February 7 - Earthshaking news in England and the U.S.!

 Posted on February 7, 2021

This is an update of my post published on February 7, 2010:

On this date in 1812, "earthshaking" events occurred in both England and the United States:

England – Charles Dickens was born!

Happy Birthday to Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist...(and more).

Dickens was one of the most popular authors of the Victorian era and remains one of the most popular of all time, whose novels and short stories have never gone out of print. From high school literature classes to popular movies, from animated television shows to Dickens fairs and festivals all over the world, Dickens's work has appeared over and over again.

Did you know...?

Some historians credit Dickens with inventing Christmas. What they mean, of course, is that Dickens and his works reinvented Christmas, and he, along with a few other trendsetters, helped solidify a certain look and feel that still resonates with many modern people.

Before Dickens, Christmas in English-speaking countries was nothing like the holiday it is today. For many, it was a large family feast and not much more, and some Protestants were suspicious of any Christmas celebration at all.

During the Victorian era, however, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria brought the German tradition of decorated Christmas trees to England; soon small presents hanging on the tree became larger presents under the tree.

Dickens wrote about Christmas in several works, most notably A Christmas Carol, and his take-away message was that Christmas is a time of generosity. Gift-giving to loved ones, charity to the less fortunate in the community, and a cheerful spendthrift spirit—we can put all of that down to the anti-bah-humbug spirit Dickens promoted. Furthermore, Christmas as a time of a well-stoked fire, a parlor crowded with merry family members, being cozy while snow falls outside—all of these, too, are laid at Dickens's door by some.

The U.S. – Earthquakes caused a river to flow “upstream”!

On the same day as Dickens's birth, a severe earthquake rocked New Madrid, Missouri, in the U.S. The quake set off what is known as a fluvial tsunami, which caused the Mississippi River to “run backward,” away from the Gulf of Mexico, northward toward Iowa, for several hours.

A tsunami is a very large ocean wave caused by an earthquake or a volcanic eruption. The word fluvial means “relating to a river,” so of course a fluvial tsunami refers to a large river wave caused by an earthquake.

The earthquake that reversed the flow of the mighty Mississippi (for a few hours) is estimated to be one of the most powerful in human history, with a Richter scale reading, scientists believe, of approximately 8.8. (Actually, that area of Missouri had been shaken up by many huge earthquakes, one after another—starting with an 8.6 quake on December 16, 1811, continuing with an 8.4 earthquake in January, 1812, and continuing on with aftershocks for a few years!)

Luckily, the area was sparsely populated, and most buildings were only one story high. In all the earthquakes, about 1,000 people died—which is very sad, but in another time or place, the death toll could have been much higher, as we sadly know from Haiti's much less powerful 7.0 quake last month.

Read Dickens

The works of Charles Dickens are online, free for the reading. Here is the short story “The Child's Story,” and here is David Copperfield.

Celebrate Dickens!

Here is an animation about Charles Dickens's life; it's well done and interesting. Warning: this animation makes mention of a few adult problems (such as that Dickens may have drank too much) and includes his death.

David Perdue has a full-service Charles Dickens website with lots of stuff to explore, including many more links.

Learn more about Earthquakes

There is an enormous amount of information, plus quizzes and puzzles, at this U.S. government website.

Help for Earthquake Victims

Next time there is a natural disaster that tugs on your heartstrings, if you decide you want to contribute money to organizations like the Red Cross, consider raising money by having an information fair. For example, you could hold an earthquake preparedness and awareness fair, charging a small amount for participation, with all proceeds going to disaster relief. Ask local businesses to donate drinks and snacks to be sold for fifty cents or a dollar per item. Have some teachers and nurses donate their time to speak or run an activity. Hold an earthquake "Jeopardy"-format trivia game.

Also on this date:

National Periodic Table Day

Ballet Day 

"e” Day

Grenada's Independence Day

Author Charles Dickens's birthday

Anniversary of a river flowing uphill

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday

Anniversary of the Bonfire of the Vanities

Wave All Your Fingers at the Neighbors Day

Dry Bean Day

Anniversary of the "British Invasion" (in music, that is)

Birthday of comedian / actor / polyglot / marathon runner Eddie Izzard

Superbowl Sunday

(Date varies)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• February holidays
• February birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in February
  
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• March holidays
• March birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in March
  
  
  
  

December 13 – Anniversary of a Prophecy by Dickens

Posted on December 13, 2013

Charles Dickens is well known as the author who wrote such famous novels as Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, and David Copperfield. However, he wrote lots more than novels, including plays, short stories, and non-fiction.

