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Today is Wednesday, Dec. 11, the 346th day of 2024 with 20 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 Pope Leo X in 1475; U.S. statesman George Mason in 1725; New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1882; actor Maila Nurmi in 1922; Football Hall of Fame member Doc Blanchard in 1924; musician Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, in 1926; actor Rita Moreno in 1931 (age 93); musician David Gates (Bread) in 1940 (age 84); actor Donna Mills in 1940 (age 84); U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry in 1943 (age 81); actor Teri Garr in 1944; musician Brenda Lee in 1944 (age 80); actor Bess Armstrong in 1953 (age 71); musician Jermaine Jackson in 1954 (age 70); musician Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe) in 1958 (age 66); actor Gary Dourdan in 1966 (age 58); actor Mo'Nique in 1967 (age 57); actor/musician Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def, in 1973 (age 51); actor Courtney Henggeler in 1978 (age 46); writer Colleen Hoover in 1979 (age 45); actor Rider Strong in 1979 (age 45); actor Xosha Roquemore in 1984 (age 40); actor Karla Souza in 1985 (age 39); actor Alexa Demie in 1990 (age 34); actor/musician Hailee Steinfeld in 1996 (age 28); actor Chloe Coleman in 2008 (age 16).
On this date in history:
In 1816, Indiana joined the United States as its 19th state.
In 1936, Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. His brother succeeded to the throne as King George VI.
In 1941, four days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
In 1946, UNICEF was established.
In 1951, Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from baseball.
In 1964, Ernesto "Che" Guevara addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
In 1972, Apollo 17 landed on the moon. It was the final Apollo lunar landing. Ron Evans was the command module pilot and Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt walked on the surface during the mission. Cernan was the last to re-enter their lunar module -- the last man on the moon.
In 1984, a nativity scene was displayed near the White House for the first time since courts ordered it removed in 1973.
In 1994, up to 40,000 Russian troops invaded Chechnya, a semi-autonomous Republic on Russia's border with Georgia, to put down a secessionist rebellion.
In 1995, two Japanese cult members admitted they released toxic sarin gas in Tokyo subway trains that killed 12 people in March.
In 2001, the United States filed its first charges in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, accusing Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, of conspiring with others to carry out the assault.
In 2004, Vienna doctors treating the mystery illness of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko determined he was poisoned with dioxin while campaigning for president.
In 2006, Jewish groups worldwide expressed anger as Iran opened a two-day conference in Tehran to determine if the Holocaust was reality or myth.
In 2008, Bernard Madoff, an investment manager, was arrested and charged with defrauding clients of up to $50 billion in what may have been the largest swindle in Wall Street history. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials said he ran a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. In June 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
In 2010, police said Mark Madoff, the 46-year-old eldest son of convicted multibillion-dollar Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff, hanged himself in his New York apartment on the second anniversary of his father's arrest.
In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, the first given approval in the United States.
In 2022, U.S. and Scottish authorities announced the arrest of Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, who was suspected of making the bomb that exploded on board and caused the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, over Lockerbie, Scotland. The blast killed a combined 270 people on board and on the ground.
A thought for the day: "Smell the roses. Smell the coffee. Whatever it is that makes you happy." -- American actor Rita Moreno
