The Almanac

Today is Monday, June 7, the 159th day of 2004 with 207 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 Gemini. They include British fashion-plate George "Beau" Brummel in 1778; French post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin in 1848; bandleader Glen Gray in 1906; actor-singer Dean Martin in 1917; actress Jessica Tandy in 1909; Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, in 1917; singer Tom Jones in 1940 (age 64); talk-show host Jenny Jones in 1946 (age 58); actor Liam Neeson in 1952 (age 52); singer/songwriter Prince (formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince) in 1958 (age 46); tennis star Anna Kournikova in 1981 (age 23).

On this date in history:

In 1864, Republican delegates meeting in Baltimore re-nominated Abraham Lincoln as president. His running mate was Andrew Johnson.

In 1942, Japanese forces occupied Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. U.S. forces retook the islands one year later.

In 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law banning contraceptives.

In 1975, the first videocassette recorder went on sale to the public.

In 1982, Israeli jets bombed central Beirut while Israeli ground forces captured Beaufort Castle and surrounded the Lebanese city of Sidon.

In 1983, one day after Nicaragua expelled three U.S. diplomats, the Reagan administration ordered six Nicaraguan consulates closed and expelled six Nicaraguan diplomats.

In 1990, South African President de Klerk lifted a four-year-old nationwide state of emergency in all but the strife-torn Indian Ocean province of Natal.

In 1991, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir rejected U.S. calls for compromise to convene a Middle East peace conference.

In 1992, a British newspaper reported that Princess Diana, in despair over her marriage to Prince Charles, made five attempts at suicide and had suffered from depression-linked illnesses.

In 1993, the ninth International Conference on AIDS opened in Berlin.

In 1995, using his veto power for the first time, President Clinton vetoed a bill passed by Congress.

In 1996, Max Factor, who pioneered smudge-proof lipstick, died.

In 1997, the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. It was the team's first hockey title in 42 years.

In 2000, the federal judge hearing the Microsoft anti-trust suit ordered the break-up of the software giant.

In 2002, U.S. missionary Martin Burnham, captured in the Philippines by a Muslim group more than a year earlier, was fatally shot during a rescue attempt.

Also in 2002, A Norwalk,Conn., jury convicted Michael Skakel, 41, nephew of Sen. Robert Kennedy, in the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, his 15-year-old neighbor.

In 2003, four German peacekeepers were killed and 31 others hurt when a bomb exploded near a bus in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In 2003 sports, Empire Maker won the Belmont Stakes, thwarting Funny Cide's bid for horse racing's Triple Crown. Funny Cide, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, finished third in the Belmont.

A thought for the day: Goethe said, "Talent develops in quiet; character in the maelstrom of the world."