One bit of Dickens's writing I discovered recently is Household Words: A Weekly Journal. The journal, which was published for almost a decade, was edited by Dickens, but he wrote a great deal of it, too.

Here is what he published on this date in 1856:

“What do you think of a metal as white as silver, as unalterable as gold, as easily melted as copper, as tough as iron; which is malleable, ductile, and with the singular quality of being lighter than glass? Such a metal does exist, and that in considerable quantities on the surface of the globe.”

Do you know what metal Dickens is describing?

It turns out that it's (drumroll, please) aluminum.

Although aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust, it is the most recently discovered element in common use, and it wasn't until 1854 that people learned how to produce items with it! 

(Remember, people started using iron, gold, silver, and copper thousands of years ago, compared to a mere 160 years ago for aluminum!)

Dickens went on to say that aluminum may become more and more useful in households, because of its light weight. He wrote: “It may probably send tin to the right-about-face, drive copper saucepans into penal servitude, and blow up German-silver sky-high into nothing. Henceforth, respectable babies will be born with aluminium spoons in their mouths.”

(German silver is a mix of metals: copper, nickel, and often zinc. It used to be used a lot more in the past than it is now. And Dickens's guess about aluminum bumping tin and copper into less use is right-on as well. Spoons, like other Western cutlery, are generally made from stainless steel, nowadays, BUT we still say that rich kids are born with silver—not aluminum—spoons in their mouths!)

Aluminium or aluminum?

I don't know if you noticed that my Dickens quote said aluminium, while I've been saying aluminum? The metallic element is spelled differently, with an extra “i,” in addition to being pronounced differently, in Britain and other English-speaking locales than it is in Canada and the U.S. Dickens lived in England, therefore he used aluminium; I live in the U.S., thus my spell check program and I use aluminum.

By the way, Dickens thought the metal's name was too much of a mouthful, and he suggested that a shorter name be adopted if the metal were to have any success in being used. I'm glad to see that we North Americans, at least, took his advice and made the name one syllable shorter!

Also on this date:

Saint Lucia Day in Scandinavian countries 

Anniversary of the startup of production of Susan B. Anthony dollars 

Anniversary of Tasman's “discovery” of New Zealand 

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays 
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January

December 17, 2012 - Anniversary of the publishing of A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens was already an international celebrity author, even before he wrote his most famous story of all: A Christmas Carol. But even though he was a famous and popular author, he fought with his publisher about publication of the novella. He ended up financing the publication at his own expense—and he didn't stint, using “lavish” binding, gilt edging, and hand-colored illustrations. He set the selling price low enough so that everyone could afford it. And then (surprise, surprise) he ended up getting a lot less profit than he needed or wanted from the project.

Still, although the money from publishing his book was disappointing, A Christmas Carol was a success in every other way. The book's first printing was on this date in 1843, and in just a few days the 6,000 printed copies sold out. Critics loved it, and the buying public loved it, and by May of the following year, a seventh edition had sold out.

The book has never been out of print since, and it has been adapted to film, stage, radio, television, and other media many times over. 

It has been translated into nearly every language. 

It has been Muppetized, Disneyfied, and even Flintstoned; it has been parodied, prequeled, and sequeled; it has been made into a musical and a ballet and even an opera.

By the way, would it surprise you to know that Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in just six weeks?

Reinventing Christmas...

Dickens helped change the way people saw Christmas. Before the Victorian era, Christmas celebrations among Christians were often no more than mass at church and as grand a meal with the family as one could afford. Children would get an apple or orange in their stocking as a special treat. Many businesses didn't give workers the day off—it wasn't just Scrooge who made employees work on Christmas!

But spearheaded by Dickens's novella, Christmas became more of a society-wide holiday (in countries that were predominantly Christian). It became a time of families getting together to share meals, dance, and “make merry.” It became a time of giving to the poor, and gift-giving generally moved from a New Year's thing to a Christmas thing. Christmas cards were just starting to be seen, and Christmas trees were about to jump from unknown to popular in English- speaking countries. Decorations became more elaborate.

According to the BBC's “Victorian Christmas”:

While Charles Dickens did not invent the Victorian Christmas, his book A Christmas Carol is credited with helping to popularise and spread the traditions of the festival. Its themes of family, charity, goodwill, peace and happiness encapsulate the spirit of the Victorian Christmas, and are very much a part of the Christmas we celebrate today.

