Holidays and Events

Feb 9, 2010

Lebanon: St. Maron’s Day

New Mexico: Extraterrestrial Culture Day

In 1964, the Beatles appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

Birth anniversary of Ernest Tubb (1914-1984).

World Ag Expo begins at Tulare, CA (Feb 9-11). See www.worldagexpo.com/.

Happy Birthday! Mia Farrow, Carole King, Shakira, Alice Walker

Feb 10, 2010

Malta: Feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck

Carnival de Ponce, Puerto Rico.

In 1949, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman premiered at Broadway’s Morosco Theater in New York City. Lee J. Cobb portrayed Willy Loman. The play garnered six Tony Awards and the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

In 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in 34 moves in Philadelphia, PA.

Birth anniversary of Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) and Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956).

Happy Birthday! Jim Cramer, Donovan, Greg Norman, Leontyne Price, Mark Spitz, Robert Wagner

Feb 11, 2010

Cameroon: Youth Day

Iran: Victory of Islamic Revolution

Japan: National Foundation Day

Vatican City: Independence Anniversary

Be Electrific Day

National Shut-in Visitation Day

Pro Sports Wives Day

Satisfied Staying Single Day

White Shirt Day

Space Milestones: Endeavour Mapping Mission (2000), First Soviet Commercial Satellite (1990), First Japanese Satellite (1970).

65^th anniversary of the signing of the Yalta Agreement.

The Berlin International Film Festival, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany (Feb 11-21). 60^th annual. See www.berlinale.de.

Happy Birthday! Jennifer Aniston, Paul Bocuse, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Lautner, Sergio Mendes, Leslie Nielson, Sarah Palin, Burt Reynolds

Feb 12, 2010

Darwin Day

Myanmar: Union Day

Oglethorpe Day

Safetypup’s Birthday

Birth anniversaries of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).

The NAACP was founded in 1909.

XXI Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver and Whistler, BC, Canada (Feb 12-28). See www.vancouver2010.com.

Great Backyard Bird Count (Feb 12-15). See www.birdsource.org/gbbc.

National Date Festival, Indio, CA (Feb 12-21). See www.datefest.org

Reenactment of the Battle of Olustee (Feb 12-14). 34^th annual. See www.floridastateparks.org/olustee.

Feb 13, 2010

Carnival: Brazil, French West Indies, Malta

Employee Legal Awareness Day

Get a Different Name Day

Madly in Love with Me Day

National Caffection Day

65^th anniversary of the Dresden Firebombing (1945).

125^th anniversary of Bess Truman (1885-1982).

Krewe of Endymion Parade, New Orleans, LA. See www.endymion.org.

Washington’s Birthday at Mount Vernon, VA (Feb 13-15). See www.mountvernon.org.

Feb 14, 2010

Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger, 4708)

Saint Valentine’s Day

Fasching Sunday (Germany and Austria)

Orthodox Cheesefare Sunday

Shrovetide (Feb 14-16)

Arizona: Admission Day

Bulgaria: Viticulturists’ Day

National Donor Day

National Have-a-Heart Day

Oregon: Admission Day

Race Relations Day

World Marriage Day

National Engineers Week (Feb 14-20)

National Nestbox Week (Feb 14-21)

90^th anniversary of the founding of the League of Women Voters.

80^th publication anniversary of The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett.

Daytona 500

Italy: Carnival Week

Joe Cain Procession, Mobile, AL.

Krewe of Bacchus Parade, New Orleans, LA. Bacchus XLII is Drew Brees. See www.kreweofbacchus.org

NBA All-Star Game, Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, TX. See www.nba.com/allstar2010/

Feb 15, 2010

Orthodox Green Monday (beginning of Orthodox Lent)

Shrove Monday (Rose Monday)

George Washington’s Birthday Observance (United States). Legal holiday observed on the third Monday in February.

Austria and Germany: Fasching

Iceland: Bun Day

Lupercalia: an ancient Roman fertility festival that was probably a forerunner of Valentine’s Day customs.

Presidents’ Day

Serbia: National Day

Susan B. Anthony Day

100^th birth anniversary of Irena Sendler (1910-2007), Polish social worker who spearheaded a rescue operation of Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto in WWII.

45^th anniversary of the adoption of the maple leaf national Canadian flag in 1965.

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show begins at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (Feb 15-16). 134th annual. See www.westminsterkennelclub.org

Feb 16, 2010

Shrove Tuesday

Iceland: Bursting Day

International Pancake Day

Lithuania: Independence Day

Mardi Gras

England: Shrovetide Pancake Race, Olney, Buckinghamshire.

Krewe of Rex Mardi Gras Parade, New Orleans, LA.

Zulu Mardi Gras Parade, New Orleans, LA.

Happy Birthday! Christopher Eccleston, Richard Ford, Ice T, John McEnroe, Jr.

Feb 17, 2010

Ash Wednesday (beginning of western Christian Lent)

My Way Day

National PTA Founders’ Day

In 1904, at Milan, Italy, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly was performed for the first time.

Today in 1979, the radio variety show “A Prairie Home Companion” was first broadcast nationally on National Public Radio (it debuted in 1974 on Minnesota Public Radio).

Happy Birthday! Jim Brown, Brenda Fricker, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Paris Hilton, Hal Holbrook, Barry Humphries, Michael Jordan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Denise Richards, Rene Russo

Feb 18, 2010

Gambia: Independence Day

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. 11^th annual. See http://www.eweek.org/EngineersWeek/Introduce.aspx

Nepal: National Democracy Day

80 years ago today, in 1930, Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, AZ. In 2006, astronomers reclassified it was a dwarf planet.

Also 80 years ago today, Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane. During the flight, she was milked, and the milk was sealed in paper containers and parachuted over St. Louis, MO.

Birth anniversary of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933).

Simplot Games, Holt Arena, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID (Feb 18-20). See www.simplotgames.com

Happy Birthday! Helen Gurley Brown, Matt Dillon, Milos Forman, George Kennedy, Jillian Michaels, Toni Morrison, Yoko Ono, Molly Ringwald, Cybill Shepherd, John Travolta, John Warner, Vanna White.

Feb 19, 2010

Birth anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543).

In 1942, as a result of President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, some 110,000 Japanese Americans living in coastal Pacific areas were placed in concentration camps. They were allowed to return to their homes Jan 2, 1945.

65 years ago today, in 1945, 30,000 American troops landed on Iwo Jima. On Feb 23, the US flag was raised by US Marines, and on Mar 16, the island was finally taken.

In 1963, The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, was published.

25 years ago today, in 1985, the UK soap opera EastEnders premiered.

Happy Birthday! Prince Andrew, Justine Bateman, Jeff Daniels, Benicio del Toro, Haylie Duff, Roger Goodell, Jonathan Lethem, Marta, Smokey Robinson, Seal, Amy Tan, Ray Winstone

Feb 20, 2010

World Day for Social Justice (United Nations)

In 1491, an unnamed comet made the closest ever approach to Earth, coming within 860,000 miles.

Birth anniversaries of Ansel Adams (1902-1984), Robert Altman (1925-2006), Joseph Jefferson (1829-1905) and Carl E. Stotz, founder of Little League baseball (1920-1992).

Death anniversary of Frederick Douglass in 1895. He was born probably in February 1817.

In 1962, John Glenn became the first American and the third person to orbit Earth.

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros and Tucson Rodeo, Tucson, AZ (Feb 20-28). 85^th annual. See www.tucsonrodeo.com

Ice Fishing Derby, Fort Peck Lake, MT. Subject to cancellation. See www.glasgowmt.net

New England Mid-Winter Surfing Championship, Narragansett Town Beach, Narragansett, RI. 42^nd annual.

Happy Birthday! Charles Barkley, Gordon Brown, Cindy Crawford, Sandy Duncan, Phil Esposito, Sidney Poitier, Bobby Unser, Gloria Vanderbilt, Nancy Wilson