Today's Puzzle
Will glass coffins be a trend this year?
What Happened On
February 4, 2004
The social media website Facebook is launched by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. They initially limited membership to only Harvard students.
Photo Credit: Allan warren
Photo Credit: Allan warren
Liberace Dies of AIDS
February 4, 1987
67-year-old Liberace dies of pneumonia as a result of AIDS. Liberace was one of the first major celebrities to die of the disease. He had been diagnosed 18 months earlier, but kept his diagnosis secret.
Liberace captivated audiences with his extravagant costumes and elaborate candelabra. His television show, The Liberace Show (1952-69), was an instant hit, garnering him over 10,000 fan letters a week. He ended each show with his signature closing song I'll Be Seeing You.
32-Year-Old Karen Carpenter Dies From Anorexia
February 4, 1983
Thirty-two-year-old singer Karen Carpenter dies of a heart attack induced by anorexia nervosa. She had struggled with the disease for years and had even been hospitalized for it. Eventually the strain on her heart caused her death.
Carpenter had begun dieting in high school, reducing her weight to 120 pounds (54 kg) at a height of 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall. In 1973, she saw a concert photo of herself that she felt made her look fat. She then hired a personal trainer, but started gaining muscle which made her feel even fatter, so she fired the trainer and began dieting on her own. She also used thyroid medicine, to increase her metabolism, and laxatives and continued to lose weight, dropping to 91 pounds (41 kg). She was hospitalized in September of 1982 for the condition and placed on intravenous parenteral nutrition. She gained some weight, but this put additional strain on her heart, already weakened from years of anorexia. On February 4, 1983, she collapsed and paramedics noted her heart beat was only once every 10 seconds. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. She was due to sign divorce papers later that day.
The autopsy attributed her death to "emetine cardiotoxicity due to or as a consequence of anorexia nervosa."
Music: We've Only Just Begun (1970, #2) and Rainy Days and Mondays (1971, #2).
Patty Hearst (right) robbing bank
Patty Hearst (right) robbing bank
Patty Hearst Kidnapped
February 4, 1974
Patty Hearst, heiress to the Hearst publishing fortune, is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. They demanded the Hearst family deliver $70 worth of food to every needy person in California. The estimated cost of such an operation would have been about $400,000,000. Patty Hearst's father tried to donate $2,000,000 worth of food to the Bay Area, but the distribution turned into chaos and the SLA refused to release Patty.
She later participated in a bank robbery with them for which she was convicted. She claimed she was raped and tortured to coerce her into participating in their crimes, also claiming she was a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, in which a hostage bonds with their captors. She was sentenced to seven years in prison, but given clemency by U.S. President Jimmy Carter after serving 22 months and President Bill Clinton gave her a full pardon in 2001.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
February 4, 1962
St. Jude Children's Hospital is founded. Actor Danny Thomas, while a "starving actor", swore if he found success, he would open a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. With help from Dr. Lemuel Diggs and Anthony Abraham, in 1962 Thomas founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
It is a pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases, particularly leukemia and other cancers and there is no cost to the patient to be treated there.
George Washington Elected President
February 4, 1789
George Washington is elected president with 100% of the electoral vote. He was the first and only president to do so.
President Bush
February 4, 2005
Speaking to a single mother of three with a mentally challenged child, George W. Bush asks, "You work three jobs? …Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that."
Your Tax Dollars at Work
February 4, 1985
It's revealed that the Navy is paying $640 for $25 toilet seats.
World War II - Yalta Conference
February 4, 1945
The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union meet for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization.
First Winter Olympics Held In U.S.
February 4, 1932
New York Governor (and future U.S. President) Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurates the games in Lake Placid, New York. Athletes from 17 nations competed, down from 25 nations at the previous Games in 1928.
Interstate Commerce Commission
February 4, 1887
The government agency is established to regulate interstate surface transportation.
Civil War
February 4, 1861
The six states that had seceded from the Union meet to form the Confederate States of America. Five days later they elected Jefferson Davis as their president.
Birthdays
Dan Quayle (James Danforth Quayle)
Born February 4, 1947
American politician. 44th U.S. Vice-President (1989-93).
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead
Creator of the Modern Zombie Movie
George A. Romero
Born February 4, 1940 d. 2017
American-Canadian filmmaker. He is the creator of the modern-era zombie movie, starting with Night of the Living Dead (1968). Film: Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), and The Dark Half (1993).
Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest during the bus boycotts
Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest during the bus boycotts
Rosa Parks
Born February 4, 1913 d. 2005
American civil-rights leader. She helped start the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man (1955).
Parks had initially seated herself in the black section of the bus. However, when the whites-only section became filled, the bus driver declared the section she was sitting in was now whites-only and asked her and several other blacks to move. The other blacks moved, but Parks refused prompting her arrest. Her arrest led to a year-long city bus boycott which then led to ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.
While some claim she wouldn't give up her seat because she was tired, Parks said, "I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day … No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
Parks was the first African American woman to have her likeness depicted in the National Statuary Hall (2013).
Charles Augustus Lindbergh
Born February 4, 1902 d. 1974
American aviator, "Lucky Lindy." He made the first solo transatlantic flight (1927).
