Happenings at This Day in History

About a year ago I stopped making regular updates to this blog to concentrate on my Namnesia Antidote blog. While that is an ongoing effort, I am starting what should be about a year long effort to revitalize the concept of a "This Day in History" blog. I have decided to leave this blog intact and as-is, using a new "This Day in History 2.0" blog for my expanded and full version. Please feel free to email with your ideas. The two tables below should allow you to find a posting for the "Day in History" you wish to research.

A Proud Liberal


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Saturday, March 01, 2008

March 1......

March 1 is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 305 days remaining in the year on this date.

Day of the week in surrounding years:
1982,. . . .,1993,1999,2004—MON—2010
1983,1988,1994,. . . .,2005—TUE—2011
. . . .,1989,1995,2000,2006—WED—. . . .
1984,1990,. . . .,2001,2007—THU—2012
1985,1991,1996,2002,. . . .—FRI—2013
1986,. . . .,1997,2003,2008—SAT—2014
1987,1992,1998,. . . .,2009—SUN—2015

PASCAL DATE INFORMATION
Easter Sunday for the Western Christian Church is defined as the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Lent is defined as the forty days prior to Easter not including Sundays thus Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is 46 days prior to Easter. Calculations for Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday were performed for the 3774 years from 326 to 4099. For the year range 326 to 1582, dates are based on the Julian calendar. For years 1583 to 4099, dates are based on the Gregorian calendar. Ash Wednesday falls in a range of 36 days from February 4 to March 10. Easter Sunday falls in a range of 35 days from March 22 to April 25. The extra day in the Ash Wednesday range is February 29, which only occurs in leap years. February 29 only effects when Ash Wednesday occurs since it is well before the Spring Equinox and has no effect on the date for Easter Sunday. March 10 to March 21 is a twelve-day range that must occur in Lent no matter the timing of Easter Sunday. The entire range of 82 dates from February 4 to April 25 represents all dates with Pascal ramifications.

March 1 is the 27th possible date for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday occurs on this date 143 times during the 3774 years calculated and is ranked 1st of the 36 dates.

It occurred on this date previously in the years:
355, 366, 377, 439, 450, 461, 472, 523, 534, 545, 556, 618, 629, 640, 713, 719, 724, 803, 808, 814, 887, 898, 909, 971, 982, 993, 1004, 1055, 1066, 1077, 1088, 1150, 1161, 1172, 1245, 1251, 1256, 1335, 1340, 1346, 1419, 1430, 1441, 1503, 1514, 1525, 1536, 1623, 1634, 1645, 1656, 1702, 1713, 1724, 1775, 1786, 1797, 1843, 1854, 1865, 1876, 1911, 1922, 1933, 1995, 2006
It will occur on this date in the future in the years:
2017, 2028, 2090, 2147, 2158, 2169, 2180, 2215, 2226, 2237, 2248, 2299, 2305, 2316, 2367, 2378, 2389, 2400, 2451, 2462, 2473, 2484, 2519, 2530, 2541, 2552, 2609, 2620, 2682, 2693, 2739, 2750, 2761, 2772, 2834, 2845, 2856, 2902, 2913, 2924, 2986, 2997, 3043, 3054, 3065, 3076, 3111, 3122, 3133, 3144, 3206, 3217, 3228, 3358, 3369, 3380, 3426, 3437, 3448, 3505, 3516, 3578, 3589, 3600, 3673, 3684, 3730, 3741, 3752, 3809, 3820, 3893, 3950, 3961, 3972, 4045, 4056

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Fear "We fear that we are inadequate, but our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us." — Marianne Williamson

Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Coup D'etat 2000 "Cheaters! Let us in!"A mob of GOP-organized demonstrators—many of them lawyers and staff assistants to Republican legislators and campaign people—screaming in the hall outside the Miami-Dade vote counting center while hand recounts were taking place inside. Ron Fournier, Charleston (WV) Gazette, 11-23-00. On national television, these demonstrators were seen forcing their way into the office building and banging on the locked doors of the counting center. Theodore Olson, former assistant to Ken Starr and now Solicitor General, later admitted that the demonstrations were organized by the GOP to pressure the local canvassing boards. Jonathan Alter, "Far from the Madding crowd," Newsweek, 12-4-00.

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Sports "The way he's swinging the bat, he won't get a hit until the twentieth century." — Jerry Coleman was an infielder for the Yankees (what is it about the Bronx Bombers that turned out such a raft of funny speakers?), and manager of the San Diego Padres. After playing, he made his mark as a radio and TV broadcaster, where his malapropisms, non sequiturs, and other goofs became legendary. Coleman is Hall of Shame member #8.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}


MOON PHASE

Berkeley, California—Times are Pacific Standard Time (PST)
Mar 1, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 38% Age: 79% Rise: 2:51 AM Set: 11:54 AM
Surprise, Arizona—Times are Mountain Standard Time (MST)
Mar 1, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 38% Age: 79% Rise: 2:55 AM Set: 12:28 PM
Iowa City, Iowa—Times are Central Standard Time (CST)
Mar 1, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 38% Age: 79% Rise: 3:00 AM Set: 11:31 AM
Cambridge, Massachusetts—Times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Mar 1, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 39% Age: 79% Rise: 2:38 AM Set: 11:02 AM


NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

Mauna Kea Shadow Play


Credit & Copyright: Alex Mukensnable
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


EVENTS

● 86 B.C.E. - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army, enters in Athens, removing the tyrant Aristion who was supported by troops of Mithridates VI of Pontus.

● 1 B.C.E. - Start of revised Julian calendar in Rome

● 286 - Roman Emperor Diocletian raises Maximian to the rank of Caesar.

● 293 - Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Caesares, thus beginning the Tetrarchy.

