Tuesday February 11, 2014

• 42^nd Day of 2014 / 323 Remaining
• 37 Days Until The First Day of Spring

• Sunrise:7:02
• Sunset:5:45
• 10 Hours 43 Minutes of Daylight

• Moon Rise:3:11pm
• Moon Set:4:44am
• Moon’s Phase: 91 %

• The Next Full Moon
• February 14 @ 3:54 pm
• Full Snow Moon
• Full Hunger Moon

Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February’s full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.

• Tides
• High:8:03am/9:57pm
• Low:2:17am/3:11pm

• Rainfall
• This Year:5.66
• Last Year:13.87
• Average Year to Date:15.43

• Holidays
• Be Electrific Day
• National Shut-In Visitation Day
• Pro Sports Wives Day
• Satisfied Staying Single Day
• White Shirt Day
• National Peppermint Patty Day
• Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day

• National Foundation Day-Japan
• Youth Day-Cameroon
• Armed Forces Day-Liberia

• On This Day In …
• 1752 --- Through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin, the Pennsylvania Hospital opened. It was the very first hospital in America.
  

  

• 1808 --- Judge Jesse Fell experimented by burning anthracite coal to keep his house warm on this winter day in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He successfully showed how clean the coal burned and how cheaply it could be used as a heating fuel. As a result, that area of northeast Pennsylvania became an important coal mining area for generations. Those who settled in the area to work the coal mines were referred to as ‘coal crackers’.

• 1812 --- The term "gerrymandering" had its beginning when the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, signed a redistricting law that favored his party.
  

  

• 1858 --- In southern France, Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, a 14-year-old French peasant girl, first claims to have seen the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ and a central figure in the Roman Catholic religion. The apparitions, which totaled 18 before the end of

  

  the year, occurred in a grotto of a rock promontory near Lourdes, France. Marie explained that the Virgin Mary revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception, asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision, and told the girl to drink from a fountain in the grotto, which Marie subsequently discovered by digging into the earth.

• 1878 --- The first U.S. bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, was formed.
  

  

• 1916 --- Emma Goldman, a crusader for women's rights and social justice, is arrested in New York City for lecturing and distributing materials about birth control. She was accused of violating the Comstock Act of 1873, which made it a federal offense to

  

  disseminate contraceptive devices and information through the mail or across state lines. In addition to advocating for women's reproductive rights, Goldman, who was later convicted and spent time in jail, was a champion of numerous controversial causes and ideas, including anarchism, free speech and atheism.

• 1916 --- The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presented its first concert. The symphony was the first by a municipal orchestra to be supported by taxes.

• 1937 --- After a six-week sit-down strike by General Motors (GM) autoworkers at the Fisher Body Plant No. 2 in Flint, Michigan, GM president Alfred P. Sloan signs the first union contract in the history of the American auto industry. The strike was organized by the

  

  United Auto Workers (UAW), which wanted to be recognized as the sole bargaining authority for employees at GM factories. The UAW, founded in 1935, also demanded improved working conditions and job security for GM autoworkers. At the time of the strike, GM, which was founded in 1908 by William Durant, had been the world's largest automaker since the early 1930s.

• 1940 --- NBC radio presented The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street for the first time. The famous Blue network series included several distinguished alumni -- among them, Dinah Shore and Zero Mostel. The chairman, or host, of The Chamber Music

  

  Society of Lower Basin Street was Milton Cross. He would say things like, “A Bostonian looks like he’s smelling something. A New Yorker looks like he’s found it.” The show combined satire, blues and jazz and was built around what were called the three Bs of music: Barrelhouse, Boogie Woogie and Blues.

• 1945 --- A week of intensive bargaining by the leaders of the three major Allied powers ends in Yalta, a Soviet resort town on the Black Sea. It was the second conference of the "Big Three" Allied leaders--U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin--and

  

  the war had progressed mightily since their last meeting, which had taken place in Tehran in late 1943. What was then called the Crimea conference was held at the old summer palace of Czar Nicholas II on the outskirts of Yalta, now a city in the independent Ukraine. With victory over Germany three months away, Churchill and Stalin were more intent on dividing Europe into zones of political influence than in addressing military considerations.

• 1958 --- Ruth Carol Taylor was the first black woman to become a stewardess (flight attendant) by making her initial flight this day on Mohawk Airlines from Ithaca, NY to New York City.
  

  

• 1960 --- Jack Paar walked off NBC’s Tonight Show. The previous night, Paar had told a joke during his monologue, and although Paar didn’t say “toilets,” but “water closets,” it offended the NBC censors, who cut the joke (a total of four minutes) out of the show. Paar was incensed when he found out, so on this night he complained about the NBC censors, said “good night” and left. (He returned on March 7, following a trip to Hong Kong, and stayed around for another two years as host of Tonight.)
  

  

• 1963 --- Julia Child's 'The French Chef' premiered on TV.
  

  

• 1966 --- Willie Mays became the highest-paid baseball player in either league as he signed a two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants for a salary of about $130,000 a year.

• 1970 --- Variety reported this day that Walt Disney had secretly taken its Song of the South movie out of circulation back in 1958. Originally released in 1946, the live-action/animated flick featuring Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, Uncle Remus and kids, Johnny

  

  and Ginny, won an Academy Award (1947) for the song, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. James Baskett won an Oscar for his Uncle Remus role. Variety said Song of the South was pulled because of racist attitudes reflected in the Negro roles in the film.

• 1975 --- Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to head a major party in Britain when she was elected leader of opposition Conservative Party.
  

  

• 1979 --- Nine days after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran (after 15 years in exile) power was seized by his followers.
  

  

• 1990 --- Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s leading antiapartheid figure was freed after 27 years in prison. Mandela walked through the gate

  

  of Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, setting off celebrations among his followers. Mandela assumed the forefront of the African black struggle after his release from prison.

• 1990 --- James ‘Buster’ Douglas knocked out ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson in the 10th round to grab the heavyweight boxing crown for himself. Douglas went into that bout in Tokyo a 35-1 underdog.
  

  

• 1993 --- Janet Reno was appointed to the position of attorney general by U.S. President Clinton. She was the first female to hold the position.
  

  

• 2006 --- In Texas, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a quail hunt.

• 2008 --- The Defense Department charged Khalid Sheikh Mohammed with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
  

  

• Birthdays
• Thomas Edison
• Lydia Maria Francis Child
• Brandy (Norwood)
• Jenifer Aniston
• Tina Louise
• Burt Reynolds
• Conrad Janis
• Jeb Bush
• Sergio Mendes
• Sheryl Crow
• Sarah Palin
• Max Baer
• Eva Gabor
• John Mills
• Lloyd Bentsen
• Leslie Nielsen