The Almanac

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Today is Thursday, April 28, the 118th day of 2005 with 247 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, in 1758; actor Lionel Barrymore in 1878; novelist Harper Lee ("To Kill a Mockingbird") in 1926 (age 79); former Secretary of State James Baker in 1930 (age 75); former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 1937 (age 68); actors Carolyn Jones in 1933, Madge Sinclair in 1938 (age 67), Ann-Margret in 1941 (age 64), Marcia Strassman in 1948 (age 57) and Bruno Kirby in 1949 (age 56); "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno in 1950 (age 55); and actress Penelope Cruz in 1974 (age 31).

On this date in history:

In 1788, Maryland ratified the Constitution, becoming the seventh state of the Union.

In 1789, the most famous of all naval mutinies took place aboard the HMS Bounty en route from Tahiti to Jamaica.

In 1945, fascist leader Benito Mussolini, his mistress and several of his friends were executed by Italian partisans.

In 1975, the last American civilians were evacuated from South Vietnam as North Vietnamese forces tightened their noose around Saigon.

In 1986, the Soviet Union announced the Chernobyl nuclear reactor fire had killed two people, with 197 hospitalized. Nine months later, it reported 31 had died and 231 suffered radiation sickness.

In 1988, an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 lost an 18-foot chunk of fuselage at 24,000 feet between Hilo and Honolulu, Hawaii, killing a woman flight attendant. The pilot landed on Maui with the remaining 94 passengers and crew, 61 of them injured.

In 1993, Defense Secretary Aspin opened combat aircraft to military service women and sought a change in the law to allow women to serve on naval combat vessels.

Also in 1993, Attorney General Reno says she ordered the ill-fated end to Waco, Texas, standoff after being convinced David Koresh would never give up voluntarily and that mass suicide was unlikely.

In 1994, the Navy expelled 24 midshipmen from the U.S Naval Academy in what was said to be the biggest cheating scandal in Annapolis history.

Also in 1994, former CIA officer Aldrich Ames pleaded guilty to spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.

In 1996, President Clinton testified via videotape as a defense witness in the Whitewater trial.

Also in 1996, a rampage by a gunman in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, killed a total of 35 people.

In 1997, separatists holed up inside their "embassy" near Fort Davis, Texas, released their two hostages.

In 2000, 17 U.S. states joined with the federal government in asking a federal judge in the Microsoft anti-trust case to break the company into two parts.

In 2001, California businessman Dennis Tito became the first tourist in space. He reportedly paid Russia's cash-strapped space agency as much as $20 million to give him a ride to the International Space Station.

In 2003, Iraqis said 15 people were killed and about 65 wounded when U.S. soldiers opened fire on a group holding an anti-America rally. U.S. officials said the soldiers were responding to gunfire.

Also in 2003, the SARS outbreak in Beijing escalated rapidly during April and stood at a reported 1,199 by month's end.

In 2004, about 100 people were killed when armed insurgents stormed several police stations in southern Thailand.

A thought for the day: H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, "Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking."