The Almanac

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 14, the 14th day of 2004 with 352 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include American general and turncoat Benedict Arnold in 1741; Thornton Waldo Burgess, author of "Peter Rabbit," in 1874; philosopher and medical missionary Albert Schweitzer in 1875; film director Hal Roach in 1892; novelist John dos Passos in 1896; "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney in 1919 (age 85); actor Guy Williams ("Lost In Space") in 1924; singer Jack Jones in 1938 (age 66); actress Faye Dunaway in 1941 (age 63); astronaut Shannon Lucid in 1943 (age 61); evangelist-turned-actor-and-singer Marjoe Gortner in 1945 (age 59); actor Carl Weathers in 1948 (age 56); filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan in 1949 (age 55); and actor Jason Bateman in 1969 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1639, the first constitution in the American colonies, the "Fundamental Orders," was adopted in Hartford, Conn., by representatives of Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hartford.

In 1794, Dr. Jesse Bennett of Edom, Va., performed the first successful Caesarean section.

In 1914, Henry Ford introduced the assembly line method of manufacturing cars, allowing completion of one Model-T Ford every 90 minutes.

In 1943, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a 10-day World War II strategy conference in Casablanca, Morocco.

In 1952, NBC's "Today," the program that started the morning news show format as we know it, premiered.

In 1964, George Wallace was inaugurated as the governor of Alabama, promising his followers, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"

In 1969, a series of explosions aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise off Hawaii killed 10 men.

In 1980, after being released from government control, gold reached a new record price, exceeding $800 an ounce.

In 1985, the British pound sank to a record low, $1.11, and the Bank of England raised interest rates to halt the decline.

In 1991, two PLO leaders and a third man were killed in Tunis. Al Fatah, the PLO's main-line faction, blamed a dissident group for the assassinations.

In 1993, David Letterman accepted a multimillion-dollar deal to move his late night talk show to CBS in August after his NBC contract expires.

In 1994, the man believed to have carried out the attack on skater Nancy Kerrigan surrendered in Phoenix.

In 2000, thousands of Cubans marched in Havana to demand that 6-year-old refugee Elian Gonzalez be returned to his father in Cuba. The boy's mother had drowned as they tried to enter the United States; the child was turned over to a great-uncle in Miami.

In 2002, the leader of a Palestinian militia was killed by a bomb near his home on the West Bank, an act blamed on Israel and touching off a new wave of violence in the Middle East.

In 2003, bankrupt retailer Kmart told employees it would close another 326 stores and a distribution center, eliminating more than 30,000 jobs.

A thought for the day: "Truth," the philosopher Schopenhauer said, "is the reference of a judgment to something outside that stands as its ground."