FEBRUARY 2008

FEBRUARY 2008 REGULAR POSTINGS
SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
27	28	29	30	31	1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	3	4	5	6	7	8
FEBRUARY 2008 SPECIAL POSTS
DATE		SUBJECT
February 1, 1968		Former Vice-President Richard Nixon announces candidacy for President

FEBRUARY 2008 NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY GALLERY

FEBRUARY 2008 NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY GALLERY


The First Explorer


Credit: Courtesy of Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Venus and Jupiter in Morning Skies


Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Light Echoes from V838 Mon


Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


A Spider Shaped Crater on Mercury


Credit: MESSENGER, NASA, JHU APL, CIW
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Three Month Composite of Comet Holmes


Credit & Copyright: John Pane
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


A Sunspot in the New Solar Cycle


Credit & Copyright: Greg Piepol
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NGC 4013 and the Tidal Stream


Image Credit & Copyright: R Jay Gabany (Blackbird Observatory) - collaboration; D.Martínez-Delgado(IAC, MPIA), M.Pohlen (Cardiff), S.Majewski (U.Virginia), J.Peñarrubia (U.Victoria), C.Palma (Penn State)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


The Bay of Rainbows


Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Atlantis on Pad 39A


Image Credit: NASA, Kim Shiflett
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Abell 2218: A Galaxy Cluster Lens


Credit: Andrew Fruchter (STScI) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Saturn's Moon Epimetheus from the Cassini Spacecraft


Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Echoes from RS Pup


Credit: Pierre Kervella (Obs. de Paris), Antoine Mérand (CHARA), et al., ESO
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Elliptical Galaxy NGC 1132


Credit: NASA, ESA, M. West (ESO, Chile), and CXC / Penn. State / G. Garmire, et al.
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Long Stem Rosette


Credit & Copyright: Adam Block (Caelum Observatory) and Tim Puckett
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Young Stars in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud


Credit: NASA JPL-Caltech, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Large Binocular Telescope


Credit & Copyright: Stefan Seip (TWAN)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


M1: The Crab Nebula from Hubble


Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester, A. Loll (ASU); Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (Skyfactory)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


BLG-109: A Distant Version of our own Solar System


Illustration Credit: KASI, CBNU, ARCSEC, NSF
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Columbus Laboratory Installed on Space Station


Credit: STS-122 Crew, Expedition 16 Crew, ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Moon Slide Slim


Credit & Copyright: Stefan Seip (TWAN)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Orion's Horsehead Nebula


Credit & Copyright: Victor Bertol
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Eclipsed Moonlight


Credit & Copyright: Jerry Lodriguss (Catching the Light)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Stereo Space Station


Credit: STS-122, NASA - Stereo Anaglyph: Patrick Vantuyne
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NGC 4676: When Mice Collide


Credit: ACS Science & Engineering Team, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Dawn of the Large Hadron Collider


Credit & Copyright: Maximilien Brice, CERN
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Mysterious Acid Haze on Venus


Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


The Eagle Nebula in Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur


Credit & Copyright: IAC, Daniel Lopez
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


ISS: Sunlight to Shadow


Credit & Copyright: Till Credner, AlltheSky.com
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Twelve Lunar Eclipses


Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

February 31......

February 31 is not part of Gregorian calendar. Under the Gregorian calendar, February contains 28 days, or 29 days for a leap year.

{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.}

USES OF FEBRUARY 31

February 31, with regard to the modern Western (revised Gregorian) calendar, is an imaginary date. It is sometimes used for example purposes, to make it clear regardless of context that the information being presented is artificial and not real data. February 30 is sometimes used in the same manner.

In this respect, these "dates" are similar to other clearly fictional data used for a similar purpose, such as "John Q. Public".


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Permanent Backlink to Post

February 30......

February 30 is not part of Gregorian calendar. Under the Gregorian calendar, February contains 28 days, or 29 days for a leap year. However, under other calendars there were a few instances of a February 30.

{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.}

INSTANCES OF FEBRUARY 30

● Swedish calendar February 1712:
● If people born on February 29 think they have it tough, what about people born on February 30? February 30 has happened only once in human history — in Sweden, in the year 1712. It was a delayed response to the calendar confusion Pope Gregory XIII unleashed on Europe in 1582. That was the year he decreed that all Catholic countries would drop the 10 days that had been October 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, go straight from October 4 to 15, and henceforth omit the leap years in century years except those divisible by 400.
● Most of the Catholic countries of western Europe adopted the new Gregorian calendar in 1582, and after a certain amount of consternation in October of that year, learned to live by it. But the Protestant countries were a different story. Each had to come to its own decision about this new calendar, and for some it was harder than others.
● By the late 1600s, the Swedes were still using the old Julian calendar, but they had begun to think that maybe they should join Protestant Germany and the other Scandinavian countries in a turn-of-the-century conversion to the Gregorian. About then, however, someone in Sweden had the brilliant idea that if they merely skipped the next 11 leap years, they wouldn’t have to drop 10 days all at once, and they’d be fully converted to the Gregorian calendar by 1740.
● So while Sweden’s neighbors dropped the 10 days, skipped the leap year in 1700 as the Gregorian calendar did, and made the conversion, Sweden merely skipped the leap year and otherwise left their old calendar intact. It didn’t take long for the Swedes to realize that they were now one day out of sync with the other countries that were still using the Julian calendar and 10 days out of sync with the countries that were now using the Gregorian calendar.
● They decided that it would just be too confusing to be different from everyone else for 40 years. So they didn’t skip anymore leap years, and in 1712 they added back in the one they had skipped in 1700 by including a one-time-only February 30. They were now back in sync with the Julian calendar, which was 11 days longer than the Gregorian.
● Finally, in 1753 — a year after England converted — Sweden, having resisted dropping 10 days all at once back in 1700, dropped 11 days and joined the rest of Europe. I find myself wondering what ever happened to the Swedish babies who chanced to be born on February 30, 1712 — and never once got to celebrate their true birthdays.

● Soviet revolutionary calendar:
● In 1929 the Soviet Union introduced a revolutionary calendar in which every working month had 30 days and the remaining 5 or 6 days were 'monthless' holidays. In this calendar, there existed a February 30 in the years 1930 and 1931; the revolutionary calendar was abandoned in 1931. However, the Gregorian calendar continued to be used in the Soviet Union during this period. This is confirmed by consulting the successive dates in daily issues of Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, in which February had 28 days in 1930 and 1931, but had 29 days in 1932, which agrees with the rules of the Gregorian calendar.

