This is what we're celebrating or observing This Week
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February 11, 2018
February 12, 2018
February 12, 2017
Abraham Lincoln's Birthday - Feb. 12
Charles M. Schulz (American Cartoonist best known for his strip "Peanuts") - dies from complications of colon cancer (2000) - Feb. 12
Charles Darwin is born in Shrewsbury England (1809) - Feb. 12
Gusav III becomes King of Sweden upon the death of his father (Adolf Frederick) who supposedly ate himself to death (1771) - 2/12
Lady Jane Grey (Queen of England for 9 days) is beheaded on Tower Green on the order of her cousin Queen Mary I (1554) - Feb. 12
Lord Guilford Dudley (Husband of Lady Jane Grey) is executed at the Tower (1554) - Feb. 12
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is founded (1909) - 2/12
Northwest Flight 705 crashes into the Florida Everglades after penetrating a severe thunderstorm cell all 43 aboard were killed (1963) - Feb. 12
The opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver, Canada (2010) - Feb. 12
US President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial (1999) - Feb. 12
Continental Airlines' Flight 3407 crashes into a house in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY killing a total of 50 people with one on the ground (2009) - Feb. 12
Amy Bishop (biology professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville) shoots her colleagues during a faculty meeting killing 3 and injuring 3 more (2010) - Feb. 12
Grammy Awards - 59th Annual Ceremony held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles airs on CBS (2017) - Feb. 12
World Marriage Day - held the 2nd Sunday in February (2017) - 2/12
February 13, 2018
February 13, 2017
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is founded by composer Victor Herbert in NYC (1914) - Feb. 13
Final Warning Day (Day Before Valentine's Day) - Feb. 13
Discovery of the universe's largest known diamond (BPM 37093 "Lucy" - white dwarf star) by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (2004) - Feb. 13
Get a Different Name Day - Feb. 13
I Value our Friendship Day - Feb. 13
Jesse James and Gang conduct the first daylight bank robbery escaping with $60,000 killing a student from William Jewell College (1866) - Feb. 13
Auguste and Louis Lumiere patent their Cinematographe motion picture camera (1895) - Feb. 13
Catherine Howard (5th wife of Henry VIII and cousin of Anne Boleyn) is beheaded on Tower Green for adultery at age 21 (1542) - Feb. 13
Mary II and William II are proclaimed as joint rulers of England (1689) - Feb. 13
Clean out your computer Day - 2nd Monday in February (2017) - Feb. 13
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (2nd Monday in February) runs for 2 days (2017) - Feb. 13-14
February 14, 2018
February 14, 2017
Arizona is admitted into the Union as the 48th and last of the contiguous states to join (1812) - Feb. 14
James Cook (British Explorer, Navigator and Cartographer) is killed by Hawaiians on his third voyage to Hawaii (1779) - Feb. 14
Ferris Wheel Day - 2/14
League of Women (Female) Voters (nonpartisan American political organization) is founded in Chicago, IL (1920) - Feb. 14
NEAR Shoemaker (1996 launched robotic space probe designed to study the asteroid Eros) enters into its orbit around the S-type asteroid (2000) - Feb. 14
National Creme-filled chocolates Day - Feb. 14
North Illinois University Shooting occurs when a student enters a lecture hall and begins firing a shotgun into the class auditorium (2008) - Feb. 14
Oregon is admitted into the Union as the 33rd state (1859) - Feb. 14
St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Prohibition gang war between Al Capone and Bugs Moran) resulted in the deaths of 6 members of Bugs Moran's gang (1929) - 2/14
Transvaal Water Park (Moscow's biggest water park opened in 2002) suffers tragedy when its glass roof suddenly collapses killing 28 (2004) - Feb. 14
Valentine's Day - 2/14
Jacqueline Kennedy gives the first televised tour of the White House with Charles Collingwood of CBS (1962) - Feb. 14
Dick Francis (British jockey and crime writer) dies of natural causes at age 89 in his Grand Cayman Island home (2010) - Feb. 14
Dresden Germany (reported command center for German defense) is destroyed by 2,600 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs dropped by allies (1945) - Feb. 14
Have a Heart Day (Valentine's Day gift of hearts) - Feb. 14
Heart to Heart Day (Valentine's Day sharing words of romance) - Feb. 14
Saint Valentine of Terni Feast Day - Feb. 14
Hug Day (Valentine's Day giving hugs of love and friendship) - 2/14
February 15, 2018
February 15, 2017
Burger Lover's Day celebrates the opening of the first Burger Stand in the US - Feb. 15
Decimal Day - Day when the UK and Ireland decimalised their currencies (1971) - 2/15
Flag Day (Canada) commemorats the inauguration of the national flag of Canada (1965) - Feb. 15
Sabena Flight 548 crashed on its approach to the Brussels airport - all 72 aboard died included all 18 athletes of the US Figure Skating Team (1961) - 2/15
George VI's funeral procession leads from Westminster Hall to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle where he was interred (1952) - Feb. 15
International Gumdrop Day - Feb. 15
