On This Day:
Sunday February 15, 2015 This is the 46th day of the year, with 319 days remaining in 2015. Fact of the Day: silverware Spoons and knives were made and used in the earliest times and they are found among the artifacts of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, etc. Prehistoric implements used for cutting, hunting, and defense were fashioned from stone, especially flint; from obsidian, a volcanic glass; and from bones and shells. Forks, which originally had a single point, were made with two prongs by the Romans. Matching sets of spoons and forks in standard patterns were common by the mid-18th century. The modern tablespoon, with its stem ending in a rounded curve and turned downward, was adopted about 1760. Although by the late 17th century individual eating knives were no longer carried for ordinary use, sets consisting of knife, fork, spoon, and drinking vessel were made for travelers well into the 19th century.
Holidays Feast day of St. Tanco or Tatto, St. Agape of Terni, St. Walfrid or Galfrid.
Japan: Kamakura.
United States: Susan B. Anthony Day.
United States: USS Maine Memorial Day.
Lupercalia.
Canada: Flag Day
Events 1758 - The first mustard, made by Benjamin Franklin, went on sale in America.
1804 - New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery.
1842 - In New York City, adhesive postage stamps were used for the first time.
1879 - President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
1898 - The USS Maine, sent to Cuba on a friendly visit, exploded and sank in Havana harbor, killing 260 crew members. The origin of the explosion is unknown. This incident led to the Spanish-American War.
1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "The Guy Lombardo Show" on CBS radio, where they stayed for 18 years before moving their act to television.
1933 - An assassin aiming at President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt had his aim deflected and instead killed Anton J. Cermak, mayor of Chicago.
1942 - British forces in Singapore surrendered to Japanese, after their worst defeat of World War II.
1965 - The new Canadian Maple Leaf national flag was raised above Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
1969 - R. G. Edwards of the Cambridge Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge, England, made the first in vitro fertilization of human egg cells.
1971 - Great Britain and Ireland switched to decimal-based currency.
1978 - Boxer Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight boxing crown.
2002 - Defrocked priest Paul Shanley was sentenced in Boston to 12 to 15 years in prison for statutory rape of a minor.
2004 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the Daytona 500 six years to the day after his father won his only Daytona 500.
2005 - YouTube, a popular video-sharing Web site, is started.
Births 1564 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer.
1797 - Henry Steinway, American piano maker.
1820 - Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist.
1929 - Graham Hill, British two-time Formula One World Champion.
1935 - Roger Chaffee, a U.S. Navy pilot who became an American astronaut in the Apollo program.
1954 - Matt Groening, American cartoonist; Simpsons creator.
1964 - Chris Farley, American actor and comedian.
Deaths 1928 - H. H. Asquith, British Prime Minister.
1965 - Nat King Cole, American singer and musician.
2002 - Howard K. Smith, American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, and commentator.
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