● Early Julian calendar:
● The 13th century scholar Sacrobosco claimed that in the Julian calendar February had 30 days in leap years between 45 BC and 8 BC, when Augustus shortened February to give the month of August named after him the same length as the month of July named after his adoptive uncle Julius Caesar. However, all other historical evidence relating to the Julian calendar during this period refutes Sacrobosco, including dual dates with the Alexandrian calendar.

● Artificial calendars:
● Artificial calendars may also have thirty February dates. For example, in a climate model the statistics may be simplified by having twelve months of thirty days. The Hadley Centre GCM is an example.

● Calendar reform proposals:
● Some calendar reform proposals do have February 30 like The 30x11 Calendar.

● Trivia:
● Bryan Muir, a National Hockey League player, claims to have been born on February 30th.


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

Naturalist's Almanac Entry

Permanent Backlink to Post

February 29......

February 29 is the 60th day of the year in leap years (does not exist in non-leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining in the year on this date.

February 29th, or bissextile day, is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 306 days remaining. A year which has a February 29 is, by definition, a leap year. This date only occurs every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1988, 1996, or 2008, with the exceptions in century years not divisible by 400, such as 1900.

Day of the week in surrounding years:
1960,1988—MON—2016
1972,2000—TUE—2028
1956,1984—WED—2012
1968,1996—THU—2024
1952,1980—FRI—2008
1964,1992—SAT—2020
1976,2004—SUN—2032

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.

February 29 is the 26th possible date for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday occurs on this date 16 times during the 3774 years calculated and is ranked 36th of the 36 dates.

It occurred on this date previously in the years:
NEVER—Ash Wednesday has yet to occur on February 29
It will occur on this date in the future in the years:
2096, 2468, 2688, 2840, 2992, 3212, 3296, 3364, 3432, 3584, 3668, 3736, 3804, 3888, 3956, 4040

It is unlikely that any living human will experience Ash Wednesday on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Fascism "A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude." — Aldous Huxley

Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On The Inquisition "Tony Snow: Let me ask you, if you're a member of the United States Senate and you're reading the Constitution, would a strict constructionist have ruled that Bill Clinton should have been voted out of, left office?
George W. Bush: Yeah, I mean he broke the law. He lied under oath. Although I don't think that's got anything to do with strict constructionism. I think that's got everything to do with upholding the law." — Fox News Sunday. "Bush: Clinton Should Have Been Convicted and Removed From Office," NewsMax.com, 1-30-00. {Tony, foolish boy, you made the worst assumption of all time, that Georgie is capable reading the Constitution. He has spent the last seven years proving that if he could, he wouldn't uphold it. Or did you write the response as well as the question? Bush can't put together coherent thought like that on the fly.}

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Sports "The new Haitian baseball can't weigh more than four ounces, or less than five." — 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)
Feb 29, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Third Quarter Moon Percent of Full: 47% Age: 76% Rise: 1:57 AM Set: 11:02 AM
Surprise, Arizona—Times are Mountain Standard Time (MST)
Feb 29, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Third Quarter Moon Percent of Full: 47% Age: 76% Rise: 2:01 AM Set: 11:36 AM
Iowa City, Iowa—Times are Central Standard Time (CST)
Feb 29, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Third Quarter Moon Percent of Full: 48% Age: 76% Rise: 2:05 AM Set: 10:39 AM
Cambridge, Massachusetts—Times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Feb 29, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Third Quarter Moon Percent of Full: 48% Age: 76% Rise: 1:43 AM Set: 10:11 AM


NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

Twelve Lunar Eclipses


Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

LEAP YEARS

● Leap years come about mainly due to a technicality in the number of days in a year. Technically, a year consists of 365 days and approximately 6 hours. Therefore, every four years, an extra day is added to account for the extra twenty-four hours that have accumulated.

● A century year, that is, a year which ends in two zeros (1800, 1900, 2000, etc.), is not a leap year unless it is also evenly divisible by 400. This means that the year 2000 was a leap year and 2400 and 2800 will also be, but 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, and the years 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not be leap years either. To correct a slight inaccuracy that remains in the Gregorian Calendar, it has been proposed that years evenly divisible by 4000 should not be leap years, but this rule has not been officially adopted.

● Because of this, a leap day is more likely to fall on a Monday than on a Sunday. If, for example, February 29 falls on a Sunday, you would expect it to fall on Sunday again after 28 years, but if there's a century year in these 28 years, the pattern can become disrupted. The Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, and 400 years have 97 leap days, which is not divisible by seven, so these days can never be distributed evenly. A leap day on a Sunday occurs 13 times in these 400 years, so approximately every 30.8 years, a Monday however occurs 15 times, which is roughly every 26.7 years. The concepts of the leap year and 'leap day' are distinct from the leap second, which is necessitated by changes in the Earth's rotational speed.

● Those who are born on this day usually celebrate their birthdays on February 28 or March 1 during non-leap years. In the UK those born before noon on the 29th have their birth certificate dated the 28th, those born after noon are dated 1st March. In the comic musical The Pirates of Penzance, Frederic, born on February 29, was apprenticed to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday, in theory until he was 88 years old (as his lifetime included a non-leap centennial year).

● This day may be colloquially termed a leap day, though in the Roman calendar it was February 24 in a leap year which was added, giving the name of "bissextile" day or extra sixth day in the lead up to the 'Kalends' of March. The Romans, realizing the need for an extra day, chose February 24 in particular only because it followed the last day of their year, which at that point in history was February 23. An English law of 1256 decrees that in leap years the leap day and the day before are to be reckoned as one day for the purpose of calculating when a full year has passed; thus, in England and Wales a person born on February 29 legally reaches the age of 18 or 21 on February 28 of the relevant year. In the European Union, February 29 only officially became the leap day in 2000.

● There is a quaint tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only on February 29; this is a tightening of an older tradition that such proposals may only occur in leap years. In 1288 the Scottish parliament legislated that any woman could propose in Leap Year. Another component of this tradition was that if the man rejects the proposal, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency and a pair of gloves (some later sources say a silk gown). There were similar notions in France and Switzerland.

● In France, there is a humorous periodical called La Bougie du Sapeur (the Sapper's Candle) published every February 29 since 1980. The name is a reference to the sapeur Camembert. In 2004, the seventh number of La Bougie du Sapeur, subtitled Dimanche, was published. The eighth issue will be published in 2008.