Jewelry Day (Valentine's Day Gifts "show-off" Day) - Feb. 15
Thanks for a Great Valentine's Day - 2/15
You Tube (a video-sharing web site) is launched (2005) - 2/15
339 Uncremated bodies are found piled in a shed at the Tri-State Crematory in Lafayette, GA (2002) - Feb. 15
Singles Awareness Day (for singles to celebrate day after Valentine's Day) - Feb. 15
Susan B. Anthony (prominent American civil rights leader with women's suffrage in the US) is born in Adams, MA (1820) - Feb. 15
Great Ormond Street Hospital (London children's hospital that was given the rights to Peter Pan by author J.M. Barrie) admits its first patient (1852) - Feb. 15
Nirvana Day (Buddhism) celebrates Buddha's death when he reached total Nirvana at the age of 80 (2014) - 2/15
Steve Fossett (American businessman and 1st person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon) is declared legally dead 6 months after his disappearance (2008) - Feb. 15
February 16, 2018
February 16, 2017
9-1-1 First call is placed by Alabama Speaker of the House, Rankin Fite, to US Rep Tom Bevill (1968) - Feb. 16
Ash Wednesday fires (natural disaster that occurred in south-easter Australia) develop into more than 180 fires and take 75 lives (1983) - Feb. 16
Felix Faure (7th President of the French Republic) dies from apoplexy in his office while engaged in sexual activities (1899) - 2/16
Sadie (Scottish Terrier) wins Best in Show at Westminster Dog Show making her the first dog to win "The Triple Crown" Best of Breed, Best of Group, Best in Show (2010) - Feb. 16
National Day (Lithuania celebrates their independence - 1918) - Feb. 16
Fidel Castro is sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba (1959) - Feb. 16
Howard Carter (English archaeologist and Egyptologist) finally opens King Tut's tomb which he discovered on Nov. 4 (1923) - Feb. 16
The last MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is deactivated (2006) - Feb. 16
Kyoto Protocol (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) comes into force following its ratification by Russia (2005) - Feb. 16
February 17, 2018
February 17, 2017
Giordano Bruno (Italian philosopher best-known as a proponent of heliocentrism) is burned at the stake for heresy (1600) - Feb. 17
New Yorker Magazine (founded by Harold Ross and Jane Grant) debuts with its first issue dated Feb. 21 (1925) - Feb. 17
Newsweek (American weekly news magazine) is first published (1933) - Feb. 17
Madama Butterfly (an opera by Giacomo Puccini) premieres at the La Scala in Milan (1904) - Feb. 17
Suez Canal (an Egyptian waterway that lets ships travel between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa) has its 1st ship traverse (1867) - 2/17
London congestion charge goes into effect (2003) - Feb. 17
Southern Leyte (Philippines) suffers a massive, deadly mudslide following a 10 day period of heavy rains killing 1,126 (2006) - Feb. 17
Robert K. Preston (disgruntled US Army private) stole an Army helicopter and landed it on the White House lawn (1974) - Feb. 17
Kosovo declares its independence from Yugoslavia (2008) - 2/17
February 18, 2018
February 18, 2017
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (novel by Mark Twain) is first published in the USA (1885) - Feb. 18
Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane (1930) - 2/18
Gambian Independence Day (from the UK - 1965) - Feb. 18
George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, is accused of treason against his brother, Edward IV, and privately executed at the tower (1478) - 2/18
J. Robert Oppenheimer (American theoritical physicist best known for his role in the Manhattan Project) died (1967) - Feb. 18
Dale Earnhardt dies after a fiery car crash during the Daytona 500 at age 49 (2001) - Feb. 18
A London Bus is destroyed by an IRA bomb blast on the Aldwych near the Strand that injures many and kills the bomber (1996) - Feb. 18
Nishapur train disaster occurs when train cars carrying fuel, industrial chemicals and cotton derails and catches fire (Iran - 2004) - Feb. 18
Pluto (second-largest known dwarf planet in the solar system) is discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh (1930) - Feb. 18
National Battery Day (established to celebrate the invention of the battery) - 2/18
Comet C/2002 V1 NEAT (7th brightest comet seen in 70 years) makes perihelion or closest pass to the sun (2003) - 2/18
February 19, 2017
Calgary Winter Olympics are held (Opening Ceremony held on Feb. 13 - 1988) - Feb. 19
Chocolate Mint Day - Feb. 19
Huaynaputina Volcano erupts in the largest volcanic explosion in South America in historic times (1600) - Feb. 19
Battle of Iwo Jima (Battle where US fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from Japan - 1945) - Feb. 19
Mr. Roger's Neighborhood premieres on NET (1968) - Feb. 19
Solar System Day recognizes the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus (father of modern astronomy - 1473) - Feb. 19
Vasil Levski (Bulgarian revolutionary renowned as the national hero of Bulgaria) hanged by the Ottoman authorities in Sofia is observed in Bulgaria (1873) - Feb. 19
Meat-Fare Sunday (aka The Last Judgment - and the last day meat may be eaten in the Orthodox Church) is held 8th Sunday before Pascha (2017) - 2/19
Temporary Insanity Day
Most captions and photos are courtesy of Wikipedia
