Today is Tuesday, November 26, 2024, the 330th day of the year, with 35 days remaining. Winter officially begins with the December Solstice in 24 days.
Sunrise: 7:02am
Sunset: 4:52pm
The waning crescent moon is 19.5% visible, rising at 2:43am, setting at 2:21pm.
High Tides at the Golden Gate: 8:09am/9:00pm
Low Tides: 1:24am/2:41pm
Water temperature in San Francisco Bay should reach a high of 54.9 degrees.
Special celebrations today:
- Constitution Day (Abkhazia, Georgia, India)
- Republic Day (Mongolia)
- National Sardines Day
- National Milk Day
- World Olive Tree Day
On this day in...
1716 - The first lion to be exhibited in America went on display in Boston, MA.
1789 - U.S. President Washington set aside this day to observe the adoption of the Constitution of the United States.
1825 - The first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, was formed at Union College in Schenectady, NY.
1832 - Public streetcar service began in New York City.
1917 - The National Hockey League (NHL) was officially formed in Montreal, Canada.
1922 - In Egypt, Howard Carter peered into the tomb of King Tutankhamen.
1940 - The Nazis forced 500,000 Jews of Warsaw, Poland to live within a walled ghetto.
1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1939 Roosevelt had signed a bill that changed the celebration of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November.
1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing to begin December 1.
1942 - The motion picture "Casablanca" had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
1943 - The HMS Rohna became the first ship to be sunk by a guided missile. The German missile attack led to the death of 1,015 U.S. troops.
1949 - India's Constituent Assembly adopted the country's constitution The country became republic within the British Commonwealth two months later.
1950 - China entered the Korean conflict forcing UN forces to retreat.
1965 - France became the third country to enter space when it launched its first satellite the Diamant-A.
1973 - Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she was responsible for the 18-1/2 minute gap in a key Watergate tape. Woods was U.S. President Nixon's personal secretary.
1975 - Lynette"Squeaky" Fromme was found guilty by a federal jury in Sacramento, CA, for trying to assassinate U.S. President Ford on September 5.
1979 - The International Olympic Committee voted to re-admit China after a 21-year absence.
1983 - A Brinks Mat Ltd. vault at London's Heathrow Airport was robbed by gunmen. The men made off with 6,800 gold bars worth nearly $40 million. Only a fraction of the gold has ever been recovered and only two men were convicted in the heist.
1985 - The rights to Richard Nixon's autobiography were acquired by Random House for $3,000,000.
1986 - U.S. President Reagan appointed a commission headed by former Sen. John Tower to investigate his National Security Council staff after the Iran-Contra affair.
1988 - The U.S. denied an entry visa to PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, who was seeking permission to travel to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly.
1990 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz at the Kremlin to demand that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait.
1992 - The British government announced that Queen Elizabeth II had volunteered to start paying taxes on her personal income. She also took her children off the public payroll.
1995 - Two men set fire to a subway token booth in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The clerk inside was fatally burned.
1997 - The U.S. and North Korea held high-level discussions at the State Department for the first time.
1998 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a speech to the Irish Parliament. It was a first time event for a British Prime Minister.
2003 - The U.N. atomic agency adopted a resolution that censured Iran for past nuclear cover-ups and warning that it would be policed to put to rest suspicions that the country had a weapons agenda.
2011 - The Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. The Mars rover Curiosity landed on the floor of Gale Crater on August 6, 2012.
Today's birthday celebrants include or included:
- Eric Severeid 1912
- Eugene Ionesco 1912
- Charles M. Schulz 1922
- George Segal 1924 (painter, sculptor)
- Robert Goulet 1933
- Rich Little 1938
- Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock) 1938
- John McVie 1945 - Musician (Fleetwood Mac)
- Roz Chast 1954 (cartoonist)
- Steve Grisaffe 1965 - Musician (Road River)
Peter Facinelli 1973 - Actor ("Twilight")