- 30th Day of 2013 / 335Remaining
- 49 Days Until The First Day of Spring
- Sunrise:7:15
- Sunset:5:32
- 10 Hours 17 Minutes of Daylight
- Moon Rise:9:30pm
- Moon Set:8:51am
- Moon’s Phase: 93 %
- The Next Full Moon
- February 25 @ 12:28pm
- 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: 1:58am/1:30pm
- Low: 7:29am/7:33pm
- Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)
- This Year:13.50
- Last Year:6.03
- Normal To Date:13.47
- Annual Seasonal Average:23.80
- Holidays
- Inane Answering Machine Message Day
- National Escape Day
- National Croissant Day
- World Leprosy Day
- On This Day In …
- 1798 --- The first brawl in the U.S. House of Representatives was witnessed by legislators. Congressmen Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold duked it out right there on the House floor. The spat occurred when Lyon spit in Griswold’s face.
- 1835 --- Andrew Jackson becomes the first American president to experience an assassination attempt. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol building and shot at him, but his gun misfired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence managed to pull out a second loaded pistol and pulled the trigger, but it also misfired. Jackson's aides then wrestled Lawrence away from the president, leaving Jackson unharmed but angry and, as it turned out, paranoid. Lawrence was most likely a mentally unstable individual with no connections to Jackson's political rivals, but Jackson was convinced that Lawrence had been hired by his Whig Party opponents to assassinate him. At the time, Jackson's Democrats and the Whigs were locked in battle over Jackson's attempt to dismantle the Bank of the United States. His vice president, Martin Van Buren, was also wary and thereafter carried two loaded pistols with him when visiting the Senate.
- 1883 --- James Ritty and John Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register.
- 1894 --- C.B. King of Detroit, MI interested in all things pneumatic, earned himself a patent for the pneumatic hammer, the heavy jackhammer that runs on air and makes quite a racket.
- 1917 --- The Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded a classic for Columbia Records titled, The Darktown Strutters’ Ball. It was one of the first jazz compositions recorded.
- 1933 --- The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" was broadcast on radio station WXYZ in Detroit. The program ran for 2,956 episodes and ended in 1955. George Seaton (Stenius) was the first voice of the Lone Ranger. Jack Deeds and Earle Graser followed in the role. However, it was Brace Beemer who is best remembered as former Texas Ranger, John Reid. He played the part of the black-masked ranger, fighting for frontier justice for thirteen consecutive years. Riding alongside the Lone Ranger was Tonto, the Indian who had rescued him from death and nursed him back to health after an outlaw ambush had massacred his entire company. The part of Indian scout, Tonto, was played for almost the entire run by a bald-headed Irishman named John Todd. Jim Jewell also fondly referred to the Lone Ranger as ‘kemo sabe’. Jewell produced and directed the series for many years. Silver played the part of the rangers horse, while Scout was Tonto’s steed.
- 1948 --- Mohandas Gandhi, the world's chief advocate of non-violence, is assassinated in New Delhi by a terrorist sponsored by a right-wing Hindu militia group. The murder came only 10 days after a failed attempt on Gandhi's life. Thirty-nine-year-old Nathuram Godse shot the great Indian leader as he made his way through a small crowd to lead a prayer session.
- 1956 --- Elvis Presley recorded "Blue Suede Shoes."
- 1958 --- The first two-way moving sidewalk was put in service at Love Field in Dallas, TX. The length of the walkway through the airport: 1,435 feet.
- 1968 --- In coordinated attacks all across South Vietnam, communist forces launch their largest offensive of the Vietnam War against South Vietnamese and U.S. troops. Dozens of cities, towns, and military bases--including the U.S. embassy in Saigon--were attacked. The massive offensive was not a military success for the communists, but its size and intensity shook the confidence of many Americans who were led to believe, by the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnso, that the war would shortly be coming to a successful close. On January 30, 1968-during the Tet holiday cease-fire in South Vietnam-an estimated 80,000 troops of the North Vietnamese Army and National Liberation Front attacked cities and military establishments throughout South Vietnam. The most spectacular episode occurred when a group of NLF commandos blasted through the wall surrounding the American embassy in Saigon and unsuccessfully attempted to seize the embassy building. Most of the attacks were turned back, with the communist forces suffering heavy losses. Despite assurances from the Johnson administration that all was well, the Tet Offensive led many Americans to begin seriously questioning such statements, and to wonder whether American military might could truly prevail over the communist threat on foreign shores. In the 1950s, Americans had almost unconditionally supported a vigorous American response to communism; the reaction to the Tet Offensive seemed to reflect the growing skepticism of the 1960s, when Americans felt increasingly doubtful about the efficacy of such Cold War tactics. In the wake of the Tet Offensive, support for the U.S. effort in Vietnam began steadily to decline, and public opinion turned sharply against President Johnson, who decided not to run for re-election.
- 1969 --- The Beatles made their last public appearance -- at a free concert at their Apple corporate headquarters in London. The group recorded Get Back; and were also filmed for the movie Let It Be.
- 1972 -- In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators are shot dead by British Army paratroopers in an event that becomes known as "Bloody Sunday." The protesters, all Northern Catholics, were marching in protest of the British policy of internment of suspected Irish nationalists. British authorities had ordered the march banned, and sent troops to confront the demonstrators when it went ahead. The soldiers fired indiscriminately into the crowd of protesters, killing 13 and wounding 17. The killings brought worldwide attention to the crisis in Northern Ireland and sparked protests all across Ireland. In Dublin, the capital of independent Ireland, outraged Irish citizens lit the British embassy aflame on February 2.
- Birthdays
- Anton Chekov
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (32nd President)
- Charles S Dutton
- Harold Prince
- Gene Hackman
- Dorothy Malone
- Vanessa Redgrave
- Dick Cheney
- Marty Balin
- Phil Collins
- Roy Eldridge
- Dick Martin
- Tammy Grimes
- Boris Spassky