Community Corner

Happy Valentine's Day

A brief history lesson on the holiday's origins.

1. Valentine's Day is celebrated on Feb. 14 because that is the day Pope Gelasius declared at about 498 to honor the martyr Valentinus and end a pagan celebration. Valentinus was executed for his Christian beliefs. While jailed, he allegedly restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. The night before his execution, he wrote a farewell note to the girl, which he signed, "From your Valentine.'' He was executed on Feb. 14, 269.

2. The average adult plans on spending $116.21 on Valentine's Day gifts and merchandise, 12.8 percent more than last year's $103, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation. 

3. The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose to its highest amount since Oct. 12, 2008 today, increasing three-tenths of a cent to $3.444. The 12th increase in 13 days pushed the average price 3.9 cents higher than a week ago, 9.2 cents above what it was one month ago and 47.9 cents greater than it was one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

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4. The start of the first man-versus-machine Jeopardy! competition will air tonight as the IBM computer named Watson will face the game show's two greatest champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson, named for IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of IBM scientists, who sought a system that rivals a human's ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence. Jeopardy! airs at 7 p.m. on channel 7.

5. Weather today: Partly cloudy with highs in the 60s. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with lows in the upper 40s.

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Thought for the day: ‎"You are always a valuable, worthwhile human being, not because anybody says so, not because you're successful, not because you make a lot of money, but because you decide to believe it and for no other reason."—Wayne Dyer


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