EVENTS

● 45 B.C.E. - Julius Caesar adjusts 46 B.C.E., known as the Year of Confusion with its 445 days--by fixing 365 days and six hours as the length of a year, with one day intercalated every four years, a leap.

● 468 - Death of Pope St. Hilary (Hilarius), 46th Bishop of Rome. During his seven-year pontificate, he reaffirmed the earlier church councils of Nicea (325), Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451), at which the major creeds of the Early Church were hammered out.

● 1288 - Scotland established this day as one when a woman could propose marriage to a man. In the event that he refused the proposal, he was required to pay a fine.

● 1504 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.

● 1528 - Martyrdom of Scottish reformer Patrick Hamilton, 24. Having spent time with Martin Luther and William Tyndale, Hamilton began promoting Reformation in Scotland. He was afterward arrested and burned at the stake one of the first martyrs of the Scottish Reformation.

● 1692 - The Salem Witch Trials began on this Leap Day when Tituba, the female Indian servant of the Rev. Samuel Parris, and one Sarah Goode were both arrested and accused of witchcraft.

● 1696 - English ex-premier Earl Danby accused of corruption

● 1704 - Forty-seven people killed when the town of Deerfield, Mass. is raided by French Canadians and Indians trying to retrieve their church bell that had been shipped from France. The bell was to hang in the Canadian Indians' village church. Neither the raiders nor the residents of Deerfield were aware that the bell had been stolen from the ship. The Deerfield folks had purchased the bell from a privateer, unaware that it belonged to the Indian congregation. Some 100 people were killed in the incident.

● 1712 - February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.

● 1720 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.

● 1736 - Birth of Anna Lee (Ann the Word or Mother Ann), Manchester, England, founder of the Shaker movement in America.

● 1784 - Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille

● 1792 - Composer Gioacchino Antonio Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy.

● 1796 - Jay's Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England {Not enough though, the War of 1812 is essentially the Second American Revolutionary War.}

● 1816 - Dutch (King) Willem II marries Russian grand-duchess Anna Paulowna

● 1832 - Charles Darwin visits jungle near Bahia Brazil

● 1840 - John Philip Holland, the Irish-born American inventor known as the father of the modern submarine, was born.

● 1848 - Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland

● 1856 - Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease

● 1860 - The first electric tabulating machine was invented by Herman Hollerith.

● 1864 - American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid fails - Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.

● 1868 - 1st British government of Disraeli forms

● 1880 - American evangelist Frank Sandford, 18, was converted to a believing Christian faith. As an adult Sandford became an instrumental figure in Holiness and Pentecostal history.

● 1880 - Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy opens

● 1892 - Britain & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea

● 1892 - St. Petersburg, Florida incorporated.

● 1904 - Bandleader Jimmy Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pa.

● 1904 - Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7 man committee to hasten the construction of the Panama Canal.

● 1908 - Dutch scientists produce solid helium {very close to absolute zero}

● 1916 - Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.

● 1924 - Charles R. Forbes, former head of the U.S. Veterans Bureau, indicted for defrauding the government of $250 million.

● 1932 - Failed coup attempt by fascist Lapua Movement in Finland

● 1932 - TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.

● 1936 - FDR signs 2nd neutrality act

● 1940 - 45 U boats sunk this month (170,000 ton)

● 1940 - Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations

● 1940 - Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an Oscar. She won Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Mammy in "Gone with the Wind."

● 1940 - In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, due to the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives his 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from the Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.

● 1944 - 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death

● 1944 - Dorothy McElroy Vredenburgh of Alabama became the first woman to be appointed secretary of a national political party. She was appointed to the Democratic National Committee.

● 1944 - The Office of Defense Transportation, for the second year in a row, restricted attendance at the Kentucky Derby to residents of the Louisville area. This was an effort to prevent a railroad traffic burden during wartime.

● 1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.

● 1948 - American missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'Redemption marks the new beginning of life. Men and women do not live at all until they have life eternal.'

● 1948 - Stern-group bomb Cairo-Haifa train, 27 British soldiers died

● 1952 - In New York City, four signs were installed at 44th Street and Broadway in Times Square that told pedestrians when to walk.

● 1952 - The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.

● 1956 - Hopes for Mid East peace mission; The British Foreign Secretary, John Selwyn Lloyd, leaves London for a tour of the Middle East and Asia.

● 1956 - Islamic Republic established in Pakistan

● 1956 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term. (He defeats Adlai Stevenson that November 6, in a rematch of the 1952 election.)

● 1960 - 1st Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago

● 1960 - An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.

● 1960 - JFK makes "missile gap" the Presidential campaign issue

● 1964 - LBJ reveals US secretly developed the A-11 jet fighter

● 1964 - Royal baby for leap year day; The Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra, has given birth to a son at her home in Surrey.

● 1968 - 1st pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell at Cambridge)

● 1968 - The summary report of the Kerner Commission on Civil Disorders faults excessive police force in U.S. ghettos. Warns that the nation is "moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate & unequal." It recommends sweeping reforms in federal and local law enforcement, welfare, employment, housing, and education.

● 1968 - US end regular flights with nuclear bombs {As if they should have begun in the first place!}

● 1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1972 - Columnist Jack Anderson reveals a memo from lobbyist Dita Beard stating that an ITT pledge of $400,000 to support the Republican National Convention was made in exchange for a recent favorable antitrust settlement.

● 1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.

● 1984 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader after more than 15 years in power.

● 1988 - Nazi document implicates Waldheim in WWII deportations

● 1988 - NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs

● 1988 - South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town

● 1996 - A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.

● 1996 - Novelist Joan Collins awarded US $1 million from Random House for breach of contract.

● 1996 - Siege of Sarajevo is lifted; The siege of Sarajevo is officially over - four years to the day since Bosnian Muslims and Croats voted in a referendum to break away from Yugoslavia.

● 1996 - Soyuz TM-23, lands

● 2000 - Appeal for Mozambique flood victims; International aid agencies in Mozambique say they need extra helicopters to rescue thousands trapped by rising flood waters.

● 2000 - Six year old Dedrick Owens shoots and kills Kayla Rolland, also six years old, at Theo J. Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan. Rolland is currently the youngest victim of a school shooting.

● 2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising {IF one can call a US marine backed removal popular.}.

BIRTHS

● A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March.

