- 51st Day of 2015 314 Remaining
- Spring Begins in 28 Days
- Sunrise:6:52
- Sunset:5:54
- 11 Hours 2 Minutes
- Moon Rise:7:52
- Moon Set:8:22
- Phase: 5%
- Full Moon March 5 @ 10:06am
As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon of winter.
- Tides
- High:11:33am
- Low:5:25am/5:50pm
- Rainfall:
- This Year to Date:17.01
- Last Year:5.89
- Avg YTD:16.87
- Annual Avg:23.80
- Holidays
- Clean Out Your Bookcase Day
- Love Your Pet Day
- National Cherry Pie Day
- National Handcuff Day
- National Hoodie Hoo Day
- World Day For Social Justice
- On This Day
- 1673 --- The first recorded wine auction took place in London.
- 1792 --- President George Washington signs legislation renewing the United States Post Office as a cabinet department led by the postmaster general, guaranteeing inexpensive delivery of all newspapers, stipulating the right to privacy and granting Congress the ability to expand postal service to new areas of the nation.
- 1839 --- Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.
- 1872 --- Cyrus W. Baldwin of Boston, Massachusetts received U.S. patent No. 123,761 for a hydraulic electric elevator. It was installed in the Stephens Hotel in New York City.
- 1872 --- The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.
- 1873 --- The University of California got its first Medical School.
- 1933 --- The U.S. Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment to repeal Prohibition. The amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933 and became effective on December 15, 1933.
- 1952 --- "The African Queen" opened at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.
- 1958 --- Buddy Holly's album "Buddy Holly" was released by Coral Records. This was his first official solo album.
- 1962 --- John Glenn made space history when he orbited the world three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes. He was the first American to orbit the Earth. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.
- 1965 --- The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface.
- 1969 --- "Goodbye Cream" opened in Baltimore. The film was of Cream's November 26, 1968 farewell concert at London's Royal Albert Hall.
- 1974 --- Reg Murphy, an editor of The Atlanta Constitution, is kidnapped after being lured from his home near the city. William Williams told the newspaperman that he had 300,000 gallons of heating oil to donate to the poor. The 33-year-old Williams abducted Murphy, who was well known for his anti-Vietnam War stance, at gunpoint. For the next 49 hours, Williams drove Murphy around the city, stopping to phone in ransom demands to the newspaper. Williams claimed to represent a right-wing militia group and insisted on receiving $700,000. Finally, managing editor G. James Minter delivered the money to Williams and Murphy was released. Within hours, Williams and his wife Betty were caught in their home outside the city with the ransom money. At the subsequent trial, Williams attempted a plea of mental instability and told the jury about being abused as a child. There was also evidence that he had been using amphetamines, but the motive for the crime remains a mystery. Williams was sentenced to 40 years for kidnapping and extortion, and his wife received three years' probation for her concealment of the crime. In 1975, Williams was granted a new trial, found guilty again, and sentenced to 50 years in federal prison. He served nine years in federal prison before being paroled.
- 1976 --- After operating for 22 years, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization concludes its final military exercise and quietly shuts down. SEATO had been one of the bulwarks of America's Cold War policies in Asia, but the Vietnam War did much to destroy its cohesiveness and question its effectiveness.
1966 - 1985 --- In a highly controversial vote, the Irish government defies the powerful Catholic Church and approves the sale of contraceptives. Up until 1979, Irish law prohibited the importation and sale of contraceptives. In a 1973 case, McGee v. The Attorney General, the Irish Supreme Court found that a constitutional right to marital privacy covered the use of contraceptives. Pressured by strong conservative forces in Irish society, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, the government was slow to change the law to reflect the court's decision, and a number of proposed bills failed before reaching the books.
- 1992 --- 24 year old John Singleton became the youngest person, and the first African American, ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director. Singleton also scored an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. In his debut film, Boyz N the Hood (1991), Singleton depicted life on the streets of his native Los Angeles--not the famously sunny, palm-tree-lined boulevards but the tough, gang-ruled neighborhood of South Central. His portrait of three young black men growing up in Compton, where drive-by shootings were a terrifying fact of everyday life, was praised for its disturbing accuracy as well as for the depth and compassion with which it viewed all its characters. It became one of the first films with a largely black cast to break out as a mainstream hit, earning some $57 million at the box office.
- 1993 --- Two ten-year-old boys were charged by police in Liverpool, England, in the abduction and death of a toddler. The two boys were later convicted.
- 1986 --- Attempts to dig a channel tunnel between Britain and France date back to 1883, and Napoleon drew blueprints for a tunnel in 1802. Yet not until February 20, 1986, were France and Britain able to announce that a tunnel would soon become a reality. Trains, cars and buses would be able to speed through the tunnel in less than half an hour. Construction began in December 1987 and the "chunnel" was finally completed in 1994.
- 1996 --- Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and a bodyguard were found not guilty of first-degree murder. The jury was deadlocked on voluntary manslaughter charges resulting in a mistrial.
- 1998 --- American Tara Lipinski became at age 15 the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when she won the ladies' figure skating title at Nagano, Japan.
- 2003 --- A fire at a rock concert in a West Warwick, Rhode Island, nightclub kills 100 people and seriously injures almost 200 more. It was the deadliest such fire in the United States since 165 people were killed at the Beverly Hill Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, in 1977. On the night of February 20, a local news crew was on hand at the Station nightclub to report on the issue of nightclub safety. (Four days earlier, 21 people had been killed during a stampede at a club in Chicago.) Helping out with the report was Jeffrey Derderian, who co-owned the Station with his brother Michael. That night, they were expecting a full house to see the heavy-metal band Great White. Just after 11 p.m., near the beginning of the show, Daniel Biechele, Great White's tour manager, set off some pyrotechnics behind the performers, which set fire to the soundproofing foam on the ceiling. For a short time, no one realized the severity of the situation. As the fire spread rapidly, though, panic ensued. Most of the 400 people at the concert attempted to leave the club through the front entrance. As black smoke filled the club's interior, the desperate rush of people to the front entrance caused a pile-up, trapping people where they stood. Though firefighters, who responded within minutes, worked hard to pull people to safety through the front door, 96 people died in the smoke and flames. Most of the bodies were found near the front entrance. Among the dead was Great White's guitarist, Ty Longley. Another 35 people were left in critical condition, including four who would later die from their injuries. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Daniel Biechele was indicted for setting off the pyrotechnics without a permit. He pled guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and received a sentence of four years in prison with 11 more years suspended. Michael Derderian pled guilty for his role in maintaining the Station and received a 15-year sentence (four years to serve, and 11 years suspended). His brother Jeffrey got a 10-year suspended sentence.
- Birthdays
- Ansel Adams
- Aleksei Kosygin
- Konstantin Sergeyev
- Sidney Poitier
- Gloria Vanderbilt
- Amanda Blake
- Nancy Wilson
- Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Jennifer O’Neill
- Ivana Trump
- Walter Becker
- Patty Hearst
- Cindy Crawford
- Kurt Cobain
