The almanac

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Today is Saturday, Oct. 6, the 279th day of 2007 with 86 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," in 1820; inventor and manufacturer George Westinghouse in 1846; tennis champion Helen Wills Moody in 1905; actresses Janet Gaynor in 1906 and Carole Lombard in 1908; Norwegian ethnologist, archaeologist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl in 1914; former "60 Minutes" journalist Shana Alexander in 1925; and actresses Britt Eklund in 1942 (age 65) and Elisabeth Shue in 1963 (age 44).

On this date in history:

In 1853, Antioch College opened in Yellow Springs, Ohio. It was the first non-sectarian school to offer equal opportunity for both men and women.

In 1921, sports writer Grantland Rice was at the microphone as the World Series was broadcast on radio for the first time.

In 1927, the movies began learning to talk. "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson, Hollywood's legendary "first talkie," premiered in New York, ushering in the era of sound to great moviegoer enthusiasm and heralded the end of the silents.

In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated as he reviewed a military parade in Cairo.

In 1985, England's worst post-war race rioting, which began almost a month earlier in Birmingham, spread to the Tottenham section of London. One officer died and 125 people were injured.

In 1989, Oscar-winning Hollywood legend Bette Davis died of cancer in a suburb of Paris. She was 81.

In 1991, Anita Hill, a former personal assistant to Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas, accused Thomas of sexual harassment.

In 1992, a study said two-thirds of adults have oral herpes and one-third have genital herpes.

In 1994, South African President Nelson Mandela addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton used his new line-item veto power to eliminate 38 military spending projects.

In 2001, Cal Ripkin Jr. retired after a spectacular baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles that included playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games.

In 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States faced the possibility of a futile war in Iraq, which he said "could become a new center, a new magnet for all destructive elements."

In 2004, a U.S. weapons inspector said that Iraq began destroying its illicit weapons in 1991 and had none by 1996, seven years before the United States invaded.

In 2005, U.S. President George Bush said the United States and allied forces had foiled at least three al-Qaida U.S. attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.

Also in 2005, Canadian health officials said an additional six older people died in Toronto from a mysterious respiratory virus, but the toll of 16 dead wasn't considered a threat to the city.

In 2006, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R.-Ill., refused to resign over his handling of the Mark Foley scandal.

Also in 2006, reports said most of the nearly 20,000 residents of Apex, North Carolina, fled their homes after a large toxic chemical fire broke out in the area.

And, the Republican-controlled National Labor Relations Board issued a new ruling on the definition of supervisor that reportedly could block millions of workers from joining a union.

A thought for the day: Tansu Ciller, the first woman prime minister of Turkey, said, "Nobody can resist a ripe idea. The idea today is change."