February 15th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 399 BCE, bedrock philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death. In 590 on this day, Khosrau II was crowned as King of Persia. Ho-tse Shen-hui, Zen teacher disputed the founder of Northern Ch'an line on this day in 732. On this day in 1145, Bernardo was elected Pope Eugene III. The Peace of Angleur was signed on this day in 1313. The Duke Philip the Stout formed the Council of Flanders on this day in 1386. Emperor Charles received Cardinal Pole in Toledo on this day in 1539. On this day in 1552, the Dutch coast was hit by a heavy storm. Russian troops occupied Polotsk, Lithuania, on this day in 1563. In 1637 on this day, Ferdinand III succeeded Ferdinand II as the Holy Roman Emperor. King Charles II reported the anti-French covenant with Netherlands on this day in 1677. Jean Baptiste Lully's opera "Armide," premiered in Paris on this day in 1686. The German Parliament declared war on France on this day in 1689. In 1745 on this day, Colley Cibbers "Papal Tyranny," premiered in London. Austria, Prussia & Saxony signed the Peace of Hubertusburg on this day in 1763. The city of St. Louis, Missouri, was founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue on this day in 1764. On this day in 1768, the first mustard manufactured in America was advertised in Philadelphia. Angelo Braschi was chosen as Pope Pius VI on this day in 1775. On this day in 1776, Nova Scotia Governor Francis Legge sent a warning from Halifax, Canada, to British headquarters in London of a possible American invasion. On this day in 1898, a massive explosion of unknown origin sank the battleship USS Maine in Cuba's Havana Harbor, killing 258 of the fewer than 400 American crew members aboard. On this day in 1918, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania adopted the Gregorian calendar. Japan celebrated a major victory in the Pacific on this day in 1942, and they handed the UK one of the greatest defeats in British military history, as Britain's supposedly impregnable Singapore fortress surrendered to Japanese forces after a weeklong siege. On this day in 1965, Canada adopted their new maple leaf flag, replacing the British Union Jack. On this day in 1989, as part of the Geneva Accords agreement made the prior year, the last Soviet military column withdrew from Afghanistan, ending the Soviet–Afghan War. On this day in 2011 during the "Arab Spring" revolts, Libyan protests began opposing Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi's rule.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 399 BCE, bedrock philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death. 

• In 590 on this day, Khosrau II was crowned as King of Persia. 

• Ho-tse Shen-hui, Zen teacher disputed the founder of Northern Ch'an line on this day in 732. 

• On this day in 1145, Bernardo was elected Pope Eugene III. 

• The Peace of Angleur was signed on this day in 1313. 

• The Duke Philip the Stout formed the Council of Flanders on this day in 1386. 

• Emperor Charles received Cardinal Pole in Toledo on this day in 1539. 

• On this day in 1552, the Dutch coast was hit by a heavy storm. 

• Russian troops occupied Polotsk, Lithuania, on this day in 1563. 

• In 1637 on this day, Ferdinand III succeeded Ferdinand II as the Holy Roman Emperor. 

• King Charles II reported the anti-French covenant with Netherlands on this day in 1677. 

• Jean Baptiste Lully's opera "Armide," premiered in Paris on this day in 1686. 

• The German Parliament declared war on France on this day in 1689. 

• In 1745 on this day, Colley Cibbers "Papal Tyranny," premiered in London. 

• Austria, Prussia & Saxony signed the Peace of Hubertusburg on this day in 1763. 

• The city of St. Louis, Missouri, was founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue on this day in 1764. 

• On this day in 1768, the first mustard manufactured in America was advertised in Philadelphia. 

• Angelo Braschi was chosen as Pope Pius VI on this day in 1775.

• On this day in 1776, Nova Scotia Governor Francis Legge sent a warning from Halifax, Canada, to British headquarters in London of a possible American invasion. He reported that traitorous elements in Cumberland, Nova Scotia, have contacted American General George Washington. Washington received a letter from the Nova Scotians, in which they expressed their sympathy for the American cause, on February 8. They invited General Washington and the Continental Army to invade Nova Scotia at his earliest possible convenience.    Legge found himself in a precarious position. He had alienated many of his constituents through a zealous anti-corruption probe. Now he reported that Nova Scotia had spawned a nascent revolutionary movement. Some of those whom Legge accused of corruption in his drive to clean up colonial politics had allies in the imperial capitol who were insisting that he explain himself in person.    Fortunately for Legge, little notice was taken of his subjects' letter to Washington. The Continental Congress decided on February 16 to allow General Washington to investigate the expediency and practicability of an Expedition to Nova Scotia, but cautioned that Washington should by no means accept the plan proposed for the destruction of the Town of Halifax. After Benedict Arnold retreated in May 1776 from his six-month long siege of Quebec, which included the disastrous attack Quebec on December 31, 1775, the Continental Army gave up its hope that Canada would join the rebellion. Still, Governor Legge received orders to return to London in February 1776 and departed Halifax in May.    Although Canada ceased to be a direct military target, it continued to play an important role as a haven for Loyalists and slaves fleeing from Patriots less concerned with other peoples' liberties than their own. On December 18, 1778, a force of New Jersey and New York Loyalists, The King's Orange Rangers, traveled to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, to help in its defense against Patriot privateers, privately owned ships that used pirate tactics to disrupt British shipping. The Rangers remained until August 23, 1783. Nova Scotia ultimately attracted 30,000 American Loyalists, one-tenth of which were fleeing African slaves. Of the slaves, one third eventually resettled in Sierra Leone. White Loyalists moved to Canada to flee the abuse of Patriot neighbors, African slaves came to British Canada in order to gain freedom from their Patriot owners.

• 1797 - Battle of Cape St Vincent

• 1799 - 1st US printed ballots authorized, Pennsylvania

• New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery on this day in 1804.

1805 - Harmony Society is officially formed.

• 1842 - 1st adhesive postage stamps in US (private delivery company), NYC

1845 - William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, 1st uses 72" (183 cm) reflector

1848 - Sarah Roberts barred from white school in Boston

• 1851 - Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescueing a fugitive slave

1852 - Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits 1st patient

1861 - Ft Point completed & garrisoned (but has never fired cannon in anger)

1862 - Grant's major assault on Ft Donelson, Tennessee

1864 - Fire in Rotterdam Neth damages Museum Boymans

• Charges of Treason against former Confederate States of American President Jefferson Davis were dropped on this day in 1869.

1870 - Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth, Minn

1876 - Historic Elm at Boston blown down

1879 - Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before Supreme Ct

1882 - 1st cargo of frozen meat leaves NZ for Britain, on SS Dunedin

1891 - AIK is founded at Biblioteksgatan 8 in Stockholm by Isidor Behrens.

