The Almanac

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 5, the 36th day of 2003 with 329 to follow.

The moon is waxing.

The morning stars are Mercury, Mars, Venus, Neptune and Pluto. The evening stars are Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include British Prime Minister Robert Peel, founder of the London Police Force, in 1788; evangelist Dwight Moody in 1837; Scotsman John Dunlop, inventor of the pneumatic tire, in 1840; outlaw Belle Starr in 1848; American statesman Adlai E. Stevenson in 1900; actor John Carradine in 1906; novelist William Burroughs in 1914; comedian/actor Red Buttons in 1919 (age 84); author Andrew Greeley in 1928 (age 75); baseball home run king Hank Aaron in 1934 (age 69); financial writer Jane Bryant Quinn in 1941 (age 62); Jamaican reggae singer/songwriter Bob Marley in 1945; writer/comedian Christopher Guest and actress Barbara Hershey, both in 1948 (age 55); actresses Jennifer Jason Leigh in 1962 (age 41) and Laura Linney in 1964 (age 39); and singer Bobby Brown in 1969 (age 34).

On this date in history:

In 1631, British clergyman Roger Williams arrived in Salem, Mass., seeking religious freedom. He founded the colony of Rhode Island.

In 1971, Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edward Mitchell walked on the moon for four hours.

In 1981, President Reagan, in a nationwide address, said the United States was in "the worst economic mess since the Great Depression" and called for sweeping spending and tax cuts.

In 1986, world oil prices plunged toward $15 per barrel from $30 three months earlier after OPEC failed to curb production. Prices dropped to $9 by the summer of 1986.

In 1987, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2200 for the first time.

In 1988, two federal grand juries in Florida announced indictments of Panama military strongman General Manuel Antonio Noriega and 16 associates on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.

In 1989, Radio Moscow announced the last Soviet soldier had left Kabul, Afghanistan.

In 1990, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed the Communist Party give up its monopoly on power in the Soviet Union. Two days later, the party's Central Committee agreed.

In 1991, President Bush sent his top military advisers to Saudi Arabia to decide whether a ground assault was needed to liberate Iraqi-occupied Kuwait.

In 1992, euthanasia advocate Jack "Dr. Death" Kevorkian was freed on bond following his arrest in the assisted suicides of two women.

In 1993, federal Judge Kimba Wood withdrew from consideration as President Clinton's attorney general after revelations that she'd employed, although paid the taxes for, an illegal alien.

Also in 1993, Oscar-winning writer-director Joseph Mankiewicz died at age 83.

In 1994, a mortar shell fell onto a crowded weekend market in Sarajevo, Bosnia, killing 69 people and injuring 200.

Also in 1994, white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

In 1996, a judge ordered President Clinton to testify in the Whitewater trial. He later did so via videotape.

In 1997, Morgan Stanley Group, Inc. announced it would merge with Dean Witter, Discover & Co. to become the biggest U.S. securities company.

Also in 1997, thousands of Albanians, many of whom had lost their life savings, protested to demand government reimbursement following the collapse of a pyramid fund.

A thought for the day: William D. Brown said, "Failure is an event, never a person."