November 18 Birthday
On November 18, 1978, 918 people died at Jonestown, a remote agricultural commune in Guyana. They had been ordered to drink cyanide-laced punch by their leader, Jim Jones, a self-proclaimed prophet. 276 were children. The event followed the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan, who had come to investigate reports of abuse. Jones had been a respected civil rights activist in Indianapolis before moving his People's Temple to California and then to Guyana. The phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid" — meaning to accept a bad idea uncritically — comes from this event, though the drink was actually Flavor Aid. On November 18, 1883, the railroads of the United States and Canada adopted standard time zones — Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Before this, every town kept its own time. The railroads implemented the change without an act of Congress. The legal standardization came in 1918. People born on November 18 fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 18 include 1883: US and Canadian railroads adopt standard time zones, 1978: Jonestown massacre — 918 die in mass murder-suicide in Guyana, 1963: First push-button telephones introduced to customers. Famous people born on November 18 include Alan Shepard (1923), Brenda Vaccaro (1939), Linda Evans (1942).