- 22nd Day of 2015 / 343 Remaining
- Spring Begins in 57 Days
- Sunrise:7:20
- Sunset:5:22
- 10 Hours 2 Minutes
- Moon Rise:8:40am
- Moon Set: 8:24pm
- Moon Phase:2%
- Full Moon February 3 @ 3:10pm
- Snow Moon
- 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 Tide:12:18am/11:38am
- Low Tide:5:39am/6:14pm
- Rainfall
- This Year to Date:15.14
- Last Year:2.12
- Avg YTD:12.29
- Annual Avg:23.80
- Holidays
- National Hot Sauce Day
- Celebration of Life Day
- Blonde Brownie Day
- Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day
- Women’s Healthy Weight Day
- On This Day
- 1666 --- Shah Jahan, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, died at the age of 74. He was the Mongul emperor of India that built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.
- 1874 --- A patent was issued to Samuel W. Francis for the spork.
- 1905 --- In Russia, the revolution of 1905 begins when czarist troops open fire on a peaceful group of workers marching to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition their grievances to Czar Nicholas II. Some 500 protestors were massacred on "Bloody Sunday," setting off months of protest and disorder throughout Russia.
- 1938 --- Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town" premiered in Princeton, N.J.
- 1946 --- The Central Intelligence Group, which later became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was established by U.S. President Harry S Truman’s directive issued this day.
- 1947 --- KTLA, Channel 5, in Hollywood, CA, began operation as the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River.
- 1953 --- The Arthur Miller drama "The Crucible" opened on Broadway.
- 1961 --- 1960’s Olympic gold medalist and track star Wilma Rudolph set a world indoor mark in the women’s 60-yard dash. She ran the race in a speedy 6.9 seconds in a meet held in Los Angeles.
- 1964 --- The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff inform Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that they "are wholly in favor of executing the covert actions against North Vietnam." President Johnson had recently approved Oplan 34A, provocative operations to be conducted by South Vietnamese forces (supported by the United States) to gather intelligence and conduct sabotage to destabilize the North Vietnamese regime. Actual operations would begin in February and involve raids by South Vietnamese commandos operating under American orders against North Vietnamese coastal and island installations. Although American forces were not directly involved in the actual raids, U.S. Navy ships were on station to conduct electronic surveillance and monitor North Vietnamese defense responses under another program called Operation De Soto.
- 1968 --- "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" premiered on NBC. Thanks to an ever-changing cast of regulars including the likes of Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Arte Johnson, Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi, JoAnne Worley, Gary Owens, Alan Sues, Henry Gibson, Lily Tomlin, Richard Dawson, Judy Carne, the show became the highest-rated comedy series in TV history. Out of a list of 40, the only four to remain from the show’s inception to its finale were hosts, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin; announcer, Gary Owens; and comedienne, Ruth Buzzi.
- 1970 --- The first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 began in New York City and ended in London about 6 1/2 hours later.
- 1971 --- The Joe Cocker film "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" debuted in London.
- 1972 --- The album 'American Pie' by Don Mclean began a seven weeks run at #1 on the U.S. charts.
- 1973 --- Joe Frazier lost the first fight of his professional career to George Foreman. He been the undefeated heavyweight world champion since February 16, 1970 when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis.
- 1973 --- The Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion by handing down their decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. Despite opponents' characterization of the decision, it was not the first time that abortion became a legal procedure in the United States. In fact, for most of the country's first 100 years, abortion as we know it today was not only not a criminal offense, it was also not considered immoral.
- 1980 --- Andrei Dmitriyevich Sakharov, the Soviet physicist who helped build the USSR's first hydrogen bomb, is arrested after criticizing the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. He was subsequently stripped of his numerous scientific honors and banished to remote Gorky.
- 1981 --- Rolling Stone magazine's John Lennon tribute issue hit newsstands, featuring a cover photograph of a naked John Lennon curled up in a fetal embrace of a fully clothed Yoko Ono. The iconic Annie Liebowitz portrait would become the definitive image of perhaps the most photographed married couple in music history. The now-famous photograph of John and Yoko is all the more poignant for having been taken on the morning of December 8, 1980, just twelve hours before Lennon's death.
- 1984 --- The Apple Macintosh computer was introduced in a TV commercial ("1984") during Super Bowl XVIII. Two days later they went on sale to the public.
- 1989 --- Super Bowl XXIII (at Miami): San Francisco 49ers 20, Cincinnati Bengals 16. In the brand new Joe Robbie Stadium, it was Coach Bill Walsh vs. coach Sam Wyche, QB Joe Montana vs. QB Boomer Esiason. The score at halftime: 3-3. In the end, the 49ers got past the Bengals, but just barely. MVP: 49ers’ WR Jerry Rice. 49ers won their third Super Bowl. Some said the Bengals lost “the best Super Bowl ever played.” Tickets: $100.00.
- 1997 --- The U.S. Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the first female secretary of state.
- 1998 --- “The Unabomber’s career is over,” said prosecutor Robert Cleary. Theodore Kaczynski had pleaded guilty to being the notorious Unabomber. Kaczynski made the guilty plea in Sacramento, California in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole. Kaczynski was charged with four bombings in 1985, 1993 and 1995 that killed two people and maimed two. But the plea bargain resolved all federal charges against him -- including those filed in New Jersey -- growing out of the 17-year string of 16 bombings that killed three people and injured 29.
- 2002 --- In Calcutta, India, Heavily armed gunmen attacked the U.S. government cultural center. Five police officers were killed and twenty others, including one pedestrian and one private security guard, were wounded.
- 2010 --- Conan O’Brien hosts his final episode of “The Tonight Show,” following an announcement by NBC earlier in the month that Jay Leno would return as the host of the long-running, late-night program. The decision to replace O’Brien was met with protests by his fans and became a public-relations debacle for the network.
- Birthdays
- Graham Kerr
- Jeff Smith
- Sir Francis Bacon
- Justice Fred M Vinson
- U Thant
- Andre’ Ampere
- Beatrice Webb
- Piper Laurie
- John Hurt
- Linda Blair
- DJ Jazzy Jeff