1895 - 23 cm (9") of snow falls on New Orleans

1898 - USS Maine sinks in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die

• On this day in 1898, a massive explosion of unknown origin sank the battleship USS Maine in Cuba's Havana Harbor, killing 258 of the fewer than 400 American crew members aboard.    One of the first American battleships, the Maine weighed more than 6,000 tons and was built at a cost of more than $2 million. Ostensibly on a friendly visit, the Maine had been sent to Cuba to protect the interests of Americans there after a rebellion against Spanish rule broke out in Havana in January.    An official U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry ruled in March that the ship was blown up by a mine, without directly placing the blame on Spain. Much of Congress and a majority of the American public expressed little doubt that Spain was responsible and called for a declaration of war.    Subsequent diplomatic failures to resolve the Maine matter, coupled with United States indignation over Spain's brutal suppression of the Cuban rebellion and continued losses to American investment, led to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898.    Within three months, the United States had decisively defeated Spanish forces on land and sea, and in August an armistice halted the fighting. On December 12, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed between the United States and Spain, officially ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire with the ceding of such former Spanish possessions as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.    In 1976, a team of American naval investigators concluded that the Maine explosion was likely caused by a fire that ignited its ammunition stocks, not by a Spanish mine or act of sabotage.         

The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.

• In 1900 on this day during the Anglo-Boer War, General French relieved Cecil Rhodes at Kimberly Mines.

1902 - Underground railway (U-Bahn)

1903 - 1st Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris & Rose Michtom

1905 - 1st race meet at Oaklawn Park (Hot Springs, Ark)

1906 - British Labour Party organizes

1910 - The Boy Scouts of America is founded.

1912 - Fram reaches latitude 78° 41' S, farthest south ever by ship

1913 - 1st avant-garde art show in America opens in NYC

1916 - NY Yankees buy Frank "Home Run" Baker from the Athletics for $37,500

1917 - SF Public Library (Main Branch at Civic center) dedicated

1918 - 1st WW I US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland

• On this day in 1918, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania adopted the Gregorian calendar.

1919 - American Legion organizes in Paris

1921 - Arthur Mailey completes 9-121 v England, Australian Test Cricket rec

Inventor and Nobel Laureate Guglielmo MarconiInventor and Nobel Laureate Guglielmo Marconi 1922 - Marconi begins regular broadcasting transmissions from Essex

1926 - Brooks Atkinson Theater opens at 256 W 47th St NYC

1926 - Contract air mail service begins in US

1930 - Weona beats Toluca in Illinois Basketball Tournament in 10 overtimes

1931 - 1st Dracula movie released

1931 - Spring training site of NY Yankees in St Petersburg is renamed Miller Huggins Field in honor of the team's late manager

• The III Winter Olympic games closed at Lake Placid, New York, on this day in 1932.

1932 - Aust beat South Africa in cricket by an inn in 5 hrs 53 min playing time

1932 - George Burns & Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "Guy Lombardo Show"

1932 - John Van Druten's "There's Always Juliet," premieres in NYC

1932 - US bobsled team member Eddie Eagan becomes only athlete to win gold in both Summer & Winter Olympics (1920 boxing gold)

1933 - Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.

• On this day in 1933, U.S. President-elect Franklin Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt in Miami. However, Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in the attack. 

1933 - Social-democratic newspaper "Vorwarts" banned again in Berlin

1936 - -60°F (-51°C), Parshall, North Dakota (state record)

Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 

• 1936 - Hitler announce building of Volkswagens (starting slug-bug game)

1936 - Sonja Henie, Norway, wins 3rd consecutive Olympic figure skating gold

1939 - German battleship Bismarck was launched

1939 - Lillian Hellman's "Little Foxes," premieres in NYC

1941 - Duke Ellington 1st records "Take the A Train"

1942 - German U-boat shells at Antillian oil refinery

• 1942 - Japanese troops march into Palembang, South Sumatra

• The Japanese forced seemingly impregnable fortress at Singapore to surrender on this day in 1942, during World War II. Japan celebrated a major victory in the Pacific on this day in 1942, and they handed the UK one of the greatest defeats in British military history, as Britain's supposedly impregnable Singapore fortress surrendered to Japanese forces after a weeklong siege. More than 60,000 British, Australian, and Indian soldiers were taken prisoner, joining 70,000 other Allied soldiers captured during Britain's disastrous defense of the Malay Peninsula.    On December 8, 1941--the day after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor--the Japanese moved against British-controlled Malay, steamrollering across Thailand and landing in northern Malay. The Japanese made rapid advances against British positions, capturing British airfields and gaining air superiority. British General A.E. Percival was reluctant to leave Malay's roads and thus was outflanked again and again by the Japanese, who demonstrated an innovative grasp of the logistics of jungle warfare. The Allies could do little more than delay the Japanese and continued to retreat south.    By January, the Allied force was outnumbered and held just the lower half of the peninsula. General Tomoyuki Yamashita's 25th Army continued to push forward, and on January 31 the Allies were forced to retreat across the causeway over the Johor Strait to the great British naval base on the island of Singapore, located on the southern tip of the peninsula. The British dynamited the causeway behind them but failed to entirely destroy the bridge.    Singapore, with its big defensive guns, was considered invulnerable to attack. However, the guns, which used armor-piercing shells and the flat trajectories necessary to decimate an enemy fleet, were not designed to defend against a land attack on the unfortified northern end of the island.    On February 5, Yamashita brought up heavy siege guns to the tip of the peninsula and began bombarding Singapore. On February 8, thousands of Japanese troops began streaming across the narrow waterway and established several bridgeheads. Japanese engineers quickly repaired the causeway, and troops, tanks, and artillery began pouring on to Singapore. The Japanese pushed forward to Singapore City, capturing key British positions and splitting the Allied defenders into isolated groups.    On February 15, Percival--lacking a water supply and nearly out of food and ammunition--agreed to surrender. With the loss of Singapore, the British lost control of a highly strategic waterway and opened the Indian Ocean to Japanese invasion. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called it the "worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history." Many thousands of the 130,000 Allied troops captured died in Japanese captivity.    Later in the war, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the supreme Allied commander in Southeast Asia, made plans for the liberation of the Malay Peninsula, but Japan surrendered before they could be carried out.

