Friday

Feb. 14, 1997

Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

by William Shakespeare

FRIDAY 2/14

Today's Reading:"Sonnet XXX" by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

Today is St. Valentine's Day the feast day of two Christian martyrs named Valentine, a priest/physician and the Bishop of Terni, both 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 Stated in the 1840s.

The 18th annual Bald Eagle Conference opens today in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where there is the largest population of wintering eagles in the lower 48 states.

In 1989 on this day, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini charged that Salman Rushdie's novel THE SATANIC VERSES was blasphemous and issued an edict calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie, who was forced to go into hiding.

This is the anniversary of the bombing of the German city of Dresden in 1944; an attack that was widely criticized because the city had no military significance and was packed with refugees. Over 130,000 civilians died in that raid.

The League of Women voters was formed on this day in Chicago in 1920 during a celebration of the imminent ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.

It's the birthday of the violin-playing comedian, Jack Benny, born on this day in Chicago in 1894.

English philanthropist Quinton Hogg, who opened a school for poor children at his own expense, was born on this day in London, 1845.

The inventor of the first practical typewriter, Christopher Latham Sholes, was born near Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, in 1819. Mark Twain was the first author to submit a typewritten book manuscript.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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