On This Day:
Wednesday February 8, 2012
This is the 39th day of the year, with 327 days remaining
in 2012.
Fact of the Day: bears
Bears are three-gaited, meaning they walk, lope or gallop.
It has been reported that a grizzly bear can run nearly as
fast as a horse (33-34 mph) for a distance of 50 to 100
yards. This is definitely faster than a human being can run.
The lope, slower than the gallop, is an easy,
ground-covering, bounding gait that does not seem to tire
the bear and can be maintained for a long time. Grizzlies
can lope along across flats, up slopes, and down slopes,
always maintaining a steady pace. It seems they are every
bit as fast going uphill as they are going down. They also
swim, but they cannot climb trees. Only Black bears in
America can climb trees.
Holidays
Feast day of St. Jerome Emiliani, St. John of Matha, St.
Cuthman, St. Stephen of Muret, St. Elfleda, St. Nicetius or
Nizier of Besançon, and St. Meingold.
Japan:
Ha-Ri-Ku-Yo (Needle Mass).
Slovenia:
Culture Day.
Events
1725
- Catherine
I succeeded her husband, Peter
the Great (who died), to become empress of Russia.
1896
- The Western (football) Conference was formed by Midwestern
colleges; it later was renamed the Big
10 Conference.
1904
- The Russo-Japanese
War began when Japan
launched a surprise naval attack against Port
Arthur, a Russian naval base in China.
This followed Russia's
rejection of a Japanese plan to divide Manchuria
and Korea
into spheres of influence.
1910
- The Boy
Scouts of America was incorporated.
1915
- D.W.
Griffith's silent movie epic about the Civil
War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered.
1922
- President Warren
Harding had a radio installed at the White
House.
1924
- The first execution by lethal gas in the United
States took place at the Nevada
State Prison in Carson
City.
1936
- The first National
Football League draft was held. The first selection
was Jay
Berwanger by the Philadelphia
Eagles.
1969
- The last issue of the "Saturday
Evening Post" was published; it started in 1821.
1974
- The last Skylab
crew returned to Earth.
1993
- General
Motors sued NBC
after Dateline
NBC allegedly rigged two crashes intended to
demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if
hit in certain places. NBC settled the lawsuit the following
day.
2005
- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas agree to a cease-fire.
Births
1700
- Daniel
Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician.
1820
- William
Tecumseh Sherman, army officer, Civil
War hero.
1828
- Jules
Verne, French writer and "The Father of Science
Fiction."
1834
- Dmitri
Ivanovich Medeleyev, Russian chemist, developer of the
periodic
table of elements.
1878
- Martin
Buber, the German-Jewish religious philosopher.
1920
- Lana
Turner, American actress.
1925
- Jack
Lemmon, American Academy
Award-winning actor.
1931
- James
Dean, American film actor.
1932
- John
Towner Williams, American composer and conductor.
1941
- Nick
Nolte, American actor.
1974
- Seth
Green, American actor.
Deaths
1587
- Mary,
Queen of Scots, beheaded in Fotheringay Castle for her
alleged part in the conspiracy to usurp Elizabeth
I.
1990
- Del
Shannon (born Charles Weedon Westover), American
entertainer.
1999
- Dame
Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and
philosopher.
2007
- Anna
Nicole Smith (born Vickie Lynn Marshall), American
stripper, Playboy's
1993 Playmate
of the Year.
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