1943 - Women's camp Tamtui on Ambon (Moluccas) hit by allied air raid

1944 - 891 British bombers attack Berlin

1944 - Bombing & shooting at Monte Cassino convent Italy, begins

1946 - Bank of England nationalized

1947 - "Toplitzky of Notre Dame" closes at Century Theater NYC after 60 perfs

1948 - Mao Zedong's army occupies Yenan

1949 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' "Song of the Woods," premieres in Leningrad

Chinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-TungChinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-Tung 1950 - KENS TV channel 5 in San Antonio, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting

1950 - WM Inge's "Come Back, Little Sheba," premieres in NYC

1950 - WSYR (now WSTM) TV channel 3 in Syracuse, NY (NBC) begins broadcasting

1950 - Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released

1952 - King George VI is buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

1954 - 1st bevatron in operation-Berkeley, California

1954 - WRDW TV channel 12 in Augusta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting

1955 - 1st pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds announced

1956 - Urho Kekkonen appointed president of Finland

1956 - Pirates & KC A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham Alabama, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white

1957 - Andrei A Gromyko succeeds Dmitri Shepilov as Soviet foreign minister

1958 - Ice Dance Championship at Paris won by June Markham/Courtney Jones GRB

1958 - Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Barbara Wagner/Rob Paul of CAN

1958 - Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Carol Heiss of USA

1958 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by David Jenkins USA

Animator Walt DisneyAnimator Walt Disney 1958 - Sjafroeddin Prawiranegara forms anti-government of Middle Sumatra

1959 - Antonio Segni forms Italian government

1959 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Tournament

1961 - Australia beat WI 2-1 in one of best Test Cricket series ever

1961 - Entire US figure skating team of 18, dies in Belgian Sabena 707 crash

1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1963 - 1st US female world figure skating champ (Tenley Albright)

1963 - Ken Lynch records "Misery," 1st Lennon-McCartney song by someone else

    

• In 1964 on this day, the Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!" album went to #1 & stayed there for 11 weeks.

1964 - Bill Bradley scores 51 points for Princeton

1965 - Canada replaces Union Jack flag with Maple Leaf

1965 - John Lennon passes his driving test

• On this day in 1965, Canada adopted their new maple leaf flag, replacing the British Union Jack. In accordance with a formal proclamation by Queen Elizabeth II of England, the new Canadian national flag was raised above Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the capital of Canada.    Beginning in 1610, Lower Canada, a new British colony, flew Great Britain's Union Jack, or Royal Union Flag. In 1763, as a result of the French and Indian Wars, France lost its sizable colonial possessions in Canada, and the Union Jack flew all across the wide territory of Canada. In 1867, the Dominion of Canada was established as a self-governing federation within the British Empire, and three years later a new flag, the Canadian Red Ensign, was adopted. The Red Ensign was a solid red flag with the Union Jack occupying the upper-left corner and a crest situated in the right portion of the flag.    The search for a new national flag that would better represent an independent Canada began in earnest in 1925 when a committee of the Privy Council began to investigate possible designs. Later, in 1946, a select parliamentary committee was appointed with a similar mandate and examined more than 2,600 submissions. Agreement on a new design was not reached, and it was not until the 1960s, with the centennial of Canadian self-rule approaching, that the Canadian Parliament intensified its efforts to choose a new flag.    In December 1964, Parliament voted to adopt a new design. Canada's national flag was to be red and white, the official colors of Canada as decided by King George V of Britain in 1921, with a stylized 11-point red maple leaf in its center. Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed February 15, 1965, as the day on which the new flag would be raised over Parliament Hill and adopted by all Canadians.    Today, Canada's red maple leaf flag is one of the most recognizable national flags in the world.

1966 - Kees Verkerk becomes world champion all-round skater

1967 - 1st anti-bootleg recording laws enacted

Hall of Fame Basketball/US Senator Bill BradleyHall of Fame Basketball/US Senator Bill Bradley 1967 - D66 (D'66) wins 7 seats in Dutch 2nd Chamber

1967 - Longest dream (REM sleep) on record, Bill Carskadon, Chicago (2:23)

1968 - Anaheim's Les Salvage scores 10, 3-pt baskets in ABA game vs Denver

1968 - WVUT TV channel 22 in Vincennes, IN (PBS) begins broadcasting

1970 - Ard Schenk becomes world champion all-round skater

1970 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Burdine's Golf Invitational

1970 - Dominican DC-9 crashes into sea at Santo Domingo, kills 102

1970 - KAMU TV channel 15 in College Station, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting

1970 - Nationalists disrupt UN session on Congo

• 1971 - After 1,200 years Britain abandons 12-shilling system for decimal

1971 - UK begins using decimal currency

1971 - Decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.

1972 - Bill Torrey becomes 1st Islander General Manager

1972 - Dimitrios Papadopoulos becomes metropolitan of Imbros/Tenedos

• 1972 - Pres Velasco Ibarra of Ecuador deposed for 4th time

1972 - Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.

1973 - Friendsville Academy (Tenn) ends 138-game basketball losing streak

1973 - USSR launches Prognoz 3 to study sun (589/200,300 km)

Flag of the Olympics

• 1976 - 12th Winter Olympic games close at Innsbruck, Austria

1976 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Orange Blossom Golf Classic

1977 - Social-democrats win Danish parliamentary election

1978 - England all out 64 for 1st loss to NZ in cricket (Boycott capt)

1978 - Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola, Fla

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad AliHeavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali 

• 1978 - Leon Spinks beats Muhammad Ali in 15 for heavyweight boxing title

• 1978 - Zaire revises constitution

1979 - 21st Grammy Awards: Just the Way You Are, Taste of Honey wins

1979 - Paul Shirley (21) of Australia, sucked a lifesaver for 4 hrs 40 mins

1979 - Temple City Kazoo Orchestra appears on Mike Douglas Show

1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1980 - Eric Heiden skates Olympic record 500m in 38.03 sec

1980 - Wayne Gretzy assists on NHL-record-tieing 7 goals

1981 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA S&H Golf Classic

1981 - Rocket-powered ice sled attains 399 kph, Lake George, NY

1982 - Dan Issel (NBA-Nuggets), begins streak of 63 consecutive free throw

1982 - Ocean Ranger oil-drilling platform lost off Newfoundland, 84 die

1984 - 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq

1985 - STS 51-E vehicle moves to launch pad

1985 - World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23

1986 - 44,180 largest NBA crowd to date-Phila at Detroit

• 1986 - Ferdinand Marcos wins rigged Philippines presidential election

1986 - Phil Natl Assembly authorizes 6 more years for Ferdinand Marcos

1987 - ABC-TV begins broadcasting "Amerika" mini-series

1987 - Karlstad skates world record 10km (14:03,92)

1987 - Nikolai Guljajev becomes world champion skater

1987 - Craig Stadler disqualified from Andy Williams Open for kneeling on a towel to make a shot

1988 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1989 - Israel attacks border strip Taba near Egypt

The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)

• On this day in 1989, the Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan came to an end after nine years of intervention and warfare. As part of the Geneva Accords agreement made the prior year, the last Soviet military column withdrew from Afghanistan, ending the Soviet–Afghan War. 

Pictures of the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary

• In 1991 on this day, the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland signed the Visegard agreement, in which they pledged to cooperate with transforming their countries to free-market economies.   

1991 - Freighter with dynamite explodes in Phang Nga Thailand, 120 die

1991 - The leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland signed the Visegard agreement, in which they pledged to cooperate in transforming thier countties to free-market economies.   

1991 - Troy State sets NCAA Div II record with 103 points in 2nd half routing DeVry Institute 187-117

1992 - 100th episode of "Cops" airs on Fox

1992 - Jeffrey Dahmer found sane & guilty of killing 15 boys

• 1993 - Bomb strike on mafia drug lords in Bogot , Colombia; kills 14  1993 - Bombings by mafia drug lords kill 14 in Bogota Colombia

1993 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Rochester NY on WNVE 95.1 FM

1993 - Katie Elizabeth Hillyard was born, famous English young composer of the year 2007.England

1994 - US asks Aristide to adopt a peace plan from Haiti

• 1995 - Burundi premier Anatole Kanyenkiko, resigns

1995 - Dow-Jones closes at record 3986.17

The flag of the People's Republic of China

• 1995 - Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion

1996 - Mortar attack on the US Embassy in Athens, Greece.

1997 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Tara Lipinski

1997 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Todd Eldridge

1998 - Dale Eggeling wins Los Angeles Women's Golf Championship

1998 - Daytona 500 race

1999 - Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party, widely recognized as terrorist organization), was arrested in Kenya.

2000 - Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York State vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator fails.

2001 - First draft of the complete Human Genome is published in Nature

2002 - At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find uncremated bodies disposed of in the woods and buildings on the crematorium's property. The discovery reveals one of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.

• On this day in 2003, an estimated eleven million people around the world took to the streets to protest against the looming American invasion and war against Iraq.

• 2005 - YouTube, the popular Internet site on which videos may be shared and viewed by others, is launched in the United States.

• On this day in 2011 during the "Arab Spring" revolts, Libyan protests began opposing Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi's rule.

• 2012 - United Kingdom unemployment rate reaches 17 year high of 8.4%

• 2012 - Fire at Comayagua prison, Honduras, kills 358

• 2013 - Over 1,200 people are injured after a meteor breaks up over Chelyabinsk, Russia

• 2013 - 2012 DA14, an asteroid with a 50m diameter, comes within 27,700km from Earth

1758 - Mustard was advertised for the first time in America.   1764 - The city of St. Louis was established.   1799 - Printed ballots were authorized for use in elections in the state of Pennsylvania.   1842 - Adhesive postage stamps were used for the first time by the City Dispatch Post (Office) in New York City.   1879 - U.S. President Hayes signed a bill that allowed female attorneys to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.   1898 - The USS Maine sank when it exploded in Havana Harbor for unknown reasons. More than 260 crew members were killed.   1900 - The British threaten to use natives in their war with the Boers.   1903 - Morris and Rose Michtom, Russian immigrants, introduced the first teddy bear in America.   1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "The Guy Lombardo Show" on CBS radio.      1943 - "My True Story" was heard for the first time on ABC radio.   1946 - Edith Houghton, at age 33, was signed as a baseball scout by the Philadelphia Phillies becoming the first female scout in the major leagues.   1953 - The first American to win the women’s world figure skating championship was 17-year-old Tenley Albright.   1961 - A Boeing 707 crashed in Belgium killing 73 people.   1962 - CBS-TV bought the exclusive rights to college football games from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for a figure of $10,200,000.   1965 - Canada displayed its new red and white maple leaf flag. The flag was to replace the old Red Ensign standard.   1982 - During a storm, the Ocean Ranger, a drilling rig, sank off the coast of Newfoundland. 84 men were killed.   1985 - The Center for Disease Control reported that more than half of all nine-year-olds in the U.S. showed no sign of tooth decay.    1995 - The FBI arrested Kevin Mitnick and charged him with cracking security in some of the nation's most protected computers. He served five years in jail.   2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a site for long-term disposal of radioactive nuclear waste.

1764 St. Louis, Mo., was founded as a French fur-trading post. 1879 President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court. 1898 USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor, touching off the Spanish-American War. 1913 The New York Armory Show opened, introducing America to Picasso, Duchamp, and Matisse. 1933 Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in an assassination attempt on president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami. 1965 The Maple Leaf Flag officially became the new national flag of Canada. 1989 More than 100,000 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan almost 10 years after the USSR invaded the country. 2002 Olympics officials resolved the judging scandal by awarding Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal while allowing the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to keep their medal. 2003 Millions of protesters around the world demonstrated against the threat of a U.S. war on Iraq. 2012 A prison fire in Comayagua, Honduras killed 360.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb15.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

Weekend Funny: The Borowitz Report - Olympics Update: Trump Wins Gold in Downhill Presidency

Flag of the Olympics

Saw this headline from Andy Borowitz, and thought it was worthy of being in The Onion.

It made me laugh right away. 

This is a special time. A time for the Olympics, where the best athletes from around the world get together in peace and compete. The Olympics - both summer and winter - are supposed to represent a spirit of togetherness, of peaceful cooperation. A little respite from the too often grim realities of our world. 

It could be a beautiful time when we learn about athletes from other countries, and perhaps catch glimpses of other ways of life. Maybe learn more about unfamiliar sports and countries, particularly the host country. Yet here in the United States, you can bet we will do just the opposite. Instead of taking this opportunity to learn a bit more and expand our minds, we typically turn it into something pretty ugly and narcissistic instead. Yes, we largely ignore the rest of the world and, predictably, fixate on ourselves, patting ourselves on the back when our athletes win medals, especially gold.

When it comes to shallow narcissism and self-congratulations, nobody today can compete with Americans. And look! We have elected the ultimate narcissist to be our elected face and voice for yet another four years.

Again.

Let's hear it for Team USA!

Rah-rah.

Andy Borowitz has written a spoof article in the same spirit as The Onion about Donald Trump finally winning a gold medal which he so richly deserves.

For one, I can absolutely, without reserve, agree that this is indeed a medal which Donald Trump has really earned. No doubt about it. 

Indeed, King Con Don's presidency has been going downhill very fast, in record time. It's something the likes of which most of us have never seen before.

Now, if only we could get the mindless MAGA Moron Cult to actually pay attention and concede that this guy is actually going downhill.

Anyway, it seemed worth sharing here, as a Weekend Funny.

Enjoy.

