Today is Sunday, Nov. 30, the 334th day of 2014 with 31 to follow. They include Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in 1508; Irish satirist Jonathan Swift in 1667; novelist Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) in 1835; film director Gordon Parks in 1912; British statesman Winston Churchill in 1874; actors Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in 1918 and Virginia Mayo in 1920; Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, and comedian Allan Sherman, both in 1924; actors Richard Crenna in 1926 and Robert Guillaume in 1927 (age 87); producer/TV music show host Dick Clark in 1929; Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy in 1930 (age 84); 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman in 1936; filmmaker Ridley Scott in 1937 (age 77); playwright David Mamet in 1947 (age 67); singer/actor Mandy Patinkin in 1952 (age 62); singer June Pointer in 1953 (age 61); rock singer Billy Idol in 1955 (age 59); historian Michael Beschloss in 1955 (age 59); Heisman Trophy winner and football Hall of Fame member Bo Jackson in 1962 (age 52); actor Ben Stiller in 1965 (age 49); and singer Clay Aiken in 1978 (age 36). In 1731, a series of earthquakes struck China. More than 100,000 people died. In 1782, preliminary peace articles formally ending the American Revolutionary War were signed in Paris. In 1913, Charles Chaplin made his screen debut in Mack Sennett's short film "Making a Living." In 1939, the Russo-Finnish War started after the Soviet Union failed to obtain territorial concessions from Finland. In 1975, Israel pulled its forces out of a 93-mile-long corridor along the Gulf of Suez as part of an interim peace agreement with Egypt. In 1988, the Soviet Union stopped jamming broadcasts of Radio Free Europe for the first time in 30 years. In 2004, Ken Jennings lost on the U.S. game show "Jeopardy!" after winning 74 games and $2.5 million. In 2005, the world's first partial-face transplant was conducted in France. A woman who had been bitten by a dog was given a new nose, lips and chin. In 2007, an Atlasjet Airlines plane crashed near the Ispart, Turkey, airport, killing all 56 people aboard. In 2012, demonstrations erupted in Cairo soon after lawmakers passed a Constitutional Declaration that gave President Mohamed Morsi near-absolute power. Morsi would be ousted by the military seven months later. In 2013, a fiery car crash in Southern California killed actor Paul Walker, 40, and his friend, Roger Rodas. Walker was perhaps best-known for his starring role in the "The Fast & the Furious" movie series. A thought for the day: "If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead." -- Erma Bombeck