GMT

Today in History: 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.

1797 The Spanish fleet is destroyed by the British under Admiral Jervis (with Nelson in support) at the battle of Cape St. Vincent, off Portugal.

1848 James Polk becomes the first U.S. President to be photographed in office by Matthew Brady.

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.

1924 Thomas Watson founds International Business Machines Corp.

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.

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.

1955 A Jewish couple loses their fight to adopt Catholic twins as the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to rule on state law.

1957 The Georgia state senate outlaws interracial athletics.

1979 Armed guerrillas attack the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

1989 Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini charges that Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses, is blasphemous and issues an edict (fatwa) calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie.

Born on February 14

1859 George Washington Gale Ferris, inventor of the Ferris Wheel.

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


JOTD
Four surgeons are discussing about who they like to operate on.

The first one “I like to operate on librarians. When you open them up, everything is sorted alphabetically”
The second one says “I like operating on accountants. When you open them up, everything is numbered and organized”
The third one says “I like operating on electricians. When you open them up, everything is color coded”
The fourth one says “Guys come on, operating on politicians is the best and clearly the easiest”
The other three are looking at each other in disbelief. One of them asks why. So the surgeon says “They are heartless, gutless, spineless and heads and asses are interchangeable!”