The Almanac

Today is Monday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2003 with 30 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Jupiter and Saturn. The evening stars are Venus, Mars, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include detective novelist Rex Stout in 1886; former United Mine Workers president W.A. "Tony" Boyle in 1904; actress Mary Martin in 1913; comedian-filmmaker Woody Allen and soul singer Lou Rawls, both in 1935 (age 68); pro golfer Lee Trevino in 1939 (age 64); comedian Richard Pryor in 1940 (age 63); singer/actress Bette Midler in 1945 (age 58); actor Treat Williams in 1952 (age 51); and model Carol Alt in 1960 (age 43)

On this date in history:

In 1891, the game of basketball was invented when James Naismith, a physical education teacher at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass., put peach baskets at the opposite ends of the gym and gave students soccer balls to toss into them.

In 1903, the world's first drive-in gasoline station opened for business in Pittsburgh.

In 1917, Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town near Omaha, Neb.

In 1943, ending a "Big Three" meeting in Tehran, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Russian Premier Josef Stalin pledged a concerted effort to defeat Nazi Germany.

In 1953, the first Playboy magazine was published. Marilyn Monroe was on the cover.

In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black woman, was arrested in Montgomery, Ala., for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus. The event has been called the birth of the modern civil rights movement.

In 1989, Soviet President Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II met in the Vatican City. Afterwards, they announced an agreement to establish diplomatic ties and Gorbachev renounced more than 70 years of oppression of religion in the USSR.

In 1990, Iraq agreed to President Bush's call for diplomatic missions to seek a solution to the gulf crisis, but insisted the Arab-Israeli dispute be a part of any bargain.

Also in 1990, the island of Britain was connected with the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age when tunnel workers from England and France met 40 meters beneath the English Channel seabed.

In 1991, voters in Soviet republic of Ukraine overwhelmingly voted for independence.

In 1992, "Long Island Lolita" Amy Fisher was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in a New York prison for shooting the wife of her alleged lover, Joey Buttafuoco.

Also in 1992, the Senate Ethics Committee started an investigation into allegations Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., sexually harassed women who worked for him.

In 1996, an oil tanker sunk by the Japanese in 1941 was located off the coast of California, with its cargo intact.

In 1997, it was announced that Walt Disney Co. would donate $25 million to Los Angeles for the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

In 2000, with the presidential election still undecided, Democrats and Republicans wound up with a 50-50 split in the Senate.

In 2001, as the U.S. and Israel pressured Yasser Arafat to crack down on Palestinian terrorist attacks, three suicide bombers struck Israelis the first two days of December, killing 29 people.

A thought for the day: it was Ezra Pound who said, "Literature is news that stays news."