The almanac

Today is Saturday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2014 with 312 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Saturn and Venus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include George Washington, first president of the United States, in 1732; German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in 1788; poet, diplomat and editor James Lowell in 1819; Englishman Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, and German physicist Heinrich Hertz, discoverer of radio waves, both in 1857; Hall of Fame baseball umpire Bill Klem in 1874; poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1892; actor and TV producer Sheldon Leonard in 1907; Robert Pershing Wadlow, at 8 ft. 11.1 inches tall, the tallest person in recorded history, in 1918; actors Robert Young in 1907, John Mills in 1908 and Paul Dooley in 1928 (age 86); television announcer Don Pardo in 1918 (age 96); U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 1932; baseball Hall of Fame member George "Sparky" Anderson in 1934; filmmaker Jonathan Demme in 1944 (age 70); author Richard North Patterson in 1947 (age 67); three-time Formula 1 driving champion Niki Lauda in 1949 (age 65); basketball Hall of Fame member Julius "Dr. J" Erving and actor Julie Walters, both in 1950 (age 64); golfer Vijay Singh in 1963 (age 51); and actors Kyle MacLachlan in 1959 (age 55), Rachel Dratch in 1966 (age 48), Jeri Ryan in 1968 (age 46) and Drew Barrymore in 1975 (age 39); musician James Blunt in 1974 (age 40); and "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin in 1962.

On this date in history:

In 1819, a treaty with Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

In 1855, Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pa. It was originally called the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania.

In 1862, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America.

In 1879, Woolworth, the first chain store, opened in Utica, N.Y.

In 1889, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington were admitted into the United States.

In 1959, the Daytona 500 was run for the first time. Lee Petty won the race.

In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan commercial airliner, killing 108 of the 113 people aboard. The military apparently believed the airliner was a security threat in Israeli-controlled airspace. (Israel's defense minister later said there was an "error in judgment" by the military. Israel paid reparations to the families of the victims.)

In 1980, in one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of collegians and second-tier professional players, defeated the defending champion Soviet team, regarded as the world's finest, 4-3 at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

In 1987, artist Andy Warhol died of heart failure at age 58.

In 2004, rebels attacked a refugee camp in northern Uganda, killing at least 192 people.

In 2005, a powerful earthquake struck Iran, killing more than 500 people.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his plan for a healthcare reform bill.

In 2011, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake severely damaged Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city, killing 185 people and injuring as many as 2,000.

In 2013, Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, charged in his girlfriend's shooting death, was granted bail in Pretoria, South Africa. (Pistorius' trial is scheduled for March 2014.)

A thought for the day: "One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. -- Eleanor Roosevelt