Today's Highlight in History:
On Feb. 16, 1960, the nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton departed New London, Conn. on the first-ever totally submerged circumnavigation by a vessel, a voyage which took nearly three months. [Well, except for the part where the crewman who had appendicitis was taken off the boat, for which they didn't surface all the way. — Ed.]
On this date:
In 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.
In 1862, some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tenn. (Union General Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant.")
In 1868, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.
In 1918, Lithuania proclaimed its independence, which lasted until World War II (it again declared independence in 1990).
In 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.
AP sez: In 1937, Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon.
UPI sez: In 1933, a patent for the synthetic fiber nylon was awarded to the DuPont Co.
In 1945, American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines.
In 1948, NBC-TV aired its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.
In 1959, Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month and a-half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.
In 1977, Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.
In 1986, Mario Soares was elected Portugal's first civilian head of state in 60 years.
In 1988, seven people were shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, Calif., by a man who was obsessed with a co-worker. (The gunman, Richard Farley, is under sentence of death.)
In 1989, investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, said a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player was what brought down Pan Am Flight 103 the previous December, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground.
In 1990, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan provided videotaped testimony for the Iran-Contra trial of former national security adviser John Poindexter.
In 1992, the chief of the Iranian-financed Hezbollah and two family members were killed in a bombing raid by Israel in an apparent retaliation for attacks against its soldiers. Also in 1992, the Los Angeles Lakers retired the jersey number of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who stepped down after contracting the virus that causes AIDS.
In 1998, a China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board.
In 1999, enraged Kurds seized embassies and held hostages across Europe following Turkey's arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Testimony began in the Jasper, Texas, trial of John William King, charged with murder in the gruesome dragging death of James Byrd Junior. (King was later convicted and sentenced to death.) Germany announced that $1.7 billion would be set aside to compensate victims of the Holocaust. Also in 1999, Northern Ireland's legislature approved the structure for a new executive government in the strife-torn province -- a major step toward implementing the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.
In 2000, Lucy Edwards, a former Bank of New York executive, and her husband, Peter Berlin, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to conspiring to launder billions of dollars from Russian bankers in one of the biggest such schemes in U.S. history. (The couple was fined, put under house arrest for six months and given suspended sentences.)
In 2002, the operator of a crematory in Noble, Ga., was arrested after dozens of decomposing corpses were found stacked in storage sheds and scattered around the building and surrounding woods.
In 2003, a massive storm hit the Northeastern United States resulting in record snowfall in several locations, including Boston, which caught 27.5 inches. Also in 2003, North Korea celebrated the 61st birthday of President Kim Jong Il with nationwide celebrations and a threat to "annihilate" the United States if attacked. [Bring it in, bee-yotch!! — Ed.]
In 2004, a confident John Kerry launched a full-throttle attack on President George W. Bush's economic policies, mostly ignoring his Democratic rivals on the eve of the Wisconsin primary. The Walt Disney Co. rejected a takeover bid by Comcast Corporation. A draft survey showed U.S. children accused more than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests of sexual abuse from 1950-2002.
In 2005, the NHL canceled what was left of its decimated schedule after a round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap — the flash-point issue that had led to a lockout. Israel's parliament gave the final approval to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements. The Kyoto global warming pact, which the U.S. never ratified, went into effect. Also in 2005, a new survey said China had become the world's biggest consumer of agricultural and industrial goods, except for oil, in which the United States still had the lead.
In 2006, former Haitian President Rene Preval was declared winner of the Feb. 7 presidential election in Haiti. Also in 2006, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights called on the U.S. government to "close immediately the detention center in Guantanamo Bay."
In 2008, President George W. Bush, on a six-day tour of Africa, made his first stop in Benin before flying on to Tanzania. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, picked up a total of 50 GOP national convention delegates from Michigan and Louisiana. A car plowed into a group of street-racing fans obscured by a cloud of tire smoke on an isolated Maryland highway, killing eight people. Also in 2008, China reported more than 100 people died in harsh winter weather that spawned the worst blizzards in half a century. Many migrant workers were stranded and millions lost electricity.
In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Tokyo to begin her first trip abroad as President Barack Obama's chief diplomat. The government of Pakistan agreed to implement Islamic law in the northwestern region of Malakand in an attempt to pacify a spreading Taliban insurgency. In Stamford, Conn., a 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis went berserk, severely mauling its owner's friend, Charla Nash; Travis was shot dead by police. Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korea's first Roman Catholic cardinal and an advocate for democracy, died at age 86. Japan reported its domestic product fell at a 12.7 percent annual rate in the last quarter of 2008, plunging the country into what experts say was its worst financial crisis since World War II.
Today's Birthdays: Singer Patty Andrews is 92. [Holy crap! One of the Andrews Sisters still walks among us? Or shuffles in her walker among us? — Ed.] Kim Jong Il, the president of North Korea, is 68. Actor Jeremy Bulloch is 64. Actor Pete Postlethwaite is 64. Actor William Katt is 59. Actor LeVar Burton is 53. Actor-rapper Ice-T is 52. Actress Lisa Loring is 52. Tennis Hall of Fame player John McEnroe is 51. Rock musician Andy Taylor is 49. Rock musician Dave Lombardo (Slayer) is 45. Rock musician Taylor Hawkins (Foofighters) is 38. Former NFL player Jerome Bettis is 38. Olympic gold medal runner Cathy Freeman is 37. Singer Sam Salter is 35. Green Bay Packers running back Ahman Green is 33. Rapper Lupe Fiasco is 28.
Those Born On This Date Include: Historian Henry Brooks Adams (1838); orchestra leader Wayne King and actor Chester Morris (both 1901); ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (1903); actor Hugh Beaumont (1909); U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono, R-Calif. & half of the comedy/song team Sonny and Cher (1935); actress Margaux Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway (1954).
Today In Entertainment February 16
In 1962, Bobby Vinton recorded the song "Roses Are Red." He was in danger of being dropped by Epic Records but still owed them two single sides.
In 1968, John Lennon, George Harrison and their wives traveled to India to study transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Later, they were joined by Ringo Starr and his wife and Paul McCartney and his fiancee.
In 1969, country singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette were married in Ringgold, Georgia. They had said they were secretly married six months earlier.
In 1974, Elton John released "Bennie and the Jets."
In 1975, Cher's musical variety series debuted on CBS. It ran until 1976.
In 1982, actress Farrah Fawcett and actor Lee Majors were divorced, after nine years of marriage.
In 1990, musician Ike Turner was sentenced to four years in prison on cocaine charges. He began serving his sentence the next day. Four years earlier, Turner had said he had been addicted to cocaine for 15 years.
In 2007, Britney Spears shaved her head after a salon owner refused to do it for her.
Thought for Today: "There are two ways to slice easily through life; to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking." — Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American linguist (1879-1950). [We doubt that. — Ed.]
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