The Almanac
Today is Thursday, Feb. 2, the 33rd day of 2017 with 332 to follow.
This is Groundhog Day in the United States. The moon is waxing. Morning
stars are Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury. Evening stars are Neptune,
Venus, Mars and Uranus. Those born on this date are under the sign of
Aquarius. They include: French statesman Charles de Talleyrand in 1754;
psychologist Havelock Ellis in 1859; Irish novelist James Joyce in
1882; Charles Correll, Andy of radio's Amos and Andy program, in 1890;
National Football League co-founder George Halas in 1895; hotel magnate
Howard Johnson in 1897; Lithuanian violinist Jascha Heifetz in 1901;
novelist Ayn Rand in 1905; columnist Liz Smith in 1923 (age 94); actor
Elaine Stritch in 1925; musician Stan Getz in 1927; comedian Tom
Smothers in 1937 (age 80); singer Graham Nash in 1942 (age 75); actor
Farrah Fawcett in 1947; actor Brent Spiner in 1949 (age 68); South
Korean President Park Geun-hye in 1952 (age 65); model Christie
Brinkley in 1954 (age 63); actor Michael T. Weiss in 1962 (age 55);
singer Eva Cassidy in 1963; singer Shakira in 1977 (age 40). On this
date in history: In 1653, the city of New Amsterdam was incorporated.
(It later was renamed New York City.) In 1848, the war between the
United States and Mexico formally ended with the signing of the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It provided for Mexico's cession of the territory
that became the states of New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah
and parts of Colorado and Wyoming in exchange for $15 million. In 1876,
the National Baseball League was formed, with teams in Boston, Chicago,
Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Louisville, Ky., and
Hartford, Conn. In 1887, Groundhog Day was celebrated for the first
time in Punxsutawney, Pa. In 1911, an army of Mexican rebels under Gen.
Pascal Orozco attacked the city of Juarez. James R. Garfield, son of
the former president, and 100 other Americans were the first to raise
the alarm. Garfield had been marooned in Mexico for several days, and
evidently has escaped from the scene of engagement just in time. In
1917, Europe's neutrals looked to the United States for support, and to
stand up for them, as fighting continued to rage across the continent.
In 1932, Japanese planes bombed Shanghai's Chapei (Zhabei) District. In
1933, two days after becoming chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler
ordered dissolution of the Parliament. In 1993, first lady Hillary
Clinton banned smoking in the White House. In 2002, a report requested
by the board of directors of the Enron Corp. accused top executives of
forcing the company into bankruptcy by, among other things, inflating
profits by almost $1 billion. In 2003, Vaclav Havel, the playwright who
became a president, stepped down after his second five-year term as
head of the Czech Republic. In 2004, Roger Federer took over the No. 1
ranking in men's tennis. He held the position for a record 237
consecutive weeks. In 2007, hundreds of scientists taking part in a
U.N. -sponsored study concluded in a report that human activity was to
blame for climate change, largely through greenhouse gases from the
burning of fossil fuels. In 2012, Prince William was deployed to the
British-controlled Falkland Islands off Argentina where critics faulted
the royal heir for wearing the uniform of the conqueror, referring to
the brief 1982 war when England repelled an Argentine takeover. In
2014, Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, 46, was found
dead in his New York City apartment. The NYC medical examiner later
said Hoffman was killed by a toxic mix of drugs. The death was ruled an
accident. In sports, Seattle won the Super Bowl 43-8 over Denver. A
thought for the day: Robert Frost said, Education is the ability to
listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your
self-confidence. .