The Borowitz Report The Borowitz Report  Olympics Update: Trump Wins Gold in Downhill Presidency by Andy Borowitz, Feb 10, 2026:

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/olympics-update-trump-wins-gold-in?fbclid=IwY2xjawP82itleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe2gvhKpRbYa_KUBBPTnxYb-fca_KFTR_meR9vtn5E5UdigQfpewbqSpu61wM_aem_G_4zu61T7Y6jUF_v8OD_6w

Olympics Update: Trump Wins Gold in Downhill Presidency

Weekend Funny: The Onion - Conservatives Boycott All Forms Of Entertainment

This headline from The Onion is something which I have long suspected to be true for quite a long time myself.

These mindless MAGA Morons, who thrived just a few years earlier on anyone who thought differently than they did being overly sensitive "snowflakes," now are themselves acting like children with hurt feelings. There they are, whining and crying that they actually had to watch maybe twenty minutes of someone singing in a language other than English.

Oh, the horror! The humanity!

Good thing that they had Kid Rock to save the day, right? 

But Kid Rock's show could not compete with the actual Super Bowl Halftime Show numbers. Apparently, not even King Con Don watched it, as he clearly watched the Bad Bunny performance, as evidenced by his railing against it in social media posts immediately afterwards.

Anyway, just thought that this was a good headline from the Onion, which has more than a small grain of truth to it.

Enjoy.

Weekend Funny: The Onion - Conservatives Boycott All Forms Of Entertainment  Published:  February 3, 2026

https://theonion.com/conservatives-boycott-all-forms-of-entertainment/

Conservatives Boycott All Forms Of Entertainment - The Onion

An Old, Humorous Photo of Me

Recently unearthed this one, and thought it was worth sharing. Probably as a Weekend Funny, or something in that spirit.

Below is a picture of me trying out some new clothes. This is from October of 2012. Almost a decade and a half ago now.

Man, the time flies.

Barbara Chytla My very fashionable sweetheart, Charles Bordeau, trying out some new threads!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=479064878792034&set=a.162650713766787&id=100000655782584&comment_id=479065255458663&notif_id=1770163036281193&notif_t=onthisday&ref=notif

(1) Facebook

Some More About Mike Tyson With Kevin Rooney & Referee Octavio Meyran

The New York Times from February 12, 1990 showed a picture of Mike Tyson nursing his wounds following the loss to Buster Douglas.

Before moving on from the whole Mike Tyson thing this week, with the book review and a republishing of Jame's Toback's film "Tyson" earlier this week, I found these two links worth sharing here as well.

I found these links after doing a little bit of personal research while I was still reading the book and wanted a little bit more information. The first link is about referee Octavio Meyran, who defended his actions during the whole controversy which immediately followed the shocking defeat suffered by Mike Tyson. He definitively stated that Buster Douglas earned the heavyweight boxing championship in the ring in Tokyo on that day in 1990 by beating the count in the 8th round, then going on to knock out Mike Tyson in the 10th. 

The second link is from former Tyson trainer Kevin Rooney, who discussed Tyson at length back in 2011.

Both seemed worth sharing here.

Enjoy.

Referee Defends Disputed Long Count Over Douglas L.A. Times Archives Feb. 13, 1990 12 AM PT  From Associated Press

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-13-sp-840-story.html

Referee Defends Disputed Long Count Over Douglas - Los Angeles Times

Talkin’ Mike Tyson with Kevin Rooney 08/01/2011

https://www.boxinginsider.com/headlines/talkin-mike-tyson-with-kevin-rooney/

Talkin' Mike Tyson with Kevin Rooney | BoxingInsider.com

Weekend Funny: The Onion - Trove Of Emails About Pedophilia Reignites Nation’s Love Of Reading

This was one of the funniest headlines I remember seeing from The Onion in years.

Yet, it was funny in a not really funny sort of way, because it smacks of a certain truth. Reading anything more substantive than celebrity trash news or, these days, about Trump's heavily redacted Epstein Files has become some of the reading material that has gotten Americans discussing their latest reading material again.

Take a look:

Trove Of Emails About Pedophilia Reignites Nation’s Love Of Reading  Published:  February 5, 2026 WASHINGTON—Sayi

https://theonion.com/trove-of-emails-about-pedophilia-reignites-nations-love-of-reading/

Trove Of Emails About Pedophilia Reignites Nation’s Love Of Reading - The Onion

February 14th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day around the year 278 A.D., St. Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed by beheading. In 842 on this day, Charles II & Louis the German signed a treaty. On this day in 1009 came the first known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. On this day in 1014, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry II, Roman German Emperor. In 1076, the Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV. Jewish Cardinal Pietro Pierleone was elected as anti-pope Anacletus II on this day in 1130. In 1540, Emperor Charles V entered Ghent without resistance, then executed rebels. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was declared a heretic on this day in 1556. On this day in 1610, Polish king Sigismund III, Forges Dimitri #2 & Romanov family sign covenant against czar Vasili Shushki. In 1630 on this day, Dutch fleet of 69 ships reached Pernambuco Brazil. Roman Catholic Emperor Leopold I chased Jews out of Vienna on this day in 1670. On this day in 1689, English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince William III on the throne. On this day in 1779, Captain James Cook, the great English explorer and navigator, was murdered by natives of Hawaii during his third visit to the Pacific island group. In 1929 on this day, the Valentine's Day Massacre takes place in Chicago. Overall, seven gangsters were killed, allegedly on Al Capone's orders. On this day in 1989, the African National Congress (ANC) opened an office in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day around the year 278 A.D., St. Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed by beheading.    Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.    To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.    When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. The sentence was carried out on February 14, on or about the year 270.    Legend also has it that while in jail, St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine."    For his great service, Valentine was named a saint after his death.    In truth, the exact origins and identity of St. Valentine are unclear. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of 14 February." One was a priest in Rome, the second one was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni, Italy) and the third St. Valentine was a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.    Legends vary on how the martyr's name became connected with romance. The date of his death may have become mingled with the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love. On these occasions, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be celebrated as St Valentine's Day.    Gradually, February 14 became a date for exchanging love messages, poems and simple gifts such as flowers.

• In 842 on this day, Charles II & Louis the German signed a treaty. 

• On this day in 1009 came the first known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. 

• On this day in 1014, Pope Benedict VIII crowned Henry II, Roman German Emperor. 

• In 1076, the Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV. 

• Jewish Cardinal Pietro Pierleone was elected as anti-pope Anacletus II on this day in 1130. 

• In 1540, Emperor Charles V entered Ghent without resistance, then executed rebels. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was declared a heretic on this day in 1556. 

• On this day in 1610, Polish king Sigismund III, Forges Dimitri #2 & Romanov family sign covenant against czar Vasili Shushki. 

• In 1630 on this day, Dutch fleet of 69 ships reached Pernambuco Brazil. 

• Roman Catholic Emperor Leopold I chased Jews out of Vienna on this day in 1670. 

• On this day in 1689, English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince William III on the throne.

• 1743 - Henry Pelham becomes Britain's First Lord of Treasury

• 1766 - Dutch governor Falck signs Treaty of Batticaloa with rebels

Picture of a statue of British explorer Captain James Cook

• On this day in 1779, Captain James Cook, the English explorer and navigator, was murdered by natives of Hawaii during his third visit to the Pacific island group.    In 1768, Cook, a surveyor in the Royal Navy, was commissioned a lieutenant in command of the HMS Endeavor and led an expedition that took scientists to Tahiti to chart the course of the planet Venus. In 1771, he returned to England, having explored the coast of New Zealand and Australia and circumnavigated the globe. Beginning in 1772, he commanded a major mission to the South Pacific and during the next three years explored the Antarctic region, charted the New Hebrides, and discovered New Caledonia. In 1776, Cook sailed from England again as commander of the HMS Resolution and Discovery, and in January 1778 he made his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands. He may have been the first European to ever visit the island group, which he named the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his patrons, John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich.    Cook and his crew were welcomed by the Hawaiians, who were fascinated by the Europeans' ships and their use of iron. Cook provisioned his ships by trading the metal, and his sailors traded iron nails for sex. The ships then made a brief stop at Ni'ihau and headed north to look for the western end of a northwest passage from the North Atlantic to the Pacific. Almost one year later, Cook's two ships returned to the Hawaiian Islands and found a safe harbor in Hawaii's Kealakekua Bay.    It is suspected that the Hawaiians attached religious significance to the first stay of the Europeans on their islands. In Cook's second visit, there was no question of this phenomenon. Kealakekua Bay was considered the sacred harbor of Lono, the fertility god of the Hawaiians, and at the time of Cook's arrival the locals were engaged in a festival dedicated to Lono. Cook and his compatriots were welcomed as gods and for the next month exploited the Hawaiians' good will. After one of the crewmen died, exposing the Europeans as mere mortals, relations became strained. On February 4, 1779, the British ships sailed from Kealakekua Bay, but rough seas damaged the foremast of the Resolution, and after only a week at sea the expedition was forced to return to Hawaii.    The Hawaiians greeted Cook and his men by hurling rocks; they then stole a small cutter vessel from the Discovery. Negotiations with King Kalaniopuu for the return of the cutter collapsed after a lesser Hawaiian chief was shot to death and a mob of Hawaiians descended on Cook's party. The captain and his men fired on the angry Hawaiians, but they were soon overwhelmed, and only a few managed to escape to the safety of the Resolution. Captain Cook himself was killed by the mob. A few days later, the Englishmen retaliated by firing their cannons and muskets at the shore, killing some 30 Hawaiians. The Resolution and Discovery eventually returned to England.              

• 1794 - 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Phila

• 1803 - Apple parer patented by Moses Coats, Downington, Penn

An image of the iconic "We the People" wording of the Constitution.

The American Bill of Rights (picture that I took of a copy of the Bill of Rights, not the original)

• In 1803 on this day, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that any act of U.S. Congress that conflicts with the Constitution would be void.

• 1804 - Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.

1831 - Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IVHoly Roman Emperor Henry IV 1844 - Lt. John C. Frémont first European to discover Lake Tahoe in the US

1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes first serving US President to have his photograph taken ( by Matthew Brady).

• 1855 - Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.

1859 - Oregon admitted as 33rd state

1862 - Galena, 1st US iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Conn

1867 - Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Co issues 1st policy

1867 - Morehouse College organizes (Augusta Georgia)

1872 - 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt CA)

1876 - A G Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor   1876 - Alexander Graham Bell filed an application for a patent for the telephone. It was officially issued on March 7, 1876

Flag of Chile

• Chilean troops occupied Antofagasta on this day in 1879.

• An impressive bit of history from my home state. On this day in 1883, New Jersey became the first state to establish labor union legislation; as it legalized unions.

1887 - Cubs sell Mike King Kelly to Boston for record $10,000

1889 - 1st train load of fruit (oranges) leaves LA for east

1890 - 1st NSW v South Australia 1st-class cricket game

1894 - Venus is both a morning star & evening star

Writer/Poet Oscar WildeWriter/Poet Oscar Wilde 1895 - Oscar Wilde's "Importance of Being Earnest," opens in London

1896 - George Lohmann takes a hat-trick v South Africa, 8-7 for inning

1896 - South Africa all out for 30 v England - their lowest ever

1896 - Stanley Cup: Winnipeg Victorias beat Montreal Victorias, 2-0

1896 - Theodor Herzl publishes "Der Judenstaat"

1899 - US Congress begins using voting machines

1900 - Date of events in movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock"

The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.

• On this day in 1900 during the Anglo-Boer War in what is modern day South Africa, British General Roberts invaded the Orange Free State with 20,000 troops. 

• In 1900 on this day, Russia responded to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.

1903 - US Dept of Commerce & Labor forms

1907 - 1st US fox hound association forms in NYC

1912 - 1st US submarines with diesel engines commissioned, Groton, Ct

1912 - Arizona was admitted to the Union as the 48th state

1914 - High Council of Labor forms in Hague Netherlands

1918 - H Atteridge & S Rombergs musical "Sinbad," premieres in NYC

• 1918 - USSR adopts New Style (Gregorian) calendar (originally Feb 1)

• In 1919 on this day, the United Parcel Service (UPS) formed.

•  1919 - The Polish-Soviet War begins.

