Almanac

Today is Friday, Nov. 22, the 327th day of 2024 with 39 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle in 1643; U.S. first lady Abigail Adams in 1744; writer George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans, in 1819; French statesman/military leader Charles de Gaulle in 1890; aviator Wiley Post in 1898; comedian/actor Rodney Dangerfield in 1921; actor Geraldine Page in 1924; actor Robert Vaughn in 1932; writer/filmmaker Terry Gilliam in 1940 (age 84); actor Tom Conti in 1941 (age 83); musician Jesse Colin Young (Youngbloods) in 1941 (age 83); astronaut Guion S. Bluford Jr. in 1942 (age 82); International Tennis Hall of Fame member Billie Jean King in 1943 (age 81); photographer Mick Rock in 1948; musician/actor Steven Van Zandt (E Street Band) in 1950 (age 74); musician Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club) in 1950 (age 74); musician Lawrence Gowan (Styx) in 1956 (age 68); actor Richard Kind in 1956 (age 68); actor Jamie Lee Curtis in 1958 (age 66); actor Mariel Hemingway in 1961 (age 63); actor Mads Mikkelsen in 1965 (age 59); actor Michael K. Williams in 1966; actor Mark Ruffalo in 1967 (age 57); International Tennis Hall of Fame member Boris Becker in 1967 (age 57); musician Chris Fryar (Zac Brown Band/Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band) in 1970 (age 54); TV personality/drag queen Shangela, born Chantize Darius Jeremy Pierce, in 1981 (age 43); actor Scarlett Johansson in 1984 (age 40); Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius in 1986 (age 38); actor/musician/model Jamie Campbell Bower in 1988 (age 36); actor Alden Ehrenreich in 1989 (age 35); actor Dacre Montgomery in 1994 (age 30); actor Katherine McNamara in 1995 (age 29); model Hailey Bieber, born Hailey Baldwin, in 1996 (age 28); actor/musician Auli'i Cravalho in 2000 (age 24).

On this date in history:

In 1718, Edward Teach, also known as the pirate Blackbeard, was killed off North Carolina's Outer Banks during a battle with a British navy force.

In 1858, the city of Denver was founded.

In 1935, a Pan American Martin 130 "flying boat" called the China Clipper began regular trans-Pacific mail service. The flight from San Francisco to Manila, Philippines, took 59 hours and 48 minutes.

In 1943, meeting in Cairo, Egypt, President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese Premier Chiang Kai-Shek discuss ways to defeat the Empire of Japan.

In 1950, a train wreck in New York City killed 79 people.

In 1954, the Humane Society of the United States was founded.

In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, 46, in the third year of his first term, was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the nation's 36th chief executive. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with Kennedy's slaying but was killed before he could go to trial.

In 1972, the U.S. State Department ended a 22-year ban on U.S. travel to China.

In 1977, the Anglo-French supersonic Concorde jetliner began scheduled flights to New York from London and Paris.

In 1988, the U.S. Air Force publicly unveiled the B-2 Stealth bomber for the first time before some 2,500 spectators, including members of Congress and other dignitaries.

In 1989, newly elected Lebanese President Rene Moawad died in bomb blast that also killed 17 other people in Syrian-patrolled Muslim West Beirut.

In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned after 11 years in office.

In 1993, Mexico's Senate approved the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari called it a "triumph."

In 1997, New Zealanders Robert Hamill and Phil Stubbs arrived in Barbados from the Canary Islands in their boat, Kiwi Challenger, after 41 days, 1 hour and 55 minutes -- a record for rowing across the Atlantic.

In 2002, at least 100 people died in riots in northern Nigeria sparked by a religious controversy over the Miss World beauty pageant.

In 2005, Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany's chancellor. She was the first woman and first person from East Germany to lead the country.

In 2010, about 400 people were killed and hundreds injured in a panic-driven stampede on a densely crowded suspension bridge during Cambodia's Water Festival in Phnom Penh.

In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to Grace Hopper for her roles as a pioneering computer scientist and Navy admiral. Also awarded that day were: Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Lorne Michaels, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Vin Scully, Elouise Cobell, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Frank Gehry, Maya Lin and Richard Garwin.

In 2020, Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev beat Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem en route to his first ATP Finals title London.

A thought for the day: "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- President John F. Kennedy