● 317 - Crispus and Constantine II, sons of Roman Emperor Constantine I, and Licinius iunior, son of Emperor Licinius, are made Caesares

● 492 - St. Felix III ends his reign as Catholic Pope

● 492 - St. Gelasius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope

● 589 - Saint David, patron saint of Wales, dies.

● 705 - John VII begins his reign as Catholic Pope

● 743 - Slave export by Christians to heathen areas prohibited

● 918 - Balderik becomes bishop of Utrecht

● 1260 - Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis, conquerors Damascus

● 1382 - French Maillotin uprises against taxes

● 1420 - Pope Martinus I calls for crusade against the hussieten

● 1457 - The Unitas Fratrum is established in the village of Kunvald, on the Bohemian-Moravian borderland. It is to date the second oldest Protestant denomination.

● 1498 - Vasco de Gama landed at what is now Mozambique on his way to India.

● 1562 - Over 1,000 Huguenots are massacred by Catholics in Wassy, France marking the start of the French Wars of Religion.

● 1565 - The city of Rio de Janeiro is founded by Spanish occupier Estacio de Sá.

● 1587 - English parliament leader Peter Wentworth confined in London Tower

● 1591 - Pope Gregory XIV threatens to excommunicate French King Henri IV

● 1593 - The Uppsala Synod is summoned to confirm the exact forms of the Lutheran Church of Sweden.

● 1628 - Writs are issued in February by Charles I of England that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date.

● 1633 - On his deathbed, English poet and clergyman George Herbert, 39, uttered these last words: 'I shall be free from sin and all the temptations and anxieties that attend it...I shall dwell... where these eyes shall see my Master and Savior.'

● 1633 - Samuel de Champlain reclaims his role as commander of New France on behalf of Cardinal Richelieu.

● 1634 - Battle at Smolensk; Polish King Wladyslaw IV beats Russians

● 1642 - Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in the USA.

● 1692 - The Salem Witch Trials in the Massachusetts colony officially began with the conviction of Rev. Samuel Parris' West Indian slave, Tituba, for witchcraft.

● 1700 - Sweden introduces its own Swedish calendar, in an attempt to gradually merge into the Gregorian calendar, reverts to the Julian calendar on this date in 1712, and introduces the Gregorian Calendar on this date in 1753.

● 1780 - Pennsylvania becomes 1st US state to abolish slavery (for newborns only) {Mothers and fathers remaining slaves leave little hope for true freedom for the newborn children.}

● 1781 - The Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation.

● 1785 - Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture organized

● 1790 - First U.S. Census count includes slave and free Negroes. Indians were not included. {Of course, slaves only count as three-fifths of a person as per the Constitution.}

● 1792 - US Presidential Succession Act passed

● 1796 - 1st National Meeting in the Hague

● 1803 - Ohio is admitted as the 17th U.S. state.

● 1805 - Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted at the end of his impeachment trial by the U.S. Senate.

● 1809 - Embargo Act of 1807 repealed & Non-Intercourse Act signed

● 1810 - Georgetown College was chartered in Washington, D.C., making it the first Roman Catholic institution of higher learning established in the United States.

● 1810 - Sweden became the first country to appoint an Ombudsman, Lars August Mannerheim.

● 1811 - French Civil Code of Criminal law accepted by Netherlands Mamelukes in Cairo's Citadel

● 1811 - Leaders of the Mameluke dynasty are killed by Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali.

● 1815 - Napoleon returned to France from the island of Elba. He had been forced to abdicate in April of 1814.

● 1815 - Sunday observance in Netherlands regulated by law

● 1836 - A Convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities convenes in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.

● 1840 - Adolphe Thiers becomes prime minister of France.

● 1845 - President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.

● 1847 - Michigan becomes 1st English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state)

● 1852 - Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

● 1854 - German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears; two years later his remains are found in a canal near Charlottenburg.

● 1854 - SS City of Glasgow leaves Liverpool harbor & is never seen again

● 1859 - Present seal of San Francisco adopted (its 2nd)

● 1862 - Prussia formally recognized the Kingdom of Italy.

● 1864 - Bebecca Lee of Boston, MA, becomes first African-American woman to gain a medical degree.

● 1864 - Louis Ducos de Hauron patented a machine for taking and projecting motion pictures. The machine was never built.

● 1866 - Paraguayan canoes sink 2 Brazilian ironclads on Rio Parana

● 1867 - Howard University, Washington DC, chartered

● 1867 - Most of Nebraska becomes 37th US state (expanded later); Lancaster, Nebraska is renamed Lincoln and becomes the state capital.

● 1869 - Postage stamps showing scenes are issued for 1st time

● 1870 - Anarchists Costa and Bakunin issue first revolutionary bulletin in Italy.

● 1871 - J Milton Turner named minister to Liberia

● 1872 - Congress gives African Americans the right to serve on juries and occupy public places. In the wake of the Civil War, black men have been able to vote and hold elected office. But because African Americans remain dependent on whites for work, these rights often are denied by force. Southern whites are beginning to use their economic power and form terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, and many northern politicians say stabilizing the South requires a return to white supremacy. It is only a matter of time before they reduce blacks again to near slavery.

● 1872 - Yellowstone becomes world's first national park.

● 1873 - E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York start production of the first practical typewriter.

● 1873 - Henry Comstock discovers the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada.

