The Almanac

Today is Sunday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2003 with 94 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include German social philosopher Friedrich Engels in 1820; Frances Willard, founder of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, in 1839; CBS Chairman William Paley in 1901; TV variety show host and columnist Ed Sullivan in 1902; German heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling in 1905; cartoonist Al Capp in 1909; actors William Windom in 1923 (age 80) and Marcello Mastroianni in 1924; actress and animal rights advocate Brigitte Bardot in 1934 (age 69); musician Ben E. King in 1938 (age 65); actor Jeffrey Jones in 1947 (age 56); and actresses Janeane Garofalo in 1964 (age 39) and Gwyneth Paltrow in 1973 (age 30).

On this date in history:

In 490 B.C., the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon. A Greek soldier ran 26 miles to tell Athenians of the victory and died after his announcement. His feat provided the model for the modern marathon race.

In 1892, Mansfield University hosted the first night football game at Smythe Park in Mansfield, Pa.

In 1920, in baseball's biggest scandal, a grand jury indicted eight Chicago White Sox players for throwing the 1919 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1982, the first reports appeared of deaths in the Chicago area from Extra-strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Seven people died and the unsolved case resulted in tamper-proof packaging for consumer products.

In 1987, a federal appeals court declared Boston public schools officially desegregated after a 13-year effort.

In 1989, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii.

In 1992, a Pakistan jetliner carrying 167 people, including three Americans, crashed into a hill southeast of Katmandu, Nepal, killing all aboard. It was Nepal's worst air disaster.

In 1993, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was the administration's lead witness in congressional hearings on the health-care program.

Also in 1993, as the power struggle in Russia intensified, the Interior Ministry sealed off the parliament building. Opponents to President Boris Yeltsin were holed up inside.

In 1994, two days of meetings in Washington, D.C., between President Clinton and Russian President Yeltsin ended.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed "phase two" of their peace agreement in Washington, D.C.

In 2000, right-wing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon visited the sacred site known as the Temple Mount to Jews and Haram al Sharif to Muslims, sparking a new deadly round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that continued to escalate over the next two years. Five months later, Sharon was elected prime minister.

Also in 2000, the Drug and Food Administration announced approval of an abortion pill.

In 2001, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution to require all 189 members to put a stop to financing and training of terrorists within their borders.

In 2002, Iraq rejected the draft of a proposal by the U.S. and Britain to the United Nations calling on Iraq to make a full disclosure of weapons of mass destruction within 30 days.

A thought for the day: American writer Gertrude Stein said, "...the creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic."