Today is Monday, Oct. 27, the 301st day of 2008 with 65 to follow.
The moon is waning. 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 Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus in 1466; English explorer Capt. James Cook in 1728; Italian violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini in 1782; Isaac Singer, developer of the first practical home sewing machine, in 1811; Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, in 1858; etiquette arbiter Emily Post in 1872; longtime "Tonight Show" producer/director Fred De Cordova in 1910; Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in 1914; actresses Nanette Fabray in 1920 (age 88) and Ruby Dee in 1924 (age 84); pop artist Roy Lichtenstein in 1923; former Secretary of State Warren Christopher in 1925 (age 83); pop pianist Floyd Cramer in 1933; comedian John Cleese in 1939 (age 69); filmmaker Ivan Reitman in 1946 (age 62); actors Carrie Snodgress in 1946, Roberto Benigni ("Life Is Beautiful") in 1952 (age 56), and Robert Picardo ("Star Trek: Voyager") in 1953 (age 55) and singer Simon Le Bon in 1958 (age 50).
On this date in history:In 1659, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who left England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, were executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their outlawed religious beliefs.
In 1787, a New York newspaper published the first of 77 essays explaining the new Constitution and urging its ratification, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay and later combined as "The Federalist Papers."
In 1795, a treaty with Spain settled Florida's northern boundary and gave navigation rights on the Mississippi River to the United States.
In 1904, the first rapid transit subway system in America opened in New York City.
In 1946, the travel show "Geographically Speaking," sponsored by Bristol-Myers, became the first television program with a commercial sponsor.
In 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio divorced, reportedly after a blowup over her famous scene in "The Seven Year Itch," in which a blast of air lifts her skirt.
In 1981, the National Labor Relations Board withdrew recognition of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization for an illegal strike by its members.
In 1990, CBS founder William S. Paley died at age 89. And band leader/rumba king Xavier Cugat died at 90.
In 1991, Poland had its first fully free parliamentary elections.
In 1992, Israeli tanks rolled into Lebanon as air force jets staged renewed raids in an effort to crush Muslim fundamentalist guerrillas.
In 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton presented Congress with the administration's new plan for healthcare reform in a ceremony at the Capitol.
Also in 1993, Southern California was hit by dozens of brush fires -- the worst in six years. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and thousands of people were forced to flee the flames.
In 1994, the U.S. Justice Department announced that the U.S. prison population topped the 1 million mark.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch, one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded, began its four-day siege of Central America, causing at least 10,000 deaths.
In 2003, as many as 40 civilians and U.S. soldiers were killed in a flurry of terrorist bombings in Baghdad. Among the targets was the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In 2006, a former General Services Administration official was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for helping lobbyist Jack Abramoff. David Safavian told the judge he didn't realize that passing on inside information about properties controlled by the GSA was wrong.
In 2007, Russian observers predicted Vladimir Putin would seek the post of prime minister when he steps down from the presidency. Putin said earlier he wouldn't seek a third term as president.
A thought for the day: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt said, "The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight." Today is Tuesday, Oct. 28, the 302nd day of 2008 with 64 to follow.The moon is new. 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 rifle maker Eliphalet Remington in 1793; actress Elsa Lanchester in 1902; English novelist Evelyn Waugh in 1903; Dr. Jonas Salk, a developer of the polio vaccine, in 1914; former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn in 1926; country musician Charlie Daniels in 1936 (age 72); actors Jane Alexander in 1939 (age 69) and Dennis Franz in 1944 (age 64); singer/actress Telma Hopkins in 1948 (age 60); Olympic decathlon champion-turned-sportscaster Bruce Jenner in 1949 (age 59); Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1955 (age 53); Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 1956 (age 52); actresses Annie Potts in 1952 (age 56); Lauren Holly in 1963 (age 45), Jami Gertz in 1965 (age 43); and Julia Roberts in 1967 (age 41).
On this date in history:In 312, in a battle that marked the beginning of the Christian era in Europe, Constantine's army, wearing the cross, defeated the forces of Maxentius at Mulvian Bridge in Rome.
In 1636, Harvard College, now Harvard University, was founded in Massachusetts.
