The Almanac

Today is Monday, Nov. 13, the 317th day of 2006 with 48 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include St. Augustine of Hippo, a theologian, in 354; King Edward III of England in 1312; Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson in 1850; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in 1856; actor Richard Mulligan in 1932; TV producer/director Garry Marshall in 1934 (age 72); and actors Dack Rambo in 1941; Joe Mantegna in 1947 (age 59), Whoopi Goldberg in 1955 (age 51), Chris Noth in 1954 (age 52) and Tracy Scoggins in 1953 (age 53).

On this date in history:

In 1927, the Holland Tunnel was opened under the Hudson River, linking New York City and New Jersey.

In 1933, the first recorded "sit-down" strike in the United States was staged by workers at the Hormel Packing Company in Austin, Minn.

In 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case from Montgomery, Ala., that segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional.

In 1967, Carl Stokes became the first black American mayor when he was elected in Cleveland.

In 1974, Yasser Arafat told the U.N. General Assembly that the goal of the Palestine Liberation Organization was to establish an independent state of Palestine.

In 1982, the Vietnam War Memorial was dedicated in Washington.

In 1985, a volcano erupted in Colombia, killing 25,000 people. It was the third-deadliest volcano disaster in history.

In 1992, a group of Peruvian military officers tried unsuccessfully to assassinate President Fujimori and overthrow the government.

In 1993, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Farooq Leghari was chosen president.

In 1997, Iraq expelled the U.S. members of the U.N. team that had been sent to verify Iraq's compliance with U.N. directives.

In 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian leader Putin agreed to reduce stockpiles of nuclear weapons by about two-thirds.

In 2003, a U.N. specialist said counter-terrorist legislation in the United States was having a negative impact on human rights.

In 2004, one day after Yasser Arafat's burial, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei called for the continuation of peace talks with Israel.

Also in 2004, an Iraqi national security adviser said up to 1,000 insurgents were killed in the 6-day battle for Fallujah.

In 2005, a U.S.-brokered meeting in Bahrain to promote democracy in Muslim countries reportedly achieved little except to approve funding for a new foundation.

Also in 2005, Jordanian King Abdullah II said the Iraqi al-Qaida bombers who struck three hotels this week were "insane" and vowed to take the fight to them.

A thought for the day: U.S. Army Gen. Douglas McArthur said, "In war there is no substitute for victory."