GMT

Today in History: November 9

1848The first U.S. Post Office in California opens in San Francisco at Clay and Pike streets. At the time there are only about 15,000 European settlers living in the state.

1906 President Theodore Roosevelt leaves Washington, D.C., for a 17-day trip to Panama and Puerto Rico, becoming the first president to make an official visit outside of the United States.

1938 Nazis kill 35 Jews, arrest thousands and destroy Jewish synagogues, homes and stores throughout Germany. The event becomes known as Kristallnacht, the night of the shattered glass.

1965 Roger Allen LaPorte, a 22-year-old former seminarian and a member of the Catholic worker movement, immolates himself at the United Nations in New York City in protest of the Vietnam War.

1965 Nine Northeastern states and parts of Canada go dark in the worst power failure in history, when a switch at a station near Niagara Falls fails.

1989 The Berlin Wall is opened after dividing the city for 28 years.

1998 Largest civil settlement in US history: 37 brokerage houses are ordered to pay $1.3 billion to NASDAQ investors to compensate for price fixing.

Born on November 9

1936 Mary Travers, singer, songwriter; member of Vocal Group folk group Peter, Paul and Mary ("Puff the Magic Dragon," "If I Had a Hammer").

1941 Tom Fogerty, musician; guitarist with Creedence Clearwater Revival.

JOTD
Little Johnny moves out

Little Johnny asked for a bike for his birthday. His dad said: "We'd get you one but our mortgage is $80,000 and your mum has lost her job."
Next day little Johnny walked out with his suitcase packed, his dad asks: "Where are you going son?"
Little Johnny replied: "I walked past your room last night and heard you tell mum you were pulling out, then I heard mum tell you to wait coz she was coming too, I'm not staying here on my own with an $80,000 mortgage and no fricking bike!"