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Today is Saturday, Dec. 14, the 349th day of 2024 with 17 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 astrologer/prophet Nostradamus in 1503; British King George VI in 1895; World War II airman Jimmy Doolittle in 1896; U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith in 1897; writer Shirley Jackson in 1916; musician Charlie Rich in 1932; actor Lee Remick in 1935; Football Hall of Fame member Ernie Davis in 1939; International Tennis Hall of Fame member Stan Smith in 1946 (age 78); actor Patty Duke in 1946; musician Joyce Vincent-Wilson (Tony Orlando and Dawn) in 1946 (age 78); actor Dee Wallace in 1948 (age 76); musician Cliff Williams (AC/DC) in 1949 (age 75); musician Peter "Spider" Stacy (Pogues) in 1958 (age 66); former FBI Director James Comey in 1960 (age 64); actor Natascha McElhone in 1971 (age 53); actor Michaela Watkins in 1971 (age 53); actor Miranda Hart in 1972 (age 52); actor Jackson Rathbone in 1984 (age 40); actor Vanessa Hudgens in 1988 (age 36); musician Offset in 1991 (age 33); actor/musician Tori Kelly in 1992 (age 32); actor/model Barbie Ferreira in 1996 (age 28); actor Joshua Rush in 2001 (age 23).
On this date in history:
In 1287, more than 50,000 people died in a flood caused by the collapse of the Zuider Zee dike in the Netherlands.
In 1799, George Washington, war for independence military leader and first president of the United States, died at his Mount Vernon home in Virginia.
In 1819, Alabama became the 22nd state in the United States.
In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole. The world would have to wait until March 7, 1912 before learning of Amundsen's triumphant feat.
In 1972, Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan re-entered the lunar lander -- the last man to walk on the moon.
In 1988, the United States announced the start of a "substantive dialogue" with the Palestine Liberation Organization for the first time.
In 1989, Andrei Sakharov, father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner for defending human rights, died at age 68.
In 1995, the signing of a peace treaty at a ceremony in Paris officially ended a four-year civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was a "myth" and called for Israel to be moved to Europe or North America.
In 2006, the official British police investigation into the 1997 death of Princess Diana in a Paris car crash concluded that it was an accident and no conspiracy or foul play was involved.
In 2012, a gunman killed 27 people, including 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then killed himself. Police said the black-clad attacker, Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother before going to the school.
In 2017, the Federal Communications Commission repealed Obama-era net neutrality rules, loosening regulations on Internet service providers.
In 2020, the United States began administering its first COVID-19 vaccine, made by Pfizer-BioNTech.
In 2023, European leaders agreed to open European Union membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova.
A thought for the day: "We are never assured of justice without a fight." - American political activist Angela Davis