● 1875 - Civil Rights Bill enacted by U.S. Congress gives blacks the rights to equal treatment in public places and transport. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883 saying Congress overstepped its authority. {Current libertarians and "strict constitutionalists" make same argument about current civil rights laws; so far there are not enough NeoCons on the Supreme Court to make Jim Crow legal again.}

● 1876 - Guernsey Cattle Club forms (Farmington CT)

● 1877 - Birth of Milly Witkop Rocker (1877-1955), Ukraine. Exiled to London, she was an activist in the Jewish anarchist movement among the Lower Eastside sweatshop workers. In 1916 she was sentenced to two years in prison for antiwar activities, and in 1918 went to Germany, where Milly organized women workers. In 1933, with the Nazi burning of the Reichstag they were forced to the U.S., where they continued to fight and organize, and were prominent supporters of the revolution in Spain.

● 1879 - Library of Hawaii founded

● 1886 - Anglo-Chinese School, Singapore is founded by Bishop William Oldham.

● 1893 - Diplomatic Appropriation Act, authorizes the US rank of ambassador

● 1896 - Battle of Adowa: an Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo–Ethiopian War.

● 1896 - Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity.

● 1896 - Italy - On the island of Tremiti, confrontations take place with the police, who kill the anarchist Argante Salucci and wound 10 companions.

● 1900 - In South Africa, Ladysmith was relieved by British troops after being under siege by the Boers for more than four months.

● 1907 - In New York, the Salvation Army opened an anti-suicide bureau.

● 1907 - In Odessa, Russia, there were only about 15,000 Jews left due to evacuations.

● 1907 - In Spain, a royal decree abolished civil marriages.

● 1907 - Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) strike Portland, Oregon sawmills.

● 1909 - 1st US university school of nursing established, University of Minnesota

● 1910 - The first issue of "The Evening Light and Church of God Evangel" was published in Cleveland, Tennessee. A. J. Tomlinson, the publishing editor, was an instrumental figure in the history of the Church of God (also headquartered today in Cleveland, Tennessee).

● 1910 - Three passenger trains buried at Stevens Pass in Cascade Range, Washington; 118 die. Worst snowslide in U.S. history.

● 1911 - Jose Ordonez was elected President of Uraguay.

● 1912 - Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.

● 1912 - Coal strike that began days before in Derbyshire, England becomes a general, nationwide strike.

● 1912 - Isabella Goodwin, 1st US woman detective, appointed, New York NY

● 1913 - 1st state law requiring bonding of officers & state employees, North Dakota

● 1913 - Federal income tax takes effect (16th amendment)

● 1914 - Birth of Ralph Ellison, Oklahoma City, Okla. Best known and only published novel "Invisible Man" (1952) tells a story of a black man who retires in a basement to solve his relationship with American society. {Book remains on enlightened high school reading lists.}

● 1914 - The Republic of China joins the Universal Postal Union.

● 1916 - Germany begins attacking ships in the Atlantic

● 1917 - 1st federal land bank chartered

● 1917 - Birth of Robert Lowell, American poet, WWII conscientious objector, Boston, Massachusetts.

● 1917 - U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram {Germans had offered old Mexican territories in the US if Mexico were to enter WWI on the German side.} to the public.

● 1918 - German submarine U-19 sinks HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island.

● 1919 - March 1st Movement begins in Korea.

● 1920 - Austria becomes a kingdom again, under Admiral Horthy

● 1921 - Russia - From March 1-17, the old Bolshevik stronghold of Kronstadt rises demanding free election to the Soviets -- but is slandered and brutally suppressed upon the orders of Lenin and Trotsky. Today the Kronstadt naval base on Kotlin Island, some 25 miles off-shore from Petrograd, adopts a 15- point program of political and economic demands -- a program in open defiance of the Bolshevik Party's control of the Soviet state. Less than three weeks later, on March 17, Kronstadt was subdued in a bloody assault by select Red Army units.

● 1921 - Rwanda ceded to England

● 1922 - Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who worked for peace with Palestinian and Arab neighbors, was born.

● 1923 - Allies occupy Ruhrgebied; killing railroad striker

● 1924 - Germany's prohibition of Communist Party KPD lifted

● 1927 - Bank of Italy becomes a National Bank

● 1932 - Librado Rivera dies from complications following a car accident. Mexican anarchist, a school principal, then a professor, companion in the fight waged by the Magon brothers, Enrique and Flores. His libertarian ideals landed him in jail numerous times; in May 1905 Rivera went into exile in the U.S. Several times jailed and threatened with expulsion. Finally sentenced to 15 years of forced labor. Rivera was released in 1923 and extradited to Mexico.

● 1932 - The son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, is kidnapped.

● 1933 - Bank holidays declared in 6 states, to prevent run on banks

● 1934 - Henry Pu Yi crowned emperor Kang Teh of Manchuria

● 1936 - A strike occurs aboard the S.S. California, leading to the demise of the International Seamen's Union and the creation of the National Maritime Union.

● 1936 - Hoover Dam is completed.

● 1937 - 1st permanent automobile license plates issued (Connecticut)

● 1937 - US Steel raises workers' wages to $5 a day

● 1941 - Himmler inspects Auschwitz concentration camp

● 1941 - W47NV (now known as WSM-FM) begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee becoming the first FM radio station in the U.S..

● 1941 - World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, allying itself with the Axis powers.

● 1942 - 3 day Battle of Java Sea ends, US suffers a major naval defeat

● 1942 - Japanese troops occupy Kalidjati airport in Java

● 1942 - Suriname camp for NSB people opens to save Jews

● 1942 - Tito establishes 2nd Proletarit Brigade in Bosnia

● 1943 - Huge rally calls on U.S. government to reconsider its refusal to offer sanctuary to Jewish refugees of Nazi Germany. Madison Square, New York City.

● 1943 - Jewish old age home for disabled in Amsterdam raided

● 1943 - World War II: Battle of Bismarck Sea begins.

