Today is the 55th day of 2014 and the 66th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1836, Colonel William Travis issued a call for help on behalf of the Texan troops defending the Alamo in San Antonio.

In 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson.

In 1903, the United States acquired a naval station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In 2008, Fidel Castro's brother Raul Castro was officially named president by Cuba's parliament.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), author; Winslow Homer (1836-1910), artist; George A. Moore (1852-1933), poet/dramatist; Honus Wagner (1874-1955), baseball player; Abe Vigoda (1921- ), actor; Dominic Chianese (1931- ), actor; Phil Knight (1938- ), business magnate; Joseph Lieberman (1942- ), U.S. senator; Edward James Olmos (1947- ), actor; Steve Jobs (1955-2011), computer pioneer; Paula Zahn (1956- ), TV journalist; Billy Zane (1966- ), actor; Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005), comedian; Floyd Mayweather Jr. (1977- ), boxer.

TODAY'S FACT: Andrew Johnson was the only U.S. senator from a Southern state to remain loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Reality can destroy the dream; why shouldn't the dream destroy reality?" -- George A. Moore

TODAY'S NUMBER: $1 -- annual salary Steve Jobs received as CEO of Apple Inc. (He made up for it with Apple stock options.)

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 22) and new moon (March 1).

Today is the 54th day of 2014 and the 65th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1778, Baron von Steuben joined the U.S. encampment at Valley Forge.

In 1945, American Marines raised the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima.

In 1954, the first mass vaccination of children against polio began in Pittsburgh.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush announced the beginning of an allied ground offensive in Iraq.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), diarist/British naval official; George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), composer; W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), author/activist; Tom Osborne (1937- ), football coach; Peter Fonda (1940- ), actor; Michael Dell (1965- ), businessman; Neal McDonough (1966- ), actor; Aziz Ansari (1983- ), actor/comedian; Emily Blunt (1983- ), actress; Skylar Grey (1986- ), singer-songwriter; Dakota Fanning (1994- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: A group of buzzards is called a "wake." A group of finches is called a "charm."

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, the city of Chicago gave the Cubs baseball team permission to install lights at Wrigley Field and begin hosting night games.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame." -- W.E.B. Du Bois

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6,825 -- American soldiers who died taking Iwo Jima in 1945.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 22) and new moon (March 1).

Today is the 53rd day of 2014 and the 64th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1819, Spain signed the Adams-Onis Treaty, ceding Florida to the United States and redefining the boundary between U.S. and Spanish territories from Louisiana to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1935, new regulations outlawed aircraft flying over the White House.

In 1993, the U.N. Security Council approved the creation of a war crimes tribunal to address atrocities committed during the former Yugoslavia's civil war.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Washington (1732-1799), soldier/first U.S. president; Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), philosopher; Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), poet; Edward "Ted" Kennedy (1932-2009), U.S. senator; Julius Erving (1950- ), basketball player; Kyle MacLachlan (1959- ), actor; Steve Irwin (1962-2006), TV personality; James Blunt (1974- ), singer-songwriter; Drew Barrymore (1975- ), actress; Rajon Rondo (1986- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Like Mozart, Chopin was considered a musical prodigy in childhood. By age 7 he had composed two simple marches.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid, N.Y., a victory popularly known as the "Miracle on Ice."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; Third, it is accepted as self-evident." -- Arthur Schopenhauer

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1 -- Broadway performance (excluding 13 previews) for Arthur Bicknell's play, "Moose Murders," which opened and closed at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on this day in 1983. The play is widely considered the most infamous flop in Broadway history.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Feb. 22).