The Almanac

Today is Thursday, Feb. 10, the 41st day of 2005 with 324 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include journalist William Allen White in 1868; Russian author Boris Pasternak in 1890; entertainer Jimmy Durante in 1893; German dramatist Bertolt Brecht in 1898; actress Dame Judith Anderson also in 1898; actor Lon Chaney Jr. in 1905; operatic soprano Leontyne Price in 1927 (age 78); actor Robert Wagner in 1930 (age 75); singers Roberta Flack in 1940 (age 65) and Donovan in 1946 (age 59); Olympic gold medal swimmer Mark Spitz in 1950 (age 55); and actress Laura Dern in 1967 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War between Britain and Spain.

In 1897, the slogan "All The News That's Fit To Print" first appeared on page one of The New York Times.

In 1962, U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was returned to the United States in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

In 1964, 82 Australian sailors died when an aircraft carrier and a destroyer collided off New South Wales, Australia.

In 1984, Americans and other foreigners were evacuated from Beirut following the withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Lebanon.

In 1987, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop endorsed television advertising for condoms to help curb the spread of AIDS.

In 1991, ANC gunmen ambushed an Inkatha Freedom Party motorcade outside Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, killing 17 and wounding 29.

In 1992, an Indianapolis jury convicted former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson in the rape of a beauty pageant contestant.

In 1993, President Clinton moved to make good on a campaign pledge to cut the government. He announced a 100,000-person reduction in the federal work force over the next three years.

Also in 1993, a gang of more than 40 people ambushed two trucks in a mountainous region of Mexico, shooting to death at least 24 men in a drug-related family feud.

In 1998, Monica Lewinsky's mother began two days of testimony before a grand jury investigating allegations that President Clinton had an affair with the former White House intern.

Also in 1998, after being vacant for more than three years, the office of surgeon general was filled when the Senate approved the nomination of Dr. David Satcher, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control.

In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security issued national guidelines on preparing for an attack involving chemical, biological or radiological weapons.

In 2004, at least 43 people died in the crash of an Iranian civilian airplane near Sharjah airport the United Arab Emirates. There were three survivors.

A thought for the day: "To keep your marriage brimming, / With love in the loving cup, / Whenever you're wrong, admit it; / Whenever you're right, shut up." Ogden Nash said that