1920 - League of Women Voters forms in Chicago

1921 - Canadian 5 cent nickel coin is authorized

1921 - Little Review faces obscenity charges for publishing "Ulysses," NY

1924 - IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson

1925 - State of emergency crisis in Bayern ends, NSDAP re-allowed

Gangster Al CaponeGangster Al Capone 1

• In 1929 on this day, the Valentine's Day Massacre takes place in Chicago. Overall, seven gangsters were killed, allegedly on Al Capone's orders. Gunmen in the suspected employment of organized-crime boss Al Capone murder seven members of the George "Bugs" Moran North Siders gang in a garage on North Clark Street. The so-called St. Valentine's Day Massacre stirred a media storm centered on Capone and his illegal Prohibition-era activities and motivated federal authorities to redouble their efforts to find evidence incriminating enough to take him off the streets.    Alphonse Capone was born in Brooklyn in 1899, the son of Italian immigrants from Naples. The fourth of nine children, he quit school after the sixth grade and joined a street gang. He became acquainted with Johnny Torrio, a crime boss who operated in Chicago and New York, and at the age of 18 Capone was employed at a Coney Island club owned by gangster Frankie Yale. It was while working there that his face was slashed in a brawl, earning him the nickname "Scarface."    In 1917, his girlfriend became pregnant and they married, and the couple moved with their son to Baltimore, where Capone attempted a respectable life working as a bookkeeper. In 1921, however, his old friend Johnny Torrio lured him to Chicago, where Torrio had built up an impressive crime syndicate and was beginning to make a fortune on the illicit commerce of alcohol, which was banned in 1919 by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.    Capone demonstrated considerable business acumen and was appointed manager of a Torrio speakeasy. Later, Torrio put him charge of the suburb of Cicero. Unlike his boss, who was always discreet, Capone achieved notoriety as he fought for control of Cicero and was even tried (unsuccessfully) for murder.    In 1925, Torrio was shot four times by Bugs Moran and Hymie Weiss, who were associates of a gangster slain by Torrio's men. Torrio lived, but four weeks later he appeared in court and was sentenced to nine months stemming from a police raid of a brewery he owned. About a month later, he called Capone from jail to tell him that he was retiring and handing the business over to him.    Capone moved his headquarters to the luxurious Metropole Hotel, where he became a visible figure in Chicago public life as his crime empire steadily expanded. After a prosecutor was killed by some of Capone's henchmen, the Chicago police moved aggressively against his criminal operations, but they couldn't make any charges stick. Capone bought a luxurious estate in Miami as a retreat from all this unwanted attention.    Capone was in Florida in February 1929 when he gave the go-ahead for the assassination of Bugs Moran. On February 13, a bootlegger called Moran and offered to sell him a truckload of high quality whiskey at a low price. Moran took the bait and the next morning pulled up to the delivery location where he was to meet several associates and purchase the whisky. He was running a little late, and just as he was pulling up to the garage he saw what looked like two policemen and two detectives get out of an unmarked car and head to the door. Thinking he had nearly avoided being caught in a police raid, Moran drove off. The four men, however, were Capone's assassins, and they were only entering the building before Moran's arrival because they had mistaken one of the seven men inside for the boss himself.    Wearing their stolen police uniforms and heavily armed, Capone's henchmen surprised Moran's men, who agreed to line up against the wall. Thinking they had fallen prey to a routine police raid, they allowed themselves to be disarmed. A moment later, they were gunned down in a hail of shotgun and submachine-gun fire. Six were killed instantly, and the seventh survived for less than an hour.    Americans were shocked and outraged by the cold-blooded Valentine's Day killings, and many questioned whether the sin of intemperance outweighed the evil of Prohibition-era gangsters like Capone. Although, as usual, he had an air-tight alibi, few doubted his role in the massacre. The authorities, particularly affronted by the hit men's use of police uniforms, vowed to bring him to justice.    With a mandate from Herbert Hoover, the new president, the Treasury Department led the assault against Capone, hoping to uncover enough evidence of Prohibition offenses and federal income tax evasion to bring him to justice. In May 1929, Capone was convicted for carrying a concealed weapon and sent to prison for 10 months. Meanwhile, Treasury agents, like Eliot Ness, continued to gather evidence.    In June 1931, Capone was indicted for income tax evasion. On October 17, primarily on the basis of testimony by two former bookkeepers, he was found guilty on several counts. One week later, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and $80,000 in fines and court costs. He entered Atlanta penitentiary in 1932 and in 1934 was transferred to the new Alcatraz Island prison in San Francisco Bay. By that time, Prohibition had been repealed, and Capone's empire had collapsed.    At Alcatraz, the syphilis Capone had contracted in his youth entered a late stage, and he spent his last year in prison in the hospital ward. In 1939, he was released after only six and a half years in jail as the result of good behavior and work credits. He was treated in a Baltimore hospital and in 1940 retired to his Miami estate, where he lived until his death in 1947. He was outlived by his rival Bugs Moran, who later died of lung cancer while serving a 10-year sentence in Kansas for bank robbery.

Flag of Spain

• The Spanish government of General Damasco Berenguer fell on this day in 1931.

1936 - National Negro Congress organizes in Chicago

1936 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson

1936 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee

1939 - Victor Fleming replaces George Cukor as director of Gone With the Wind

1940 - British merchant vessel fleet is armed

1941 - 1,000,000th vehicle traverses the NY Midtown Tunnel

1941 - Carson McCuller's "Reflections in a Golden Eye" published

1941 - Cebrie Park in the Bronx renamed Halsey Street

• On this day in 1941 during World War II, the German Africa Corps landed in Tripoli, Libya.

1942 - Japanese parachutists land near oil center Palembang Sumatra

Director Victor FlemingDirector Victor Fleming 1942 - Rotterdam's Maas tunnel opens

1942 - Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.

1943 - German offensive through de Faid-pass Tunisia

• In 1943 on this day during World War II, the Soviet Red Army recaptured Rostov-on-Don.

1944 - Anti-Japanese revolt on Java

1944 - Carl Wick publishes "Salmon Trolling for Commercial & Sport Fishing

1945 - 8th Air Force bombs Dresden

1945 - Peru, Paraguay, Chile & Ecuador joins UN

1945 - World War II: Prague is bombed probably due to a mistake in the orientation of the pilots bombing Dresden.

1945 - World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans.

1946 - Bank of England nationalized

1949 - 1st session of Knesset (Jerusalem Israel)

1949 - Dutch Drees government presents plan for the building of 30,000 houses

1950 - Moroney scores cricket twin centuries for Australia at Johannesburg

• 1950 - USSR & China sign peace treaty

Flag of the Olympics

• 1952 - 6th Olympic winter games open at Oslo, Norway

• In 1954 on this day, young up and coming Senator John F. Kennedy made an appearance on "Meet the Press."

1954 - WTOC TV channel 11 in Savannah, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting

1955 - WFLA (now WXFL) TV channel 8 in Tampa-St Petersburg, FL (NBC) begins

1956 - 20th Congress of CPSU opens in Moscow

1956 - Indonesia withdraws from Neth Indonesian Union

1956 - Verhoeven/Nauta/De King/Wijnhout win Dutch 11 city skate

1957 - Georgia Senate unanimously approves Sen Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites

1958 - Arab Federation of Iraq & Jordan forms

1959 - $3.6 million heroin seizure in NYC

1960 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open

1960 - Marshal Ayub Khan elected president of Pakistan

1961 - Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley Calif

1961 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Royal Poinciana Golf Invitational

• On this day in 1962, First lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted a tour of the White House on television.  

1963 - US launches communications satellite Syncom 1

• 1966 - Australia introduces 1st decimal currency postage stamps

1966 - Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points

1966 - Writers Andrei Sinjavski & Joeij Daniel found guilty

1966 - Australian currency is decimalised.

