Today is the 361st day of 2014 and the seventh day of winter.
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TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1831, the HMS Beagle, with naturalist Charles Darwin aboard, set sail from Great Britain.
In 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.
In 2002, North Korea announced it would resume developing nuclear-grade plutonium and ordered International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to leave the country.
In 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated after a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), astronomer; Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), biologist/chemist; Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), actress/singer; John Amos (1939- ), actor; Cokie Roberts (1943- ), journalist; Gerard Depardieu (1948- ), actor; Bill Self (1962- ), basketball coach; Sarah Vowell (1969- ), social commentator; Masi Oka (1974- ), actor; Carson Palmer (1979- ), football player.
TODAY'S FACT: France is far more reliant on nuclear power than any other nation in the world. More than 75 percent of the country's electricity is nuclear-generated.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1892, Biddle College (later named Johnson C. Smith University) defeated Livingstone College in the first football game between historically black colleges.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "We are flawed creatures, all of us. Some of us think that means we should fix our flaws. But get rid of my flaws and there would be no one left." -- Sarah Vowell, "Take the Cannoli"
TODAY'S NUMBER: 3,300 -- approximate number of people buried at Westminster Abbey, many of them in unmarked graves. Charles Darwin is among the famous scientists buried there.
TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Dec. 21) and first quarter moon (Dec. 28).