson, Ayn Rand, Red Schoendienst, James Dickey ["Deliverance"], Stan Getz, Tom Smothers, Farah Fawcett, Ina Garten, Christie Brinkley,  Died: Annie Wittenmeyer [WCTU's...

  History: 1790: Supreme Court convenes for the first time 1849: First U.S. College of Dental Surgery incorporated in Baltimore 1856: Auburn chartered as the East Alabama Male College 1862: Julia Howe publishes "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" 1884: First volume of the Oxford English Dictionary published [A-Ant] 1896: Puccini's "La Boheme" premiers in Turin 1898: First auto insurance policy issued--Travelers 1918: The Patriarch of Moscow publishes a letter rebuking the Bolsheviks for jailing, torturing and killing priests, nuns, and laity. "Your acts are not merely cruel, they are the works of Satan for which you will burn in hell fire in the life hereafter and be cursed by future generations in this life." He was jailed for a year and died shortly after his release. 1920: First commercial armored car 1953: "You Are There" with Walter Cronkite premiers ["Today was a day like all days filled with those events that alter and illuminate ou...