The almanac

Today is Monday, May 19, the 140th day of 2008 with 226 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Neptune, Uranus and Jupiter. The evening stars are Mars, Mercury 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 74); actor/TV talk show host David Hartman in 1935 (age 73); actor James Fox in 1939 (age 69); author Nora Ephron in 1941 (age 67); British rock star Pete Townshend in 1945 (age 63); and actress/model/singer Grace Jones in 1952 (age 56).

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, renowned British soldier and author 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 a record high -- 3,500.03.

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

In 2003, 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 while 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.

In 2006, a U.N. committee urged the United States to close all secret "war on terror" detention facilities abroad and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The White House said that all interrogations at Guantanamo are within U.S. law.

In 2007, China reported the latest outbreak of bird flu had led to the killing of more than 11,000 poultry in Hunan Province. Thousands of others were being checked.

Also in 2007, independent Russian journalists said they would fight eviction from their offices in a government-owned Moscow building, stepping up tensions between the media and the Putin administration.

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.