Today is Tuesday, March 16, the 75th day of 2010. There are 290 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1917, Russia's Grand Duke Michael, brother of Tsar Nicholas II who had abdicated the day before, refused to take the throne. A provisional government under Prince Georgi Lvov took office.

In 1926, the first liquid-fuel rocket was successfully launched by Professor Robert H. Goddard at Auburn, Massachusetts.

In 1968, US soldiers killed Vietnamese civilians in the village of My Lai in what became known as the My Lai massacre (Son My massacre to the Vietnamese); estimates of the death toll vary between 347 and 504.

Thought for Today

"Nearly all our disasters come from a few fools having the 'courage of their convictions."' — Coventry Patmore, English poet (1823-1896).