Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Feb. 2. This is Ground Hog Day, a widely celebrated tradition involving the old belief that if a groundhog sees his shadow on this day, there'll be six more weeks of winter. In Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil emerges from -- or is dragged out of -- his burrow to see if he's made the morning TV news shows. Advertisement It was on this date in 1848 that the war between the United States and Mexico formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, named for the village in which the representatives from both sides met. The agreement provided for Mexico's cession to the U.S. of the territory that became the states of New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming, in exchange for $15 million. On this date in 1933, two days after becoming chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler ordered the German parliament dissolved. He certainly didn't wait very long, did he? Another mini-controversy involving the Clinton administration began on this date in 1995 when President Clinton nominated Dr. Henry Foster as U.S. Surgeon General. Soon, opponents of Foster's nomination would begin to question how many abortions the obstetrician/gynecologist had performed during his medical career -- it was thought he might have under-estimated the number. His nomination would fail in the Senate. Advertisement Rocker Sid Vicious, formerly of the Sex Pistols, died of a heroin overdose on this date in 1979. He'd been released on bail just a day earlier while facing murder charges in the death of his girlfriend. The National Baseball League was formed on this day in 1875 with teams in Boston; Chicago; Cincinnati; New York; Philadelphia; St. Louis; Louisville, Ky.; and Hartford, Conn. Neither Louisville nor Hartford has major league teams today. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