● 1944 - Massive strikes in Northern Italian towns

● 1944 - U-358 sinks in Atlantic

● 1945 - British 43rd Division under General Essame occupies Xanten

● 1945 - Chinese 30th division occupies Hsenwi

● 1945 - FDR announces success of Yalta Conference

● 1945 - Fieldmarshal Kesselring succeeds von Rundstedt as commander

● 1945 - US infantry regiment captures Mönchengladbach

● 1946 - Panamá accepts its new constitution

● 1946 - The Bank of England is nationalised.

● 1947 - Chinese Premier T. V. Soong resigned.

● 1947 - The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations.

● 1949 - Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch.

● 1950 - Chiang Kai-shek resumed the Presidency of National China on Formosa

● 1950 - Cold War: Communist spy jailed for 14 years; Nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs is sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for espionage.

● 1950 - USSR issues golden rubles

● 1951 - Spain - Public transport boycott, prelude to the first strike wave under Franco.

● 1952 - Egyptian government-Ali Maher Pasja resigns

● 1952 - Helgoland, in North Sea, returned to West Germany by Britain

● 1953 - Joseph Stalin collapses, having suffered a stroke. He dies four days later.

● 1954 - Five Congressmen shot on the floor of the House by four Puerto Rican Nationalists who fired at random from the spectator's gallery.

● 1954 - Nuclear testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States with over 7,000 square miles contaminated as well as many local residents and Japanese fishermen.

● 1954 - Rebellion during visit of President Naguib in Khartoum Sudan, 30 die

● 1955 - Israeli assault on Gaza, kills 48

● 1956 - The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.

● 1958 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the Roman Curia.

● 1959 - Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus after 3 years

● 1961 - President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.

● 1961 - Uganda becomes self-governing and holds its first elections.

● 1962 - American Airlines 707 plunges nose 1st into Jamaica Bay NY killing 95

● 1962 - Pakistan announced that it had a new constitution that set up a presidential system of government.

● 1962 - US/British nuclear test experiment in Nevada

● 1963 - 200,000 French mine workers strike

● 1965 - Gas explosion kills 28 in apartment complex (La Salle Québec Canada)

● 1966 - Britain to go decimal in 1971; Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan confirms the "historic and momentous" decision to change over to decimal coinage.

● 1966 - Ghana ordered all Soviet, East German and Chinese technicians to leave the country.

● 1966 - Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: If Jesus is and does what we read in 1 John 2:2, then He prays for all men: for those who already pray and for those who do not yet pray.'

● 1966 - The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria.

● 1966 - Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.

● 1967 - Dominica & St Lucia gain independence from Britain

● 1967 - House of Representatives expels Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr. D-NY (307 to 116) after he is cited for contempt of court for refusing to pay damages in a lawsuit. He is re-elected without campaigning the following month.

● 1968 - Chicana Welfare Rights Organization is formed, with Alicia Escalante as director.

● 1968 - Political Party Radikalen (PPR) established in Netherlands

● 1968 - Vatican City's Apostolic Constitution of 1967 goes into effect

● 1970 - End of US commercial {admitted and sanctioned} whale hunting

● 1970 - Kreisky's social-democrats win Austrian parliamentary election

● 1970 - White government of Rhodesia declares independence from Britain

● 1971 - A bomb planted by the Weather Underground explodes in a U.S. Capitol restroom, "in retaliation for the Laos decision."

● 1971 - At Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium, Jim Morrison of the Doors is arrested for allegedly exposing his penis during the show. Morrison is officially charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent behavior, open profanity and public drunkenness.

● 1971 - Pakistani President Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.

● 1971 - Workers down tools over union rights; Hundreds of thousands of workers across Britain take part in an unofficial day of protest against the government's new industrial relations Bill.

● 1972 - The Thai province of Yasothon is created after being split off from the Ubon Ratchathani province.

● 1973 - Black September terrorists storm the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan resulting in the 1973 Khartoum diplomatic assassinations.

● 1974 - Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. Among the seven were former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John Mitchell.

● 1975 - Colour television transmissions begin in Australia.

● 1976 - Bradford Bishop bludgeoned his mother, spouse and three children to death and is still at large.

● 1977 - Death of Haghard Jonassen, co-founder of AMK.

● 1977 - US extends territorial waters to 200 miles

● 1978 - Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery. {Charlie didn't see the need to comment.}

● 1980 - CTUC, Commonwealth Trade Union Council, established

● 1980 - Snow falls in Florida

● 1980 - Voyager 1 probe confirms that Janus (moon of Saturn) exists.

● 1981 - Bobby Sands, IRA member, begins 65-day hunger strike in Maze Prison (he dies)

● 1982 - 5 die as ski lift malfunctions a Lúz-Ardiden in Pyrenees

● 1982 - Russian spacecraft Venera 14 lands on Venus, sends back data

● 1983 - Tornado tears through Louisiana, injuring 33 people

● 1984 - NASA launches Landsat-D Prime (Landsat 5) to thematic map the Earth

● 1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1985 - Pentagon accepts theory that atomic war would cause a nuclear winter {Some later think this could cure global warming.}

● 1986 - Start of Great Peace March for global nuclear disarmament, Los Angeles.

● 1988 - Iraq says it launched 16 missiles into Tehran

● 1988 - Soviet troops were sent into Azerbaijan after ethnic riots between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

● 1989 - Comet du Toit at perihelion

● 1989 - In Washington, DC, Mayor Barry and the City council imposed a curfew on minors.

● 1989 - The United States becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

● 1990 - Benin nullifies its constitution

● 1990 - In Cairo, 16 people were killed in a fire at the Sheraton Hotel.

● 1990 - Luis Alberto Lacelle sworn in as President of Uruguay

● 1990 - Secrets act gags whistleblowers; Whistleblowers and journalists will, from today, risk criminal prosecution if they reveal information viewed as damaging to the defence of the UK.

