The Almanac, Celebrity Birthdays, Today in History, January 10 Today is Friday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2014 with 355 to follow. They include; silent screen actor Francis X. Bushman in 1883; poet Robinson Jeffers in 1887; Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball, in 1920; actors Ray Bolger in 1904, Paul Henreid in 1908, Sal Mineo in 1939 and William Sanderson in 1944 (age 70); historian Stephen Ambrose in 1936; Olympic decathlon champion Bill Toomey in 1939 (age 75); singers Johnnie Ray in 1927, Frank Sinatra Jr. in 1944 (age 70) and Jim Croce in 1943; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Ronnie Hawkins (The Band) in 1935 (age 79), Rod Stewart (Faces) in 1945 (age 69) and Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) in 1948 (age 66); X-rated film actor Linda Lovelace in 1949; boxer George Foreman in 1949 (age 65); singer Pat Benatar in 1953 (age 61); singer Shawn Colvin in 1956 (age 58); and New Zealand screenwriter Fran Walsh in 1959 (age 55). In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, beginning the Roman civil war. In 1776, "Common Sense" by political philosopher Thomas Paine was published. The pamphlet advocated American independence from England. In 1861, Florida seceded from the United States. In 1878, a constitutional amendment that would give women the right to vote was introduced into the U.S. Senate. It wasn't until 42 years later that the amendment was enacted. In 1901, oil was discovered at the Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas, launching the Southwest oil boom. In 1920, the League of Nations came into being as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect. In 1946, the first meeting of the U.N. General Assembly convened in London. In 1984, the United States established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican for the first time in 116 years. In 2000, America Online announced it had agreed to buy Time Warner for $165 billion, in what would be the biggest merger in history. In 2003, North Korea announced it was withdrawing from the 1979 nuclear non-proliferation treaty. In 2005, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip elected Mahmoud Abbas their new president. He succeeded the late Yasser Arafat. In 2008, Edmund Hillary, who gained international fame as a member of the first climbing party to scale Mount Everest, died in Auckland, New Zealand, at age 88. In 2011, Mississippi sisters Gladys and Jamie Scott, in their 30s, were released from prison after serving 16 years of life sentences for an $11 armed robbery Their sentences were suspended on the condition that Gladys donate a kidney to her sister, who required daily dialysis. In 2013, U.S. President Obama chose White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew as the next secretary of the Treasury. A thought for the day: "The Constitution was not made to fit us like a straitjacket. In its elasticity lies its chief greatness." -- Woodrow Wilson