Today is the 53rd day of 2015 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; 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, New York, a victory popularly known as the "Miracle on Ice."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice." -- 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: Between new moon (Feb. 18) and first quarter moon (Feb. 25).

Today is the 52nd day of 2015 and the 63rd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1842, John Greenough received the first U.S. patent for a sewing machine.

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published "The Communist Manifesto."

In 1925, the first issue of The New Yorker was published.

In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City.

In 1972, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China while in office.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Leo Delibes (1836-1891), composer; Anais Nin (1903-1977), author; John Rawls (1921-2002), philosopher; Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984), film director; Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), humorist; David Geffen (1943- ), record producer; Tyne Daly (1946- ), actress; Alan Rickman (1946- ), actor; William Petersen (1953- ), actor; Kelsey Grammer (1955- ), actor; Mary Chapin Carpenter (1958- ), singer-songwriter; Chuck Palahniuk (1962- ), author; David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), author; Jennifer Love Hewitt (1979- ), actress; Ellen Page (1987- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Chemnitz, East Germany, changed its name to Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1953. After East and West Germany reunited in 1990, the name was changed back following a referendum.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1948, race car driver Bill France and various members of the auto racing community formed the National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR).

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image we long for, need, love or desire, often against reality, against their benefit, and always, in the end, a disappointment, because it does not fit them." -- Anais Nin

TODAY'S NUMBER: 555 -- height (in feet) of the Washington Monument, dedicated on this day in 1885.

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

Today is the 51st day of 2015 and the 62nd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1839, Congress passed legislation prohibiting dueling in the District of Columbia.

In 1872, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in New York City.

In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits aboard the Mercury program's Friendship 7 spacecraft.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the core module of the Mir space station.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ansel Adams (1902-1984), photographer; Robert Altman (1925-2006), filmmaker; Richard Matheson (1926-2013), author/screenwriter; Sidney Poitier (1927- ), actor; Nancy Wilson (1937- ), singer/actress; Patty Hearst (1954- ), actress/socialite; Charles Barkley (1963- ), basketball player/broadcaster; Cindy Crawford (1966- ), fashion model; Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), musician; Lili Taylor (1967- ), actress; Justin Verlander (1983- ), baseball player; Rihanna (1988- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: More NASA astronauts (31 men and women, as of 2015) have come from New York than any other state.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1998, 15-year-old Tara Lipinski became the youngest woman in history to win a figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." -- Ansel Adams

TODAY'S NUMBER: 10,506 -- duration (in hours) of the longest single human spaceflight, by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov from January 1994 to March 1995. Polyakov spent 437 days aboard the Mir space station.

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