The almanac

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2009, with 358 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Frenchman Jacques Montgolfier, who, with his brother, invented the hot air balloon, in 1745; Millard Fillmore, 13th president of the United States, in 1800; Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, who became St. Bernadette and whose visions led to the foundation of the shrine at Lourdes, France, in 1844; film executive Adolph Zukor in 1873; ghoulish cartoonist Charles Addams in 1912; actor Vincent Gardenia in 1922; author William Blatty ("The Exorcist") in 1928 (age 81); rock 'n' roll band leader Paul Revere in 1938 (age 71) and singer Kenny Loggins in 1948 (age 61); Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner in 1946 (age 63); CBS news anchor and former "Today" co-host Katie Couric in 1957 (age 52); and actor Nicholas Cage in 1964 (age 45).

On this date in history:

In 1610, Galileo, using his primitive telescope, discovered the four major moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

In 1789, the first nationwide U.S. presidential election was held. The electors chosen by the voters unanimously picked George Washington as president and John Adams as vice president.

In 1927, commercial trans-Atlantic telephone service between New York and London was inaugurated.

In 1931, as the Great Depression was getting under way, a report to U.S President Herbert Hoover estimated that 4 million to 5 million Americans were out of work.

In 1979, the Cambodian government of Pol Pot was overthrown.

In 1989, Japan's Emperor Hirohito died.

In 1991, loyalist troops attacked Haiti's presidential palace, rescuing President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and capturing the coup plotters.

In 1993, the EPA released a long-awaited report that classified environmental tobacco smoke as a carcinogen.

In 1997, U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., was re-elected Speaker of the House and was then reprimanded for violating House rules and misleading the House ethics committee in its inquiry into possible political use of tax-exempt donations.

In 1998, a federal jury in Denver was unable to agree on a penalty for Terry Nichols, convicted in December 1997 in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. That meant he would not face the death penalty.

In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial opened in the Senate. He was acquitted.

In 2003, President George Bush proposed a tax-cut package of $670 billion over 10 years, a major feature being the elimination of the tax on stock dividends.

In 2004, U.S. President George Bush unveiled an immigration reform program that would allow millions of undocumented workers the opportunity to obtain temporary guest worker status.

In 2005, Mississippi authorities arrested an 80-year-old man for the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers.

In 2007, Democratic Party leaders now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives agreed that U.S. President George Bush would not get "a blank check" for the Iraq war and that efforts would be made to avoid wasting taxpayer money, fraud and abuse.

In 2008, three explosions and a massive fire at a soon-to-be-opened refrigerated warehouse killed 22 laborers in Icheon, South Korea.

Also in 2008, the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor resumed at The Hague. Taylor was charged with crimes against humanity for supporting rebel troops in Sierra Leone's civil war that claimed about 300,000 lives in the 1990s.

In 2008 sports, former major league pitcher Roger Clemens filed a lawsuit in Houston charging that his former trainer defamed him with allegations of steroid use.

A thought for the day: an anonymous author wrote: "Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg."