The Almanac

Today is Saturday, Nov. 6, the 311th day of 2004 with 55 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Belgian instrument-maker Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, in 1814; band leader and composer John Philip Sousa in 1854; Charles Henry Dow, co-founder of Dow Jones and Co. and first editor of The Wall Street Journal, in 1851; James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball, in 1861; musician Ray Conniff in 1916; director Mike Nichols in 1931 (age 73); actress Sally Field in 1946 (age 58); singer/songwriter Glenn Frey in 1948 (age 56); TV journalist and California First Lady Maria Shriver in 1955 (age 49); actors Lance Kerwin in 1960 (age 44) and Ethan Hawke in 1970 (age 34); and TV personality Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in 1972 (age 32).

On this date in history:

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th president of the United States.

In 1869, in the first formal intercollegiate football game, Rutgers beat Princeton, 6-4.

In 1917, the Bolshevik revolution began in Russia. Because it took place under the old czarist calendar, it is known as the October Revolution.

In 1921, the cult of Rudolph Valentino was launched with the release of his silent film "The Sheik," which despite negative reviews immediately caught the attention of women across the country.

In 1952, the United States exploded the world's first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.

In 1968, Republican Richard Nixon was elected 37th president of the United States, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey.

In 1984, President Reagan was elected to a second term, winning 49 states.

In 1986, U.S. intelligence sources confirmed an earlier report that the United States had been secretly selling arms to Iran in an effort to secure the release of seven Amerian hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

Also in 1986, President Reagan signed the landmark immigration reform bill, the first U.S. immigration law authorizing penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens.

In 1990, in the general election, the Democrats wrested governorships from Republicans in Texas and Florida, but lost a third key race in California.

Also in 1990, a gunman opened fire as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the Revolution Day parade. Gorbachev was not hurt.

In 1991, Ukraine signed the Soviet economic-union treaty at the Kremlin.

In 1992, a presidential commission called on Congress to restore laws against women combat pilots repealed the previous year.

In 1993, the ruling New Zealand National Party won a one-seat majority in general elections.

In 1994, George Foreman, 45, became the oldest boxer to win a championship fight in any weight class by knocking out Michael Moore in Las Vegas to claim the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association heavyweight titles.

In 1995, numerous world leaders gathered in Jerusalem for the funeral of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In 1997, President Clinton and three of the four living former presidents of the United States attended the dedication of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas. Nancy Reagan stood in for her husband, who could not attend.

In 2001, speaking at a Warsaw summit, President George W. Bush said for the first time that Osama Bin Laden was trying to get chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

In 2001 sports, major league baseball owners voted overwhelmingly in favor of eliminating two money-losing teams by the start of the 2002 season. But, no further action was taken.

In 2002, the U.N. Security Council began considering the revised U.S. draft resolution that would declare Iraq in continuing "material breach" of previous measures and warn Baghdad of "serious consequences" if it fails to cooperate with weapons inspectors.

In 2003, President George W. Bush responded to growing doubts about his Iraq policy by claiming that success in Iraq -- and the entire Middle East -- was inevitable.

A thought for the day: John Maynard Keyes said, "Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assault of thought on the unthinking."