The Almanac

Today is Monday, March 25, the 84th day of 2002 with 281 to follow.

The moon is waxing, moving toward its full phase.

The morning star is Mercury.

The evening stars are Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include symphony conductor Arturo Toscanini in 1867; Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum in 1867; composer Bela Bartok in 1881; film director David Lean in 1908; sports commentator Howard Cosell in 1920; French actress Simone Signoret in 1921; astronaut James Lovell in 1928 (age 74); feminist writer Gloria Steinem in 1935 (age 67); former Miss America Anita Bryant in 1940 (age 62); soul singer Aretha Franklin in 1942 (age 60); actor/director Paul Michael Glaser in 1943 (age 59); pop musician Elton John in 1947 (age 55); actresses Bonnie Bedelia in 1948 (age 54) and Sarah Jessica Parker in 1965 (age 37); and Olympic silver medalist figure skater Debi Thomas in 1967 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1807, the English Parliament abolished the slave trade.

In 1911, 147 people died when they were trapped by a fire that swept the Triangle Shirt Waist factory in New York City.

In 1947, a mine explosion in Centralia, Ill., killed 111 men, most of them asphyxiated by gas.

In 1954, the Radio Corporation of America began commercial production of color television sets.

In 1975, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a deranged nephew in his palace in Riyadh.

In 1990, an arson fire swept an overcrowded, illegal Bronx social club, killing 87 people in the worst mass slaying in U.S. history and the deadliest New York blaze since the Triangle Shirt Waist factory disaster exactly 79 years earlier. Julio Gonzalez, 36, was charged with arson and murder.

In 1992, in a further sign of the capitalist revolution, veterans of the former Soviet KGB announced plans to sell cloak-and-dagger tales to Hollywood for movies and TV.

In 1993, four of the five suspects arrested in the World Trade Center bombing pleaded innocent in a Manhattan federal court. A fifth suspect did not enter a plea.

In 1994, the last U.S. soldiers left Mogadishu, Somalia, although a handful remained behind to protect U.S. diplomats and to provide support for U.N. peacekeepers.

Also in 1994, tax returns made public by the Clintons showed they'd lost $46,635 dollars on their Whitewater investment, which was less than they'd previously claimed ($68,800).

In 1996, the FBI surrounded the Montana compound of a tax-evading group called the Freemen, beginning a lengthy standoff.

In 1997, Chinese Premiere Li Peng, during a meeting in Beijing with Vice President Al Gore, denied reports that China had funneled campaign cash to the Clinton-Gore campaign.

In 1998, the first known physician-assisted suicide to be legal under Oregon state law was reported by the group Compassion In Dying.

In 2001, "Gladiator" won the best picture Oscar at the Academy Awards.

A thought for the day: Mahatma Gandhi said, "It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."