1967 - Aretha Franklin records "Respect"

• 1967 - Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up

1968 - Pennsylvania Railroad/NYC Central merge into Penn Central

1968 - WHKY TV channel 14 in Hickory, NC (IND) begins broadcasting

1970 - "Gantry" closes at George Abbott Theater NYC after 1 performance

1971 - Movie "Ben Hur" 1st shown on television

37th US President Richard Nixon37th US President Richard Nixon 

• 1971 - Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House

1972 - John & Yoko co-host "Mike Douglas Show" for entire week

1972 - Luna 20 (Russia) launched to orbit & soft landing on Moon

1972 - CBS "Late Movie" premieres

• 1975 - Bomb explodes at annex of Amsterdam metro station

1976 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1978 - 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments

1978 - In girls' HS basketball, Chicago Latin beats Harvard St George

1979 - "Whoopee!" opens at ANTA Theater NYC for 204 performances

1979 - In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

1980 - "West Side Story" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 341 performances

•  The XIII Winter Olympic games opened on this day in 1980 at Lake Placid, New York.

1980 - US launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares

1981 - Stardust Disaster: A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people

1982 - "Night of 100 Stars" takes place at NY's Radio City Music Hall

1982 - Hollis Stacy wins LPGA S&H Golf Classic

1985 - Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut

1987 - 53,745 largest NBA crowd to date-Phila at Detroit

1988 - 49th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Gary Player

1988 - Alfredo Stroessner re-elected president of Paraguay

1988 - Bobby Allison at 50 becomes oldest driver to win Daytona 500

1988 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic

• On this day in 1989, the African National Congress (ANC) opened an office in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Pictures (above) from a Salman Rushdie book signing event that I attended at Union Square in New York City some years ago.

Salman Rushdie's controversial novel, "The Satanic Verses

• On this day in 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie because of his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses." 

 

• 1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 mill damages for Bhopol disaster

• 1989 - World's 1st satellite Skyphone opens

1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit.

1990 - Alan Ayckbourn's "Man of the Moment," premieres in London

• 1990 - Perrier recalls 160 million bottles of sparkling water after traces of benzene, a carcinogen, are found in some

• 1990 - Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system

• 1992 - Cease fire in Somalia begins

1993 - Fire in Linxi department store in Tangshan China, kills 79

1994 - Andrei Chikatilo, a Russian serial killer is executed by shooting.

1995 - Wellington 2-498d & 4-475 beat Canterbury 496 & 2-476d

1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.

• 2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

• 2002 - The Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board.

• 2004 - In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.

• 2005 - Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, is assassinated, prompting the country to fall into chaos.

• 2005 - Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit the Philippines' Makati financial district in Metro Manila, Davao City, and General Santos City.

2008 - Northern Illinois University shooting: a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall of the DeKalb County, Illinois university resulting in 24 casualties; 6 fatalities (including gunman) and 18 injured.

2011 - The 2011 Bahraini uprising commenced.

• 2013 - A suicide bombing kills 4 police officer and injures 5 in Dagestan

• 2013 - Oscar Pistorius,a South African amputee sprint runner, is charged with the murder of Reeva Steenkamp

• 2013 - The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, will be switched off for two years for upgrading

1778 - The Stars and Stripes was carried to a foreign port, in France, for the first time. It was aboard the American ship Ranger.   1803 - Moses Coates received a patent for the apple parer.   1849 - The first photograph of a U.S. President, while in office, was taken by Matthew Brady in New York City. President James Polk was the subject of the picture.   1859 - Oregon became the 33rd member of the Union.     1889 - In Los Angeles, CA, oranges began their first trip to the east.   1895 - Oscar Wilde's final play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," opened at the St. James' Theatre in London.   1899 - The U.S. Congress approved voting machines for use in federal elections.   1900 - Russia imposed tighter imperial control over Finland in response to an international petition for Finland's freedom.    1903 - The U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor was established.   1912 - The first diesel engine submarine was commissioned in Groton, CT.   1912 - Arizona was admitted as the 48th U.S. state.   1920 - The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago. The first president of the organization was Maude Wood Park.   1929 - The "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in Chicago, IL. Seven gangsters who were rivals of Al Capone were killed.   1932 - The U.S. won the first bobsled competition at the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, NY.   1940 - The first porpoise born in captivity arrived at Marineland in Florida.   1945 - Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador joined the United Nations.   1946 - ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was unveiled. The device, built at the University of Pennsylvania, was the world's first general purpose electronic computer.   1954 - The TV show "Letter to Loretta" changed its name to "The Loretta Young Show." The show premiered on September 20, 1953.   1957 - Lionel Hampton’s only major musical work, "King David," made its debut at New York’s Town Hall.   1961 - Lawrencium, element 103, was first produced in Berkely, CA.   1962 - U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave a tour of the White House on television.   1966 - Rick Mount of Lebanon, IN, became the first high school, male athlete to be pictured on the cover of "Sports Illustrated".   1966 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers set a National Basketball Association (NBA) record as he reached a career high of 20,884 points after seven seasons.   1968 - The fourth Madison Square Gardens opened.   1979 - Twenty-year-old rookie, Don Maloney, of the New York Rangers, scored his first goal in the National Hockey League. It came on his first NHL shot.   1979 - Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists. He was killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.   1980 - Walter Cronkite announced his retirement from the "CBS Evening News."   1983 - A 6-year-old boy became the first person to receive a heart and liver transplants in the same operation.   1985 - Cable News Network (CNN) reporter Jeremy Levin was freed. He had been being held in Lebanon by extremists.    1989 - The first satellite of the Global Positioning System was placed into orbit around Earth.   1989 - Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the government of India. The court-ordered settlement was a result of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster.   1997 - Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery began a series of spacewalks that were required to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope.   1998 - U.S. authorities officially announced that Eric Rudolph was a suspect in a bombing of an abortion clinic in Alabama.   2002 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Shays-Meehan bill. The bill, if passed by the U.S. Senate, would ban millions of unregulated money that goes to the national political parties.   2002 - Sylvester Stallone filed a lawsuit against Kenneth Starr. The suit alleged that Starr had given bad advice about selling Planet Hollywood stock.   2003 - In Madrid, Spain, a ceramic plate with a bullfighting motif painted by Pablo Picasso in 1949 was stolen from an art show. The plate was on sale for $12,400.

1859 Oregon became the 33rd state in the United States. 1912 Arizona became the 48th state in the United States. 1920 The League of Women Voters was founded. 1929 Members of Al Capone's gang killed rival gang members in the St. Valentine's Day massacre. 1989 Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. 2001 The Kansas Board of Education reversed its 1999 ruling and restored evolution to the state's science curriculum. 2003 Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized because of incurable lung cancer.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/feb14.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory