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Today is Saturday, Dec. 7, the 342nd day of 2024 with 24 to follow. The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
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Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1598; physiologist Theodor Schwann in 1810; writer Willa Cather in 1873; businessman Richard Sears in 1863; linguist Noam Chomsky in 1928 (age 96); actor Ellen Burstyn in 1932 (age 92); musician Harry Chapin in 1942; Baseball Hall of Fame member Johnny Bench in 1947 (age 77); musician Tom Waits in 1949 (age 75); actor Priscilla Barnes in 1954 (age 70); Basketball Hall of Fame member Larry Bird in 1956 (age 68); musician Tim Butler (Psychedelic Furs) in 1958 (age 66); actor Jeffrey Wright in 1965 (age 59); actor C Thomas Howell in 1966 (age 58); former NFL player Terrell Owens in 1973 (age 51); musician/TV personality Nicole Appleton (All Saints) in 1974 (age 50); musician Sara Bareilles in 1979 (age 45); actor Jennifer Carpenter in 1979 (age 45); actor Jack Huston in 1982 (age 42); Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović in 1986 (age 38); musician Aaron Carter in 1987; actor Emily Browning in 1988 (age 36); actor Nicholas Hoult in 1989 (age 35); actor Caleb Landry Jones in 1989 (age 35); Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu in 1994 (age 29); Olympic gold medal-winning track and field athlete Gabby Thomas in 1996 (age 28).
On this date in history:
In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1909, Leo Baekeland patented the process for making Bakelite, giving birth to the modern plastics industry.
In 1941, Japan launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, catapulting the United States into World War II. The attack killed 2,403 people, wounded hundreds, destroyed 188 planes and crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7 "a date which will live in infamy."
In 1972, Apollo 17 was launched on the last scheduled manned mission to the moon. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Jack Schmitt left a commemorative plaque on the lunar surface as they left.
In 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor after the latter declared itself a democratic republic in the wake of Portugal's departure from the island. More than 100,000 East Timorese died in the conflict, most of whom were civilians placed in internment camps or killed by the Indonesian military.
In 1982, the first execution by lethal injection took place at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas.
In 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev became the first Soviet leader to officially visit the United States since 1973.
In 1988, an estimated 25,000 people died in a powerful earthquake in Armenia.
In 1992, the destruction of a 16th-century mosque by militant Hindus touched off five days of violence across India that left more than 1,100 people dead.
In 1993, U.S. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary revealed the United States had conducted 204 underground nuclear tests from 1963 to 1990 without informing the public.
In 1993, Colin Ferguson opened fire on a New York commuter train, killing six people and injuring 19 others. The shooter, who was from Jamaica, blamed his hatred of white people.
In 2004, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president.
In 2016, a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft crashed near Islamabad, killing 48 people. Among the dead was pop-star-turned-Muslim-cleric Junaid Jamshed.
In 2016, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake rattled Indonesia's Aceh province, killing nearly 100 people.
In 2020, the International Olympic Committee announced that break dancing would be added to the medal events program at the 2024 Paris Games.
In 2022, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was removed from office after attempting to dissolve Congress. The National Police arrested and held him in pretrial custody.
A thought for the day: "One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the world's end somewhere, and holds fast to the days, as to fortune or fame. -- American author Willa Cather