● For legal purposes, their legal birthdays depend on how different laws count time intervals. In Taiwan, for example, the legal birthday of a leapling is 28 February in common years, so a Taiwanese leapling born on 29 February 1980 would have legally reached 18 years old on 28 February 1998.

● "If a period fixed by weeks, months, and years does not commence from the beginning of a week, month, or year, it ends with the ending of the day which proceeds the day of the last week, month, or year which corresponds to that on which it began to commence. But if there is no corresponding day in the last month, the period ends with the ending of the last day of the last month."

● There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out to be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance.

● 1468 - Pope Paul III, Italian noble and last Renaissance Pope (d. 1549)

● 1692 - John Byrom, English poet (d. 1763)

● 1724 - Eva Marie Veigel, ballet dancer and wife of actor David Garrick (d.1822)

● 1736 - Ann Lee, American founder of Shakers (d. 1784)

● 1792 - Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)

● 1792 - Karl Ernst Baer, Prussian-Estonian embryologist (d. 1876)

● 1840 - John Philip Holland, Irish-born American "father of the modern submarine" (d. 1914)

● 1852 - Frank Gavan Duffy, Australian judge (d. 1936)

● 1860 - Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)

● 1892 - Augusta Savage, American sculptor and educator (d. 1962)

● 1896 - Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (1977-79) (d. 1995)

● 1896 - William A. Wellman, American film director (d. 1975)

● 1904 - Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)

● 1904 - Pepper Martin, baseball player (d. 1965)

● 1904 - Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian dancer and founder of Kalakshetra (d. 1986)

● 1908 - Alf Gover, English cricketer (d. 2001)

● 1908 - Balthus, French-Polish painter (d. 2001)

● 1908 - Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)

● 1916 - Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994)

● 1920 - Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)

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

● 1920 - James Mitchell, American actor

● 1920 - Michèle Morgan, French actress

● 1924 - Al Rosen, American baseball player

● 1924 - Carlos Humberto Romero, President of El Salvador

● 1924 - David Beattie, New Zealand Governour General

● 1928 - Joss Ackland, English actor

● 1928 - Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer

● 1932 - Gene Golub, American mathematician (d. 2007)

● 1932 - Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist

● 1932 - Masten Gregory, American F1 Driver

● 1936 - Alex Rocco, American actor

● 1936 - Henri Richard, Canadian hockey player

● 1936 - Jack Lousma, astronaut

● 1940 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople

● 1940 - William H. Turner, Jr. American horse trainer

● 1944 - Dennis Farina, American actor

● 1944 - Ene Ergma, Estonian politician

● 1944 - Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian illustrator

● 1944 - Phyllis Frelich, American actress

● 1952 - Bart Stupak, American politician

● 1952 - Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier

● 1952 - Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television personality

● 1952 - Tim Powers, American writer

● 1956 - Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)

● 1956 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician

● 1956 - J. Randy Taraborrelli, American celebritiy journalist

● 1956 - Jonathan Coleman, Anglo-Australian entertainer

● 1960 - Ian McKenzie Anderson, British musician

● 1960 - Khaled, Algerian raï musician

● 1960 - Richard Ramirez, American serial killer

● 1960 - Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker

● 1964 - Jahred Shane, Afro-Brazilian rapper/singer of (həd) p.e.

● 1964 - Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player

● 1968 - Bryce Paup, American football player

● 1968 - Chucky Brown, American basketball player

● 1968 - Gonzalo Lira, Chilean-American novelist

● 1968 - Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress

● 1968 - Pete Fenson, American curler

● 1968 - Wendi Peters, British actress

● 1972 - Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-born actor

● 1972 - Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (d. 2002)

● 1972 - Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born American AIDS activist (d. 1994)

● 1972 - Saul Williams, American rapper, poet, and actor

● 1976 - Ja Rule, American rapper and actor

● 1980 - Patrick Côté, Canadian mixed martial artist

● 1980 - Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1980 - Taylor Twellman, American soccer player

● 1984 - Adam Sinclair, Indian Hockey player

● 1984 - Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1984 - Darren Ambrose, English footballer

● 1988 - Scott Golbourne, English footballer

DEATHS

● 1528 - Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (martyred) (b. 1504)

● 1592 - Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)

● 1604 - John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1530)

● 1740 - Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)

● 1744 - John Theophilus Desaguliers, French philosopher (b. 1683)

● 1820 - Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German literary critic (b. 1743)

● 1868 - Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)

● 1928 - Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)

● 1940 - Edward Frederic Benson, English writer (b. 1867)

● 1944 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (b. 1861)

● 1956 - Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines (b. 1890)

● 1968 - Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)

● 1980 - Gil Elvgren, American artist (b. 1914)

● 1992 - Ruth Pitter, English poet (b. 1897)

● 2000 - Kayla Rolland, (b. 1993)

● 2004 - Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (b. 1915)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Hilarius, Pope (461-68), calendar reformer (leap years)

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for February 16 (Civil Date: February 29)
● Martyrs Pamphilus presbyter, Valens deacon, Paul, Seleucus, Porphyrius, Julian, Theodulus, Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel and Danial, at Caesaria in Palestine.
● St. Marutha, Bishop of Martyropolis in Mesopotamia.
● Persian Martyrs with St. Maruthas.
● Martyr Romanus of Mt. Athos.
● New-Martyrs Priest Elias (1934) and Priest Peter Lagov (1931).

● Greek Calendar:
● St. Flavian the hermit.
● Repose of Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, Apostle to the Altai (1926).

● Christian:
● St. Oswald, archbishop of York

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

● Discordianism - St. Tib's Day.

CALENDAR REFORM PROPOSALS

● In some calendar reform proposals like The 30x11 Calendar, February 29 occurs every year and is an advantage to people born on February 29, but in The 30x11 Calendar, there is a new leap day called December 36.


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:

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


Permanent Backlink to Post

February 28......

February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 (307 in leap years) days remaining in the year on this date.

In a common year (non-leap year) it is the last day of February.

Day of the week in surrounding years:
1977,1983,. . . .,1994,2000—MON—2005
1978,1984,1989,1995,. . . .—TUE—2006
1979,. . . .,1990,1996,2001—WED—2007
1980,1985,1991,. . . .,2002—THU—2008
. . . .,1986,1992,1997,2003—FRI—. . . .
1981,1987,. . . .,1998,2004—SAT—2009
1982,1988,1993,1999,. . . .—SUN—2010

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.

February 28 is the 25th possible date for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday occurs on this date 130 times during the 3774 years calculated and is ranked 8th/9th/10th of the 36 dates.

It occurred on this date previously in the years:
339, 344, 423, 434, 507, 518, 529, 591, 602, 613, 624, 686, 697, 708, 781, 792, 871, 876, 955, 966, 1039, 1050, 1061, 1123, 1134, 1145, 1156, 1218, 1229, 1240, 1313, 1324, 1403, 1408, 1487, 1498, 1571, 1582, 1596, 1607, 1618, 1629, 1691, 1748, 1759, 1770, 1781, 1816, 1827, 1838, 1900, 1906, 1968, 1979, 1990, 2001
It will occur on this date in the future in the years:
2063, 2074, 2085, 2120, 2131, 2142, 2153, 2210, 2221, 2283, 2294, 2340, 2351, 2362, 2373, 2435, 2446, 2457, 2503, 2514, 2525, 2587, 2598, 2655, 2666, 2677, 2712, 2723, 2734, 2745, 2807, 2818, 2829, 2891, 2959, 2970, 2981, 3027, 3038, 3049, 3106, 3117, 3179, 3190, 3201, 3274, 3280, 3285, 3331, 3342, 3353, 3410, 3421, 3483, 3494, 3551, 3562, 3573, 3635, 3646, 3657, 3703, 3714, 3725, 3798, 3866, 3872, 3877, 3923, 3934, 3945, 4018, 4024, 4029

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Families "Patriarchy's chief institution is the family. It is both a mirror of and a connection with the larger society; a patriarchal unit within a patriarchal whole." — Kate Millett

Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Demonizing Democrats or Don't Kill All the Liberals "By the way, it's probably a good thing Vice President Gore wasn't at Independence Hall in 1776! I bet he would have tried to talk Jefferson out of that risky independence scheme!" — Gov. Tom Ridge (R-PA) {later to be named the nation's top color coordinator and fear monger} addressing the Republican National Convention. PBS.org, 8-3-00.

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Sports "At the end, excitement maintained its hysteria." — 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)
Third Quarter Moon: Feb 28, 2008 6:19 PM Percent of Full: 50% Age: 75% Rise: 12:58 AM Set: 10:17 AM
Surprise, Arizona—Times are Mountain Standard Time (MST)
Third Quarter Moon: Feb 28, 2008 7:19 PM Percent of Full: 50% Age: 75% Rise: 1:03 AM Set: 10:50 AM
Iowa City, Iowa—Times are Central Standard Time (CST)
Third Quarter Moon: Feb 28, 2008 8:19 PM Percent of Full: 50% Age: 75% Rise: 1:04 AM Set: 9:56 AM
Cambridge, Massachusetts—Times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Third Quarter Moon: Feb 28, 2008 9:19 PM Percent of Full: 50% Age: 75% Rise: 12:42 AM Set: 9:30 AM


NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

ISS: Sunlight to Shadow


Credit & Copyright: Till Credner, AlltheSky.com
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

EVENTS

● 202 B.C.E. - this day marks the coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China

● 364 - Valentinian I is elevated as Roman Emperor.

● 870 - The Fourth Constantinople Council closed, under Pope Adrian II in the West and Emperor Basil I in the East. The council had condemned iconoclasm, and became the last ecumenical council held in the Eastern Mediterranean area.

● 1066 - Westminster Abbey opens

● 1525 - Mexico - Cuauhtemoc is assassinated.

● 1570 - Anti-Portugese uprising on Ternate, Moluccas

● 1574 - First New World victims of Spanish Inquisition burned at the stake.

● 1610 - Thomas West, Baron De La Warr, is appointed governor of Virginia

● 1638 - Scottish Presbyterians sign National Convenant, Greyfriars, Edinburgh

● 1646 - Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church

● 1653 - 3 Day Sea battle English beats Dutch

● 1667 - English colony Suriname in Dutch hands

● 1692 - Salem witch hunt begins

● 1700 - Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.

● 1704 - Elias Neau, a Frenchman, opens a school for blacks in New York NY

● 1704 - Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100

● 1708 - Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die

● 1710 - In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock.

● 1730 - Tsarina Anna Ivanovna leads autocracy

● 1759 - Pope Clement XIII granted permission for the Bible to be translated into the languages of the Roman Catholic states.

● 1778 - Rhode Island General Assembly authorizes enlistment of slaves

● 1784 - English churchman John Wesley, 80, formally chartered the movement within Anglicanism which afterward came to be known as Wesleyan Methodism.

● 1787 - Charter granted establishing the institution now known as the University of Pittsburgh.

● 1794 - US Senate voids Pennsylvania's election of Abraham Gallatin

● 1826 - M Biela, an Austrian officer, discovers Biela's Comet

● 1827 - The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.

● 1838 - Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaim the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec)

● 1844 - During an official inspection tour of the U.S.S. Princeton, a 10-inch gun (the Navy's largest at the time) blew up, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Kilmer, and 10 others. Pres. John Tyler, who at the time of the explosion was in a cabin below with Miss Julia Gardiner (the daughter of one of those killed) was unharmed. They subsequently married.

● 1847 - US defeats México in battle of Sacramento

● 1849 - Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 21 days after leaving New York Harbor.

● 1850 - The University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah.

● 1853 - Libenyl executed for attempted assassination of emperor of Austria.

● 1854 - The Republican Party forms in Ripon, Wisconsin, due to opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The act, which became law three months later, left the issue of slavery to the settlers of each state {Of course Native Americans and slave need not express opinions.}.

● 1859 - Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery

● 1861 - Nevada & Colorado are organized as a United States territories.

● 1861 - The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples sign the Treaty of Fort Wise, agreeing to cede their land and live on a small reservation in southwest Colorado. U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Colonel A.B. Greenwood issues medals, blankets, sugar and tobacco. But only six of 44 Cheyenne chiefs sign the treaty, casting doubt on the gala affair's legality.

● 1863 - Confederate raider "Nashville" sinks near Fort McAllister GA

● 1864 - Raid at Kilpatrick's Richmond

● 1864 - Skirmish at Albemarle County Virginia (Burton's Ford)

● 1870 - The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.

● 1871 - 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections

● 1873 - The Society of Mary, founded in 1816, was officially recognized by Pope Pius IX. This religious order seeks to combine the work of education with foreign missions.

● 1877 - Federal government seizes Black Hills from Lakota Sioux in violation of treaty.

