The Almanac

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Today is Thursday, June 6, the 157th day of 2002 with 208 to follow.

The moon is waning, moving toward its new phase.

There are no morning stars.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Spanish painter Diego Velasquez in 1599; American patriot Nathan Hale in 1755; Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in 1799; British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1868; German novelist Thomas Mann in 1875; vaudeville bandleader Ted Lewis, known for asking his audiences, "Is everybody happy?" in 1891; Indonesian dictator Ahmed Sukarno in 1901; former Calif. Gov. George Deukmejan in 1928 (age 74); the Dalai Lama, exiled leader of Tibet's Buddhists, in 1935 (age 67); singer/songwriter Gary "U.S" Bonds in 1939 (age 63); actor David Dukes in 1945 (age 57); comedian/actress Sandra Bernhard in 1955 (age 47); tennis player Bjorn Borg and sax player Kenny G., both in 1956 (age 46); and actress Amanda Pays ("Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future") in 1959 (age 43).

In 1872, feminist Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in an election in Rochester, N.Y. She refused to pay the fine and the judge allowed her to go free.

In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, N.J.

In 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops began crossing the English Channel in the "D-Day" invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It was the largest invasion in history.

In 1972, a coal mine explosion in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, trapped 464 miners underground. More than 425 died.

In 1982, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon.

In 1991, the Soviet KGB released secret documents from 1941 that showed that Rudolph Hess, Hitler's deputy, had been lured to the Duke of Hamilton's estate by the British.

In 1994, national leaders and elderly World War II veterans commemorated the 50th anniversary of "D-Day."

A thought for the day: "The only certainty is that nothing is certain." Pliny the Elder said that.