- 42nd Day of 2015 323 Remaining
- Spring Begins in 37 Days
- Sunrise:7:02
- Sunset:5:44
- 10 Hours 42 Minutes
- Moon Rise:12:12am
- Moon Set:11:05am
- Phase: Last Quarter
- Full Moon February 3 @ 3:10pm
- 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:3:24am/4:35pm
- Low:10:19am/9:39pm
- Rainfall:
- This Year to Date:17.01
- Last Year:5.84
- Avg YTD:15.43
- Annual Avg:23.80
- Holidays
- Be Electrific Day
- Get Out Your Guitar Day
- Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day
- Make A Friend Day
- National Peppermint Patty Day
- National Shut-In Visitation day
- Satisfied Staying Single Day
- White Shirt Day
- Pro Sports Spouses Day
- Kenkokukinen no Hi (National Foundation Day)-Japan
- Youth Day-Cameroon
- Armed Forces Day-Liberia
- On This Day
- 1776 --- Georgia's royal governor, Sir James Wright, escapes from his residence in Savannah to the safety of a waiting British warship, the HMS Scarborough, anchored at the mouth of the Savannah River, and returns to London. Governor Wright had been taken into custody and placed under house arrest nearly a month earlier on January 18, 1776, by Patriots under the command of Major Joseph Habersham of the Provincial Congress.
- 1811 --- Robert Fulton was issued the first patent for a steamboat.
- 1812 --- The term "gerrymandering" had its beginning when the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, signed a redistricting law that favored his party.
- 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.
- 1922 --- Frederick Grant Banting announces the discovery of insulin, used to treat diabetes, at the University of Toronto, with colleagues C.H. Best, J.B. Collip, and J.J.R. Macleod.
- 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.
- 1945 --- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin wrapped up a conference at Yalta in the Crimea by signing a series of agreements on the governance of post-World War II Europe.
- 1952 --- A series of deadly avalanches begins across central Europe. A storm stalled over the middle of Europe the first week of February 1952, dumping a couple of feet of snow in parts of France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. In many places, activity came to a standstill. Thousands of people and their shovels were recruited in German towns to make the streets passable. In France, several people died when their roofs collapsed under the weight of the accumulated snow. The worst of the 10-day snowstorm was felt in Austria, where avalanches took a deadly toll. At a ski resort in Melkoede, 50 people were sleeping in the early morning hours of February 11 when a huge mass of snow suddenly crashed down the mountain above them. Twenty people, almost all German tourists, were killed at the resort and another 10 were seriously injured. In Switzerland and Austria, authorities issued warnings about potential avalanches and some villages were evacuated. Unfortunately, the following day brought more damaging avalanches. In Isenthal, Switzerland, hundreds of cattle and several barns were buried by snow. In Leutasche, Austria, a 12-year-old child was rescued by people who risked their lives digging while another avalanche was poised to fall. Seven of the child's family members were killed. Overall, it is estimated that 78 people died across Europe from the snowstorm and resulting avalanches.
- 1960 --- Jack Paar walked off while live on the air on the "Tonight Show" with four minutes left. He did this in response to censors cutting out a joke from the show the night before.
- 1960 --- The Payola scandal reaches a new level of public prominence and legal gravity on this day in 1960, when President Eisenhower called it an issue of public morality and the FCC proposed a new law making involvement in Payola a criminal act. Payola referred specifically to a practice that was nearly as old as the industry itself: manufacturing a popular hit by paying for radio play.
- 1963 --- Julia Child's 'The French Chef' premiered on TV.
- 1977 --- The heaviest lobster known was caught off Nova Scotia, weighing in at 44 lb 6 oz (20.14 kg).
- 1979 --- Followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, nine days after the religious leader returned to his home country following 15 years of exile.
- 1986 --- Boy George guest-starred on an episode of "The A-Team."
- 1989 --- Rev. Barbara C. Harris became the first woman to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church.
- 1990 --- Nelson Mandela, leader of the movement to end South African apartheid, is released from prison after 27 years. In 1944, Mandela, a lawyer, joined the African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black political organization in South Africa, where he became a leader of Johannesburg's youth wing of the ANC. In 1952, he became deputy national president of the ANC, advocating nonviolent resistance to apartheid--South Africa's institutionalized system of white supremacy and racial segregation. However, after the massacre of peaceful black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, Nelson helped organize a paramilitary branch of the ANC to engage in guerrilla warfare against the white minority government. In 1961, he was arrested for treason, and although acquitted he was arrested again in 1962 for illegally leaving the country. Convicted and sentenced to five years at Robben Island Prison, he was put on trial again in 1964 on charges of sabotage. In June 1964, he was convicted along with several other ANC leaders and sentenced to life in prison.
- 1990 --- Buster Douglas defeats Mike Tyson, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, in 10 rounds at a boxing match in Tokyo, Japan. James “Buster” Douglas began boxing professionally in the 1980s and was considered a talented fighter, but it was believed he lacked the motivation to become a champion. By contrast, Tyson had become the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history when he defeated Trevor Berbick by knockout in 1986, when he was just 20 years old. Nicknamed “Iron Mike,” Tyson intimidated other boxers with his fast, powerful punches. Going into the February 11, 1990, match with Buster Douglas, Tyson seemed invincible and was considered a 42-1 favorite to win. However, from the start, Douglas managed to dominate the fight. He was said to have been motivated by the pain of his mother’s death several weeks before the match. Tyson, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have his heart in the fight, although he knocked Douglas to the ground at the end of the eighth round. Douglas was able to get back up and went on to knock out Tyson and win the fight in the 10th round of the scheduled 12-round match. His victory was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
- 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
- Sergio Mendes
- Thomas Edison
- Jennifer Aniston
- Tina Louise
- Burt Reynolds
- Jeb Bush
- Sheryl Crow
- Sarah Palin
- Brandy
- Max Baer
- King Farouk
- Eva Gabor
- John Mills
- Lloyd Bentsen
Wednesday February 11, 2015
