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Almanac - Monday 2/25/19

clam chowder, by flickr user jen

Today is Monday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2019. There are 309 days left in the year.  23 days until spring begins...

617 days until presidential elections Tuesday November 3, 2020

(1 year 8 months and 9 days from today)

The sun will rises at 6:46 am 

and sunset will be at 6:01 pm.

Today we will have 11 hours and 15 minutes of daylight.

Solar noon will be at 12:23 pm.

The first high tide was at 3:46 am

and the next high tide will be at 5:06 pm.

The first low tide will be at 10:25 am 

and the next low tide at 10:06 pm.

Moon: 59.6%

Waning Gibbous

Moon Direction:179.39° S↑

Moon Altitude:36.68°

Moon Distance:238869 mi

Next New Moon:Mar 6, 20198:03 am

Next Full Moon:Mar 20, 20196:42 pm

Next Moonset:Today10:47 am

Today is…

Let's All Eat Right Day

National Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day

National Clam Chowder Day

Pistol Patent Day

Quiet Day

It’s also…

Armed Forces Day (Dominican Republic)

Kitano Baika-sai or "Plum Blossom Festival" (Kitano Tenman-gū ShrineKyotoJapan)

Meher Baba's birthday (followers of Meher Baba)

Memorial Day for the Victims of the Communist Dictatorships (Hungary)

National Day (Kuwait)

People Power Day (Philippines)

Revolution Day (Suriname)

Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)

On this day in African-American history...

• February 25, 1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, was sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.

• February 25, 1890 Jan Earnst Matzeliger of Lynn, Massachusetts posthumously received patent number 421,954 for his nailing machine. His machine improved the process of receiving tacks and nails in bulk and separating and discharging them one at a time.

• February 25, 1894 William Leo Hansberry, scholar and educator, was born in Gloster, Mississippi.

• February 25, 1894 Ambrose Caliver, educator and adviser to presidents, was born in Saltsville, Virginia.

• February 25, 1895 George Samuel Schuyler, journalist, author and social commentator, was born in Providence, Rhode Island but raised in Syracuse, New York.

• February 25, 1919 Monford Merrill “Monte” Irvin, hall of fame Negro league baseball player, was born in Haleburg, Alabama.

• February 25, 1928 Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham, Jr., civil rights advocate, author and federal judge, was born in Ewing, New Jersey.

• February 25, 1930 Archibald Henry Grimke, lawyer, journalist, diplomat and community leader, died. Grimke was born enslaved August 17, 1849 in Charleston, South Carolina

• February 25, 1947 Lee Edward Evans, hall of fame track and field athlete, was born in Madera, California.

1950: Gwendolyn Brooks, on this day, became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her book Annie Allen. She passed away in Chicago in December 2000.

• February 25, 1951 Joseph “Cyclone Joe” Williams, hall of fame Negro league baseball pitcher, died. Williams was born April 6, 1886 in Seguin, Texas

• February 25, 1951  Birthday of Olympic gold medalist Donald Quarrie, One of the top sprinters in the world in his day...

• February 25, 1962: Singer, songwriter, record producer & multi-instrumentalist Foster Sylvers was born.

• February 25, 1964, Muhammad Ali became heavyweight champion.

• February 25, 1967 Carl J. Murphy, journalist, civil rights leader and educator, died. Murphy was born January 17, 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland.

• February 25, 1968 Oumou Sangare, the “songbird of Wassoulou, was born in Bamako, Mali

• February 25, 1975  Elijah Muhammad passes away, the leader of the Nation of Islam...

• February 25, 1976 David Nelson Crosthwait, Jr., mechanical and electrical engineer and hall of fame inventor, died. Crosthwait was born May 27, 1898 in Nashville, Tennessee but raised in Kansas City, Missouri

• February 25, 1976  Actress Rashida Jones born in Los Angeles, California,...

• February 25, 1978 Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr., the first African American to achieve the rank of general in the United States military, died. James was born February 11, 1920 in Pensacola, Florida

• February 25, 1980: Award-winning Poet, essayist and educator Robert Hayden passed away, aged 66. He was also the first African American Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.

• February 25, 1987 Edgar Daniel “E. D.” Nixon, civil rights activist, died. Nixon was born July 12, 1899 in rural Lowndes County, Alabama but raised in Montgomery, Alabama

• February 25, 1989, Mike Tyson won the heavyweight title.

• February 25, 1994 Jersey Joe Walcott, hall of fame boxer, died. Walcott was born Arnold Raymond Cream January 31, 1914 in Merchantville, New Jersey.

• February 25, 1997 Mabel Fairbanks became the first African American to be inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Fairbanks was born November 14, 1916 in New York City

• February 25, 1998, R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” won 3 Grammys.

• February 25, 2002 James Leroy Usry, the first African American Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, died. Usry was born February 2, 1922 in Athens, Georgia.

• February 25, 2008: Stephen Ellis Garret aka Static Major passed away, aged 33. He was a Grammy Award-winning rapper, songwriter, record producer & singer. He died of a rare condition called myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder.

• February 25, 2010 Annette Gordon-Reed received the National Humanities Medal, the nation’s highest honor in the arts and humanities for work that has “deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizen’s engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand American’s access to important resources in the humanities,” from President Barack H. Obama.

• February 25, 2010 David Levering Lewis received the National Humanities Medal, the nation’s highest honor in the arts and humanities for work that has “deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizen’s engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand American’s access to important resources in the humanities,” from President Barack H. Obama.

• February 25, 2010 Jessye Mae Norman was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor bestowed on an individual artist by the United States, by President Barack H. Obama.

• February 25, 2012: Blues guitarist, singer & harmonica player Iverson Minter aka Louisiana Red passed away, aged 79.

Also on this day in history…

1836 – Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.

1866 – Miners in Calaveras County, California, discover what is now called the Calaveras Skull – human remains that supposedly indicated that man, mastodons, and elephants had co-existed.

1901 – J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

1919 – Oregon places a one cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.

1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a broadcast license for television from the Federal Radio Commission.

1956 – Cold War: In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its ConsequencesNikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personalityof Joseph Stalin.

On Feb. 25, 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

1991 – Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is abolished.

One year ago:

The board of directors of The Weinstein Company, co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, said the company would likely file for bankruptcy after last-ditch talks to sell its assets collapsed. (A private equity firm emerged in May as the winning bidder for the company.)

…and if today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You!  You share this day with…

1841 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (d. 1919)

1842 – Karl May, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1912)

1873 – Enrico Caruso, Italian-American tenor (d. 1921)

1881 – William Z. Foster, American union leader and politician (d. 1961)

1888 – John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)

1894 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (d. 1969)

1901 – Zeppo Marx, American comedian and agent (d. 1979)

1910 – Millicent Fenwick, American journalist and politician (d. 1992)

1918 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)

1920 – Sun Myung Moon, Messiah II, Korean religious leader, founded the Unification Church (d. 2012)

1927 – Ralph Stanley, American singer and banjo player (d. 2016)

1928 – Larry Gelbart, American author and screenwriter (d. 2009)

1932 – Faron Young, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)

1935 – Sally Jessy Raphael, American journalist and talk show host

1937 – Bob Schieffer, American journalist and author

1943 – George Harrison, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2001)

1946 – Pete Wernick, American banjo player

1954 – John Doe, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor

1966 – Téa Leoni, American actress

1968 – Oumou Sangaré, Grammy Award-winning Malian Wassoulou musician

1973 – Julio Iglesias, Jr., Spanish singer and actor

1975 – Chelsea Handler, American comedian, author, and talk show host

Actors James and Oliver Phelps ("Harry Potter" movies) are 33.