The Almanac

Today is Sunday, May 16, the 137th day of 2004 with 229 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include William Seward, secretary of state whose purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million was called "Seward's Folly," in 1801; banker Levi Morton, U.S. vice president under Benjamin Harrison, in 1824; David Hughes, inventor of the microphone, in 1831; actor Henry Fonda in 1905; author Studs Terkel in 1912 (age 92); bandleader Woody Herman in 1913; entertainer Liberace in 1919; former New York Yankees manager Billy Martin in 1928; actor Pierce Brosnan in 1952 (age 52); Olympic gold medal gymnast Olga Korbut and actress Debra Winger, both in 1955 (age 49); actress Mare Winningham in 1959 (age 45); singer Janet Jackson in 1966 (age 38); actress Tracey Gold in 1969 (age 35); tennis player Gabriela Sabatini in 1970 (age 34); and actors David Boreanaz ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel") in 1971 (age 33) and Tori Spelling in 1973 (age 31).

On this date in history:

In 1804, the French Senate declared Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.

In 1871, U.S. Marines landed in Korea in an unsuccessful attempt to open the country to foreign trade.

In 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded the first Oscars. "Wings" was named Best Picture.

In 1969, the unmanned Soviet spacecraft Venus-5 landed on the surface of Venus.

In 1988, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop described nicotine as addictive as heroin or cocaine and called for the licensing of tobacco product vendors.

In 1991, 13 of the 15 Soviet republics agreed on an emergency economic plan to ban strikes while increasing wages and worker productivity.

In 1992, a poll showed 1 in 8 Southern California households were victimized within the last two years by crimes involving firearms.

In 1995, the leader of a Japanese religious cult was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder in the March nerve-gas attacks in a Tokyo subway that killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000.

In 1996, Admiral Jeremy Boorda, chief of naval operations and the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy, shot himself to death after learning that Newsweek magazine wanted to question him about the propriety of wearing combat medals.

In 1997, President Clinton apologized for the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphillis in the Negro Male," which was conducted between 1932 and 1972.

Also in 1997, Mobutu Sese Seko -- who'd ruled Zaire for more than 30 years, looting it of billions of dollars -- fled the capital city as rebel forces advanced. The rebels entered the city the next day and Laurent Kabila declared himself head of state.

In 2003, suicidal terrorists set off five bombs simultaneously in Casablanca, Morocco, killing 41 and injuring about 100.

A thought for the day: From "H.M.S. Pinafore" comes these lines: "Things are seldom what they seem; Skim milk masquerades as cream."