- 62nd Day of 2012 / 304 Remaining
- 18 Days Until Spring Begins
- Sunrise:6:39
- Sunset:6:05
- 11 Hr 26 Min
- Moon Rise:12:27pm
- Moon Set:2:29am
- Moon’s Phase: 67 %
- The Next Full Moon
- March 8 @ 1:41 am
- Full Worm Moon
- Full Sap Moon
- Full Crust Moon
- Lenten Moon
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:5:06am/7:55pm
- Low:12:41pm
- Rainfall
- This Year:7.40
- Last Year:17.70
- Normal To Date:17.20
- Annual Average: 22.20
- Holidays
- Dr. Seuss Day
- NEA's Read Across America Day
- Independence Day-Texas
- National Banana Cream Pie Day
- Dress in Blue Day
- World Day of Prayer
- Peasants' Day-Myanmar/Burma
- The Fast of Nineteen Days-Baha’i
- The Festival of Owls begins today in Houston, Minnesota. Families immerse themselves in owls with three days of owl face painting, owl origami, owl storytelling, hooting contests, and owl prowls
- On This Day In …
- 1776 --- In advance of the Continental Army's occupation of Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts, General George Washington orders American artillery forces to begin bombarding Boston from their positions at Lechmere Point, northwest of the city center. After two straight days of bombardment, American Brigadier General John Thomas slipped 2,000 troops, cannons and artillery into position just south of Boston at Dorchester Heights. The 56 cannon involved in the move were those taken at Ticonderoga, New York, by Lieutenant Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen with his Green Mountain Boys, which had then been transported to Boston by Colonel of Artillery Henry Knox the previous winter. By March 5, 1776, the Continental Army had artillery troops in position around Boston, including the elevated position at Dorchester Heights, overlooking the city. British General William Howe realized Boston was indefensible to the American positions and decided, on March 7, 1776, to leave the city. Ten days later, on March 17, 1776, the eight-year British occupation of Boston ended when British troops evacuated the city and sailed to the safety of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- 1799 --- The first U.S. weights and measures law was passed by Congress. Actually it did not set standards, but rather required the surveyor of each port to test and correct the instruments and weights used to calculate duties on imports. Basically each surveyor was on his own in setting the standards to be tested.
- 1807 --- The U.S. Congress passes an act to "prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States...from any foreign kingdom, place, or country." The first shipload of African captives to North America arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, in August 1619, but for most of the 17th century, European indentured servants were far more numerous in the North American British colonies than were African slaves. However, after 1680, the flow of indentured servants sharply declined, leading to an explosion in the African slave trade. By the middle of the 18th century, slavery could be found in all 13 colonies and was at the core of the Southern colonies' agricultural economy. By the time of the American Revolution, the English importers alone had brought some three million captive Africans to the Americas. After the war, as slave labor was not a crucial element of the Northern economy, most Northern states passed legislation to abolish slavery. However, in the South, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made cotton a major industry and sharply increased the need for slave labor. Tension arose between the North and the South as the slave or free status of new states was debated. In January 1807, with a self-sustaining population of over four million slaves in the South, some Southern congressmen joined with the North in voting to abolish the African slave trade, an act that became effective January 1, 1808. The widespread trade of slaves within the South was not prohibited, however, and children of slaves automatically became slave themselves, thus ensuring a self-sustaining slave population in the South. Great Britain also banned the African slave trade in 1807, but the trade of African slaves to Brazil and Cuba continued until the 1860s.
- 1836 --- Texas adopted its Declaration of Independence on Sam Houston's 43rd birthday. Houston, a member of the Cherokee Indian tribe, was commander of the Texas Army. He later served as Texas governor, but was deposed when he refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy.
- 1877 --- Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote.
- 1901 --- The Martha Washington Hotel opens in New York City. It is the first hotel exclusively for women.
- 1923 --- Time magazine published its first issue.
- 1925 --- State and federal highway officials developed a nationwide route-numbering system and adopted the familiar U.S. shield-shaped numbered marker. For instance, in the east, there is U.S. 1 that runs from New England to Florida and in the west, the corresponding highway, U.S. 101, from Tacoma, WA to San Diego, CA.
- 1927 --- Babe Ruth signed a 3-year contract with the New York Yankees for a guarantee of $70,000 a year, thus becoming baseball’s highest paid player.
- 1946 --- Ho Chi Minh was elected President of Vietnam.
- 1959 --- Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis held the first of two recording sessions that yielded the album "Kind of Blue."
- 1962 --- Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points and broke an NBA record as the Philadelphia Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169-147. Chamberlain broke NBA marks for the most field goal attempts (63), most field goals made (36), most free throws made (28), most points in a half (59), most field goal attempts in a half (37), most field goals made in a half (22), and most field goal attempts in one quarter (21). The 316 total points scored tied an NBA record.
- 1975 --- Linda McCartney was arrested for personal possession of marijuana. Paul was driving the vehicle at the time of the incident but was not charged.
- 1988 --- Ray Charles received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. His biggest hits were "What’d I Say," "Georgia On My Mind," "Hit the Road Jack," "I Can’t Stop Loving You," "You Don’t Know Me," and "Busted."
- 2004 --- NASA announced that the Mars rover Opportunity had discovered evidence that water had existed on Mars in the past.
- Birthdays
- Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel
- Lou Reed
- Jon Bon Jovi
- Eddie Money
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Daniel Craig
- Tom Wolfe
- John Irving
- Laraine Newman
- Sen Russ Feingold
- Ken Salazar-Secretary of the Interior
- Sam Houston
- Desi Arnaz
- Jennifer Jones
- Mel Ott