● 1990 - Steve Jackson Games is raided by the United States Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

● 1990 - The Seabrook, NH, nuclear power plant won federal permission to go on line after two decades of protests and legal struggles.

● 1991 - US Embassy in Kuwait officially reopens

● 1991 - Women for Peace protest against militarism, Belgrade and Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.

● 1992 - Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Yugoslavia.

● 1992 - Bosnian Serb snipers fired upon civilians after a majority of the Moslem and Croatian communities voted in favor of Bosnia's independence.

● 1992 - King Fahd of Saudi Arabia announced major political reforms that ceded some powers after 10 years of disciplined rule.

● 1992 - Sen. Brock Adams, D-Wash., abandoned his re-election campaign after eight women accused him in a Seattle Times report of sexual abuse and harassment.

● 1993 - Authorities in Waco TX negotiate with Branch Davidians

● 1993 - The U.S. government announced that the number of food stamp recipients had reached a record number of 26.6 million.

● 1994 - Israel released about 500 Arab prisoners in an effort to placate Palestinians over the Hebron massacre.

● 1994 - Martti Ahtisaari inaugurated as President of Finland

● 1994 - Senate rejects a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution

● 1994 - West charged as death toll mounts; Fred West is charged with two further murders following the discovery of more human remains in the garden of his Gloucester home.

● 1995 - Belgium ends military conscription

● 1995 - Julio María Sanguinetti sworn in as President of Uruguay

● 1995 - Polish Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak resigns from parliament and is replaced by ex-communist Józef Oleksy.

● 1995 - The European Parliament rejected legislation that would have allowed biotechnology companies to patent new life forms.

● 1995 - Ukraine premier Vitaly Massol, resigns

● 1997 - Fifteen thousand demonstrate in Lunesburg, Germany, against shipment of French nuclear waste to site in Gorleben. Over the next several days hundreds of thousands would participate in demonstrations and direct actions along the shipping route.

● 1999 - In Uganda, eight tourists were brutally murdered by Hutu rebels. {I've always wondered when murder isn't brutal.}

● 1999 - The Angolan Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, exploded. Four other bombs went off in the capital.

● 2000 - Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.

● 2000 - The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.

● 2002 - Operation Anaconda began in eastern Afghanistan. Allied forces were fighting against Taliban and Al Quaida fighters.

● 2002 - Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off for mission STS-109, its final successful mission.

● 2002 - The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 kilometers (500 miles) above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500 kilograms (9.5 tons).

● 2002 - The Peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€).

● 2003 - In New York, a $250,000 Salvador Dali sketch was stolen from a display case in the lobby at Rikers Island jail. On June 17, 2003, it was announced that four corrections officers had surrendered and plead innocent in connection to the theft. The mixed-media composition was a sketch of the crucifixion. {What the hell is a valuable piece of art doing at a jail to begin with?}

● 2003 - In the U.S., approximately 180,000 personnel from 22 different organizations around the government became part of the Department of Homeland Security. This completed the largest government reorganization since the beginning of the Cold War.

● 2003 - Suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured by CIA and Pakistani agents near Islamabad.

● 2004 - Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum becomes President of Iraq.

● 2004 - Punycode adopted by the national registrars of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

● 2004 - Terry Nichols is convicted of state murder charges and being an accomplice to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

● 2005 - A closely divided Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juvenile criminals.

● 2005 - Dennis Rader, the churchgoing family man accused of leading a double life as the BTK serial killer, was charged in Wichita, Kan., with 10 counts of first-degree murder. (Rader later pleaded guilty and received multiple life sentences.).

● 2006 - English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station.

● 2006 - Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the new debating chamber for the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff, a milestone in devolution.

● 2006 - Tarja Halonen is inaugurated as president of Finland for the second and last time.

● 2006 - The first confirmed case of H5N1 bird flu virus in Switzerland, a dead swan on Lake Geneva, near the city of Geneva.

● 2007 - "Squatters" are evicted from Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, provoking the March 2007 Denmark Riots.

● 2007 - Tornadoes swarm across the southern United States, killing at least 20; eight of the deaths were at a high school in Enterprise, Alabama.


BIRTHS

● 40 - Martial, Latin poet (d. 102)

● 1389 - Antoninus, Italian Archbishop of Florence (d. 1459)

● 1432 - Isabel of Coimbra, queen of Portugal (d. 1455)

● 1445 - Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (d. 1510)

● 1456 - King Ladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1516)

● 1474 - Angela Merici, Italian nun (d. 1540)

● 1547 - Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher (d. 1628)

● 1597 - Jean-Charles de la Faille, Belgian mathematician (d. 1652)

● 1610 - John Pell, English mathematician (d. 1685)

● 1644 - Simon Foucher, French ecclesiastic philosopher (d. 1696)

● 1657 - Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian (d. 1740)

● 1683 - Caroline of Ansbach, wife of George II of Great Britain (d. 1737)

● 1732 - William Maxwell Cushing, 2nd (confirmed) Chief Justice of the United States. (d. 1810)

● 1760 - François Nicolas Leonard Buzot, French revolutionary (d. 1794)

● 1769 - François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, French general (d. 1796)

● 1807 - Wilford Woodruff, fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1898)

● 1810 - Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French composer and pianist (d. 1849)

● 1812 - Augustus Pugin, English-born architect (d. 1852)

● 1817 - Giovanni Duprè, Italian sculptor (d. 1882)

● 1821 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Catholic bishop (d. 1896)

● 1837 - William Dean Howells, American writer, historian, and politician (d. 1920)

● 1842 - Nicholaos Gysis, Greek painter (d. 1901)

● 1848 - Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Irish-born American sculptor (d. 1907)

● 1852 - Théophile Delcassé, French statesman (d. 1923)