In 1846, the pioneering Donner Party of 90 people set out from Springfield, Ill., for California.
In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States, was dedicated in New York Harbor by U.S. President Grover Cleveland.
In 1919, the U.S. Congress passed the Volstead Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, enforcing the constitutional amendment prohibiting the use of alcoholic beverages.
In 1962, Russian chief Nikita Khrushchev announced that all Soviet offensive missiles would be removed from Cuba.
In 1985, the leader of the so-called Walker family spy ring, John Walker, pleaded guilty to giving U.S. Navy secrets to the Soviet Union.
In 1989, the Oakland A's wrapped up an earthquake-delayed sweep of the World Series over the San Francisco Giants.
In 1992, scientists using sonar to map Scotland's Loch Ness made contact with a mysterious object but declined to speculate what that implies about whether legendary monster "Nessie" exists.
In 2001, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a third New Jersey postal worker had an anthrax inhalation infection, bringing the total number to eight, including three people who died from the most serious form of the disease.
Also in 2001, on this date, U.S.-led forces resumed air strikes against targets in Afghanistan, bombing the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar.
In 2002, U.S. diplomat John Foley was slain in Amman, Jordan. An unknown group called the Honest People of Jordan claimed responsibility, calling it a response to U.S. support of Israel and actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2003, U.S. President George Bush warned Iran and Syria not to allow terrorists to cross into Iraq from their territory.
In 2004, insurgents executed 11 Iraqi soldiers in what they said was revenge for women and children killed in U.S. strikes on the guerrilla stronghold of Fallujah.
In 2005, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff and national security adviser to the vice president, resigned after he was indicted on multiple counts in the CIA leak case in which an operative's name was revealed to the media.
In 2006, the deadly fast-moving wildfire near Palm Springs, Calif., was reported 40 percent contained after killing five firefighters, scorching about 40,000 acres and consuming 27 homes and other buildings. Authorities said the fire was caused by arson.
In 2007, U.S.-led forces killed nearly 80 Taliban fighters during a fierce six-hour air and ground battle in southern Afghanistan near Musa Oala.
Also in 2007, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner became the first woman to be elected president of Argentina. She succeeded her husband, Nestor Kirchner.
A thought for the day: poet Emily Dickinson wrote, "I'll tell you how the sun rose --"A Ribbon at a time --"
Today is Wednesday, Oct. 29, the 303rd day of 2008 with 63 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 Scottish biographer James Boswell in 1740; singer/composer Daniel Decatur Emmett, who wrote the words and music for "Dixie," in 1815; comedian/singer Fanny Brice in 1891; Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels in 1897; political cartoonist Bill Mauldin in 1921; singer Melba Moore in 1945 (age 63); actor Richard Dreyfuss in 1947 (age 61); and actresses Kate Jackson in 1948 (age 60), Finola Hughes in 1960 (age 48), Joely Fisher in 1967 (age 41) and Winona Ryder in 1971 (age 37).
On this date in history:In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded in London. He had been charged with plotting against King James I.
In 1901, Leon Czolgosz was electrocuted for the assassination of U.S. President William McKinley.
In 1923, the musical "Runnin' Wild," which introduced the Charleston, opened on Broadway.
In 1929, the sale of 16 million shares marked the collapse of the stock market, setting the stage for the Great Depression.
In 1969, the first connection on what would become the Internet was made when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute. This was the beginning of ARPANET, the forerunner to the Internet developed by the Department of Defense.
In 1991, in a first meeting between Soviet and Israeli heads of state, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Israeli Prime Minister Yizhak Shamir conferred at the Soviet Embassy.
In 1992, Alger Hiss said Russia had cleared him of the charge of being a Communist spy that sent him to prison for four years and helped propel Richard Nixon's political career.
In 1994, a Colorado man was arrested after he sprayed the White House with bullets from an assault rifle. U.S. President Bill Clinton was inside at the time but no one was injured.
In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, who in 1962 became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery. At 77, he was the oldest person to travel in space.
In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush, elected in a chaotic tableau of ballot mishaps and court challenges, signed legislation said to help reduce ballot-counting errors and ensure greater citizen participation in the election process.
In 2003, digging through more than 164 feet of rock, rescuers liberated 11 of 13 Russian miners trapped underground for six days after a methane gas explosion.
Also in 2003, the third-largest recorded solar blast slammed into the Earth causing a severe but short-lived geomagnetic storm.
In 2004, Osama bin Laden, in a videotape to the American people, admitted publicly that he ordered the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
Also in 2004, EU leaders signed the European Union's first constitution.
In 2005, three explosions in New Delhi hit a bus and markets crowded with holiday shoppers, killing at least 65 people.
Also in 2005, a reported 102 people died in a train wreck in southern India, where heavy rains caused major flooding.
In 2006, a Boeing 737 crashed near Nigeria's Abuja airport killing 96 of the 104 people aboard. Officials said the pilot took off after disobeying an air traffic controller and crashed moments later.
Also in 2006, 17 instructors and two translators were gunned down at a British-run police academy at Basra, Iraq.
In 2007, a suicide bomber attacked a police brigade in Iraq, blowing himself up to kill 29 people, including 26 police officers.
A thought for the day: Scottish biographer James Boswell wrote, "I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation." Today is Thursday, Oct. 30, the 304th day of 2008 with 62 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 John Adams, second president of the United States, in 1735; French Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley in 1839; French poet Paul Valery in 1871; poet Ezra Pound in 1885; strongman Charles Atlas in 1893; actress Ruth Gordon in 1896; film director Louis Malle in 1932; rock singer Grace Slick in 1939 (age 69); actor/director Henry Winkler in 1945 (age 63); news correspondent Andrea Mitchell in 1946 (age 62); and actor Harry Hamlin in 1951 (age 57).
On this date in history:In 1817, Simon Bolivar established the independent government of Venezuela.
In 1938, Orson Welles triggered a national panic with a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion, based on H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds."
In 1941, more than a month before the United States entered World War II, a U.S. destroyer, the Reuben James, was sunk by a German submarine.
In 1975, as dictator Francisco Franco was near death, Prince Juan Carlos assumed power in Spain.
In 1983, the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced plans to become the first African-American to mount a full-scale campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in the United States.
In 1991, the Middle East peace conference convened in Madrid with participants including Israel, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied territories.
In 1993, the U.N. Security Council condemned Haiti's military leaders for preventing the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In 1995, by a narrow margin, Quebec voters decided to remain a part of Canada.
In 2003, the death toll in the Southern California wildfire outbreak was set at 20 with 2,605 homes destroyed and 657,000 acres charred.
In 2004, Yasser Arafat's closest aides said the 75-year-old, long-time Palestinian leader had lost control of his mental faculties and couldn't communicate clearly. Arafat was flown to Paris for treatment of what was believed to be an acute blood disorder.
In 2005, Indian authorities sent army divers to look for people trapped in a derailed train near Veligonda, the result of massive flooding. Officials said 112 died in the train wreck while another 100 perished in the flood.
Also in 2005, an obscure radical Islamic group in India claimed responsibility for the bombings at two crowded New Delhi markets and on a bus that killed more than 60 people and injured close to 200.
In 2006, Pakistan hit an Islamic school near the Afghan border, killing at least 80 suspected militants.
In 2007, Iraqi rebuilding has fallen far short of goals, despite expenditures of more than $100 billion, a report from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction said.
A thought for the day: in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams said, "You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other." The two former presidents and political rivals both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Today is Friday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2007 with 61 to follow.This is Halloween.
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 Dutch painter Jan Vermeer in 1632; English poet John Keats in 1795; Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low in 1860; Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, the first leader of Nationalist China, in 1887; actress/singer Ethel Waters in 1896; actresses Dale Evans in 1912 and Barbara Bel Geddes in 1922; astronaut Michael Collins in 1930 (age 78); former TV news anchorman Dan Rather in 1931 (age 77); actor/producer Michael Landon in 1936; folk singer/songwriter Tom Paxton in 1937 (age 71); actors David Ogden Stiers in 1942 (age 66) and Stephen Rea in 1946 (age 62); actress Deidre Hall in 1947 (age 61); comic actor John Candy in 1950; broadcaster Jane Pauley also in 1950 (age 58); comic actor Rob Schneider in 1963 (age 45); and rapper Vanilla Ice in 1967 (age 41).
On this date in history:In 1517, Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation by nailing a proclamation to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.
In 1864, Nevada was admitted to the Union as the 36th state.
In 1926, magician, illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital following a blow to the abdomen.
In 1931, with the Great Depression in full swing, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that 827 banks had failed during the previous two months.
In 1941, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota -- consisting of the sculpted heads of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt -- was completed.
In 1968, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam.
In 1984, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh guards. Her son, Rajiv, succeeded her.
In 1985, salvage divers located the remains of the booty-laden pirate ship Whydah, which sank Feb. 17, 1717, off Cape Cod, Mass.
In 1988, former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos pleaded innocent to charges that she and her husband, deposed President Ferdinand Marcos, embezzled more than $100 million from the Philippine government.
In 1992, more than 300 people were killed in renewed fighting as Angola slid back into civil war.
In 2001, U.S.-led forces resumed air strikes in Afghanistan, hitting Taliban positions in the northern part of the country and outside the capital, Kabul. The Taliban claimed 1,500 people were killed.
In 2002, Andrew Fastow, former Enron chief financial officer, was indicted on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy in the collapse of the Houston energy trading company.
In 2003, a rebel group known to kidnap children and sell them in Sudan as slaves struck a village in northern Uganda, killing 18 and abducting many more.
In 2004, Iranian lawmakers chanted, "Death to America!" after a unanimous vote to allow their government to resume uranium enrichment activities.
Also in 2004, Japan confirmed a Japanese man taken hostage in Baghdad had been beheaded. The kidnappers had demanded Japan pull its troops out of Iraq.
In 2005, Samuel Alito, a 55-year-old conservative federal appeals judge, was nominated by U.S. President George Bush to the U.S. Supreme Court to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor.
In 2006, a U.S. congressional report claimed China helped North Korea develop its nuclear program within the past year.
Also in 2006, former South African President and Prime Minister P.W. Botha, one of his country's most powerful and feared leaders, died of a stroke. He was 90.
In 2007, three men were found guilty in the 2004 bombing of four commuter trains in Madrid. They were convicted of killing 191 people and wounding 1,800 others.
A thought for the day: English poet John Keats wrote, "If I should die, I have left no immortal work behind me -- nothing to make my friends proud of my memory -- but I have loved the principle of beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have made myself remembered." Today is Saturday, Nov. 1, the 306th day of 2008 with 60 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 journalist and novelist Stephen Crane in 1871; sportswriter/poet Grantland Rice and Polish author Sholem Asch, both in 1880; journalist James Kilpatrick in 1920 (age 88); actress Betsy Palmer in 1926 (age 82); golfer Gary Player in 1935 (age 73); publisher Larry Flynt in 1942 (age 66); country singer Lyle Lovett in 1957 (age 51); and actresses Rachel Ticotin in 1958 (age 50) and Jenny McCarthy in 1972 (age 36).
On this date in history:In 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, one of Italian artist Michelangelo's finest works, was exhibited to the public for the first time.
In 1755, an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, killed 60,000 people.
In 1765, American colonists were furious over the new British Stamp Act, termed "taxation without representation" and, ultimately, a major cause of the revolution.
In 1800, U.S. President John Adams and his family moved into the newly built White House as Washington became the U.S. capital.
In 1918, the Hapsburg monarchy of Austria-Hungary was dissolved. Vienna became the capital of Austria and Budapest the capital of Hungary.
In 1922, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey became a republic.
In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into the Blair House in Washington in an attempt to assassinate U.S. President Harry Truman.
In 1986, a warehouse fire in Basel, Switzerland, triggered massive chemical pollution of the Rhine River in Switzerland, France, West Germany and the Netherlands.
In 1990, McDonald's, under pressure from environmental groups, said it would replace plastic food containers with paper.
In 1991, the Russian Congress of People's Deputies granted Boris Yeltsin sweeping powers to launch and direct radical economic reforms in Russia.
In 1993, the European Community's treaty on European unity took effect.
