snow (Jan. 19): This wouldn't be a big deal to citizens of Montreal, but on Wednesday, January 19, 1977, at about 7 a.m. EST, for the first time in history, snow was included in the weather forecast for Miami, Florida....

Winston Churchill (Feb. 8): Winston Churchill, the prime minister who led Britain during its victory in WWII and was also a noted wit and Nobelist in Literature, suffers from an embarrassing problem: 23% of his countrymen think he never existed....

Gabriel García Márquez (Mar. 6): Though Gabriel García Márquez had been writing nearly all his life, he was 38 when he finally found his voice — and that was the voice of his grandmother....

camel beauty contest (Apr. 9): Big brown eyes. Long, slender legs. Demure smile. Hump, high and slightly tilted back. Wait... hump??....

hay fever (May 7): America has its sailing capital and its furniture capital, its fast food capital and its bicycling capital. Now, to the city's chagrin, Lexington, KY, has been named America's spring allergy capital....

gossip (Jun. 2): Pssst. Wanna hear a secret? Who doesn't? Gossip columns, magazines, books and TV shows abound in a world that seems to care less and less about whether the rumors are even true — as long as they titillate

patents (Jul. 31): It's not clear if this is what they had in mind when the idea of a patent was proposed to protect inventors from having their creative ideas stolen. There's the "Electrified Table Cloth," designed to shock bugs that dare to crawl among the dishes;....

lefthanders (Aug. 13): Once a year the sinistral among us have their day. August 13 is International Lefthanders Day....

Will Smith (Sep. 25): Long before he became the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million domestically, Will Smith turned down admission to MIT to pursue a singing career....

no smoking (Oct. 17): The news keeps getting worse for smokers. Earlier this month Australian researchers reported that women who smoke more than a pack a day are almost twice as prone to depression as nonsmokers....

Monopoly (Nov. 5): Do you want to be the car or the dog or maybe the top hat? That's where the friendly arguments often begin when the family sits down to play Monopoly, which was released on this date in 1935 by Parker Brothers....

chewing gum (Dec. 28): The US is the largest producer, exporter and consumer of chewing gum. That's partly due to the patent that was issued on this date in 1869 to William Finley Semple of Ohio....