UPI Almanac for Thursday, April 18, 2024

Today is Thursday, April 18, the 109th day of 2024 with 257 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Saturn and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Italian Duchess Lucrezia Borgia in 1480; lawyer Clarence Darrow in 1857; musician Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown in 1924; actor Barbara Hale in 1922; actor Hayley Mills in 1946 (age 78); actor Dorothy Lyman in 1947 (age 77); actor James Woods in 1947 (age 77); actor Cindy Pickett in 1947 (age 77); actor Rick Moranis in 1953 (age 71); actor Eric Roberts in 1956 (age 68); actor Melody Thomas Scott in 1956 (age 68); musician Les Pattinson (Echo & the Bunnymen) in 1958 (age 66); actor Jane Leeves in 1961 (age 63); talk show host Conan O'Brien in 1963 (age 61); actor Eric McCormack in 1963 (age 61); actor Maria Bello in 1967 (age 57); actor David Tennant in 1971 (age 53); musician Mark Tremonti (Creed/Alter Bridge) in 1974 (age 50); actor Melissa Joan Hart in 1976 (age 48); TV personality Kourtney Kardashian in 1979 (age 45); actor America Ferrera in 1984 (age 40); actor Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in 1987 (age 37); actor Vanessa Kirby in 1988 (age 36); actor Alia Shawkat in 1989 (age 35); actor Britt Robertson in 1990 (age 34); actor Chloe Bennet in 1992 (age 32); actor Moises Arias in 1994 (age 30); actor Virginia Gardner in 1995 (age 29).

On this date in history:

In 1506, the cornerstone was placed for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

In 1775, U.S. patriot Paul Revere began his famous ride through the Massachusetts countryside, crying out "The British are coming!" to rally the minutemen.

In 1906, an earthquake estimated at magnitude-7.8 struck San Francisco, collapsing buildings and igniting fires that destroyed much of what remained of the city. Researchers and historians concluded that about 3,000 people died in the quake and its aftermath, and roughly 250,000 were left homeless.

In 1912, three days after the sinking of Titanic, her survivors arrived in New York City aboard the RMS Carpathia.

In 1923, Yankee Stadium opened in New York. The stadium was demolished in 2010 after it was replaced a year prior by the new Yankee Stadium.

In 1942, Lt. Col. James Doolittle led a squadron of B-25 bombers in a surprise raid against Tokyo in response to the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

In 1945, U.S. journalist Ernie Pyle, a popular World War II correspondent, was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima in the Pacific.

In 1949, the Republic of Ireland formally declared itself independent from Britain.

In 1968, McCulloch Oil Corp. paid $2.24 million to buy London Bridge, which was sinking into the Thames under the weight of 20th century traffic. The oil company rebuilt the bridge bloc by block over Lake Havasu in Arizona.

In 1980, Rhodesia became the independent African nation of Zimbabwe.

In 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was severely damaged by a car-bomb explosion that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans.

In 1992, an 11-year-old Florida boy sued to "divorce" his natural parents and remain with his foster parents. The boy eventually won his lawsuit.

In 2002, former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., revealed that at least 13 civilians were killed by his U.S. Navy unit in a Vietnamese village in 1969.

In 2007, more than 125 people were killed in a suicide car-bomb explosion near a Baghdad market.

In 2014, an avalanche on what is known as a particularly dangerous route to the top of Mount Everest in the Himalayas killed 16 Sherpa guides.

In 2018, the first movie theaters in Saudi Arabia opened with a public screening of Black Panther.

In 2023, a $787.5 million settlement was reached in Dominion Voting System's defamation lawsuit against Fox News for spreading false information about the 2020 presidential election.

A thought for the day: "I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure -- that is all that agnosticism means." -- American lawyer Clarence Darrow