● 1878 - US congress authorizes large-size silver certificate

● 1879 - "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation

● 1882 - 1st US college cooperative store opens, at Harvard University

● 1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)

● 1887 - France - The anarchist thief and member of the "Panthers of Batignolles," Clement Duval has his death sentence commuted to life by the President of the Republic. Duval, a partially disabled veteran of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, spent a year in prison for stealing from his employer in order to feed his family and buy much-needed medication. Unable to support his family upon his release, he undertook a life of crime. After burgling the mansion of a wealthy Paris socialite, he set it ablaze. Accosted by a policeman outside, he struck the officer down and fled. He was sentenced to death upon his capture, but this was commuted to life at hard labor. Duval attempted escape 20 times, and after finally succeeding, reached New York, where he lived until age 85, surrounded by Italian anarchist comrades.

● 1888 - Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes

● 1893 - Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum"

● 1897 - Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch in Madagascar, was deposed by a French military force.

● 1900 - The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.

● 1901 - Birth of Linus Pauling, Portland, Oregon. Receives two Nobel prizes -- one for physics and one for his early (1950s) anti-nuclear activism.

● 1903 - Japanese and Chicanos form labor organization against growers.

● 1908 - Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran

● 1913 - French anarchists Andre Soudy and Raymond Callemin sentenced to death for their roles in a Mar. 1912 Bonnet Gang attack in which two people were killed.

● 1917 - AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI

● 1917 - Russian Duma sets up Provisional Committee; workers set up Soviets

● 1919 - Gandhi launches satyagraha campaign, India.

● 1921 - Russia - Kronstadt Revolt begins, in sympathy with the resistance in Petrograd and critical of Bolshevism. Demands workers' rule.

● 1921 - Salvadoran shoemakers win strike for higher wages -- prompting a government crackdown.

● 1922 - Egypt regains independence from Britain, but British troops remain

● 1923 - Swedish king Gustaaf V begins state visit to Netherlands

● 1924 - US begins intervention in Honduras

● 1925 - Congress authorizes a special handling stamp

● 1931 - Oswald Mosley founds his New Party

● 1933 - 1st female in cabinet Francis Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor

● 1933 - Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire. German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion. Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD)

● 1935 - Nylon is discovered by Wallace Carothers.

● 1937 - One thousand rally against war, Hyde Park, London.

● 1939 - Great-Britain recognizes Franco-regime in Spain

● 1939 - Sit-down strikes outlawed by U.S. Supreme Court.

● 1939 - The first issue of Serbian weekly magazine Politikin zabavnik was published.

● 1939 - The word "Dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.

● 1940 - US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%))

● 1941 - 39 U Boats (197,000 ton) sunk this month

● 1941 - Birth of Alice Brock. Her restaurant was immortalized by Arlo Guthrie.

● 1941 - British-Italian dogfight above Albania

● 1942 - 1st weapon drop on Netherlands

● 1942 - Japanese land in Java, last Allied bastion in Dutch East Indies

● 1942 - Race riot, Sojourner Truth Homes, Detroit

● 1942 - The heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed.

● 1943 - 63 U Boats (359,300 ton) sinks this month

● 1947 - 2/28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down at a loss of 30,000 civilian lives.

● 1947 - U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'Let not the past ever be so dear to us as to set a limit to the future. Give us the courage to change our minds when that is needed.'

● 1951 - A Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., issued a preliminary report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the United States.

● 1951 - French government of Pleven dissolves

● 1953 - James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; formal announcement April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2).

● 1953 - Stalin meets with Beria, Bulganin, Khrushchev & Malenkov

● 1954 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island

● 1956 - 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott MA

● 1956 - Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory

● 1958 - Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament founded, London, England.

● 1959 - Launch of Discoverer 1 (WTR)-1st polar orbit

● 1961 - JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor

● 1962 - The John Glenn for President club was formed by a group of Las Vegas republicans. {Little did the fools know he would later run as a Democrat for Senate from Ohio and win.}

● 1967 - Radical human rights activist Ramsey Clark named as U.S. Attorney General by President Johnson. {Later he would have the thankless job of being a defense attorney for Saddam Hussein during his kangaroo court trial.}

● 1970 - First British national women's liberation conference, Oxford, England.

● 1970 - Winter Festival for Peace, Madison Square Garden, New York City.

● 1972 - Angela Davis trial starts, San Jose, California.

● 1972 - President Richard Nixon ends historic week-long visit to China

● 1972 - Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.

● 1972 - U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions on Rhodesia and Lebanon.

● 1973 - Suriname government of Sedney arrests 13 union leaders

● 1974 - After seven years, the United States and Egypt re-establish diplomatic relations.

● 1974 - Australia - Aborigines demonstrate for recognition of land rights.

● 1974 - Ethiopian government of Makonnen forms

● 1974 - Labour Party wins British parliamentary election

● 1974 - Taiwan police shoot into crowd

● 1975 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 112 people injured 20 people.

● 1975 - EG signs accord of Lomé with 46 developing countries

● 1975 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1976 - Ceuta & Melilla (Spanish Morocco) are last European African possession

● 1977 - Harbor strike in Rotterdam/Amsterdam ends

● 1979 - Mr. Ed, the talking horse from the TV show "Mr. Ed", died. His last words - "Wiil-l-l-l-l-bu-r-r-r-rr."

● 1980 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1981 - China PR throws out Netherlands ambassador due to submarine sale to Taiwan

● 1982 - AT&T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year ending on this day

● 1982 - FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street

● 1983 - The final episode of M*A*S*H is broadcast in the USA, becoming the most watched television episode in history, with 106–125 million viewers in the U.S. (estimate varies by source).

● 1985 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.

● 1986 - European Economic Community sign "Special Act" for Europe free trade

● 1986 - Olaf Palme, left-leaning Swedish Prime Minister, assassinated in Stockholm.

● 1988 - Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed

● 1988 - Passaic County (New Jersey) judge signs the order dismissing the 1966 murder indictment of Hurricane Carter.

● 1989 - Nevada-Semipalatnisk Movement to Stop All Nuclear Testing founded in U.S.S.R.; inspired by the large Nevada Test Site anti-nuclear demonstrations and encampments outside Las Vegas in mid to late 1980s.

● 1990 - Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine

● 1990 - US 65th manned space mission STS 36 (Atlantis 6) launches into orbit

● 1991 - Cease fire ends U.S. offensive in Iraq.

