Today is Thursday, Nov. 16, the 320th day of 2023 with 45 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Tiberius, emperor of Rome, in 42 B.C.; composer W.C. Handy, known as the “Father of the Blues,” in 1873; Broadway director/playwright George S. Kaufman in 1889; jazz guitarist/bandleader Eddie Condon in 1905; actor Burgess Meredith in 1907; actor Clu Gulager in 1928; author Chinua Achebe in 1930; actor Donna McKechnie in 1942 (age 81); video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto in 1952 (age 71); Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso in 1955 (age 68); actor Marg Helgenberger in 1958 (age 65); actor Bruno Amato in 1961 (age 62); singer Diana Krall in 1964 (age 59); actor Lisa Bonet in 1967 (age 56); actor Missi Pyle in 1972 (age 51); actor Brooke Elliott in 1974 (age 49); actor Maggie Gyllenhaal in 1977 (age 46); Olympic figure skater Oksana Baiul in 1977 (age 46); actor Pete Davidson in 1993 (age 30); actor Brandon Larracuente in 1994 (age 29); actor Jack Champion in 2004 (age 19).
On this date in history:
In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state admitted to the union.
In 1914, intended to serve as a “lender of last resort,” the New York Fed opened for business.
In 1933, the United States established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
In 1957, Ed Gein murdered his last victim, Bernice Worden. When police searched his house, they found 10 human skulls, a human heart in a pot on the stove and what appeared to be a belt made out of human flesh. He confessed to killing two women and said the other body parts were from grave robbing.
In 1960, Hollywood king Clark Gable, best remembered as Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, died of a heart attack at the age of 59.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon authorized the construction of the Alaska Pipeline with the signing of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law.
In 1988, Pakistanis voted Benazir Bhutto as prime minister, the nation’s first female leader in modern history.
In 1990, the Soviet Union indicated its approval of the use of military force to oust Iraq from Kuwait but said action should be delayed to give Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a chance to leave the country peacefully.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.
In 2008, after nearly a year of negotiations with the United States, the Iraqi Cabinet agreed to withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by Dec. 31, 2011.
In 2015, miners uncovered the world’s second-largest gem-quality diamond in Botswana. The 1,111-carat gem, dubbed the Lesedi La Rona diamond, sold in September 2017 for $53 million.
In 2021, a self portrait by the famed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo sold for $34.9 million, which not only shattered her own personal best but made it the most expensive artwork by a Latin American artist.
In 2022, more than a week after Election Day, the Republican Party captured its 218th seat in the House of Representatives to guarantee a majority in the chamber.
A thought for the day: British rocker John Lennon said, “I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.”