Éole Patent Drawings
Éole Patent Drawings
First Manned, Powered, Heavier-than-Air Flight
Clément Ader
Born February 4, 1841 d. 1926
French inventor. He made the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight in 1890, 13 years before the famous Wright Brothers' flight. He flew his Éole, a batwing monoplane that flew 160 feet (50 meters) during secret military tests. However, his craft was not well controlled, leaving controlled flights to later aviators, such as the Wright brothers.
Clint Black
Born February 4, 1962
American country singer, Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year (1990). His debut album Killin' Time had five number one singles.
Michael Beck
Born February 4, 1949
American actor. TV: Houston Knights (Sgt. Levon Lundy).
Frank Wills
Born February 4, 1948 d. 2000
American security guard. He uncovered the Watergate break in when he noticed tape on a door at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. He played himself in the movie All the President's Men.
Photo Credit: Hunter Desportes
Photo Credit: Hunter Desportes
Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier)
Born February 4, 1948
American singer. Music: I'm 18 (1971) and Schools Out (1972, #1). His band started out as a group of high school track athletes who formed the group "The Earwigs" wearing wigs and performing satirical versions of Beatles' songs for the school talent show; they won.
John Schuck
Born February 4, 1940
American actor. Stage: Annie (1979, Daddy Warbucks). TV: McMillan and Wife (Sgt. Enright) and The Munsters Today (Herman).
David Brenner
Born February 4, 1936 d. 2014
American comedian. TV: Hollywood Squares (panelist) and The Tonight Show (guest host). He was a pioneer in observational comedy (Have you ever noticed…).
Conrad Bain
Born February 4, 1923 d. 2013
Canadian actor. TV: Maude (1972-78, Dr. Arthur Harmon) and Diff'rent Strokes (1978-86, the father Philip Drummond).
William Talman (right) as Hamilton Burger
William Talman (right) as Hamilton Burger
William Talman, Jr.
Born February 4, 1915 d. 1968
American actor. TV: Perry Mason (1957-66, D.A. Hamilton Burger).
Byron Nelson (John Byron Nelson, Jr.)
Born February 4, 1912 d. 2006
American golfer. He won a record 11 consecutive tournaments tournaments in 1945. This feat is chronicled in the book Byron Nelson: The Most Remarkable Year in the History of Golf.
Tombaugh with his homemade 9-inch telescope
Tombaugh with his homemade 9-inch telescope
Clyde Tombaugh (Clyde William Tombaugh)
Born February 4, 1906 d. 1997
American astronomer. He discovered the dwarf planet Pluto (1930). He also discovered nearly 800 asteroids.
Mark Hopkins
Born February 4, 1802 d. 1887
American educator. U.S. President James A. Garfield once commented, "A pine bench, with Mark Hopkins at one end of it and me at the other, is a good enough college for me!"
Deaths
Photo Credit: Allan warren
Photo Credit: Allan warren
Liberace (Wladziu Valentino Liberace)
Died February 4, 1987 b. 1919
American flamboyant pianist. He captivated audiences with his extravagant costumes and elaborate candelabra. His television show, The Liberace Show (1952-69), was an instant hit, garnering him over 10,000 fan letters a week. He ended each show with his signature closing song I'll Be Seeing You.
Liberace was one of the first major celebrities to die of AIDS.
Karen Carpenter
Died February 4, 1983 b. 1950
American singer with the Carpenters. She was originally the group's drummer, but eventually became the group's leading woman and singer. With a distinctive three-octave contralto vocal range, she was praised by her peers as one of the greatest singers ever.
She died of a heart attack induced by anorexia nervosa. She had struggled with the disease for years and had even been hospitalized from it. Eventually the strain on her heart caused her death.
Carpenter had begun dieting in high school, reducing her weight to 120 pounds (54 kg) at a height of 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall. In 1973, she saw a concert photo of herself that she felt made her look fat. She then hired a personal trainer, but started gaining muscle which made her feel even fatter, so she fired the trainer and began dieting on her own. She used thyroid medicine, to increase her metabolism, and laxatives and continued to lose weight, dropping to 91 pounds (41 kg). She was hospitalized in September of 1982 for the condition and placed on intravenous parenteral nutrition. She gained some weight, but this put additional strain on her heart, already weakened from years of anorexia. On February 4, 1983, she collapsed and paramedics noted her heart beat was only once every 10 seconds. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. She was due to sign divorce papers later that day.
The autopsy attributed her death to "emetine cardiotoxicity due to or as a consequence of anorexia nervosa."
Music: We've Only Just Begun (1970, #2) and Rainy Days and Mondays (1971, #2).
John Mahoney
Died February 4, 2018 b. 1940
English-American actor. TV: Frasier (1993-2004, Martin Crane).
Maurice White
Died February 4, 2016 b. 1941
American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Grammy-winning singer, with Earth, Wind & Fire. Music: Shining Star (1975, #1, Grammy), Best of My Love (1977, #1), and After the Love has Gone (1979, #2, Grammy).
Reg Presley
Died February 4, 2013 b. 1941
British singer, with the Troggs. Music: Wild Thing (1966, #1).
Ossie Davis (Raiford Chatman Davis)
Died February 4, 2005 b. 1917
American actor, civil rights activist. TV: B.L. Stryker (Oz Jackson) and Evening Shade (Ponder Blue and narrator).
Sisinnius
Died February 4, 708 b. ????
religious leader, 87th Pope (Jan. - Feb. 708).
Lucius Septimius Severus
Died February 4, 211 b. 146
Roman Emperor (193-211).