Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Thursday, Nov. 28, the 332nd day of 2002 with 33 to follow. This is Thanksgiving Day. The moon is waning. The morning stars are Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The evening stars are Uranus, Neptune, Mercury and Pluto. Advertisement Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include English poet William Blake in 1757; John Hyatt, inventor of celluloid, in 1837; architect Henry Bacon, designer of the Lincoln Memorial, in 1866; Motown Records founder Berry Gordy in 1929 (age 73); actress Hope Lange in 1931 (age 71); former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., in 1936 (age 66); singer/songwriter Randy Newman in 1943 (age 59); ballet dancer Alexander Godunov and band leader Paul Shaffer ("The Late Show With David Letterman"), both in 1949 (age 53); actors Ed Harris in 1950 (age 52), S. Epatha Merkerson ("Law & Order") in 1952 (age 50), and Judd Nelson in 1959 (age 43); and comedian Jon Stewart ("The Daily Show") in 1962 (age 40). Advertisement On this date in history: In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan entered the Pacific Ocean on his way around the world. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east. In 1919, Virginia-born Lady Nancy Astor became the first woman member of the British Parliament. In 1942, a fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston killed 491 people. Most victims suffocated or were trampled to death. In 1958, the United States fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time. In 1963, Cape Canaveral, the space center in Florida, was renamed Cape Kennedy to honor the assassinated president. Area residents later voted to revert to the original name. In 1989, Czechoslovak Premier Adamec agreed to a coalition government. The next day, the Czechoslovak Parliament revoked the Communist Party's monopoly. Also in 1989, a construction crane snapped in San Francisco. Five people were killed, 21 injured. In 1992, a fire destroyed parts of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, threatening the famous Lipizzaner stallions. In 1993, British officials confirmed they have made secret contacts with the outlawed Irish Republican Army in an effort to end the violence in Northern Ireland. Advertisement Also in 1993, Carlos Roberto Reina was elected president of Honduras. In 1994, serial killer/cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer and a second inmate were beaten to death by another inmate at the Columbia Correctional Center in Portage, Wis. A thought for the day: Thomas Carlyle said, "...speech is of time, silence is of eternity."
