And happy birthday to Tom Waits, who turns 55 today.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this day in 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1796, electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States.
In 1836, Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States.
In 1941, "a date which will live in infamy", Japanese forces attacked American and British territories and possessions in the Pacific, including the home base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
In 1963, during the Army-Navy game, videotaped instant replay was used for the first time in a live sports telecast as CBS re-showed a one-yard touchdown run by Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh.
In 1972, America's last moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral.
In 1972, Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant who was the shot dead by her bodyguards.
In 1983, the first execution by lethal injection takes place at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. Charles Brooks, Jr., convicted of murdering an auto mechanic, received an intravenous injection of sodium pentathol, the barbiturate that is known as a "truth serum" when administered in lesser doses.
Also in 1983, in Madrid, Spain, an Aviaco DC-9 collided on a runway with an Iberia Air Lines Boeing 727 that was accelerating for takeoff, killing all 42 people aboard the DC-9 and 51 aboard the Iberia jet.
In 1987, 43 people were killed in the crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner in California after a gunman apparently opened fire on a fellow passenger and the two pilots.
In 1988, a major earthquake in the Soviet Union devastated northern Armenia; official estimates put the death toll at 25,000.
Ten years ago today: PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher in Gaza City, pledged to protect Israelis from militant extremists.
Five years ago today: NASA scientists all but gave up hope of contacting the Mars Polar Lander, last heard from four days earlier as it began its descent toward the Red Planet.
One year ago today: Allies of President Vladimir Putin won a sweeping victory in Russia's parliamentary elections. Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies, which had suspended it for alleged abuses of civil liberties.
Today's Birthdays: Actor Eli Wallach is 89. Bluegrass singer Bobby Osborne is 73. Actress Ellen Burstyn is 72. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is 67. ABC News anchorwoman Carole Simpson is 64. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench is 57. Country singer Gary Morris is 56. Actress Priscilla Barnes is 49. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird is 48. Former "Tonight Show" announcer Edd Hall is 46. Rock musician Tim Butler (The Psychedelic Furs) is 46. Actor C. Thomas Howell is 38. Pop singer Nicole Appleton (All Saints) is 29. Rapper Kon Artis (D12) is 28. Actress Shiri Appleby is 26. Singer Aaron Carter is 17.