On This Day:
Wednesday November 13, 2013 This is the 317th day of the year, with 48 days remaining in 2013. Fact of the Day: hardwood and softwood The distinction between hardwood and softwood has to do with plant reproduction rather than the density of the wood. Hardwood is not necessarily a harder material than softwood. Hardwood trees are angiosperms, plants that produce seeds with some sort of covering. Softwood trees are gymnosperms, plants that let seeds fall to the ground as is, with no covering. Hardwood trees lose their leaves during cold weather while softwood trees keep their leaves all year round.
Holidays Feast day of St. Arcadius, St. Didacus or Diego of Seville, St. Abbo of Fleury, St. Eugenius of Toledo, St. Brice or Britius, St. Homobonus, St. Nicholas, pope, St. Francis Xavia Cabrini, St. Stanislaus Kostka, and S. Maxellendis.
Events 1511 - Henry VIII joined the Holy League.
1775 - U.S. forces under General Richard Montgomery captured Montreal in the American Revolution.
1835 - Texans officially proclaimed independence from Mexico and called it the Lone Star Republic.
1851 - The telegraph service between London and Paris started operations.
1927 - The Holland Tunnel opened to the public, connecting New York City and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.
1933 - In Minnesota, the first sit-down strike in American history was held by workers at the packing plant of George A. Hormel and Company.
1940 - "Fantasia," the Walt Disney animated movie, premiered in New York.
1942 - The minimum U.S. draft age was lowered to 18 from 21.
1945 - Charles de Gaulle was elected president of France.
1956 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.
1970 - A 20-foot tidal wave and a cyclone struck East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and washed over 100 islands near the coast.
1977 - Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" comic strip ended its newspaper run.
1982 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1985 - Colombia's volcano Nevado del Ruiz, dormant since 1845, erupted and killed more than 22,000 people.
1994 - Sweden voted to join the European Union.
1998 - President Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000 -- with no apology or admission of guilt -- to settle her sexual harassment suit.
2001 - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban relinquished the capital of Kabul without a fight, allowing the U.S.-backed northern alliance to take over the city.
Births 354 - Saint Augustine, Christian theologian and philosopher.
1312 - Edward III, father of Edward the Black Prince and John of Gaunt.
1850 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author.
1856 - Louis Brandeis, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
1955 - Whoopi Goldberg, American comic actress.
Deaths 1974 - Union activist Karen Silkwood whose story concerning nuclear power plant safety was made into the 1983 movie, Silkwood, in a car crash.
1975 - R. C. Sherriff, English writer.
1982 - Chesney Allen, a popular British entertainer during the World War II period.
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