The Almanac
Today is Monday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2017 with 307 to follow. 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 Pisces. They include Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
in 1807; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in 1886; David Sarnoff,
RCA board chairman and father of American television, in 1891; actor
William Demarest in 1892; soprano Marian Anderson in 1897; novelist
John Steinbeck in 1902; golf Hall of Fame member Gene Sarazen in 1902;
actor Joan Bennett in 1910; former Texas Gov. John Connally in 1917;
actor Joanne Woodward in 1930 (age 87); actor Elizabeth Taylor in 1932;
consumer activist Ralph Nader in 1934 (age 83); actor Barbara Babcock
in 1937 (age 80); actor Howard Hesseman in 1940 (age 77); actor Mary
Frann in 1943; physicist Alan Guth in 1947 (age 70); actor Timothy
Spall in 1957 (age 60); actor Adam Baldwin in 1962 (age 55); Chelsea
Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton, in 1980 (age 37);
singer Josh Groban in 1981 (age 36). On this date in history: In 1844,
the Dominican Republic was granted independence from Haiti. In 1933, it
was announced that President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt would use
a 263-year-old tattered Dutch Bible that had been in the possession of
his family since 1670 for his inauguration on March 4. In 1942, opening
salvos were fired in the Battle of the Java Sea, during which 11
American-British-Dutch-Australian Command warships were sunk by the
Japanese, resulting in the deaths of approximately 3,400 sailors. The
USS Houston (CA-30), which was sunk during the Battle of Sunda Strait
on March 1, 1942, was finally located in 2014. In 1951, the 22nd
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, limiting presidents to two terms,
was ratified. In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement began a
71-day oc'cup'ation at Wounded Knee, S.D., to protest the federal
government's failure to live up to its agreements with Indian nations.
In 1974, the first issue of People magazine was published. In 1982, an
Atlanta jury convicted Wayne Williams of killing two of 28 young blacks
whose deaths over a two-year period had shaken the city. Williams was
sentenced to life in prison. In 1990, the Soviet Parliament approved
the creation of a U.S. -style presidential system that gave Mikhail
Gorbachev broad powers and established direct popular elections for the
office. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush ordered a halt to the
allied military offensive against Iraqi military forces, saying: 'Our
military objectives are met. In 1992, Elizabeth Taylor celebrated her
60th birthday by closing Disneyland for an elaborate private party with
her celebrity friends. In 1999, Nigeria's transition to civilian rule
was nearly completed with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo, a former
military leader, as president. In 2004, two studies commissioned by the
U.S. Roman Catholic church showed at least 4 percent of priests were
involved in child sexual abuse from 1950 to 2002. In 2007, a suicide
bomber set off a device outside Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan that
killed 23 people. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who was visiting the
American military base and identified by the Taliban as the target of
the attack, escaped injury. . In 2010, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake
struck off the coast of Chile, killing close to 600 people. The quake
generated a tsunami, destroyed or heavily damaged nearly 500,000 homes
and caused a massive electrical blackout. Chile's president declared a
state of catastrophe. In 2013, about 150,000 people gathered at St.
Peter's Square in Vatican City for Pope Benedict XVI's final general
audience. In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced
plans for a major revamp of the nutrition labels on 700,000 food
products, changing out-of-date serving sizes, highlighting calories and
providing more information on added sugars. Officials said the
information on the new labels would make healthy eating easier. A
thought for the day: Winning doesn't always mean being first. Winning
means you're doing better than you've ever done before. -- Champion
speed skater Bonnie Blair .
