The almanac

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

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Today is Saturday, June 22, the first full day of summer, the 173rd day of 2002 with 192 to follow.

The moon is waxing, moving toward its full phase.

The morning stars are Mercury, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include English adventure novelist H. Rider Haggard ("King Solomon's Mines," "She") in 1856; German novelist Erich Remarque ("All Quiet on the Western Front") in 1898; movie director Billy Wilder in 1906; author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh, and movie producer Mike Todd, both in 1907; actor Karl Malden in 1913 (age 89); fashion designer Bill Blass in 1922 (age 80); Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in 1933 (age 69); comedian Joan Rivers in 1935 (age 67); singer/actor Kris Kristofferson in 1936 (age 66); TV reporter Ed Bradley in 1941 (age 61); actresses Meryl Streep and Lindsay Wagner, both in 1949 (age 53); actor Freddie Prinze in 1954; and actress Tracy Pollan in 1960 (age 42).

On this date in history:

In 1807, the U.S frigate Chesapeake was fired upon and then boarded by the crew of the British battleship Leopold about 40 miles east of Chesapeake Bay.

In 1918, 53 circus performers and many circus animals were killed when an empty troop train rear-ended the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train, which was stopped in Ivanhoe, Ind., to fix its brakes.

In 1937, Joe Louis knocked out Jim Braddock to become world heavyweight champion.

In 1940, France fell to Germany in World War II.

In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

In 1973, President Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a pledge to try to avoid nuclear war.

In 1977, John Mitchell became the first former U.S. attorney general to go to jail when he entered a federal prison to serve time for Watergate crimes.

In 1990, South African police tightened security around President de Klerk and detained 11 right-wing activists after a published report detailed an alleged plot to assassinate de Klerk and black nationalist Nelson Mandela.

In 1991, the South African government, Inkatha Freedom party and ANC met for the first time in Johannesburg to discuss a way to end factional violence.

In 1994, former President Carter persuaded North Korea to meet with South Korea as part of a breakthrough in the controversy over North Korea's nuclear-development sites.

Also in 1994, in a major upset at the World Cup soccer tournament, the United States defeated Colombia, 2-1.

In 1995, President Clinton's nominee for surgeon-general, Dr. Henry Foster, failed to win Senate approval.

A thought for the day: George Jean Nathan wrote, "artist and censor differ ... the first is a decent mind in an indecent mind ... the second is an indecent mind is a decent body."