● 1991 - Three soldiers seek sanctuary as objectors to Gulf War in Riverside Church, New York City.

● 1993 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff that ends in an FBI bonfire.

● 1994 - Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect

● 1994 - NATO made its first military strike when U.S. F-16 fighters shot down four Bosnian Serb warplanes in violation of a no-fly zone over central Bosnia.

● 1995 - The Denver International Airport opened after a 16-month delay.

● 1997 - Earthquake in Pakistan, kills 45

● 1997 - FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia

● 1997 - Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in US

● 1997 - The North Hollywood shootout takes place.

● 1998 - Even though the imminent threat of military strikes had been averted by a U.N. agreement, 5,000 rally in New York City protesting U.S. war and sanctions against Iraq. Demonstrations also held in at least 30 other cities.

● 1998 - Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.

● 2000 - Nuclear chief quits over safety scandal; British Nuclear Fuels confirms its chief executive, John Taylor, has resigned over a safety scandal.

● 2001 - Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.

● 2001 - The Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hits the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington.

● 2002 - A body found outside San Diego was identified as that of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, who'd disappeared from her bedroom about a month earlier; a neighbor was later convicted of her murder and sentenced to death.

● 2002 - Beginning of three days of riots in Gujarat state, India, in which Hindu nationalists, often assisted by police, massacre nearly a thousand Muslims.

● 2002 - Sotheby's auction house announced that it had identified Peter Paul Reubens as the creator of the painting "The Massacre of the Innocents." The painting was previously thought to be by Jan van den Hoecke.

● 2004 - Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 2/28 Incident in 1947

● 2005 - A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.

● 2005 - Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister, Omar Karami, resigns amid large anti-Syria street demonstrations in Beirut.

● 2007 - Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft.

BIRTHS

● 1155 - Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England (d. 1183)

● 1261 - Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (d. 1283)

● 1409 - Elisabeth II of Bohemia (d. 1442)

● 1533 - Michel de Montaigne, French writer (d. 1592)

● 1552 - Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker (d. 1632)

● 1612 - John Pearson, English theologian (d. 1686)

● 1670 - Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of Harvard University (d. 1737)

● 1675 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726)

● 1683 - René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (d. 1757)

● 1704 - Louis Godin, French astronomer (d. 1760)

● 1712 - Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander (d. 1759)

● 1724 - George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, British field marshal (d. 1807)

● 1783 - Gabriele Rossetti, Italian poet, revolutionary, and scholar (d. 1854)

● 1812 - Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882)

● 1820 - John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914)

● 1823 - Ernest Renan, French philosopher (d. 1892)

● 1824 - Blondin, French tightrope walker (d. 1897)

● 1827 - Blondin, French tightrope walker (d. 1897)

● 1833 - Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)

● 1838 - Maurice Lévy, French engineer (d. 1910)

● 1840 - Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892)

● 1841 - Adrien Albert Marie de Mun, French politician (d. 1914)

● 1865 - Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary (d. 1940)

● 1872 - Douglas McGarel Hogg, English lawyer and politician (d. 1950)

● 1878 - Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (d. 1952)

● 1878 - Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (d. 1929)

● 1882 - Geraldine Farrar, American soprano (d. 1967)

● 1882 - José Vasconcelos, Mexican writer (d. 1959)

● 1882 - Pádraic Ó Conaire, Irish writer (d. 1928)

● 1894 - Ben Hecht, American playwright (d. 1964)

● 1895 - Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and film director (d. 1974)

● 1896 - Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)

● 1900 - Wolfram Hirth, German pilot (d. 1959)

● 1901 - Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, double Nobel laureate (d. 1994)

● 1903 - Vincente Minnelli, American film director (d. 1986)

● 1906 - Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)

● 1907 - Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon) (d. 1988)

● 1908 - Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002)

● 1909 - Sir Stephen Spender, English poet (d. 1995)

● 1911 - Denis Parsons Burkitt, English surgeon and medical researcher (d. 1993)

● 1912 - Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)

● 1915 - Ketti Frings, American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter, (d. 1981)

● 1915 - Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1987)

● 1915 - Zero Mostel, American actor (d. 1977)

● 1921 - Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (d. 2006)

● 1923 - Charles Durning, American actor

● 1925 - Harry H Corbett, English actor (d. 1982)

● 1926 - Svetlana Alliluyeva, Soviet defector, daughter of Joseph Stalin

● 1929 - Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect

● 1929 - Hayden Fry, American football coach

● 1929 - John Montague, Irish poet

● 1929 - Joseph Rouleau, French Canadian bass opera singer

● 1930 - Leon Neil Cooper, American physicist, Nobel laureate

● 1931 - Dean Smith, American basketball coach and Hall of Fame member

● 1931 - Gavin MacLeod, Actor (''Love Boat,'' ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'')

● 1932 - Don Francks, Canadian actor

● 1933 - Rein Taagepera, Estonian politician

● 1939 - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel laureate

● 1939 - Tommy Tune, American dancer

● 1940 - Joe South, American singer

● 1940 - Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver and one-time F1 world champion

● 1942 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)

● 1942 - Dino Zoff, Italian footballer

● 1942 - Frank Bonner, American actor

● 1943 - Barbara Acklin, American soul singer (d. 1998)

● 1944 - Kelly Bishop, American actress (''Gilmore Girls'')

● 1944 - Sepp Maier, German footballer

● 1944 - Win Aung, Burmese politician

● 1945 - Bubba Smith, American football player and actor

● 1946 - Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)

● 1946 - Syreeta Wright, American singer (d. 2004)

● 1947 - Stephanie Beacham, English actress

● 1948 - Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer

● 1948 - Mercedes Ruehl, American actress

● 1948 - Mike Figgis, English director

● 1948 - Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel laureate

● 1951 - Bill Cratty, American modern dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)

● 1952 - William Finn, American composer

● 1953 - Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian racing driver

● 1953 - Paul Krugman, American economist

● 1954 - Brian Billick, American football coach

● 1955 - Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian

● 1956 - Adrian Dantley, American basketball player

● 1956 - Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-born Northern Irish footballer

● 1956 - Mike Tenay, American wrestling commentator

● 1957 - Ainsley Harriott, British celebrity chef

● 1957 - Cindy Wilson, American singer (The B-52's)

● 1957 - John Turturro, American actor

● 1957 - Paul Delph, American musician and producer (d. 1996)

● 1958 - Jeanne Mas, French singer and actress

● 1960 - Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress (d. 1980)

