Unix Timestamp: 1234742400
Monday, February 16. 2009, 12:00:00 AM UTC

IBM's Watson artificial intelligence program wins on the U.S. quiz show "Jeopardy!", defeating Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, the series' most successful contestants. //www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380489,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121utm_source=twitterfeedutm_medium=twitterutm_caign=Feed%3A+ziffdavis%2Fpcmag%2Fbreakingnews+%28PCMag.com+Breaking+News%29utm_content=Google+International# (PC Mag) "Watson" used Wikipedia, among other sources, as its knowledge base "//www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Watson+computer+Ottawa+roots/4290481/story.html (The Vancouver Sun)" "//www.npr.org/2011/02/11/133686004/IBM-Computer-Faces-Off-Against-Jeopardy-Chs (NPR)" "//www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/icons/watson/ (IBM)"

The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, without the support of the United States and Australia.

Officials at the city and county of San Francisco, California, estimate by the end of the day that they will have issued 2,000 licenses for same-sex marriages in the four days since they started granting legal recognition to gay and lesbian unions. //www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7964972.htm (Mercury News)

The Taiwan (ROC)'s pro-independence president, Chen Shui-bian, states that Taiwan may eventually reunify with Mainland China. Nonetheless, Chen rejects the People's Republic of China's "one country, two systems" formula which was applied to Hong Kong and Macau. This is a new step for Chen who, shortly after taking office in 2000, had said unification was just one option—comments widely seen as a push for independence for the island. //www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-taiwan-china.html (NYT)

Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu makes an address at the University of Toronto. //www.trinity.utoronto.ca/Alumni/tutu.htm (University of Toronto)

China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 202 people (all 196 on board and 6 on the ground).

In Lebanon, Israeli helicopter gun ships assassinate Abbas al-Musawi, the leader of Hezbollah, and his son, in retaliation for a February 14 raid that killed three Israeli soldiers.

Pan Am flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.

South African police raid the home of Winnie Mandela and arrest four of her bodyguards.

Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) formed.

William J. Schroeder becomes the first artificial heart patient to leave the hospital.

Israel begins withdrawing troops from Lebanon.

China Airlines Flight 006 is involved in a mid-air incident while there are twenty two minor injuries and two serious injuries, no one is killed.

Bermondsey by-election, 1983 (U.K.): Simon Hughes's defeat of Peter Tatchell is criticised for alleged homophobia.

The Ash Wednesday fires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 76 people, in one of Australia's worst bushfires ever.

Wah Mee massacre: 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in Seattle, Washington.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intention to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.

Failure of automatic shut-down at Salem Nuclear Power Plant, New Jersey, USA

A special commission of the Congress of the United States releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.

Nellie massacre: over 2,000 people, mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, are massacred in Assam, India, during the Assam agitation.

A total solar eclipse seen in North Africa and West Asia.

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales rules that the "Sunday Times" can publish articles on Thalidomide and Distillers Company, despite ongoing legal actions by parents (the decision is overturned in July by the House of Lords).

In Italy, a local parliament elects the city of Catanzaro as the capital of Calabria residents of Reggio di Calabria riot for 5 days because of the decision.

Fifty tornadoes rage in Mississippi, killing 74 people.

The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning many radio stations just ignore it.

Only a little more than four months after the release of the 70mm version of "Oklahoma!", the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel", starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, is released in Cinemascope 55. MacRae and Jones had previously starred in "Oklahoma!" "Carousel", intended for showing in 55mm, ends up being shown only in 35mm.

Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.

The Pakistan Academy of Sciences is established in Pakistan.

Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.Moore, P. (1995) "The Guinness book of astronomy (5th ed.)" Enfield, UK: Guinness Publishing. p. 110.

Combined American and Filipino forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.

American and Filipino ground forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.

The Mexican volcano Parícutin is born in a farmer's cornfield.

WWII: The Soviet Union reconquers Kharkov, but is later driven out in the Third Battle of Kharkov

American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.

The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.

In a speech at the Berlin Sportpalast, German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declare a Total War against the Allies.

WWII: Altmark Incident: The British destroyer pursues the German tanker \'\'Altmark\'\' into Jøssingfjord in southwestern Norway.

Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Eritrean nationalists attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades. The Italian security guard fire into the crowd of Ethiopian onlookers. Authorities exact further reprisals, which include indiscriminately slaughtering native Ethiopians over the next three days, detaining thousands of Ethiopians in inhospitable conditions at Danan in the Ogaden and Nokra in the Dahlak Archipelago, and slaughtering almost 300 monks at Debre Libanos monastery.

Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon.

Airliner VH-UHH ("Stinson") goes down over Lamington National Park, bound for Sydney, killing five people.

Commission of Government sworn in as form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland.

Pehr Evind Svinhufvud is elected president of Finland.

February 26 ndash Dock strikes break out in various U.S. harbors.

The Council of Lithuania adopts the Act of Independence of Lithuania, declaring Lithuania's independence from the Russian Empire.

At HaulbowlineBase in Ireland, two explosions on board HM Submarine A5, due to petrol fumes after refueling, kill six of the eleven crew.

Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur (the first football club in Iceland). is established.

The "Ladies Home Journal" is published for the first time.

In New York City the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the "Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks" (BPOE).

Kansas State Agricultural College is established as the first land grant college created under the 1862 Morrill Act.

The Studebaker Brothers Wagon Company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.

First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate "Philadelphia".

The USS "Philadelphia" burns.

The Treaty of Lunéville ends the War of the Second Coalition between France and Austria.

The Kingdom of Great Britain is granted control of Ceylon by the Dutch.

Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Louis XV of France attains his majority.

The first known cheque (400 pounds) is written (on display at Westminster Abbey).

Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker.

First English Civil War ndash The Battle of Great Torrington, Devon, the last major battle of the conflict, is fought.

King Charles I of England gives his assent to the Triennial Act, reluctantly committing himself to parliamentary sessions of at least fifty days every three years.

Gustav Adolf Secondary School is founded in Tallinn, Estonia by Swedish king Gustav II Adolf.

Johann Reuchlin begins studying the Hebrew language.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola returns to Florence and writes "Oration on the Dignity of Man".

Tízoc, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies. Some sources suggest that he was poisoned, others that he was the victim of sorcery or illness. He is succeeded by his brother Auitzotl.

Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg is elected King of the Romans at Frankfurt (crowned April 9 at Aachen).

Sigismund, Archduke of Tyrol, issues Europe's first large silver coin, the guldengroschen, which will later become the thaler.

The Medici giraffe arrives in Florence.

King Afonso III of Portugal and King Alfonso X of Castile sign the Badajoz Convention, determining the border between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Kingdom of Leon, and ensuring Portuguese sovereignty over Algarve.

Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by King Louis IX of France as an ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols.