Profile America

January is National Eye Care Month

Profile America: The Eyes Have It

Sunday, January. Many causes are being celebrated this month, some ridiculous, some serious. In the serious category are two linked together — National Eye Care Month and National Glaucoma Awareness Month. Regular eye examinations should be part of everyone’s health […]

by · January 5, 2020 · Census, Health, Profile America
Profile America: First Drive-in Gas Station

Profile America: First Drive-in Gas Station

Sunday, December 1. On this date in 1913, what is today the Gulf Oil Company opened the nation’s first drive-in gas station. Located at the intersection of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in Pittsburgh, the filling station was a […]

by · November 30, 2019 · Census, Profile America, Transportation
Profile America: Freedom of the Press

Profile America: Freedom of the Press

Sunday, November 17. The first glimmers of what Americans now take for granted — freedom of the press — started on this date in 1734. It came with the arrest of John Peter Zenger, a German immigrant who published the […]

by · November 17, 2019 · Census, History, Profile America
Profile America: Peanut Butter Lovers Month

Profile America: Peanut Butter Lovers Month

Saturday, November 16. It’s a time to celebrate one of life’s simple, viscous pleasures — it’s Peanut Butter Lovers Month. The stuff of one of America’s favorite sandwiches, peanut butter was first offered to the public at the St. Louis […]

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (rpinews.edu)

Profile America: First Engineering College

Tuesday, November 5. Much has been heard in recent years about national education policy encouraging more science, technology, engineering and math — or STEM — students. As far as engineering goes, the trail was broken 195 years ago on this […]

Vintage NCR cash register (Instagram)

Profile America: Ka-ching! The Cash Register Is Patented

Monday, November 4. The slang exclamation “ka-ching!” owes its birth to a development on this date140 years ago. That’s when James Ritty, a saloon keeper in Dayton, Ohio, patented the cash register he developed with his mechanic brother John. The […]

Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

One of the nation’s enduring symbols, the Statue of Liberty, was dedicated on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor on this date in 1886. A gift from France, the statue’s full name is “Liberty Enlightening the World,” and is the […]

by · November 3, 2019 · History, Profile America
You can get a free sandwich for a good cause at Subway on National Sandwich Day.

Profile America: Clichés & Sandwiches

Sunday, November 3. Today is Cliché Day — any way you slice it, a minor and obscure occasion. While the ostensible purpose is to encourage our verbal banalities, it might also be stretched to stereotypes. Such as the cliché that […]

by · November 3, 2019 · Profile America
Profile America: National Crime Prevention Month

Profile America: National Crime Prevention Month

Sunday, October 27th. Everyone is a potential crime victim, and October is when government agencies, civic groups, schools, businesses and youth organizations join in trying to reduce the threat. This is National Crime Prevention Month, with special awareness and education […]

by · October 27, 2019 · Census, Crime, Profile America
Credit: American Chemical Society

Profile America: National Chemistry Week

Sunday, October 20th. Today is the start of National Chemistry Week, an annual event held to raise public awareness of chemistry in the modern world. Coordinated by the American Chemical Society, the effort involves businesses, schools and individuals in communicating […]

by · October 20, 2019 · History, Profile America
Firefighters continue to fight the blaze shortly after the roof of the Marion Pharmacy collapsed.--Photo by David Greene

Profile America: American Pharmacists Month

Wednesday, October 16th. The art and science of mixing therapeutic compounds to assist medical practice goes back 4,500 or more years. Centuries ago, such specialized business was termed apothecary. Today, the familiar name is pharmacy — and the pharmacists behind […]

by · October 16, 2019 · Census, Profile America
World's First Cellphone Call - April 3 1973 by Martin Cooper. (YouTube)

Profile America: Birth of Cell Phones

Sunday, October 13. With the national median age being 38.2 years, only about half of the country’s population experienced life in what might strike young people as a bleak, dark and difficult age. Practically unimaginable today, there was a time […]

by · October 13, 2019 · History, Profile America, Technology
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. was joined at the event by (l) Ms. Beatrice Castiglia-Catullo, 100, founder of Regional Aid for Interim Needs (R.A.I.N.) and (r) Ms. Sarah Turner, who had then-recently celebrated her 101st birthday at the R.A.I.N. Eastchester Neighborhood Senior Center.

Profile America: Centenarians Day

Sunday, September 22nd. The average age of the American population is on a steady climb, and the national median is 38 years. It’s nearly 39.5 for women. As people grow older, many tend to become a little vague about their […]

Profile America: Clean Water

Profile America: Clean Water

Friday, September 20th. We pretty much take for granted that the municipal water that comes out of the faucets in our homes is safe to drink. But getting to that point 125 years ago was a major advance for civilization […]

by · September 20, 2019 · Census, Environment, History, Profile America
Credit: True Value Paint

Profile America: Paint

Types of paint have been used by people starting tens of thousands of years ago to enliven cave walls. In more recent centuries, paint was applied to make signs or decorated objects.Until 152 years ago, paints had to be tinted […]

by · September 19, 2019 · History, Profile America