The almanac

Today is Wednesday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2002 with 202 to follow.

The moon is waxing, moving toward its first quarter.

The morning star is Mercury.

The evening stars are Venus, Mars and Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include John Augustus Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1806; President George Bush (the first one) in 1924 (age 78); singer Vic Damone in 1928 (age 74); Anne Frank, whose diary told of hiding from the Nazis in occupied Holland, in 1929; author Rona Jaffe in 1932 (age 70); comic actor Jim Nabors in 1933 (age 69); jazz musician Chick Corea in 1941 (age 61); sportscaster Marvin Philip "Marv" Albert in 1943 (age 59); actor Timothy Busfield in 1957 (age 45); and actress Sherry Stringfield ("NYPD Blue," "E.R.") in 1967 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated at Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1963, a sniper killed civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss.

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not outlaw inter-racial marriages.

In 1971, Tricia Nixon, daughter of President Nixon, married Edward Finch Cox in the first wedding ever held in the Rose Garden of the White House.

In 1979, Bryan Allen, 26, pedaled the 70-pound Gossamer Albatross 22 miles across the English Channel for the first human-powered flight across that body of water.

In 1982, an estimated 700,000 people gathered in New York's Central Park to call for world nuclear disarmament.

In 1986, the South African government, faced with rising black unrest, declared a nationwide state of emergency.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that white workers who claim to be treated unfairly as a result of affirmative action programs can sue for remedies under civil rights legislation.

In 1990, the Russian republic's legislature, under Boris Yeltsin, passed a radical declaration of sovereignty, proclaiming Russia's laws take precedence over those of the central Soviet government in the republic's territory.

In 1991, the Russian republic held its first-ever direct presidential elections. Boris Yeltsin won. The event is celebrated these days in Russia as a national holiday known as Independence Day.

In 1992, amid extremely tight security and criticism of his administration's stand on environmental issues, President Bush addressed the Earth Summit. He urged rich nations to meet by year's end to outline specific action on a climate treaty.

In 1993, U.S. helicopters and gunships destroyed four of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid's arms depots, one week after his forces allegedly killed 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in a series of firefights.

In 1994, special Whitewater counsel Robert Fiske took sworn depositions from President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. It was believed to be the first time a sitting president responded directly to questions in a legal case relating to his official conduct.

In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

In 2000, 50 years after the Korean War began, the leaders of North and South Korea meton Pyongyang for the first-ever series of talks.

A thought for the day: T.S. Eliot said, "In my beginning is my end."