February 5th is

Adlai Stevenson Day *

Dump Your Significant Jerk Day

Frozen Yogurt Day

Shower With a Friend Day *

World Nutella Day *

Western Monarch Day *

World Animal Reiki Day *
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MORE!  Adlai Stevenson, Jane Bryant Quinn and William Burroughs, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Burundi – Unity Day

Italy – Viareggio:
Carnevale di Viareggio

Mexico – Día de la Constitución

Pakistan – Kashmir Solidarity Day

San Marino – Saint Agatha’s Day/
Liberation from Alberoni Occupation

Tanzania – Chama Cah Mapinduzi Day
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On This Day in HISTORY

1745 – John Jeffries born, American physician-scientist-military surgeon; testified at Boston Massacre trial concerning deathbed account by one of its victims, his patient Patrick Carr; flew over English Channel in balloon with Jean-Pierre Blanchard in 1785

1778 – South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation

1783 – Sweden recognizes the independence of the United States

1788 – Robert Peel born, British statesman, Prime Minister (1834-35 and 1841-46); established London’s Metropolitan Police Force at Scotland Yard in 1829, beginning the  modern era in British policing – constables are nicknamed ‘Bobbies’  and ‘Peelers’  in tribute to Sir Robert, whose ‘Peelian Principles’ of policing by consent still define an ethical police force

1818 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, former Marshal of France, ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway as Charles XIV John

1840 – John Boyd Dunlop is born in Scotland but lives most of his life in Ireland, veterinarian who develops pneumatic tyres, which revolutionize the bicycle industry

1846 – The Oregon Spectator, of Oregon City, is the first U.S. Pacific coast newspaper

1849 – University of Wisconsin–Madison’s first class meets at Madison Female Academy

1852 – The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public

1859 – Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexandru Ioan Cuza as the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state

1869 – The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger”, is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia

1872 – Lafayette Benedict Mendel is born, American biochemist; his work on vitamins and proteins shaped modern concepts about nutrition

1878 – André-Gustave Citroën born, French engineer-industrialist; brought Henry Ford’s mass production methods to Europe’s auto industry; produced the first small, inexpensive Citroën car in 1919 after converting his arms factory when WWI ended

1884 – Willis Johnson patents an egg beater

1885 – King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession; extracting a fortune from ivory and rubber, using his personal mercenary army, Force Publique, to enforce the labor of the Congolese under such brutal conditions that estimates put the death toll between 1885 and 1909 at roughly half the population

1887 – Verdi’s opera Otello premieres at La Scala

1900 – Adlai Stevenson II is born, American progressive Democratic politician-diplomat, candidate for U.S. President in 1952 and  ’56, lost party’s nomination to JFK in 1960, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. (1961-1965)

1905 – In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, with 4 basic specialties

1909 – Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic

1913 – Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane

1914 – William S. Burroughs born, American novelist; Naked Lunch

1917 – The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 to curtail immigration, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto

1918 – Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military

1919 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch  United Artists

1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting its ‘pips’ – hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal

1939 – Generalísimo Francisco Franco becomes”Caudillo de España” (Leader of Spain)

1939 – Jane Bryant Quinn born, American financial journalist and author; Making the Most of Your Money; advisor on the development of Quicken Financial Planner

1940 – Glenn Miller and his orchestra record “Tuxedo Junction”

1942 – Cory Wells born, American singer, co-founder of Three Dog Night

1943 – Chuck Winfield, American rock musician, flugel horn, Blood Sweat & Tears

1953 – Walt Disney’s animated film Peter Pan opens at NYC’s Roxy Theater

1958 – Gamal Abdel Nasser nominated to be first president of the United Arab Republic

1961 – The Sunday Telegraph publishes its first issue

1962 – French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence

1963 – The European Court of Justice’s ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen, one of the most important decisions in the development of European Union law; establishes the principle of direct effect, that Union law may confer rights on individuals which the courts of member states are bound to recognize and enforce, particularly in regard to regulations

1964 – Duff McKagan born, American singer-songwriter, bass for Guns N’ Roses

1967 – The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour premieres in television

1971 – Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission

1982 – Great Britain imposes economic sanctions against Poland and Russia to protest martial law in Poland

1985 – Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor
of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years

1986 – Prince releases the song “Kiss”

1988 – Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling, bribery and money laundering charges

1988 – The Arizona House of Representatives impeach Governor Evan Mecham, later convicted by the state Senate and removed from office

1992 – World Animal Reiki Day * Kathleen Prasad rescues Dakota from an animal shelter, who becomes her beloved canine companion for over 16 years, and convinces her of the benefits Reiki massage therapy for animals as well as people

1994 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader  Medgar Evers

1997 – The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families

1997 – Investment bank Morgan Stanley announces its merger with Dean Witter

2003 – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presents evidence to the U.N. concerning Iraq’s material breach of U.N. Resolution 1441

2004 – The California state legislature establishes California Western Monarch Day * to celebrate these beautiful butterflies and their annual migration to spend winters on the central coast of California; now of national interest as butterflies are an at-risk species

2007 – World Nutella Day * is started by Sara Rosso, an American blogger in Italy, now sponsored by Ferrero, the makers of Nutella

2014 – Shower with a Friend Day * is launched by New Wave Enviro to promote their shower head filters which remove chlorine and other irritants, but I am posting it as a humorous reminder to help save our dwindling supply of clean water
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Visuals

• Western Monarch Butterflies
• International flags
• Jeffries-Blanchard balloon with John Russell’s portrait of Jeffries
• Robert Peel police are the public quote
• New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg
• 1919 Citroën
• Slave laborers in Leopold’s Belgian Congo
• William S. Burroughs insane leaders quote
• Nutella jars

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