Today is Saturday, March 5, the 64th day of 2011. There are 301 days left in the year.
1558 _ Smoking tobacco introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes
1616 _ Copernicus' ``de Revolutionibus" placed on Catholic Forbidden index
1623 _ First American temperance law enacted, Virginia
1807 _ First performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 4th Symphony in B
1868 _ Stapler patented in England by C. H. Gould
1924 _ Frank Carauna, becomes first to bowl two successive perfect 300 games
1933 _ Germany's Nazi Party wins majority in parliament (43.9 percent-17.2 million votes)
1943 _ Anti fascist strikes in Italy
1946 _ Winston Churchill's ``Iron Curtain" speech (Fulton, Mo.)
1953 _ Josef Stalin's death announced
1984 _ U.S. accuses Iraq of using poison gas