WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2011

Today is Wednesday, March 16, the 75th day of 2011. There are 290 days left in the year.

1345 ― Holy spirit glides above fire; ``the miracle of Amsterdam" (legend)

1521 ― Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches Philippines

1830 ― New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded)

1850 ― Nathaniel Hawthorne's ``Scarlet Letter" published

1935 ― Hitler orders German rearmament, violating Versailles Treaty

1941 ― Dmitri Shostakovich receives the Stalin Prize

1945 ― U.S. defeats Japan at Iwo Jima

1955 ― President Eisenhower upheld the use of atomic weapons in case of war

1968 ― My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die

1977 ― U.S. President Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland