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KALW Almanac: Tue. Feb. 28, 2017

It's Mardi Gras! The beautiful 2008 All America Rose "Mardi Gras" at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, by flickr user John and his wife (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 
Today Tuesday, 28th of February of 2017 is the 59th day of the year.  There are 306 days remaining until the end of the year.  616 days until Mid-Term Elections.  1344 days until the next Presidential Election.  The sun rose at 6:41 am and sunset will be at 6:04 pm.  Today we will have 11 hours and 23 minutes of daylight. 

The solar transit will be at 12:22 pm.

The first high tide was at 12:47 am 

and the next high tide will be at 12:39 pm. 

The first low tide will be at 6:18 am 

and the next low tide at 6:38 pm.

The Moon is 4.7% illuminated; a Waxing Crescent

Moon Direction: ↑ 61.80° ENE

Moon Altitude: -33.03°

Moon Distance: 231229 mi

Next Full Moon: Mar 12, 2017 at 7:53 am

Next New Moon: Mar 27, 2017 at 7:57 pm

Next Moonrise: Today at 8:04 am

Car Keys and Small Change Day

Floral Design Day

International Pancake Day

Mardi Gras
Also known as Fastnacht Day and Fat Tuesday

National Chocolate Soufflé Day

National Public Sleeping Day

National Science Day

National Tooth Fairy Day

Pączki Day

Rare Disease Day

World Spay Day

Today is also...

Día de Andalucía (Andalusia, Spain)

Kalevala Day, the day of Finnish culture. (Finland)

National Science Day (India)

Peace Memorial Day (Taiwan)

Teachers' Day (Arab states)

World Tailors Day (international)

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday to you!  You share this special day with…

1883 – Seán Mac Diarmada, Irish rebel leader (d. 1916)

1894 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1964)

1895 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright and director (d. 1974)

1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)

1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter (d. 1986)

1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)

1907 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (d. 1988)

1915 – Zero Mostel, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)

1931 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor

1939 – John Fahey, American guitarist (d. 2001)

1939 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan philosopher and scholar (d. 1987)

1939 – Tommy Tune, American actor, singer, dancer, and director

1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver

1942 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1969)

1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author

1957 – John Turturro, American actor, director, and screenwriter

1958 – Jack Abramoff, American businessman and criminal

1961 – Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian-American actress

1970 – Daniel Handler, American journalist, author, and accordion player

1988 – Markéta Irglová, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress

On this day in history….

1849 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.

1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)

1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.

1939 – The erroneous word "dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.

1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).

1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2).

1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.

1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale.

2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.