● 1961 - Eric Bachelart, Belgian racing driver

● 1961 - Mark Latham, Australian politician

● 1961 - Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian actress

● 1961 - René Simard, French Canadian singer and TV host

● 1963 - Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist

● 1964 - Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan cyclist

● 1966 - Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer

● 1967 - Colin Cooper, English footballer

● 1968 - Stéphan Lebeau, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1969 - Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver

● 1969 - Patrick Monahan, American singer (Train)

● 1969 - Robert Sean Leonard, American actor ("House")

● 1969 - Tor Øivind Ødegaard, Norwegian track runner

● 1970 - Daniel Handler, American writer, better known as Lemony Snicket

● 1970 - Noureddine Morceli, Algerian athlete

● 1971 - Junya Nakano, Japanese composer

● 1971 - Maxine Bahns, Actress

● 1971 - Tristan Louis, American writer

● 1972 - Rory Cochrane, American actor

● 1973 - Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1973 - Nicolas Minassian, French racing driver

● 1974 - Lee Carsley, Irish footballer

● 1974 - Moana Mackey, New Zealand politician

● 1975 - Mike Rucker, American football player

● 1976 - Adam Pine, Australian swimmer

● 1976 - Ali Larter, American actress and model

● 1976 - Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, Canadian actor

● 1977 - Jason Aldean, American Country singer

● 1978 - Benjamin Raich, Austrian Olympic skier

● 1978 - Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player

● 1978 - Mariano Zabaleta, Argentine tennis player

● 1979 - Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player

● 1979 - Michael Bisping, English mixed martial artist

● 1979 - Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper

● 1979 - Sébastien Bourdais, French racing driver

● 1980 - Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer

● 1980 - Piotr Giza, Polish footballer

● 1980 - Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player

● 1981 - Brian Bannister, American baseball player

● 1981 - Florent Serra, French tennis player

● 1982 - Natalia Vodianova, Russian supermodel

● 1984 - Ben Fagan, American musician and reality show contestant

● 1984 - Karolína Kurková, Czech supermodel

● 1985 - Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer

● 1985 - Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player

● 1987 - Kerrea Gilbert, English footballer

● 1989 - Zhang Liyin, Chinese R&B singer

● 1991 - Sarah Bolger, Irish actress

● 2007 - Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco

DEATHS

● 1261 - Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. c. 1230)

● 1326 - Duke Leopold I of Austria (b. 1290)

● 1453 - Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)

● 1485 - Niclas, Graf von Abensberg, German soldier (b. 1441)

● 1510 - Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer

● 1525 - Cuauhtémoc, Aztec Ruler

● 1572 - Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian (b. 1505)

● 1621 - Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590)

● 1648 - King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (b. 1577)

● 1746 - Hermann von der Hardt, German historian (b. 1660)

● 1786 - John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713)

● 1788 - Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (b. 1725)

● 1857 - André Dumont, Belgian geologist (b. 1809)

● 1869 - Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer and poet (b. 1790)

● 1916 - Henry James, American writer (b. 1843)

● 1925 - Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1871)

● 1929 - Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (b. 1874)

● 1932 - Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (b. 1851)

● 1936 - Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1866)

● 1941 - King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)

● 1942 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889)

● 1956 - Emile Buisson, French murderer executed (b. 1902)

● 1959 - Maxwell Anderson, American playwright and film writer (b. 1888)

● 1963 - Rajendra Prasad, First President of India (b. 1884)

● 1966 - Jonathan Hale, Canadian-born actor (b. 1891)

● 1967 - Henry Luce, American publisher (b. 1898)

● 1974 - Bobby Bloom, American singer/songwriter (b. 1946)

● 1977 - Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, American actor (b. 1905)

● 1978 - Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905)

● 1978 - Philip Ahn, American actor (b. 1905)

● 1978 - Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892)

● 1979 - Paul Alverdes, German writer (b. 1897)

● 1985 - David Byron, English singer (Uriah Heep) (b. 1947)

● 1985 - Ray Ellington, English singer (b. 1916)

● 1986 - Laura Z. Hobson, American novelist (b. 1900)

● 1986 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)

● 1991 - Reinhard Bendix, German sociologist (b. 1916)

● 1991 - Wassily Hoeffding, American statistician (b. 1914)

● 1993 - Ruby Keeler, Canadian actress and dancer (b. 1910)

● 1998 - Arkady Shevchenko, Soviet diplomat (b. 1930)

● 1998 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)

● 1999 - Christine Glanville, British Puppeteer (. 1924)

● 2002 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)

● 2002 - Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)

● 2003 - Chris Brasher, English athlete (b. 1928)

● 2003 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)

● 2003 - Roger Michael Needham, British cryptographer (b. 1935)

● 2003 - Rudolf Kingslake, Lens designer, and Engineer (b. 1903)

● 2004 - Andres Nuiamäe, first Estonian soldier to be killed in the Iraq War (b. 1982)

● 2004 - Carmen Laforet, famed Spanish novelist

● 2004 - Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)

● 2006 - Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1920)

● 2007 - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and political commentator (b.1917)

● 2007 - Baron Charles Forte, Italian-born hotelier (b. 1908)

● 2007 - Billy Thorpe, Australian musician (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs) (b. 1946)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Abercius, martyr
● St. Caerealis
● St. Gabriel Possenti (leap years)
● St. Hedwig, Blessed
● St. Hilarius, Pope (461-68), calendar reformer (non-leap years)
● St. Macarius
● St. Oswald (d. 992)
● St. Romanus of Condat (d. 463)
● St. Ruellinus
● St. Rufinus
● St. Silvana
● Bl. Antonia of Florence (d. 1472)
● Bl. Villana

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for February 15 (Civil Date: February 28)
● Ap Onesimus of the Seventy.
● Synaxis of St. John the Theologian at Diaconissa.
● St. Eusebius, hermit of Syria.
● St. Paphnutius, monk, and his daughter St. Euphrosyne, nun, of Alexandria.
● Martyr Major of Gaza.
● St. Paphnutius, recluse of the Kiev Caves.
● St. Dalmatus, abbot and founder of the Dormition Monastery in Siberia.

● Christian:
● St. Romanus

● Bahá'í Faith - Day 3 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.

● Andalusia, Spain - Andalusia Day

● Finland - Kalevala Day (1835), The Day of Finnish Culture

● Luxembourg - Burgsonndeg-celebrates end of winter

● Taiwan - Peace Memorial Day, the day of commemorating the 2/28 Incident


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:

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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