Member Article

1000 and counting

The bdaily is 1000! Well, 1000 from when we started counting. We thought we’d find out what else happened on February 2 in history, to see if we’re sharing this date with any other illustrious events. It turns out that on this day in 1653 New Amsterdam (later New York) was founded, in 1848 the Mexican-American War ended, and in 1989 Sky Television was launched in Europe. It is the birthday of David Jason, Eva Cassidy, and Shakira; and the anniversary of the deaths of Boris Karloff, Donald Pleasance, and Sid Vicious.

And, best of all, it’s Groundhog Day! The day that Punxsutawney Phil, Staten Island Chuck, Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam, and many other prescient rodents poke their heads out of their burrows and predict whether the USA will get an early spring or another six weeks of winter. We don’t have groundhogs in the UK, so we’d like to suggest the use of hedgehogs instead. Keep an eye out for the prickly little porcines, in case their behaviour can tell us what our weather is going to be like.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .