February 19th

This Day in History:    

-- On this day in 1473, Nicolas Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland. Early on, the Pol became an astronomer, and was the first to develop the theory that the sun is the center of our solar system, not the earth. This later became known as the Copernican Theory, in honor of Copernicus, and nearly all scientists hold to it.

-- On this day in 1945, United States Marines landed on the island of Iwo Jima in the South Pacific. The island was a key stronghold of the Japanese, with 11 miles of underground tunnels swarming with 18,000 Imperial soldiers. It took 31 days and 70,000 Americans to take the island. Only 243 Japanese survived. The rest is history.

-- On this day, three years ago (2008), Fidel Castro, Communist dictator of Cuba, resigned power, and let his brother Raul take over. Fidel fought a guerrilla war to overthrow the Cuban government, which was successful in 1958. Ever since then, the Caribbean island has dropped into a dark age, with over 40 years of Marxist rule.

Random Fact of the Day:

In Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, the world’s smallest dinosaur footprints were found in 1984. They were made by a creature likely no larger than a robin.