The Almanac

Today is Friday, May 19, the 139th day of 2006 with 226 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include American-born Nancy Astor, the first woman member of the British Parliament, in 1879; Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in 1890; Black Muslim leader Malcolm X in 1925; playwright Lorraine Hansberry ("A Raisin in the Sun") in 1930; journalist Jim Lehrer in 1934 (age 72); actor/TV talk show host David Hartman in 1935 (age 71); actor James Fox in 1939 (age 67); author Nora Ephron in 1941 (age 65); British rock star Peter Townshend in 1945 (age 61); and actress/model/singer Grace Jones in 1952 (age 54).

On this date in history:

In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second of King Henry VIII's six wives and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded.

In 1588, the Spanish Armada, assembled to invade England, set sail from Lisbon.

In 1935, T.E. Lawrence, known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died in a motorcycle accident in England.

In 1964, it was revealed that U.S. diplomats had found at least 40 secret microphones hidden in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

In 1986, in the first direct talks between China and Taiwan in 37 years, Beijing agreed to return a cargo jet flown to the mainland by a defecting Nationalist pilot.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered the creation of a human fetal tissue bank for medical research.

In 1993, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all-time high -- 3,500.03.

Also in 1993, the White House announced that all seven staff members of the White House travel office had been dismissed in the so-called Travel-gate furor.

In 1994, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died at age 64.

In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush said the administration-backed "road map" for Middle East peace still stood despite a flurry of terrorist attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Also in 2003, the World Health Organization said Taiwan reported 70 new cases of SARS and five more deaths, making it the most rapidly growing outbreak at the time.

In 2004, a staff report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks criticized aspects of the response and rescue efforts, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani defended the overall endeavor but acknowledged that "some terrible mistakes" were made.

In 2005, South Korean researchers said they had developed a highly efficient method for human cloning. The following day, British scientists at Newcastle University announced they had cloned their first human embryo using a method called nuclear transfer.

A thought for the day: Lots of people have written that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," but the first person to write it in precisely those words was Margaret Wolfe Hungerford.