The almanac

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Today is Saturday, Dec. 15, the 349th day of 2007 with 16 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include the Roman emperor Nero in 37A.D.; Polish linguist Ludwik Zamenhof, creator of the international language Esperanto, in 1859; French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, builder of the Paris tower that bears his name and engineer of the Statue of Liberty, in 1832; playwright Maxwell Anderson in 1888; billionaire oilman J. Paul Getty in 1892; bandleader Stan Kenton in 1911; pioneer rock 'n' roll disc jockey Alan Freed in 1922; comic actor Tim Conway in 1933 (age 74); rock musician Dave Clark in 1942 (age 65); and actors Don Johnson in 1949 (age 58); Helen Slater in 1963 (age 44) and Garrett Wang ("Star Trek: Voyager") in 1968 (age 39).

On this date in history:

In 1791, the Bill of Rights, comprising the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, took effect.

In 1890, Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull was killed in a skirmish with U.S. soldiers along the Grand River, S.D.

In 1939, the movie version of "Gone with the Wind" premiered in Atlanta.

In 1943, the Battle of San Pietro between U.S. forces and a German panzer battalion left the 700-year-old Italian town in ruins.

In 1948, a federal grand jury in New York indicted former U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss on perjury charges.

In 1954, what may be considered TV's first mini-series premiered. "Davy Crockett" aired in a series of five segments on Walt Disney's "Disneyland" show.

In 1961, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer regarded as the architect of the World War II Jewish Holocaust, was condemned to death by an Israeli war crimes tribunal.

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association reversed its longstanding position and declared that homosexuality is not a mental illness.

Also in 1973, Jean Paul Getty III, grandson of U.S. billionaire J. Paul Getty, was found alive near Naples, five months after his kidnapping by an Italian gang.

In 1982, Teamsters Union President Roy Williams and four others were convicted in federal court of conspiring to bribe Sen. Howard Cannon, D-Nev.

In 1989, Panamanian lawmakers designated Gen. Manuel Noriega head of state and declared that a "state of war" existed with the United States.

In 1990, in a landmark right-to-die case, a Missouri judge cleared the way for the parents of Nancy Cruzan to remove their daughter from life-support systems.

In 1991, more than 400 people drowned when a ferry headed from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Egypt sank in the Red Sea. Some 150 people were rescued.

In 1992, the governor of Michigan signed a bill making assisted suicide a felony on the same day two chronically ill women killed themselves with the help of "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian.

Also in 1992, Salvadorans celebrated the formal end to their country's 12-year civil war.

In 1993, British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds issued a "framework for lasting peace" in Northern Ireland.

Also in 1993, the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ended with agreement on new global-trade regulations.

In 1997, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered all 1.4 million men and women in uniform to be inoculated against anthrax.

Also in 1997, 85 people were killed when a Tajik charter airliner crashed in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2000, first lady and senator-elect Hillary Clinton signed an $8 million book deal to write a memoir of her years in the White House.

In 2003, as Iraqi leaders urged that a war crime tribunal try Saddam Hussein, U.S. President George Bush said he favored "ultimate justice" and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the trial must meet international standards.

In 2004, a 14-hour bus hostage siege in Athens, Greece, ended when the two Albanian gunmen released the last of their 23 captives and surrendered.

In 2005, U.S. President George Bush authorized surveillance without warrants on citizens suspected of terrorist connections, news reports said.

Also in 2005, as many as 11 million Iraqis turned out to select their first permanent parliament since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

And, in 2005, U.S. President George Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced a tentative deal to ban interrogation torture by U.S. troops and personnel.

In 2006, a watchdog group charged that a nuclear warhead nearly exploded in Texas while being dismantled at the government's Pantex facility near Amarillo.

Also in 2006, Al Jazeera English, the world's first English-language news TV channel based in the Middle East, was launched in Doha, Qatar.

A thought for the day: the title of a poem by Stephane Mallarme is "A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance."