Todayis Wednesday, December 12, the 346th day of 2001. There are 19 days left in the year.On this dateIn 1901, 100 years ago, the first radio signal to cross the Atlantic was picked up near St. John’s, Newfoundland, by inventor Guglielmo Marconi. (The signal was transmitted from a point some 2,000 miles away.)

In 1963, Kenya gained its independence from Britain.

In 1985, 248 American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.Thought for the Day

<*“Experience has taught me that the only cruelties people condemn are those with which they do not happen to be familiar.” — Ellen Glasgow, American author (1874-1945).