Today is the 50th day of 2015 and the 61st day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1807, former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested for treason.

In 1878, Thomas Edison received a patent for the phonograph.

In 1963, Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" was published, sparking a new wave of feminism in the United States.

In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, allowing the internment of Japanese-Americans.

In 1945, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), astronomer; Lee Marvin (1924-1987), actor; John Frankenheimer (1930-2002), director; Smokey Robinson (1940- ), singer-songwriter; Amy Tan (1952- ), author; Jeff Daniels (1955- ), actor; Ray Winstone (1957- ), actor; Seal (1963- ), singer-songwriter; Benicio Del Toro (1967- ), actor; Jeff Kinney (1971- ), cartoonist/children's author.

TODAY'S FACT: The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an average surface temperature of 867 degrees F.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1995, Sterling Marlin became the first person in a decade to win back-to-back Daytona 500s.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention." -- Amy Tan, "The Joy Luck Club"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 33,000 -- number of Japanese-Americans who served in the U.S. military in World War II.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 18) and first quarter moon (Feb. 25).

Today is the 49th day of 2015 and the 60th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.

In 1885, Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published.

In 1930, astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Planet X, the dwarf planet later renamed Pluto.

In 2001, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), artist/designer; Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939), businessman; Jack Palance (1919-2006), actor; Toni Morrison (1931- ), author; Milos Forman (1932- ), filmmaker; Yoko Ono (1933- ), singer/performance artist; John Hughes (1950-2009), filmmaker; John Travolta (1954- ), actor; Vanna White (1957- ), TV personality; Matt Dillon (1964- ), actor; Dr. Dre (1965- ), rapper/record producer; Jillian Michaels (1974- ), TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: Snow has fallen on the Sahara Desert only twice in recorded weather history: on this date in 1979 and on Jan. 17, 2012.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2001, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. was fatally injured in a multicar crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It is sheer good fortune to miss somebody long before they leave you." -- Toni Morrison, "Sula"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 5th -- place held by "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" on the American Library Association's list of books whose availability in schools and libraries was most frequently challenged in the 1990s. For the decade ending in 2009, it had dropped to 14th place.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Feb. 18).

Today is the 48th day of 2015 and the 59th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1801, the U.S. House of Representatives resolved an electoral tie by electing Thomas Jefferson president and his opponent, Aaron Burr, vice president.

In 1933, the Blaine Act initiated the repeal of Prohibition in the United States.

In 1974, a disgruntled U.S. Army private stole an Army helicopter at Fort Meade in Maryland and landed it on the White House lawn.

In 1996, world chess champion Garry Kasparov defeated the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in the last game of a six-game match in Philadelphia, winning the overall series by a final score of 4-2.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Hans Morgenthau (1904-1980), political scientist; Red Barber (1908-1992), sportscaster; Hal Holbrook (1925- ), actor; Jim Brown (1936- ), football player; Rene Russo (1954- ), actress; Larry the Cable Guy (1963- ), comedian; Michael Jordan (1963- ), basketball player; Michael Bay (1965- ), filmmaker; Denise Richards (1971- ), actress; Billie Joe Armstrong (1972- ), musician; Joseph Gordon-Levitt (1981- ), actor; Paris Hilton (1981- ), socialite.

TODAY'S FACT: The House of Representatives conducted 36 votes (one tie, 35 indecisive) before Thomas Jefferson was chosen as president over Aaron Burr.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1943, Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force. He was released on medical discharge in September 1945 due to chronic stomach ulcers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Politics is an art and not a science, and what is required for its mastery is not the rationality of the engineer but the wisdom and the moral strength of the statesman." -- Hans Morgenthau, "Scientific Man Vs. Power Politics"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 29 million -- certified album sales for "Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" (released on this date in 1976), the first album certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 11) and new moon (Feb. 18).