Today is Sunday, Feb. 19, the 50th day of 2023 with 315 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in 1473; Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi in 1876; actor Merle Oberon in 1911; novelist Carson McCullers in 1917; actor Lee Marvin in 1924; television/movie director John Frankenheimer in 1930; singer William "Smokey" Robinson in 1940 (age 83); singer Lou Christie in 1943 (age 80); author Amy Tan in 1952 (age 71); former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez in 1953 (age 70); actor Jeff Daniels in 1955 (age 68); NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in 1959 (age 64); Britain's Prince Andrew in 1960 (age 63); singer Seal, born Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel, in 1963 (age 60); actor Justine Bateman in 1966 (age 57); actor Benicio Del Toro in 1967 (age 56); actor Bellamy Young in 1970 (age 53); actor Eric Lange in 1973 (age 50); actor Haylie Duff in 1985 (age 38); actor Arielle Kebbel in 1985 (age 38); actor Victoria Justice in 1993 (age 30); tennis player Katharina Gerlach in 1998 (age 25); actor David Mazouz in 2001 (age 22); actor Millie Bobby Brown in 2004 (age 19).On this date in history:

ADVERTISEMENT


In 1878, Thomas Edison patented the first gramophone.

In 1922, vaudeville star Ed Wynn became the first big name in show business to sign for a regular radio show.

In 1942, as a security measure during World War II, the U.S. government began relocating Japanese-Americans living in coastal Pacific areas to internment camps in remote areas of several states. They were allowed to return to their homes in January 1945.

In 1945, U.S. Marines landed on the island of Iwo Jima, opening one of the major battles in the Pacific during World War II.

ADVERTISEMENT


In 1981, the United States blamed insurgency in El Salvador on communist powers arming leftist guerrillas.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the Mir space station. It was occupied for 10 of its 15 years in orbit.

In 1997, China's "paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping died at age 92.

In 2003, all 275 people aboard an Iranian military transport plane were killed when it crashed in a mountainous region of southeastern Iran.


ADVERTISEMENT


In 2005, U.S. Roman Catholic officials said they received 1,092 charges of clergy sex abuse, most involving boys.

In 2008, Cuban President Fidel Castro, 81, who temporarily handed power to his brother, Raul, in July 2006, because of illness, stepped down permanently after 49 years in power. Raul, 76, then formally succeeded him.

In 2020, a gunman opened fire at multiple locations, including two bars, in Hanau, Germany, killing 10 people, then himself. Authorities said the perpetrator was a far-right extremist who targeted hookah bars frequented by Turkish-Kurdish customers.

In 2022, Russians Alexander Bolshunov and Ivan Yakimushkin earned gold and silver, respectively, in the cross-country skiing 50-kilometer freestyle mass start final in the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Norway's Simen Hegstad Krueger took bronze.

A thought for the day: "So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness." -- American actor Sidney Poitier