A thought for the day: Hollywood is like an empty wastebasket. -- American dancer/actor Ginger Rogers

On this date in history:

In 1507, German geographer and mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller published a book in which he named the newly discovered continent of the New World America after the man he mistakenly thought had discovered it, Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

In 1792, La Marseillaise, composed by Claude Joseph ...Read more

Those born on this date include:

- Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England, in 1599
- inventor/physicist Guglielmo Marconi in 1874
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan in 1906
- pioneer broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow in 1908
- singer Ella Fitzgerald in 1917
- artist Edwin Parker Cy ...Read more

Today is Thursday, April 25, the 116th day of 2024 with 250 to follow.

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

A thought for the day: It is a big world that we live in, and people have a choice to love who they love. -- American actor Cedric the Entertainer

On this date in history:

In 1704, the Boston News-Letter became the first U.S. newspaper to be published on a regular basis.

In 1800, the U.S. Congress established the Library of Congress.

In 1913, the Woolworth Building, designed by architect Cass Gilbert, an early proponent of skyscrapers, opened to the public ...Read more

Those born on this date include:

- French Roman Catholic St. Vincent de Paul in 1581
- British novelist Anthony Trollope in 1815
- French Gen. Philippe Petain in 1856
- U.S. artist Willem de Kooning in 1904
- actor Shirley MacLaine in 1934 (age 90)
- actor Jill Ireland in 1936
- writer Sue Grafton in...Read more

Today is Wednesday, April 24, the 115th day of 2024 with 251 to follow.

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

A thought for the day: When things are bad, it's the best time to reinvent yourself. -- American actor George Lopez

On this date in history:

In 1635, the first public school in America, the Boston Latin School, was opened.

In 1898, the first movie theater opened at the Koster and Bials Music Hall in New York City.

In 1914, Chicago's Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park, hosts its first baseball game when the Chicago Chi-...Read more

Those born on this date include:

- English playwright William Shakespeare in 1564
- English painter J.M.W William Turner in 1775
- James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States, in 1791
- Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Planck in 1858
- Canadian Prime Minister/Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lester Pearson in...Read more

Today is Tuesday, April 23, the 114th day of 2024 with 252 to follow.

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

A thought for the day: No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated. -- American author Ellen Glasgow

On this date in history:

In 1500, explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived in South America, claiming what would later be known as Brazil for Portugal.

In 1889, about 20,000 homesteaders massed along the border of the Oklahoma Territory, awaiting the signal to start the Oklahoma land rush.

In 1914, U.S. forces took...Read more

Those born on this date include:

- Spanish Queen Isabella I, who funded the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World, in 1451
- Pope Alexander VIII in 1610
- British novelist Henry Fielding in 1707
- German philosopher Immanuel Kant in 1724
- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of Russia's 1917 Communist ...Read more

Today is Monday, April 22, the 113th day of 2024 with 253 to follow.

This is Earth Day.

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