Today is Monday, Nov. 10, the 315th day of 2008 with 51 to follow.
The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Martin Luther, founder of Protestantism, in 1483; William Hogarth, English artist and engraver, in 1697; Irish author Oliver Goldsmith in 1730; actors Claude Rains in 1889, Richard Burton in 1925 and Roy Scheider in 1932; singer Jane Froman in 1907; bandleader/trumpet/arranger Billy May in 1916; American Indian rights activist/actor Russell Means in 1939 (age 69); lyricist Tim Rice in 1944 (age 64); country singer Donna Fargo in 1945 (age 63); actresses Ann Reinking in 1949 (age 59) and Mackenzie Phillips in 1959 (age 49); filmmaker Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day") in 1955 (age 53); and comedian Sinbad in 1956 (age 52).
On this date in history:
In 1775, the U.S. Marine Corps was formed by order of the Continental Congress.
In 1871, journalist Henry Stanley found missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone in a small African village. His famous comment: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
In 1917, 41 women from 15 U.S. states were arrested outside the White House for suffragette demonstrations. U.S. women won the right to vote three years later.
In 1951, area codes were introduced in the United States, Canada and parts of the Caribbean, allowing direct-dialing of long-distance telephone calls. Prior to this, all such calls were operator-assisted.
In 1969, the long-running children's show "Sesame Street" premiered on PBS.
In 1975, the ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald broke in two and sank during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members. It was the worst Great Lakes ship disaster of the decade.
In 1982, Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev died at age 75 after 18 years in power.
In 1983, Microsoft released its Windows computer operating system.
In 1989, Bulgaria's long-reigning, hard-line president Todor Zhivkov resigned as democratic reform continued to sweep the Eastern Bloc.
Also in 1994, the only privately owned manuscript of Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci was sold at auction at Christie's in New York for $30.8 million, the highest amount paid for a manuscript.
In 1996, a bomb at a Moscow cemetery killed 11 and injured one dozen other people.
In 2001, Taliban officials confirmed that the Northern Alliance had captured the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, while U.S. President George Bush told the U.N. General Assembly that the time had come for countries to take swift and decisive action against global terrorism.
In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to allow U.S. President George Bush to take unilateral military action against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq without conditions beyond Congress being informed almost immediately.
In 2003, Lee Malvo, one of two suspects in the rash of sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington area, pleaded innocent as his trial opened in Chesapeake, Va. The trial overlapped that of the other suspect, John Muhammad, in Virginia Beach, Va.
In 2004, Shell Hydrogen opened the first hydrogen outlet at a retail gasoline station in Washington to service fuel cell vehicles from General Motors.
Also in 2004, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved a bill prohibiting pensions to families of suicide bombers.
In 2005, a bomb explosion in a central Baghdad restaurant killed at least 34 people and wounded some 25 others.
In 2006, the head of Britain's MI5 counter-terrorism agency said there were 30 "mass casualty" terror plots being planned in the country.
Also in 2006, Mexico City lawmakers officially recognized same-sex civil unions, subject to approval by the mayor.
In 2007, Bank of America, CitiGroup and JPMorgan Chase, the nation's three biggest banks, agreed to a simplified structure for a reported $75 billion fund designed to stabilize U.S. credit markets.
A thought for the day: Irish author Oliver Goldsmith said, "A book may be amusing with numerous errors or it may be very dull without a single absurdity."
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 11, the 316th day of 2008 with 50 to follow.
This is Veterans Day in the United States.
The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky in 1821; U.S. Army Gen. George Patton in 1885; actor Pat O'Brien in 1899; Alger Hiss, who was accused of being a communist spy in Washington in the late 1940s, in 1904; novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in 1922; comedian Jonathan Winters in 1925 (age 83); jazz musician Mose Allison in 1927 (age 81); golfer Frank "Fuzzy" Zoeller in 1951 (age 57); and actors Demi Moore in 1962 (age 46); Philip McKeon and Calista Flockhart, both in 1964 (age 44) and Leonardo DiCaprio in 1974 (age 34).
On this date in history:
In 1831, Nat Turner, who led fellow slaves on a bloody uprising in Virginia, was hanged. Turner, an educated minister, believed he was chosen by God to lead his people out of slavery. Some 60 whites were killed in the two-day rampage.
In 1889, Washington was admitted to the union as the 42nd state.
In 1918, World War I ended with the signing of the Armistice.
In 1921, U.S. President Warren Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
In 1938, Kate Smith first performed "God Bless America" on her weekly radio show. The song had been written for her by Irving Berlin.
In 1945, composer Jerome Kern, who wrote such memorable tunes as "Ol' Man River," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "The Last Time I Saw Paris," died at the age of 60.
In 1982, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off on the first commercial space mission.
In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Anthony Kennedy to the U.S. Supreme Court after Judge Douglas Ginsburg withdrew his nomination and Judge Robert Bork was rejected by the Senate.
In 1989, an estimated 1 million East Germans poured into reopened West Germany for a day of celebration, visiting and shopping. Most returned home.
In 1990, Stormie Jones, the Texas girl who underwent the world's first heart-liver transplant, died in Pittsburgh of a possible heart infection.
In 1992, the Church of England broke the tradition of a male-only clergy when it voted to allow the ordination of women as priests.
In 1994, Jimi Hendrix's stage outfit, John Lennon's "army" shirt and guitars from the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and the Beach Boys were among the items sold at the first pop memorabilia and guitar sale at Christie's in New York.
In 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks, U.S. President George Bush and leaders from around the world stood in the shadow of the World Trade Center ruins and, in a colorful and solemn ceremony, honored the dead from more than 80 nations.
In 2002, as many as 34 people were killed by tornadoes and straight-line windstorms that swept across the U.S. South and the Ohio Valley.
In 2004, Yasser Arafat, the longtime Palestinian leader whose colorful career ranged from terrorist to diplomat, a key figure in the forever smoldering Middle East, died in a Paris hospital after several days in a coma. He was 75.
In 2005, Harvard-educated Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, dubbed the "Iron Lady," claimed victory as the first woman president of Liberia.
In 2006, reports say medical care shortages may have led to the deaths of thousands of Iraqis despite the infusion of nearly $500,000. Sectarian violence, theft, corruption and mismanagement -- and the reported killings of hundreds of doctors -- were blamed.
Also in 2006, the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned Israel's recent attacks in Gaza.
And, an anonymous tip led investigators to a mass grave in Bosnia containing more than 100 victims of the infamous Srebrenica massacre.
In 2007, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, under intense international pressure to end his emergency rule, said elections would be before Jan. 9.
A thought for the day: upon formation of United Artists film corporation, Richard Rowland said, "The lunatics have taken charge of the asylum." (UA was founded by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith.)
Today is Wednesday, Nov. 12, the 317th day of 2008 with 49 to follow.
The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include French physicist Jacques Charles in 1746; women's suffrage activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1815; Baha'u'llah (born Mirza Husayn Ali), founder-prophet of the Baha'i faith, in 1817; U.S.
