The Almanac

Today is Tuesday, May 18, the 139th day of 2004 with 227 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 English philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell in 1872; German architect Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus, in 1883; film director Frank Capra in 1897; American composer Meredith Willson ("The Music Man") in 1902; singer Perry Como and director/screenwriter Richard Brooks ("Key Largo," "Elmer Gantry"), both in 1912; ballet dancer Dame Margot Fonteyn in 1919; Pope John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyla, in 1920 (age 84); actors Pernell Roberts in 1930 (age 74) and Robert Morse in 1931 (age 73); former baseball star Reggie Jackson in 1946 (age 58); country singer George Strait in 1952 (age 52); and actor Chow Yun-Fat in 1955 (age 49).

On this date in history:

In 1860, the Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln for president at its convention in Chicago.

In 1933, Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority for the purpose of flood control and rural electrification.

In 1944, Allied troops captured Monte Cassino in Italy, after one of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War II.

In 1979, a federal jury in Oklahoma City awarded $10.5 million to the estate of Karen Silkwood, a laboratory technician contaminated by radiation at a Kerr-McGee plutonium plant in 1974.

In 1980, Mount St. Helen's in southwestern Washington state erupted, blowing the top off the mountain and killing at least 55 people.

In 1990, East and West Germany signed a treaty for economic, monetary and social union. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said the pact marked the "birth of a free and unified Germany."

In 1991, chemist Helen Sharmon became the first Briton in space when she blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center aboard a Soviet spacecraft.

In 1992, bandleader Lawrence Welk, whose bubbly champagne dance music made him a millionaire, died at age 89.

In 1993, President Clinton got a haircut, which reportedly cost $200, while Air Force One sat on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport for an hour, delaying other flights.

In 1994, the last Israeli soldiers pulled out of the Gaza Strip as Palestinian police took their place.

In 2000, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani withdrew from the U.S. Senate race, citing his treatment for prostate cancer.

In 2003, Morocco's King Mohamed VI personally oversaw the investigation into the suicide bombings that killed 41 and wounded another 100 in downtown Casablanca, promising aid for the families of the victims. At least 30 people were being questioned.

A thought for the day: Lewis Mumford wrote, "Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf."