The Almanac
Today is Friday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2017 with 317 to follow. 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 mail order retailer Aaron
Montgomery Ward in 1843; engraver Frederic Ives in 1856; Texas oil
millionaire H.L. Hunt in 1889; sportscaster Red Barber in 1908; author
Margaret Truman Daniel, daughter of U.S. President Harry S. Truman, in
1924; actor Hal Holbrook in 1925 (age 91); actor Alan Bates in 1934;
actor/football Hall of Fame member Jim Brown in 1936 (age 81); singer
Gene Pitney in 1940; political activist Huey P. Newton in 1942; actor
Brenda Fricker in 1945 (age 72); actor Rene Russo in 1954 (age 63);
actor Richard Karn in 1956 (age 61); actor Lou Diamond Phillips in 1962
(age 55); comedian Larry the Cable Guy, born Daniel Whitney, in 1963
(age 54); basketball superstar Michael Jordan in 1963 (age 54); film
director Michael Bay in 1965 (age 52); actor Jerry O'Connell in 1974
(age 43); heiress Paris Hilton 1981 (age 36) actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt
in 1981 (age 36); actor Bonnie Wright in 1991 (age 26). On this date in
history: In 1801, the U.S. House of Representatives chose Thomas
Jefferson as the third president of the United States after he and
Aaron Burr tied in the Electoral College. It took 35 House ballots
before Jefferson won and Burr became vice president. In 1904, Giacomo
Puccini's Madama Butterfly premiered in Milan, Italy. In 1909, Apache
leader Geronimo died while under military confinement at Fort Sill,
Okla. In 1933, Newsweek magazine published its first issue. In 1968,
the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opened in Springfield,
Mass. In 1979, A Prairie Home Companion, hosted by Garrison Keillor,
made its debut on National Public Radio. In 2005, U.S. President George
W. Bush nominated John Negroponte to be the first director of national
intelligence. Negroponte assumed office the following month. In 2006, a
landslide that covered a village in Leyte in the central Philippines
killed more than 1,100 people, including scores of children in an
elementary school that was buried by mud and boulders. In 2008, the
province of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Thousands of
ethnic Albanians celebrated in the streets but others resorted to
violent protest. The United States and several other countries,
including Britain, Germany, and France, recognized Kosovo as a
sovereign and independent state. In 2009, General Motors and Chrysler
asked for an additional $14 billion from the government to keep from
going bankrupt. That upped their total requests to $39 billion. In
2011, the British government advised same-sex couples they could form
civil partnerships in church if they wished. In 2014, The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon made its debut on NBC. A thought for the day:
Aldous Huxley wrote, Experience is not what happens to you; it's what
you do with what happens to you. .
