Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Sunday, Nov. 18, the 322nd day of 2001 with 43 to follow. The moon is waxing, moving toward its first quarter. Advertisement The morning stars are Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. The evening stars are Mercury and Mars. Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include French philosopher and writer Pierre Bayle in 1647; German composer Carl von Weber and English composer Henry Bishop ("Home Sweet Home"), both in 1786; French physicist Louis Daguerre, inventor of daguerreotype photography, in 1789; English playwright W.S. Gilbert, libretto writer for the comic operas of composer Arthur Sullivan, in 1836; Polish composer Ignace Paderewski in 1860; orchestra conductor Eugene Ormandy in 1899; pollster George Gallup in 1901; comedic actress Imogene Coca in 1908; songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1909; astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, in 1923; and actors Brenda Vaccaro in 1939 (age 62), Linda Evans in 1942 (age 59), Jameson Parker in 1947 (age 54), Kevin Nealon in 1953 (age 48), Katey Sagal in 1956 (age 45), and Elizabeth Perkins in 1961 (age 40). Advertisement On this date in history: In 1477, "The Sayings of the Philosophers" was published, the earliest known book printed in England to carry a date. In 1874, the National Women's Christian Temperance Union was organized in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1883, the United States adopted Standard Time and set up four zones -- Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. In 1928, Mickey Mouse made his acting debut in "Steamboat Willie" at the Colony Theater in New York City. In 1963, push-button telephones made their debut. Touch-tone service was available as an option for an extra charge. In 1978, more than 900 people died in a mass suicide-murder led by the Rev. Jim Jones at the People's Temple commune in Guyana, following the murder of Rep. Leo Ryan, R-Calif. It was the largest mass suicide in modern history. In 1991, the Lebanese Shiite Moslem faction the Islamic Jihad freed Church of England envoy Terry Waite and U.S. professor Thomas Sutherland. In 1992, it was Doomsday for Superman as the comic book detailing the superhero's death -- rumored to be temporary only -- hit newsstands. In 1993, President Clinton arrived in Seattle for a meeting of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Advertisement Also in 1993, South Africa's ruling National Party and leaders of 20 other parties representing blacks and whites approved a new national constitution that provides fundamental rights to blacks. In 1994, Palestinian police opened fire on Islamic militants outside a mosque in the Gaza Strip, sparking riots that killed at least 14 people and injured 200. In 1996, a 16-year CIA veteran was arrested for spying as he tried to board a plane at Washington's Dulles International Airport. In 1997, five suspected agents for Libya went on trial in Berlin for the 1996 bombing of a nightclub that killed three people. A thought for the day: Ogden Nash said, "Maybe I couldn't be dafter, "But I keep wondering if this time we couldn't settle our differences before a war instead of after."