In 2002, a powerful earthquake and more than 30 aftershocks shook Italy's remote Molise region, killing at least 29 people.
In 2006, China and Vietnam prepared for Typhoon Cimaron that bore down with 100-mph winds. The storm hit the northern Philippines island of Luzon earlier, killing 13 and inflicting heavy damage with high winds, floods and landslides.
In 2007, Paul Tibbets Jr., who flew the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, hastening the end of World War II, died in his Columbus, Ohio, home at age 92.
A thought for the day: Eubie Blake, who lived to be 100, reportedly said, "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself." Today is Sunday, Nov. 2, the 307th day of 2008 with 59 to follow.Daylight saving time ends 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 frontiersman Daniel Boone in 1734; Marie Antoinette, queen of France, in 1755; U.S. President James Polk in 1795; U.S. President Warren G. Harding in 1865; astronomer Harlow Shapley, a pioneer in studies of the Milky Way, in 1885; jazz trumpeter Bunny Berigan in 1908; actor Burt Lancaster in 1913; Australian tennis player Ken Rosewall in 1934 (age 74); columnist, commentator and presidential candidate Pat Buchanan in 1938 (age 70); author Shere Hite and actress Stefanie Powers, both in 1942 (age 66); and singer k.d. lang in 1961 (age 47).
On this date in history:In 1889, North and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states of the union.
In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour proposed a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Israel became a reality 31 years later.
In 1920, in the first significant news broadcast, KDKA in Pittsburgh reported the U.S. presidential election results for Warren G. Harding and James Cox.
In 1947, Howard Hughes built and piloted the world's largest airplane, the 200-ton flying boat Spruce Goose, on its only flight, at Long Beach, Calif. The Goose remained airborne for just less than 1 mile.
In 1962, U.S. President John Kennedy announced that Soviet missile bases in Cuba were being dismantled.
In 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill establishing a national holiday to mark the birthday anniversary of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1986, U.S. hostage David Jacobsen was released in Beirut after 17 months. Later disclosures showed his freedom was a trade for U.S. arms sent to Iran.
In 1992, legendary filmmaker Hal Roach died at age 100. He was credited with discovering the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy and producing the "Our Gang" comedies.
Also in 1992, HIV-infected Earvin "Magic" Johnson retired from professional basketball "for good."
In 1993, a new series of wildfires swept along the Southern California coast, destroying more than 300 homes in the exclusive community of Malibu.
In 1995, the Justice Department indicted the Japanese-owned Daiwa Bank on conspiracy and fraud charges linked to an illegal bond-trading scheme.
In 1996, Britain announced a plan to ban ownership of large-caliber handguns.
In 2000, five days before the election, George W. Bush, the Republican nominee for president, admitted he had been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in 1976 near the family home in Maine.
In 2001, the Labor Department announced that October unemployment had jumped to 5.4 percent, highest in five years and that 415,000 non-farm jobs had been lost, highest monthly figure since 1980.
In 2003, at least 13 U.S. soldiers were killed and about 20 wounded in Iraq when a missile downed a helicopter carrying members of the 82nd Airborne Division near Fallujah.
In 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush was re-elected in a close race with Democrat John Kerry.
Also in 2004, Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who received death threats because of his film about violence against Islamic women, was slain as he rode his bicycle through an Amsterdam park.
In 2005, thousands of protesters gathered in Argentina near the site of an upcoming summit to denounce the imminent arrival of U.S. President George Bush.
In 2006, a foiled British terror plot to blow up 10 passenger airplanes with liquid bombs was meant to occur over U.S. cities, a senior FBI official said.
Also in 2006, Ted Haggard, a prominent Colorado pastor and rising conservative political star, denied charges he paid a gay prostitute for sex. He later was fired by the 14,000-member church he founded.
In 2007, rescuers worked in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco to help the estimated 300,000 people trapped in their homes by massive flooding. Mexican President Felipe Calderon called the situation "extraordinarily grave."
A thought for the day: after winning the Masters tournament, golfer Tiger Woods said: ''I'm the first, but I wasn't the pioneer. Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Teddy Rhodes, those guys paved the way for me to be here. I thank them. If it wasn't for them, I might not have had the chance to play here.''Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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