GMT

Today in History: November 9
1799
Napoleon Bonaparte participates in a coup and declares himself dictator of France.

1848
The 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.

1914
The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney wrecks the German cruiser Emden, forcing her to beach on a reef on North Keeling Island in the Indian Ocean.

1918
Germany is proclaimed a republic as the kaiser abdicates and flees to the Netherlands.

1935
Japanese troops invade Shanghai, China.

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
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.

1972
Bones discovered by the Leakeys push human origins back 1 million years.

1983
Alfred Heineken, beer brewer from Amsterdam, is kidnapped and held for a ransom of more than $10 million.

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

1993
Stari Most, a 427-year-old bridge in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is destroyed, believed to be caused by artillery fire from Bosnian Croat forces.

1994
The chemical element Darmstadtium, a radioactive synthetic element, discovered by scientists in Darmstadt, Germany.

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.

Today in History: Born on November 9
1918
Spiro Agnew, vice president to Richard Nixon.

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

A Marine boarded a train on his way home from deployment...

The train was quite crowded, and the Marine walked the entire length looking for a seat. There seemed to be one next to a well-dressed middle-aged French woman, but when he got there he saw it was taken by the woman's poodle. The war-weary Marine asked, "Ma'am, may I have that seat?"
The French woman sniffed and said to no one in particular, "Americans are so rude.. My little Fifi is using that seat.."
The Marine walked the entire train again, but the only seat available was under that dog. "Please, Ma'am. May I sit down? I'm very tired." She snorted, "Not only are you Americans rude, you are also arrogant!" This time the Marine didn't say a word; he just picked up the little dog, tossed it out the train window and sat down.
The woman shrieked, "Someone must defend my honor! Put this American in his place!" An English gentleman sitting nearby spoke up.
"Sir, you Americans seem to have a penchant for doing the wrong thing. You hold the fork in the wrong hand. You drive your autos on the wrong side of the road. And now, sir, you seem to have thrown the wrong bitch out the window."