● 1858 - Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1918)

● 1863 - Alexander Golovin, Russian painter (d. 1930)

● 1865 - Abe Iso, Japanese politician (d. 1949)

● 1871 - Ben Harney, American composer and ragtime pianist (d. 1938)

● 1876 - Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian IOC president (d. 1942)

● 1880 - Giles Lytton Strachey British writer (d. 1932)

● 1886 - Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter and poet (d. 1980)

● 1888 - Ewart Astill, English cricketer (d. 1948)

● 1889 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (d. 1960)

● 1892 - Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japanese writer (d. 1927)

● 1893 - Mercedes de Acosta, American socialite (d. 1968)

● 1896 - Dimitris Mitropoulos, Greek conductor and composer (d. 1960)

● 1896 - Moriz Seeler, German writer and producer (d. 1942)

● 1899 - Erich von dem Bach, Nazi official (d. 1972)

● 1901 - Pietro Spiggia, Italian poet

● 1904 - Glenn Miller, American bandleader (d. 1944)

● 1904 - Paul Hartman, American actor (d. 1973)

● 1905 - Doris Hare, Welsh actress (d. 2000)

● 1910 - Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2002)

● 1910 - David Niven, English actor (d. 1983)

● 1912 - Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter, archbishop of Toronto (d. 2003)

● 1914 - Harry Caray, American sportscaster (d. 1998)

● 1914 - Ralph Ellison, American writer (d. 1994)

● 1917 - Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)

● 1918 - Gladys Noon Spellman, American politician (d. 1988)

● 1918 - João Goulart, President of Brazil (d. 1976)

● 1918 - Roger Delgado, English actor (d. 1973)

● 1920 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)

● 1920 - Max Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1984)

● 1921 - Richard Wilbur, American poet

● 1921 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d. 1983)

● 1922 - William Gaines, American publisher ("Mad Magazine") (d. 1992)

● 1922 - Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1995)

● 1923 - Kuczka Péter, Hungarian writer and editor (d. 1999)

● 1924 - Deke Slayton, American astronaut (d. 1993)

● 1926 - Alvin "Pete" Rozelle, commissioner of American football (d. 1996)

● 1926 - Cesare Danova, Italian-born American actor (d. 1992)

● 1926 - Robert Clary, French actor (''Hogan's Heroes'')

● 1927 - Harry Belafonte, American musician and activist

● 1927 - Robert H. Bork, Former U.S. solicitor general and rejected Supreme Court nominee {and general NeoCon idiot}

● 1928 - Dr. Seymour Papert, South African mathematician and artificial intelligence researcher

● 1928 - Jacques Rivette, French film director

● 1928 - Seymour Papert, South African mathematician

● 1929 - Georgi Markov, Bulgarian dissident (d. 1978)

● 1930 - Gastone Nencini, Italian cyclist (d. 1980)

● 1935 - Robert Conrad, American actor

● 1936 - Jean-Edern Hallier, French author (d. 1997)

● 1936 - Monique Bégin, French-Canadian politician

● 1937 - Jed Allan, American actor

● 1939 - Leo Brouwer, Cuban composer and guitarist

● 1940 - Robert Grossman, American illustrator

● 1942 - Richard Bowman Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

● 1943 - Akinori Nakayama, Japanese gymnast

● 1943 - Gil Amelio, American venture capitalist

● 1943 - José Ángel Iribar, Spanish footballer

● 1943 - Rashid Sunyaev, Russian physicist

● 1943 - Richard H. Price, American physicist

● 1944 - John Breaux, U.S. Senator from Louisiana

● 1944 - Mike d'Abo, English singer (Manfred Mann)

● 1944 - Roger Daltrey, English musician (The Who)

● 1945 - Dirk Benedict, American actor

● 1946 - Elvin Bethea, American football player

● 1946 - Gerry Boulet, French-Canadian singer (d. 1990)

● 1946 - Lana Wood, American actress

● 1947 - Alan Thicke, Canadian actor and songwriter ("Growing Pains")

● 1948 - Burning Spear, Jamaican singer and musician

● 1952 - Leigh Matthews, Australian rules footballer

● 1952 - Martin O'Neill, Northern Irish footballer and manager

● 1952 - Steven Barnes, American writer

● 1953 - Richard Bruton, Irish politician and economist

● 1954 - Catherine Bach, American actress (''The Dukes of Hazzard'')

● 1954 - Ron Howard, American actor and director

● 1956 - Timothy Daly, American actor ("Wings")

● 1957 - Jon Carroll, Singer-musician

● 1958 - Bertrand Piccard, Swiss balloonist and psychiatrist

● 1958 - Chosei Komatsu, Japanese conductor

● 1960 - William Bennett, English musician (Whitehouse)

● 1962 - Bill Leen, Rock musician

● 1963 - Dan Michaels, American musician and record producer

● 1963 - Rob Affuso, American drummer

● 1963 - Ron Francis, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1963 - Russell Wong, Actor

● 1963 - Thomas Anders, German singer (Modern Talking)

● 1964 - Clinton Gregory, American musician

● 1964 - Paul Le Guen, French football manager

● 1965 - Booker Huffman, American professional wrestler

● 1965 - Mary Lou Lord, American singer/songwriter

● 1965 - Stewart Elliott, Canadian jockey

● 1966 - John David Cullum, Actor

● 1966 - Susan Auch, Canadian speed-skater

● 1967 - Aron Winter, Dutch footballer

● 1967 - George Eads, American actor ("CSI")

● 1967 - Yelena Afanasyeva, Russian athlete

● 1969 - Dafydd Ieuan, Welsh drummer (Super Furry Animals)

