The almanac

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Today is Friday, June 21, the 172nd day of 2002 with 193 to follow.

Summer began at 3:38 a.m. EDT, today in the Northern Hemisphere.

The moon is waxing, moving toward its full phase.

The morning stars are Mercury, Uranus and Neptune.

The evening stars are Venus, Jupiter and Mars.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include first lady Martha Washington, in 1731; philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre in 1905; actors Jane Russell in 1921 (age 81), Maureen Stapleton in 1925 (age 77), Bernie Kopell ("The Love Boat") in 1933 (age 69), Monty Markham in 1938 (age 64), and Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter (both of "Family Ties"), both in 1947 (age 55); actress/TV host Mariette Hartley and comic actor Joe Flaherty ("Second City TV"), both in 1940 (age 62); former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1953 (age 49); actor Robert Pastorelli in 1954 (age 48); actress Juliette Lewis in 1973 (age 29); and Britain's Prince William in 1982 (age 20).

On this date in history:

In 1788, the U.S. Constitution became effective when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.

In 1945, Japanese defenders of Okinawa Island surrendered to American troops.

In 1964, three civil rights workers disappeared on their way to investigate a church burning in Philadelphia, Miss. Their murdered bodies were found Aug. 4.

In 1982, John Hinckley Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 1981 shooting of President Reagan and three other people.

In 1972, Hurricane Agnes hit the eastern seaboard, wreaking havoc across seven states. Six days later, 118 people were dead.

In 1984, the United States reported that an explosion in mid-May at a Soviet navy supply depot 900 miles north of Moscow had apparently killed more than 200 people.

In 1985, international experts in Sao Paulo, Brazil, conclusively identified the bones of a 1979 drowning victim as the remains of Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele, ending a 40-year search for the so-called "angel of death" of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

In 1990, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale struck northwestern Iran, killing as many as 50,000 people.

Also in 1990, the U.S. House of Representatives failed by 34 votes to pass a flag-protection constitutional amendment.

In 1992, "Batman Returns" smashed the box office record with a weekend opening estimated at $44.6 million.

In 1997, Cambodia announced the capture of former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

In 1998, opposition leader Andres Pastrana Arango was elected president of Columbia by a narrow margin.

In 1999, President Clinton began a two-day visit to the Balkans, where he visited with Kosovo refugees in Slovenia and Macedonia.

In 2000, NASA announced that its Mars Global Surveyor had spotted grooved surface features, suggesting a relatively recent water flow on the planet.

A thought for the day: Confucius said, "The only people who cannot change are the most wise and the most stupid."