The almanac

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 10, the 254th day of 2008 with 112 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include English scientist and clergyman John Needham in 1713; physicist Arthur Holly Compton in 1892; English critic Cyril Connolly in 1903; film director Robert Wise in 1914; golfer Arnold Palmer in 1929 (age 79); television journalist Charles Kuralt and homer-hitting baseball star Roger Maris, both in 1934; singer Jose Feliciano in 1945 (age 63); musician Joe Perry in 1950 (age 58), and actors Amy Irving in 1953 (age 55), Colin Firth in 1960 (age 48) and Clark Johnson ("Homicide: Life on the Street") in 1954 (age 54).

On this date in history:

In 1813, U.S. naval units under the command of Capt. Oliver Perry defeated a British squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie.

In 1823, Simon Bolivar, who led the wars for independence from Spain in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, was named president of Peru with dictatorial powers.

In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for the sewing machine.

In 1963, blacks entered the white public schools of Birmingham, Tuskegee and Mobile, Ala., after U.S. President John Kennedy federalized the state's National Guard.

In 1996, the United Nations approved the new nuclear test ban treaty, 158-3.

Also in 1996, Hurricane Hortense hit Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, killing 20 people.

In 1998, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams had face-to-face talks with David Trimble, leader of Northern Ireland's Protestant Unionists, for the first time.

In 2000, the U.S. government agreed to drop virtually all charges against Chinese-American scientist Wen Ho Lee, accused of stealing nuclear secrets from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

In 2002, Switzerland and Timor-Leste joined the United Nations, expanding the membership roll to 191.

In 2003, the former treasurer of bankrupt Enron was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal wire fraud and ordered to give up close to $1 million in profits from his illegal transaction.

In 2004, top U.S. forensic document specialists said papers described by CBS News as proving U.S. President George Bush shirked military duty may have been faked.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina's disruption pushed gas prices in European countries to staggering levels. British drivers were reported paying the equivalent of $7 a gallon.

In 2007, a rebel leader claims the Sudanese government has bombed Darfur, killing at least 28 people. An estimated 200,000 people are believed to have died in the rebel-ravaged town of Darfur in the past four years.

A thought for the day: Francois Duc de La Rochefoucauld wrote, "Absence weakens mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and kindles fires."