[sotd] February 14, 2005 [U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: Valentine's Day]

        Site of the Day for Monday, February 14, 2005

        Happy Valentine's Day to all Gentle Subscribers!

        U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: Valentine's Day

Today's site is less a romantic paean and more an interesting compendium of
facts related to this annual celebration of cupid's arrow. Gentle
Subscribers will discover an tempting array of facts related to expressions
of love, collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, whose middle name is
"Figures".

"One legend has it that Valentine=92s Day originated to commemorate the
anniversary of the death of St. Valentine, a Roman clergyman who was
executed on Feb. 14, about 270 A.D., for secretly marrying couples in
defiance of the emperor. According to another, the holiday began as a Roman
fertility festival. Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines
in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther Howland, a native of
Massachusetts, began to sell the nation=92s first mass-produced valentine
cards." - from the website

The web page reveals such pressing concerns as the number of marriages
which take place annually in America, the astronomical  number which are
celebrated in the state of Nevada and the "number of single men (i.e.,
never married, widowed or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100
single women of the same ages", an always helpful figure to keep at one's
fingertips. There are engaging trivia on flowers, chocolate, jewelry and a
list of romantic-sounding place names. In addition, the reference URLs are
listed for each little nugget of information.

Fly over to the web page for a round-up of fascinating Valentine facts at:

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features
_special_editions/003147.html

If the above URL wraps in your e-mail client, enter it all on one line in
your browser or use this TinyURL:

http://tinyurl.com/3tlpv

  A.M. Holm
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