The Almanac
This is Tuesday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2017 with 320 to follow. This
is Valentine's Day. The moon is waning. 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
statesman and abolitionist Frederick Douglass in 1818; Medal of Honor
recipient Julian Scott in 1846; suffrage leader Anna Howard Shaw in
1847; comedy legend Jack Benny in 1894; actor Thelma Ritter in 1905;
sports announcer Mel Allen in 1913; football Coach Woody Hayes in 1913;
labor leader Jimmy Hoffa 1913; broadcaster Hugh Downs in 1921 (age 96);
hockey Hall of Fame member Bernie Geoffrion in 1931; actor/singer
Florence Henderson in 1934 (age 83); entrepreneur and former New York
Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 1942 (age 75); writer Carl Bernstein in 1944
(age 73); dancer-actor Gregory Hines in 1946; magician Raymond Joseph
Teller of Penn and Teller in 1948 (age 69); radio host Terry Gross in
1951 (age 66); opera star Renee Fleming in 1959 (age 58); actor Meg
Tilly in 1960 (age 57); actor Simon Pegg in 1970 (age 47); musician Rob
Thomas in 1972 (age 45); actor Freddie Highmore in 1992 (age 25). On
this date in history: In 1779, British navigator and explorer James
Cook, first known European to reach the Hawaiian Islands, was stabbed
to death by island natives while investigating the theft of a boat. In
1849, James Polk became the first U.S. president to be photographed
while in office. The photographer was Mathew Brady, who is famous for
his Civil War pictures. In 1859, Oregon was admitted as the 33rd member
of the United States. In 1903, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed
a law creating the Department of Commerce and Labor. In 1912, Arizona
was admitted to the 48th member of the United States. In 1920, the
League of Women Voters was formed in Chicago. In 1929, in what became
known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, gunmen believed to be
working for Prohibition-era crime boss Al Capone killed seven members
of the rival George Bugs Moran gang in a Chicago garage. In 1949,
Israel's legislature, the Knesset, convened for the first time. In
1989, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, offended by The Satanic
Verses, called on Muslims to kill its author, Salman Rushdie. He
offered a $1 million reward for Rushdie's death, sending the writer
into hiding. Iran rescinded the death sentence in 1998. In 1990, 90
people were killed and 56 injured in the crash of an Indian Airlines
Airbus 320, about 50 yards short of a runway in Bangalore, India. In
1994, a convicted serial killer who admitted killing 55 people was
executed by a firing squad in a Russian prison. In 2004, at least 25
people died and 100 others were injured when a giant glass roof
collapsed at the largest city water park in Moscow. Authorities
suspected faulty construction. In 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri was assassinated. Twenty-one others died with him. In
2005, video-sharing website YouTube was founded by former PayPal
employees. The company was purchased by Google a year and a half later
for $1.65 billion. In 2011, Chevron was ordered to pay $8.6 billion to
clean up oil pollution in a rain forest area in northeastern Ecuador.
In 2012, Iran warned six European countries that it might cut them off
from Iranian oil in reaction to international sanctions against its
nuclear program. The threat was made to Italy, Spain, France,
Netherlands, Greece and Portugal. In 2013, police said they charged
South African double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius with murder in
the shooting of his girlfriend. Pistorius was convicted of culpable
homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, and sentenced to five years
in prison. A thought for the day: People will pay more to be
entertained than educated. -- Johnny Carson .
