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April 15 is my dad's birthday, so it's a date that always has a special spot in my calendar (Hi Dad!) But as it turns out today is a surprisingly momentous date in world history, boasting a number of famous birthdays, two huge tragedies, the end of an actual war and the beginning of one restaurant's metaphorical war against global health. And you just thought it was Tax Day!

Because I am a nerd for "on this day in history" features as well as for movies, I've compiled 8 of the more notable events that took place on this day, April 15, and picked movies you can watch to commemorate them. Some are classics, some are objectively awful, but a lot of them are available on Netflix Watch Instantly, which means you can spend a few minutes happily immersed in some cultural oddities the way I have all morning. It's Friday! Your taxes are (hopefully) paid! What else is going to bring you more historical, nerdy joy? Celebrate history and my dad's birthday by checking our your options below.

What happened: On this day in 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was born.
What happened: On this day in 1783, the Continental Congress ratified what's called the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War.
What you should watch: The Revolutionary War isn't one of the more popular wars for American movies for some reason, and no, I'm not going to tell you to watch The Patriot just because it vaguely fits the theme. For the story of one of the people who ratified that treaty, and was sent to Paris to represent the new country, head to TV's John Adams miniseries. It's good history, quality television-- it racked up 13 Emmys-- and more good work from The King's Speech director Tom Hooper.
What happened: On this day in 1865, Abraham Lincoln died after being shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth the previous night, during a performance at Ford's Theater.
What you should watch: Even though this weekend's The Conspirator actually depicts the shooting and the aftermath of Lincoln's death, it's simply not a good movie. The best Lincoln movie may still be yet to come-- that'd be Spielberg's Daniel Day-Lewis-starring biopic, due in 2013-- but in the meantime revisit Lincoln's earlier days with the classic Young Mr. Lincoln, directed by the eternal John Ford and starring Henry Fonda, possibly as iconic a symbol of America as Lincoln himself.

What you should watch: Da Vinci has actually made relatively few screen appearances, and has no biopic focused on his genius like, say, Michelangelo's The Agony and the Ecstasy. So you're gonna have to settle for Hudson Hawk, the famously disastrous caper comedy in which Bruce Willis is a master burglar on a mission to stop an evil plot to take over the world by reconstructing some of Da Vinci's more powerful inventions. Da Vinci himself only pops up in the opening sequence, tinkering in his castle of a laboratory, but really, how better to celebrate the birth of a genius than by watching a movie that single-handedly destroyed its production company? (It was the last film released by Tri Star Entertainment before being bought out by Columbia Pictures) It's available to watch on Netflix Instant.

What happened: On this day in 1912, The RMS Titanic sank at 2:20 am, two hours and forty minutes after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Over 1500 people were killed.
What you should watch: I'm not even going to pretend there's a choice here. Watch Titanic and get over any notion you might have that it's not a good movie or doesn't hold up (read my ten year anniversary defense if you need more convincing).

What happened: On this day in 1942, Kenneth Lay, the CEO and chairman of Enron, was born.
What you should watch: I'm gonna cheat and give you two choices here, one obvious and one not so much. Clearly the best way to understand Lay's work and impact is to watch Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Alex Gibney's incredibly detailed documentary about exactly what happened at the company now synonymous with corporate greed (it's also streaming on Netflix Instant). For a more oblique analysis of Lay's impact, check out Tom McCarthy's new film Win Win in theaters now. Yes it's about a high school wrestling coach, but as McCarthy himself said in my interview with him, it's kind of an allegory for companies like Enron, that were cornerstones of communities even while doing terrible things. It's also a lot funnier than the documentary, if that's what you're looking for.

What happened: On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers, effectively breaking the color barrier in professional baseball. The Dodgers won the game 5-3.
What you should watch: There's a Robinson biopic in the works now with Robert Redford attached, but it probably won't match the surrealness of 1950's The Jackie Robinson Story, a biopic about Robinson in which he played himself, believe it or not. Even stranger, the New York Times Review praised Robinson's acting, writing "displays a calm assurance and composure that might be envied by many a Hollywood star." Best of all, you can watch it now on Netflix Instant.

What happened:On this day in 1955 Ray Kroc opened a franchised McDonalds in Des Plaines, Illinois; for whatever reason the corporation counts this as their founding date.
What you should watch: Mac And Me is not a good movie by any means, but it does hold the honor of winning Ronald McDonald a Razzie Award as "Worst New Star" thanks to his cameo in a four-minute dance sequence that takes place, for no apparent reason, entirely within a McDonalds. There's some evidence that the fast food chain didn't actually pay for this reference, but the scene is pretty difficult to distinguish from the actual singing and dancing McDonalds ads I remember from the time. Watch the dance sequence below, and if that wasn't enough McDonalds for you-- after all, the main alien character is named after a Big Mac-- the entire movie is streaming on Netflix. Prepare to be astonished. 

What happened: On this day in 1990, Emma Watson was born.
What you should watch: Hermione turns 21 today, y'all. None of the Harry Potter movies are on Netflix Instant, but turn on ABC Family and at some point today one of them will probably come on. Make sure and protest the terrible treatment of house elves while you do it.

As a final note, if you do in fact want to honor my dad's birthday, his favorite movie is The Magnificent Seven. It's also on Watch Instantly.

Much has been reported about the presidential residence where the defiant, defeated Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo retreated during the battle for the commercial capital, Abidjan.