Some scholars, however, give Dickens more credit for, not just popularizing and spreading ideas, but creating ideas in the first place. Ronald Hutton and others say that Charles Dickens “single-handedly invented the modern form of the holiday.” People were moved by the story to give money to poor people and to crippled children. A factory owner in the United States was so moved that he closed his factory on Christmas Day and gave every employee a turkey—and this practice spread.

Of course, A Christmas Carol also gave us “Bah, humbug!”

Enjoy watching or reading one of the many versions of A Christmas Carol. Here is one. 

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the discovery of an Aztec calendar stone 

Second night of Las Posadas

Anniversary of first successful airplane flight

Mathematician and physicist Emilie du Chatelet's birthday

February 7, 2010

1812 – Earthshaking news in England and the U.S.!

England – Charles Dickens is born!

Happy Birthday to Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist...(and more).

Dickens was one of the most popular authors of the Victorian era and remains one of the most popular of all time, whose novels and short stories have never gone out of print. From high school literature classes to popular movies, from animated television shows to Dickens fairs and festivals all over the world, Dickens's work has appeared over and over again.

Did you know...?

Some historians credit Dickens with inventing Christmas. What they mean, of course, is that Dickens and his works reinvented Christmas, and he, along with a few other trendsetters, helped solidify a certain look and feel that still resonates with many modern people.

Before Dickens, Christmas in English-speaking countries was nothing like the holiday it is today. For many, it was a large family feast and not much more, and some Protestants were suspicious of any Christmas celebration at all.

During the Victorian era, however, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria brought the German tradition of decorated Christmas trees to England; soon small presents hanging on the tree became larger presents under the tree.

Dickens wrote about Christmas in several works, most notably A Christmas Carol, and his take-away message was that Christmas is a time of generosity. Gift-giving to loved ones, charity to the less fortunate in the community, and a cheerful spendthrift spirit—we can put all of that down to the anti-bah-humbug spirit Dickens promoted. Furthermore, Christmas as a time of a well-stoked fire, a parlor crowded with merry family members, being cozy while snow falls outside—all of these, too, are laid at Dickens's door by some.













The U.S. – Earthquakes cause a river to flow “upstream”!

On the same day as Dickens's birth, a severe earthquake rocked New Madrid, Missouri, in the U.S. The quake set off what is known as a fluvial tsunami, which caused the Mississippi River to “run backward,” away from the Gulf of Mexico, northward toward Iowa, for several hours.

A tsunami is a very large ocean wave caused by an earthquake or a volcanic eruption. The word fluvial means “relating to a river,” so of course a fluvial tsunami refers to a large river wave caused by an earthquake.

The earthquake that reversed the flow of the mighty Mississippi (for a few hours) is estimated to be one of the most powerful in human history, with a Richter scale reading, scientists believe, of approximately 8.8. (Actually, that area of Missouri had been shaken up by many huge earthquakes, one after another—starting with an 8.6 quake on December 16, 1811, continuing with an 8.4 earthquake in January, 1812, and continuing on with aftershocks for a few years!)

Luckily, the area was sparsely populated, and most buildings were only one story high. In all the earthquakes, about 1,000 people died—which is very sad, but in another time or place, the death toll could have been much higher, as we sadly know from Haiti's much less powerful 7.0 quake last month.

Read Dickens

The works of Charles Dickens are online, free for the reading. Here is the short story “The Child's Story,” and here is David Copperfield.

Celebrate Dickens!

The Bleak House has an animation about Charles Dickens's life; it's well done and interesting. Warning: this animation makes mention of a few adult problems (such as that Dickens may have drank too much) and includes his death.

David Perdue has a full-service Charles Dickens website with lots of stuff to explore, including many more links.

Learn more about Earthquakes

There is an enormous amount of information, plus quizzes and puzzles, at this U.S. government website.

Help for Earthquake Victims

The Red Cross cannot ship donated items such as blankets and canned goods to Haiti. Instead, they have been asking people for cash donations. Adult participation in blood drives is always welcome, too.

One way to raise money for donations is to have an information fair. For example, you could hold an earthquake preparedness and awareness fair, charging a small amount for participation, with all proceeds going to Haitian relief. Ask local businesses to donate drinks and snacks to be sold for fifty cents or a dollar per item. Have some teachers and nurses donate their time to speak or run an activity. Hold an earthquake jeopardy trivia game.