The almanac

Today is Saturday, Nov. 1, the 306th day of 2008 with 60 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include journalist and novelist Stephen Crane in 1871; sportswriter/poet Grantland Rice and Polish author Sholem Asch, both in 1880; journalist James Kilpatrick in 1920 (age 88); actress Betsy Palmer in 1926 (age 82); golfer Gary Player in 1935 (age 73); publisher Larry Flynt in 1942 (age 66); country singer Lyle Lovett in 1957 (age 51); and actresses Rachel Ticotin in 1958 (age 50) and Jenny McCarthy in 1972 (age 36).

On this date in history:

In 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, one of Italian artist Michelangelo's finest works, was exhibited to the public for the first time.

In 1755, an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, killed 60,000 people.

In 1765, American colonists were furious over the new British Stamp Act, termed "taxation without representation" and, ultimately, a major cause of the revolution.

In 1800, U.S. President John Adams and his family moved into the newly built White House as Washington became the U.S. capital.

In 1918, the Hapsburg monarchy of Austria-Hungary was dissolved. Vienna became the capital of Austria and Budapest the capital of Hungary.

In 1922, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey became a republic.

In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into the Blair House in Washington in an attempt to assassinate U.S. President Harry Truman.

In 1986, a warehouse fire in Basel, Switzerland, triggered massive chemical pollution of the Rhine River in Switzerland, France, West Germany and the Netherlands.

In 1990, McDonald's, under pressure from environmental groups, said it would replace plastic food containers with paper.

In 1991, the Russian Congress of People's Deputies granted Boris Yeltsin sweeping powers to launch and direct radical economic reforms in Russia.

In 1993, the European Community's treaty on European unity took effect.

In 2002, a powerful earthquake and more than 30 aftershocks shook Italy's remote Molise region, killing at least 29 people.

In 2006, China and Vietnam prepared for Typhoon Cimaron that bore down with 100-mph winds. The storm hit the northern Philippines island of Luzon earlier, killing 13 and inflicting heavy damage with high winds, floods and landslides.

In 2007, Paul Tibbets Jr., who flew the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, hastening the end of World War II, died in his Columbus, Ohio, home at age 92.

A thought for the day: Eubie Blake, who lived to be 100, reportedly said, "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."