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1933: Ground is broken for the Golden Gate Bridge
1991: Tim Berners-Lee introduces the first web browser; by the end of the day, he has a lower mortgage, a bigger penis and is awaiting a shipment of Nigerian gold.
1564: Christopher Marlowe; 1802: Victor Hugo; 1808: Honoré Daumier; 1829: Levi Strauss; 1846: Buffalo Bill Cody; 1893: William Frawley; 1908: Tex Avery; 1916: Jackie Gleason; 1920: Tony Randall; 1921: Betty Hutton; 1928: Fats Domino; 1932: Johnny Cash; 1951: Lee Atwater; 1953: Michael Bolton.
We're sure it's just a coincidence that on this date in: 1) 1751, the first performing monkey was exhibited in America; 2) 1836, Samuel Colt patented his first revolver; and 3) 1859, the "temporary insanity plea" was first used in an American court.
1982: The final episode of The Lawrence Welk Show airs; even he couldn't believe it was still on.
1873: Enrico Caruso; 1901: Zeppo Marx; 1917: Anthony Burgess; 1928: Larry Gelbart; 1929: Tommy Newsom; 1943: George Harrison; 1966: Tea Leoni.
1786: Wilhelm Grimm*; 1836: Winslow Homer; 1926: Jean Alexander; 1942: Joe Lieberman; 1947: Rupert Holmes, Edward James Olmos; 1962: Michelle Shocked; 1968: Mitch Hedberg.
1918: Estonia declares independence from Russia and isn't heard from again until 1991.
1970: National Public Radio founded; the first pledge drive takes place the following day.
Today is Dia de la Bandera
Among Mann's list of snowboarders' offenses to Olympic gravitas: their grungy "street" fashion sense, Greg Bretz's McNuggets-eating contest with his coach, Ricky Bower (Bretz, 60; Bower, 35); Hannah Teter's underwear sales (which turns out to be a legitimate business, despite initial reports making it sound like an auction for the panties she had on at the time); Shaun White and Bud Keane's expletive-laden on-air chatter; and the "scandalous" party photos of a girl kissing Scotty Lago's bronze medal as it dangled from his belt that earned him a hastily arranged one-way ticket out of Vancouver
Despite most of these incidents taking place far from the event sites, athletes have been under tight scrutiny since the infamous Michael Phelps bong hit after his 2008 Olympic triumph.
Other troubling snowboarder behavior includes overuse of the term "Dude," being way too cheerful all the time and suspiciously frequent outbreaks of "the munchies." Mention of Louie Vito's pre-Olympics appearance on Dancing With the Stars got a look of sour disapproval from Mann, when asked if that also counted as inappropriate behavior.
Mann said his next task is to look into allegations of "catty, high-strung, diva-like and bitchy behavior" among ice dancers and figure skaters.
1660: Charles XI becomes king of Sweden and, so far as we know, he still is.
1886: The London Times publishes the world's first classified ad, "Prpr gntm sks scy wnch fr spnkng & notty fun. No fatties."
1633: Samuel Pepys; 1883: Victor Fleming; 1904: William L. Shirer; 1932: Majel Barrett; 1940: Peter Fonda; 1944: Johnny Winter; 1950: Neil Jordan; 1951: Patricia Richardson.
1819: Spain sells Florida to the United States for $5 million. The real estate agent handling the sale conveniently neglects to mention the swamps, hurricanes, bugs, humidity and long lines at Epcot.
1732: George Washington; 1892: Edna St. Vincent Millay; 1907: Sheldon Leonard, Robert Young; 1908: Sir John Mills; 1925: Edward Gorey; 1932: Ted Kennedy; 1950: Julius Erving; 1975: Drew Barrymore.
1899: Warmest summer ever had there was this winter day in San Francisco at 80 degrees fahrenheit.
1968: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood debuts.
1981: George Harrison is fined $587,000 for "subconscious plagarism" due to the undeniable resemblance of his song My Sweet Lord to the Chiffon's He's So Fine; he gets off scot-free for all those years of hare krishna bullshit, but then makes up for that with Cloud Nine in 1987.
1473: Nicolaus Copernicus; 1911: Merle Oberon; 1917: Carson McCullers; 1924: Lee Marvin; 1952: Amy Tan; 1955: Jeff Daniels; 1963: Seal.
1848: Louis Comfort Tiffany; 1892: Wendell Willkie; 1919: Jack Palance; 1930: Gahan Wilson; 1931: Johnny Hart, Toni Morrison; 1932: Milos Forman; 1933: Yoko Ono; 1950: John Hughes, Cybill Sheperd; 1954: John Travolta; 1964: Matt Dillon; 1968: Molly Ringwald.
1856: The "Know-Nothing" political party meets in Philadelphia and nominates its first candidate for president; former President Millard Fillmore. As evidence their name is appropriate, they didn't realize Fillmore had already been president.
1885: Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published. Hanna-Barbera's Huckleberry Hound debuts in 1958, but on a different day; we're not sure why we brought that up.
1930: "Elm Farm Ollie" becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft; she also becomes the first cow to be milked in an aircraft. No one involved has the foresight to market "Mile-High Milk."
Today is Ash Wednesday. It is also "Random Acts of Kindness Day." So, if someone still wearing lots of Mardi Gras beads comes up to you and asks how to spell "Wednesday," please do so in a slow and quiet voice.
1876: Sardines first canned; first can still on sale.
1958: Comic strip BC debuts; offers irrefutable proof that cartoon cavemen lived at the same time as cartoon dinosaurs.
1905: The American Esperanto Club first meets; at least we think that's who they said they were...
1918: Lithuania declares independence from Russia and Germany, who both have a good laugh about it then flip a coin over who gets to invade first.
1982: The 1970s are declared officially over when, on this date, Lee Majors & Farrah Fawcett divorce.
1903: Edgar Bergen
1935: Sonny Bono
1957: Levar Burton
1958: Ice-T
1959: John McEnroe.