GMT

February 14
Happy Valentine's Day! Today is St. Valentine's Day, the feast day of two Christian martyrs named Valentine: one a priest and physician, the other the Bishop of Terni. Both are purported to have been beheaded on this day. The custom of sending handmade 'valentines' to one's beloved became popular during the 17th century and was first commercialized in the United States in the 1840s.

1349 2,000 Jews are burned at the stake in Strasbourg, Germany.

1859 Oregon is admitted as the thirty-third state.

1876 Rival inventors Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell both apply for patents for the telephone.

1912 Arizona becomes the 48th state in the Union.

1929 Chicago gang war between Al Capone and George "Bugs" Moran culminates with several Moran confederates being gunned down in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

1939 Germany launches the battleship Bismarck.
Sink the Bismarck

1945 800 Allied aircraft firebomb the German city of Dresden. Smaller followup bombing raids last until April with a total death toll of between 35,000 to 130,000 civilians.

1949 The United States charges the Soviet Union with interning up to 14 million in labor camps.


Born on February 14

1894 Jack Benny, comedian, radio and television performer, and violinist.


JOTD


After my proctology exam I was left alone in the exam room for a few minutes. Then the nurse came in and whispered three words no man ever wants to hear.



"Who was that?"