You've heard of Apple TV, the $99 set-top box that allows you to rent movies and TV shows, watch Netflix titles, and stream photos and music from your home network to your living room television set. But what would you think about an Internet-connected HDTV built and branded by Apple?

Well, this could be a little disappointing. However, we don’t think there’s reason for us to keep it a secret. HTC has officially decided that their unique HTC Sense 3.0 UI will not be rolling out to older devices. A tweet from HTC’s official Twitter account has confirmed this.

Her diet makes it "so worth it."

Kim Kardashian claims she "couldn't care less" about her figure, and she's admitting to the physique flaw that every woman experiences. Here's why Kim Kardashian is not ashamed of her cellulite...in fact, she loves her "dimples."

 This past weekend BMW’s M performance division held a special event in Munich, Germany where it showcased a number of special models, namely, a concept version of the upcoming 2012 BMW M5 that we were fortunate enough to get leaked images of.

With all the hoopla surrounding the upcoming super-sedan, we almost didn’t notice that the BMW go-fast division also rolled out a very special concept version of its M3 Sedan. Built using parts from the track-focused M3 GTS, the new concept is essentially a stripped out and more hardcore version of the M3 Sedan and hints at a return of the CSL badge.

If you’re unfamiliar with the famous lettering, CSL stands for Coupe, Sport, Lightweight and marks the purest driver and most track-focused cars offered by BMW in the recent past. The last BMW M3 CSL was built in a limited run of just 1,400 cars between 2002 and 2004--such tiny numbers make it an exclusive offering, and only the most dedicated opt for the extra expense and somewhat harsher and noisier ride characteristics of the car.

Now the CSL badge looks set to finally return on the M3 but it’s unclear exactly what it will be like. We should see more power from the familiar high-rev 4.0-liter V-8 but not quite as high as the 450 horsepower from the 4.4-liter V-8 found in the M3 GTS. Some parts on this concept that are borrowed from the M3 GTS, however, include the custom 19-inch alloy wheels, uprated brakes and a blacked-out grille. Other modifications include a tuned exhaust system, lightweight construction and a subtle bootlid lip spoiler.

No word on production but most BMW concepts based on the automaker’s production cars tend to receive the green light.

Interestingly, there have been reports that BMW M is set to unveil a new lightweight concept at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Show this December, suggesting that we may see the return of the M3 CSL at the Japanese event.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- McDonald's said Monday that it is planning a one-day hiring spree of 50,000 new workers on April 19 for its U.S. restaurants.
McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) said that these new "Mcjobs" will include crew and management positions, part-time and full-time.

Have you ever heard of "Penny Auctions?"
They’re a new online auction model that is becoming hugely popular.  Penny auctions allow individuals to do just what the name implies--buy new, popular products for just pennies on the dollar.

An embarrassing and distressing trend was confirmed in the most recent Indian census, reports the Globe and Mail: Female fetuses in India are being aborted at rates higher than ever before.

Good news for teachers looking to collaborate with their colleagues in other parts of the world. Skype has a new free service just for educators called Skype in the classroom, "a free global community created in response to, and in consultation with, the growing number of teachers" using the tool to help students learn.

One of the most frustrating things in life is a slow computer. 
Every few years, we buy an expensive new PC and love how fast it starts up, runs programs, and loads websites.  Inevitably though, it starts to slow down until eventually we are pulling our hair out waiting for it to do routine tasks.

Most people recognize the many benefits of learning a foreign language:  You can travel to foreign countries and feel comfortable, be a more productive and enticing employee in today’s competitive job market, and immerse yourself in the vast cultures that surround you. Scientific studies have even shown that learning a new language helps to keep memories sharp and naturally enhances overall brain function.

Sure, TV land has always been filled with characters who live in impossibly large New York City apartments ('Friends' gang, we're looking at you!). But there are also TV types who represent their more modest salaries in a realistic way.For example, no one could turn a lump of cheap meat into a hearty meal for a family of five like Roseanne Conner, and few look cuter clipping coupons than 'The Middle''s Frankie Heck. And, with our shaky economy these days, it was only a matter of time before reality TV caught up -- enter TLC's 'Extreme Couponing' (premieres Wed., April 6, 9PM ET).

France’s data privacy regulator has fined Google €100,000 ($141,670 USD) for gathering data from private Wi-Fi networks while collecting imagery for Google Street View.
Google Street View has been controversial from the start; Many people and privacy groups didn’t like Google collecting imagery of buildings, license plates and faces for the panoramic-view service, complementary to Google Maps.

Google answered those complaints by blurring sensitive parts of the images, but the service raised far more privacy concerns in May 2010, when Google admitted that its Street View cars (mistakenly, according to Google) collected and stored data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. The incident instigated privacy probes against Google in countries all over the world, including in Australia, Canada, Germany, South Korea and the U.S.
In August 2010, French police stopped a Google Street View car under orders of National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL) to inspect whether Google was still collecting Wi-Fi data.
Now, CNIL said that Google has pledged to erase the data it had collected, but it found “that Google has not refrained from using the data identifying Wi-Fi access points of individuals without their knowledge,” which prompted the fine.
“It is a record fine since we obtained the power in 2004 to impose financial sanctions in 2004,” the head of the CNIL Yann Padova told Le Parisien.
In July 2010, Google said that its “cars will no longer collect any Wi-Fi information at all,” but the fallout from the incident is still a reminder of how unpleasant the consequences of not respecting users’ privacy can be — especially for a giant company like Google.