Today is Monday, April 2, the 93rd day of 2012 with 273 to follow.
The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Uranus and Saturn. The evening stars are Mars, Jupiter and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Charlemagne, founder of the Holy Roman Empire, in 742; Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in 1725; Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen in 1805; French novelist Emile Zola in 1840; surrealist artist Max Ernst in 1891; baseball Hall of Fame member Luke Appling in 1907; actors Buddy Ebsen in 1908, Alec Guinness in 1914 and Jack Webb in 1920; Australian auto racer Jack Brabham in 1926; singer/songwriters Marvin Gaye in 1939 and Leon Russell in 1942 (age 70); radio personality Dr. Demento, both Barret Hansen, in 1941 (age 71); actor Linda Hunt in 1945 (age 67); literary and cultural critic Camille Paglia and country singer Emmylou Harris, both in 1947 (age 65); actors Pamela Reed in 1949 (age 63) and Christopher Meloni in 1961 (age 51).
On this date in history:
In 1513, Ponce De Leon of Spain landed at what is now St. Augustine, Fla., to search for the Fountain of Youth.
In 1792, the U.S. Congress passed legislation authorizing the U.S. Mint to coin money, all to be inscribed with the Latin words "E Pluribus Unum," a motto meaning "Out of Many, One."
In 1863, rioting erupted in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., sparked by an angry crowd's demand for bread at a bakery.
In 1877, the first White House Easter Egg Roll was conducted.
In 1917, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.
Also in 1917, Jeannette Rankin, a representative from Montana, took her seat as the first woman elected to Congress.
In 1932, Charles Lindbergh left $50,000 in a New York City cemetery in hope of regaining his kidnapped son. The infant was later found dead. Bruno Hauptmann subsequently was convicted of kidnapping and murder and was executed.
In 1982, Argentine troops stormed the Falkland Islands in South America, overwhelming the small British marine unit stationed there.
In 1987, the U.S. Senate overrode a veto by President Ronald Reagan by one vote to enact a highway bill that allowed states to raise speed limits to 65 mph in certain areas.
In 1991, Iraq crushed month-long insurgencies by northern Kurds and southern Shiite Muslims.
In 1992, a New York jury convicted mob boss John Gotti in five killings, racketeering and other charges.
In 1995, an explosion in the city of Gaza killed eight people, including a leader of the military wing of Hamas.
In 2000, Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke that left him comatose.
In 2005, Pope John Paul II, head of the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century, died at his Vatican apartment. The 84-year-old pontiff suffered in his final days from urinary and bacterial infections that led to organ failure.
In 2006, U.S. journalist Jill Carroll returned to Boston after being held in Iraq for 82 days by kidnappers.
Also in 2006, at least 50 people were killed in Iraq in violence that included a mortar attack, military firefights and roadside bombings.
In 2007, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that the Environmental Protection Agency had the authority to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases by motor vehicles.
And, in 2007 sports, the University of Florida repeated as NCAA Division I basketball champion, becoming the first school to win both the national collegiate basketball and football titles the same academic year.
In 2008, the opposition leader in the Zimbabwe presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai, declared himself the winner over incumbent Robert Mugabe, who had been in power since 1980 and refused to concede, touching off violence.
In 2009, world leaders meeting in London at the Group of 20 summit pledged $1.1 trillion to help stimulate economies of developing countries and deal with other aspects of the current financial crisis.
In 2010, the U.S. Labor Department reported the addition of 162,000 jobs in March, largest monthly increase in three years. The nationwide unemployment rate, however, held steady at 9.7 percent.
Also in 2010, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Russia agreed to help the South American nation develop a space program and a nuclear power plant.
In 2011, fighting raged across Abidjan, Ivory Coast, as hundreds were reported massacred in the western town of Duekoue in a violent follow-up to a disputed presidential election.
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A thought for the day: U.S. President John Kennedy said, "The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth."
