February 29 - Leap Day

Not quite leaping

Overheard

At snacktime:
D: Elanor, please finish your banana.
E: ['typing' on the table with both hands] No, I gotta do my email.

This Day In History

1504

Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.

1892

St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.

1940

For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.

1950

Family Circus makes its debut.

1980

Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.

Famous Birthdays

1468

Pope Paul III (d. 1549)

1792

Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)

1840

John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)

1860

Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)

1904

Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)

1952

Tim Powers, American science fiction & fantasy author (and author of a book written for Daddy - "Drawing of the Dark," in which dark beer saves Western civilization)

1968

Howard Tayler, American cartoonist (Schlock Mercenary)