Today is the 57th day of 2014 and the 68th day of winter.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba and began his return journey to France.
In 1935, Adolf Hitler secretly ordered the Luftwaffe to be reformed, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1987, the Tower Commission released its report on the Iran-Contra affair, rebuking President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
In 1993, a truck bomb exploded in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Victor Hugo (1802-1885), author; Levi Strauss (1829-1902), tailor/inventor; William "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917), frontiersman/showman; Tex Avery (1908-1980), animator; Jackie Gleason (1916-1987), actor/comedian; Tony Randall (1920-2004), actor; Fats Domino (1928- ), singer-songwriter/pianist; Ariel Sharon (1928-2014), Israeli prime minister; Robert Novak (1931-2009), columnist; Johnny Cash (1932-2003), singer-songwriter; Michael Bolton (1953- ), singer-songwriter; Erykah Badu (1971- ), singer-songwriter.
TODAY'S FACT: Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant who went to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, made his first pair of "jeans" out of canvas.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1935, an aging Babe Ruth was released by the New York Yankees and signed a contract to become an assistant manager and player with the Boston Braves.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent." -- Victor Hugo
TODAY'S NUMBER: 14 -- age at which "Buffalo Bill" Cody began riding for the Pony Express, after answering an advertisement for "skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily."
TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 22) and new moon (March 1).