● 1969 - Doug Creek, American baseball player

● 1969 - Javier Bardem, Spanish actor

● 1969 - Litefoot, Native American rapper

● 1970 - Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer

● 1971 - Tyler Hamilton, American cyclist

● 1973 - Carlo Resoort, Dutch DJ

● 1973 - Chris Webber, American basketball player

● 1973 - Ryan Peake, Canadian guitarist (Nickelback)

● 1974 - Mark-Paul Gosselaar, American actor

● 1974 - Stephen Davis, American football player

● 1976 - Peter F. Bell, Australian rules footballer

● 1977 - Esther Cañadas, Spanish actress and supermodel

● 1977 - Rens Blom, Dutch athlete

● 1978 - Alicia Leigh Willis, American actress

● 1978 - Donovan Patton, Guamanian television star (''Blues Clues'')

● 1978 - Jensen Ackles, American actor

● 1980 - Abdur Rehman, Pakistani cricketer

● 1980 - Djimi Traoré, Malian footballer

● 1980 - Shahid Afridi, Pakistani cricketer

● 1981 - Adam LaVorgna, American actor

● 1981 - Ana Hickmann, Brazilian supermodel

● 1981 - Brad Winchester, American ice hockey player

● 1981 - Sean Woolstenhulme, Rock musician

● 1981 - Will Power, Australian racing driver

● 1983 - Blake Hawksworth, Canadian baseball player

● 1983 - Chris Hackett, English footballer

● 1983 - Daniel Carvalho, Brazilian footballer

● 1983 - Elan Sara DeFan, Mexican singer-songwriter

● 1984 - Alexander Steen, Canadian-born Swedish ice hockey player

● 1984 - Naima Mora, American model

● 1985 - Andreas Ottl, German footballer

● 1985 - J Leman, American Football Player

● 1986 - Jonathan Spector, American soccer player

● 1987 - Sammie, American singer

● 1988 - Katija Pevec, American actress

● 1989 - Carlos Vela, Mexican footballer

● 1989 - Sonya Kitchell, American singer

● 1990 - Harry Eden, English actor

● 1990 - Nikolas Tsattalios, Australian soccer player


DEATHS

● 589 - Saint David, Patron Saint of Wales (b. 500)

● 986 - King Lothair of France (b. 941)

● 1131 - King Stephen II of Hungary (b. 1101)

● 1233 - Count Thomas I of Savoy (b. 1178)

● 1244 - Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr, son of Llywelyn the Great (b. 1200)

● 1383 - Amadeus VI of Savoy (b. 1334)

● 1510 - Francisco de Almeida, Portuguese soldier and explorer

● 1536 - Bernardo Accolti, Italian poet (b. 1465)

● 1546 - George Wishart, Scottish religious reformer (martyred) (b 1513)

● 1620 - Thomas Campion, English poet and composer (b. 1567)

● 1633 - George Herbert, English poet and orator (b. 1593)

● 1643 - Girolamo Frescobaldi, Italian composer (b. 1583)

● 1661 - Richard Zouch, English jurist (b. 1590)

● 1697 - Francesco Redi, Italian physician (b. 1626)

● 1706 - Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German field marshal and Governor of Berlin (b. 1632)

● 1734 - Roger North, English biographer (b. 1653)

● 1757 - Edward Moore, English writer (b. 1712)

● 1768 - Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (b. 1694)

● 1773 - Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect (b. 1700)

● 1777 - Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer (b. 1715)

● 1792 - Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1747)

● 1841 - Claude Victor-Perrin, duc de Belluno, French marshal (b. 1764)

● 1862 - Peter Barlow, English mathematician (b. 1776)

● 1875 - Tristan Corbière, French poet (b. 1845)

● 1879 - Joachim Heer, Swiss politician (b. 1825)

● 1884 - Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician (b. 1820)

● 1898 - George Bruce Malleson, English officer in India, author (b. 1825)

● 1906 - José María de Pereda, Spanish novelist (b. 1833)

● 1911 - Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)

● 1912 - George Grossmith, English actor and comic writer (b. 1847)

● 1914 - Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto (b. 1845)

● 1920 - John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator (b. 1842)

● 1920 - Joseph Trumpeldor, Russian Zionist (b. 1880)

● 1922 - Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, Spanish footballer (b. 1892)

● 1929 - Royal H. Weller, American politician (b. 1881)

● 1932 - Frank Teschemacher, American jazz clarinettist (b. 1906)

● 1933 - Uładzimir Zylka, Belarusian poet (b. 1900)

● 1936 - Mikhail Kuzmin, Russian writer (b. 1871)

● 1938 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer, war hero, and politician (b. 1863)

● 1940 - Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (b. 1878)

● 1943 - Alexandre Yersin, Swiss physician (b. 1863)

● 1952 - Mariano Azuela, Mexican novelist (b. 1873)

● 1963 - Irish Meusel, American baseball player (b. 1893)

● 1963 - Jorge Daponte, Argentine racing driver (b. 1923)

● 1966 - Fritz Houtermans, German physicist (b. 1903)

● 1970 - Lucille Hegamin, American singer and entertainer (b. 1894)

● 1974 - Bobby Timmons, American jazz pianist (b. 1935)

● 1979 - Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (b. 1903)

● 1980 - Dixie Dean, English footballer (b. 1907)

● 1980 - Wilhelmina, high-fashion model and owner of model agency (b. 1940)

● 1984 - Jackie Coogan, American actor (b. 1914)

● 1988 - Joe Besser, American comedian and actor (b. 1907)

● 1991 - Edwin H. Land, American scientist and inventor (Polaroid Corporation) (b. 1909)

● 1995 - Georges J.F. Kohler, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1946)

● 1995 - Vladislav Listyev, Russian television journalist (b. 1956)

● 2000 - Dennis Danell, American guitarist (Social Distortion) (b. 1961)

