WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Today is Wednesday, February 19, the 50th day of 2014. There are 315 days left in the year.

356 ― Emperor Constantinus II shuts all heathen temples

1861 ― Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom

1878 ― Thomas Alva Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph)

1932 ― William Faulkner completes his novel “Light in August”

1942 ― FDR orders detention and internment of all West Coast Japanese-Americans

1945 ― 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in two days

1953 ― William Inge's “Picnic” premieres in New York City

1986 ― U.S. Senate ratifies U.N.’s anti-genocide convention 37 years later

1987 ― Anti-smoking ad airs for first time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner

1998 ― U.S. hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympics village in Japan