The Almanac

Today is Wednesday, March 10, the 70th day of 2004 with 296 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Italian scientist Marcello Malpighi in 1628; actor Barry Fitzgerald in 1888; French composer Arthur Honegger in 1892; jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and playwright/politician Clare Boothe Luce, both in 1903; poet Margaret Fishback in 1904 (age 99); playwright David Rabe and actor Chuck Norris, both in 1940 (age 64); Kim Campbell, the first woman prime minister of Canada, and journalist Bob Greene, both in 1947 (age 57); actresses Sharon Stone in 1958 (age 46) and Jasmine Guy ("A Different World") in 1964 (age 40); and Britain's Prince Edward in 1964 (age 40).

On this date in history:

In 515 B.C., the re-building of the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem was completed.

In 1862, the U.S. Treasury issued the first American paper money, in denominations from $5 to $1,000.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first telephone message to his assistant in the next room. "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."

In 1880, the Salvation Army of the U.S. was founded in New York City.

In 1945, 300 American bombers dropped almost 2,000 tons of incendiaries on Tokyo, destroying large portions of the Japanese capital and killing 100,000 civilians.

In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

In 1987, the Vatican condemned human artificial fertilization or generation of human life outside the womb and said all reproduction must result from the "act of conjugal love."

In 1991, former POWs held by Iraq returned to the United States to a hero's welcome.

In 1992, President Bush and Democratic challenger Bill Clinton got sweeping Southern victories in the Super Tuesday primaries. Former Sen. Paul Tsongas won in New England.

In 1993, FBI agents arrested a third person, a 25-year-old Kuwaiti-born chemical engineer, in connection with the World Trade Center bombing.

Also in 1993, rapidly melting snow and ice jams forced rivers out of their banks and hundreds from their homes in Nebraska in the worst flooding in 15 years.

And in 1993, an anti-abortion demonstrator fatally shot a doctor at a Pensacola, Fla., clinic.

In 1994, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of new AIDS cases in the United States had more than doubled in 1993.

In 1995, retired Air Force Gen. Michael Carns withdrew from consideration to head the CIA after an FBI background check turned up potential violations of labor and immigration law involving a young family friend Carns had arranged to bring to the United States from the Philippines.

In 1997, The Citadel announced that 10 male cadets had been disciplined for mistreating two female cadets; the women later resigned from the South Carolina military academy.

In 1998, Indonesian President Suharto was re-elected to a seventh term.

In 2003, The Palestinian Legislative Council created the position of prime minister but peace talks with Israel continued under the command of Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat.

Also in 2003, Cote d'Ivoire, torn by civil war for six months, got a new premier, Seydou Diarra, under a French-brokered peace accord.

A thought for the day: Dr. Karl Menninger said, "Love cures people -- both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it."