On this day in...

1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
1823 – Monroe Doctrine: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
1845 – Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
1859 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.
1927 – Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
1939 – New York City's La Guardia Airport opens.
1942 – Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
1993 – Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.

Births
1863 – Charles Ringling, American circus owner (d. 1926)
1939 – Harry Reid, American politician
1968 – Darryl Kile, baseball player (d. 2002)
1968 – Lucy Liu, American actress
1973 – Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player
1978 – Nelly Furtado, Portuguese-Canadian singer and songwriter
1981 – Britney Spears, American singer

Good day for birthdays including a twofer with some baseball player I know little of and a Charlie's Angel but the prize of the day has to be my girl Britney Spears. In a lot of ways I feel like I grew up with Britney Spears. Her music was the background music (not the soundtrack mind you) for my high school/college career. In Fall '04 I would go the bar every night, come home and watch the 'Toxic' video on MTV late nite and then nod off. Oh, when the days were simple.