What’s Happening Today?

International FND Awareness Day. International FND Awareness Day, also known as International Functional Neurological Disorder Awareness Day, is being observed today! It has been observed annually on April 13th since 2013. Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a medical condition in which there is a problem with the functioning of the nervous system and how the brain and body sends and/or receives signals, rather than a structural disease process such as multiple sclerosis or stroke. This Day is celebrated to draw attention to people living with this condition.

Scrabble Day. The popular board game Scrabble is celebrated today, on the birthday of its creator, Alfred Butts. Butts lost his architectural job in 1931, during the Great Depression, and began brainstorming with the goal of creating a game. He organized board games into three categories: strategy games, numbers games, and word games. Realizing most games weren't word games, he set out to make one that everyone could enjoy. He wanted to combine chance and skill, and was influenced by crossword puzzles and anagrams. In his new game, which he called Lexico, words were built by drawing and discarding from letter tiles, which is where today’s scrabble as we know it is derived from.

What Happened Today?

1. In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win the coveted Best Actor Oscar for his role in Lilies of the Field. Many black actors and actresses have since gone on to win Oscars including Denzel Washington, Haille Berry, Forrest Whittaker and lupita Nyong’o, among others.

2. In 1976, the $2.00 bill was issued nationwide in the US with the portrait of Thomas Jefferson on the front and John Trumble's Portrait of the declaration on the back . Banks experienced long queues by those collectors who believed the bills would appreciate in value.

3. In 1997, Tiger Woods at 21 years old became the youngest ever golfer to win the Masters Tournament. Woods finished at 18-under-par 270, which was the lowest score ever shot during the Masters.

 Birthdays

1. 1955 – Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi, King of Buganda Kingdom.

2. 1987 – Anne Kansiime, Ugandan comedian and actress.

Sources: checkiday, thepeoplehistory.com & bornglorious.com