● 2006 - Harry Browne, American politician and author (b. 1933)

● 2006 - Jack Wild, English actor (b. 1952)

● 2006 - Johnny Jackson, American musician (b. 1951)

● 2006 - Peter Osgood, English footballer (b. 1947)

● 2006 - Peter Snow, New Zealand doctor

● 2007 - Manuel Bento, Portuguese goalkeeper (b. 1948)


HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Abdalong of Marseilles - informal feast
● St. Abdecalas
● St. Adrianus
● St. Albin
● St. Aubin
● St. David (National Holiday of Wales)
● St. Eudocia
● St. Herculaflus
● Sts. Hermes and Adrian
● St. Leo Luke
● St. Leo of Rouen
● St. Lupercus
● St. Marnock
● St. Monan, largely legendary Scottish saint
● St. Rudesind
● St. Swidbert

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for February 17 (Civil Date: March 1)
● Great-Martyr Theodore the Tyro.
● Opening of the Relics of Martyr Menas of Alexandria
● St. Mariamne, sister of Apostle Philip.
● St. Auxibius, Bishop of Soli in Cyprus.
● St. Theodosius the Bulgarian and his disciple St. Romanus, monks.
● St. Theodore the Silent of the Kiev Caves.
● St. Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
● New-Martyr Theodore of Byzantium, at Mitylene.

● Greek Calendar:
● Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria his wife
● Commemoration of the dedication of the Great Church in Constantinople.
● Weeping "Tikhvin" Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos on Mt. Athos.
● Repose of Elder Agapitus of the Kiev Caves (1887), and Elder Barnabas of the Gethsemane Skete of St. Sergius' Lavra (1906).

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for February 18 (Civil Date: March 1)
● St. Leo the Great, pope of Rome.
● St. Flavian the confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople.
● St. Agapitus, Bishop of Synnada in Phrygia, and Martyrs Victor, Dorotheus, Theodulus, and Agrippa, who suffered under Licinius.
● St. Cosmas, monk of Yakhromsk.
● New-Martyr Priest Alexander Medvedsky (1932) and Hieromonk Benjamin (1938).
● Commemoration of the New-Martyrs who suffered during the "Holy Night" in Petersburg (1932).

● Greek Calendar:
● Martyrs Leo and Parigorius of Patara in Lycia.
● Martyr Publius.

● Anglican:
● St. David, patron Wales

● Lutheran:
● George Herbert, priest

● Bhutan - Buddhist New Years

● Bahá'í Faith - Last Day (4 or 5) of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.

● Roman Empire - Feriae Marti in honor of Mars

● Roman Empire - Matronalia in honor of Juno

● Roman Empire - New Year

● Roman Empire - The sacred fire of Rome was renewed

● Bayonna Spain - Pinzon Day

● Bosnia and Herzegovina - Independence Day

● Bulgaria - Baba Marta, a custom when the Martenitsa is worn for good health and luck symbolizing the beginning of the spring season in Bulgaria.

● Engadine, Switzerland : Chalanda Marz/Coming of spring

● Iceland - Beer day - This day in 1989 beer was allowed again

● Korea - Independence Movement Day (Samiljeol; 삼일절)

● Lanark, Lanarkshire Scotland - Whuppity Scoorie Day

● Martisor - a seasonal holiday in Romania.

● Panamá - Constitution Day (1946)

● Paraguay - Heroes' Day/National Defense Day/Memorial Day

● Romania - Martisor

● Self Injury Awareness Day

● Tasmania, Australia - Eight Hours Day

● United States Admission Day:
● Ohio, 17th state (1803)
● Nebraska, 37th state (1867)

● Wales - Saint David's Day

● Western Australia - Labour day

● World Civil Defense Day - This Day commemorates the entry into force in 1972 of the ICDO Constitution as an inter-governmental organisation.

● World Day of Prayer.


SEASONS AND YEARS BEGINNING ON MARCH FIRST

● In Denmark, spring begins on March 1, while in Australia autumn begins on March 1. Meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere also begins on March 1; meteorological autumn in the Southern Hemisphere also begins on March 1.

● Historically, March 1 was considered to be the beginning of the Roman 'work year'; The numerical Latin names of some months reflect this. (September = Seventh, October = Eighth, November = Ninth, December = Tenth). (see New Year).

● If one begins each year on March 1, till the next March 1, then each date will have the same day number in this year, regardless of whether it is a leap year or not (e.g. December 25 is always day 300), unlike counting from January 1. This is due to the fact that the Gregorian and Julian calendars are based on the old Roman Calendar, which had March 1 as the first day of the year. The addition of the leap day of February 29 (which is what causes the days of leap years to fall on different day numbers) is a continuation of the February placement of the old Roman calendar's Mensis Intercalaris (a shortened extra month inserted to bring the 355 day long calendar into rough alignment with the seasons).

● Also the months follow a regular 5-month cycle of 153 days, till the end of February. This can be seen by listing the number of days in the months thus:
● Mar 31, Apr 30, May 31, Jun 30, Jul31
● Aug 31, Sep 30, Oct 31, Nov 30, Dec 31
● Jan 31, Feb 28/29
● This regularity is sometimes used in calendar calculations.



THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED POST FOR THIS DATE USING ONLY THE FOLLOWING EIGHT SOURCES. A COMPLETE POST IS PLANNED AS SOON AS TIME ALLOWS.

This Previous Day in History Post With

This Original Wikipedia List form the core of this post.

Additional facts taken from:


Information on Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Liberal Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

Quotes from the Right of the Day taken from Take Them at Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004 Compiled by Bruce J. Miller with Diana Maio ©2004

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day taken from 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said Edited by Steven D. Price ©2004


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