Today is Sunday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2021 with 348 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.
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1 of 3 | Church House, pictured on March 29, 2016, is the headquarters of the Church of England, occupying the south end of Dean's Yard next to Westminster Abbey in London. It was the location of the first meeting of the United Nations Security Council on January 17, 1946. File Photo by Paasikivi/Wikimedia
Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Pope Pius V in 1504; American statesman/scientist/author Benjamin Franklin in 1706; author Anne Bronte in 1820; British statesman David Lloyd George in 1863; U.S. gangster Al Capone in 1899; English novelist Nevil Shute in 1899; actor Betty White in 1922 (age 99); singer Eartha Kitt in 1927; beauty specialist Vidal Sassoon in 1928; actor James Earl Jones in 1931 (age 90); Douglas Wilder, first black governor elected in U.S., in 1931 (age 90); puppeteer Shari Lewis in 1933; talk show host Maury Povich in 1939 (age 82); Olympic gold medal-winning runner Kipchoge Keino in 1940 (age 81); heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in 1942; comedian Andy Kaufman in 1949; former Rolling Stones member Mick Taylor in 1949 (age 72); musician Steve Earle in 1955 (age 66); comedian Steve Harvey in 1957 (age 64); comic actor Jim Carrey in 1962 (age 59); writer Sebastian Junger in 1962 (age 59); U.S. first lady Michelle Obama in 1964 (age 57); rapper Lil Jon, born Jonathan Smith, in 1971 (age 50); singer Kid Rock, born Robert James Ritchie, in 1971 (age 50); dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy in 1980 (age 41); actor Zooey Deschanel in 1980 (age 41); rapper Ray J, born William Ray Norwood, in 1981 (age 40); pro basketball star Dwyane Wade in 1982 (age 39); DJ Calvin Harris in 1984 (age 37); actor Kelly Marie Tran in 1989 (age 32); actor Lucy Boynton in 1994 (age 27).
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On this date in history:
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In 1605, Don Quixote was published.
In 1806, the first baby, James Madison Randolph, was born in the White House. He was the grandson of President Thomas Jefferson.
In 1871, Andrew Hallikie received a patent for a cable car system that went into service in San Francisco in 1873.
In 1893, Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii was deposed in a bloodless revolution and a provisional government was established, with annexation by the United States as its aim.
In 1912, one month late to the party, Captain Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole. Ronald Amundsen got there first.
In 1917, the United States bought 50 of the Virgin Islands in the West Indies from Denmark for $25 million.
In 1920, Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman, having been deported from the United States, announced that they intend to organize a great society in Soviet Russia, its prime objective would be the promotion of "social revolution in the United States."
In 1929, Popeye, his spinach, and his "guns" debut in the comic strip, Thimble Theatre.
In 1946, the U.N. Security Council met for the first time.
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In 1950, an 11-member gang staged a $1.5 million robbery of a Brink's armored car in Boston.
In 1966, a U.S. B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs collided with its refueling plane over Palomares, Spain, scattering radioactive plutonium over the area.
In 1977, convicted killer Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah. It was the first execution since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty the previous year.
In 1991, Harald V became king of Norway after the death of his father, King Olav V.
In 1994, a pre-dawn earthquake struck the Los Angeles area, claiming 61 lives and causing widespread damage.
In 1995, a powerful earthquake rocked Kobe, Japan, and the surrounding area, killing about 5,500 people.
In 1996, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman was sentenced to life in prison and 16 others were also sentenced for plotting to bomb the United Nations.
In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton denied in a sworn deposition that he had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oregon's assisted-suicide law by a 6-3 vote. It allowed doctors to help mentally competent terminally ill patients end their lives.
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In 2013, U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong, in an interview broadcast on OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network), said he used banned substances and blood transfusions in all of his Tour de France wins.
In 2017, President Barack Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence whistleblower who leaked classified information to WikiLeaks in 2010.
A thought for the day: "It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am." -- American boxer Muhammad Ali
