It’s November 11, 2016, the 315th day of the year, with 50 days remaining. And, it’s only 3 years 11 months and 22 days until Presidential Election Day, 2020.
- Sunrise: 6:47am
- Sunset: 5:01pm
80% of the waxing moon will be visible, rising at 3:30pm.
Tides at the Golden Gate:
- High: 8:35am/9:14pm
- Low: 1:50am/2:46pm
Special international celebrations today:
Armistice Day, Veteran’s Day, or Remembrance Day – Belgium, France, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, New Caledonia, St. Martin, Switzerland, Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, French Guiana, Scotland, St. Lucia, United Kingdom, US, Guam
Cutting of the Goose Day in Sursee - Switzerland
Independence Day – Angola, Poland
Lacplesa Day - Latvia
Mortens Day, or St. Martin’s Day – Denmark, Scotland (patron of drunkards, harvests, horses, innkeepers)
St. Menas of Egypt is celebrated today as well, patron of travelling merchants
It’s also…
Origami Day
Red Lipstick Day
National Sundae Day
On this day in…
1620 - The Mayflower Compact was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower when they landed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. The compact called for "just and equal laws."
1831 - Nat Turner, a slave and educated minister, was hanged in Jerusalem, VA, after inciting a violent slave uprising.
1851 - The telescope was patented by Alvan Clark.
1868 - The first indoor amateur track and field meet was held by the New York Athletic Club.
1880 - Australian outlaw and bank robber Ned Kelly was hanged at the Melbourne jail at age 25.
1887 - Labor Activists were hanged in Illinois after being convicted of being connected to a bombing that killed eight police officers.
1889 - Washington became the 42nd state of the United States.
1918 - World War I came to an end when the Allies and Germany signed an armistice. This day became recognized as Veteran's Day in the United States.
1918 - Poland was reestablished shortly after the surrender of Germany.
1920 - The body of an unknown British soldier was buried in Westminster Abbey. The service was recorded with the first electronic recording process developed by Lionel Guest and H.O. Merriman.
1921 - The Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia by U.S. President Harding.
1938 - Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on network radio.
1940 - The Jeep made its debut.
1942 - During World War II, Germany completed its occupation of France.
1946 - The New York Knickerbockers (now the Knicks) played their first game at Madison Square Garden.
1952 - The first video recorder was demonstrated by John Mullin and Wayne Johnson in Beverly Hills, CA.
1965 - The government of Rhodesia declared its independence from Britain. The country later became known as Zimbabwe.
1966 - The U.S. launched Gemini 12 from Cape Kennedy, FL. The craft circled the Earth 59 times before returning.
1972 - The U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Bihn to the South Vietnamese army. The event symbolized the end of direct involvement in the Vietnam War by the U.S. military.
1975 - Civil war broke out when Angola gained independence from Portugal.
1981 - Stuntman Dan Goodwin scaled the outside of the 100-story John Hancock Center in Chicago in about six hours.
1981 - The U.S.S. Ohio was commissioned at the Electric Boat Division in Groton, CT. It was the first Trident class submarine.
1984 - The Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. died in Atlanta at age 84.
1984 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan accepted the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a gift to the nation from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
1984 - Gary Coleman, at age 13, underwent his second kidney transplant in Los Angeles. He had his first transplant at age 5.
1986 - Sperry Rand and Burroughs merged to form "Unisys," becoming the second largest computer company.
1987 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Irises" was sold for a then record $53.9 million in New York.
1988 - Police in Sacramento, CA, found the first of seven bodies buried on the grounds of a boardinghouse. Dorothea Puente was later charged in the deaths of nine people, convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison.
1990 - Stormie Jones, the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient, died at a Pittsburgh hospital at age 13.
1991 - The U.S. stationed its first diplomat in Cambodia in 16 years to help the nation arrange democratic elections.
1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin told U.S. senators in a letter that Americans had been held in prison camps after World War II. Some were "summarily executed," but others were still living in his country voluntarily.
1992 - The Church of England voted to ordain women as priests.
1993 - Walt Disney Co. announced plans to build a U.S. history theme park in a Virginia suburb of Washington. The plan was halted later due to local opposition.
1993 - In Washington, DC, the Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated to honor the more than 11,000 women who had served in the Vietnam War.
1994 - In Gaza, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at an Israeli military checkpoint killing three soldiers.
1996 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund unveiled "The Wall That Heals." The work was a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that would tour communities throughout the United States.
1997 - The Eastman Kodak Company announced that they were laying off 10,000 employees.
1997 - Roger Clemens (Toronto Blue Jays) became the third major league player to win the Cy Young Award four times.
1998 - Jay Cochrane set a record for the longest blindfolded skywalk. He walked on a tightrope between the towers of the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, NV. The towers are 600 feet apart.
1998 - Israel's Cabinet ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Present and past birthday celebrants today include…
Fyodor Dostoyevsky 1821
Thomas Aldrich 1870
Ernest Ansermet 1883
George Patton 1885
Pat O'Brien 1899
Alger Hiss 1904
Stubby Kaye 1918
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 1922
Jonathan Winters 1925
Mose Allison 1927
Bibi (Birgitta) Andersson 1935
Denise Alexander 1945
Chris Dreja (Yardbirds) 1945
Vince Martell (Vanilla Fudge) 1945
Pat Daugherty (Black Oak Arkansas) 1947
Jim Peterik (Survivor) 1950
Fuzzy Zoeller 1951
Paul Cowsill (The Cowsills) 1952
Marshall Crenshaw 1953
Andy Partridge (XTC) 1953
Dave Alvin 1955
Ian Craig Marsh 1956 - Musician (Human League)
Stanley Tucci 1960
Demi Moore 1962
Mic Michaeli (Europe) 1962
Philip McKeon 1964
Calista Flockhart 1964
Scott Mercado (Candlebox) 1964
Wyatt Pauley (Linear) 1968
Ronnie Devoe (New Edition; Bell Biv Devoe) 1968
Peta Wilson 1970
Leonardo DiCaprio 1974
