The almanac

Today is Thursday, Jan. 8, the eighth day of 2009 with 357 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 financier Nicholas Biddle in 1786; educator and hymn writer Lowell Mason ("Nearer My God To Thee") in 1792; James Longstreet, Confederate general in the Civil War, in 1821; publisher Frank Doubleday in 1862; reading teacher Evelyn Wood in 1909; actor Jose Ferrer in 1912; comic actor Larry Storch in 1923 (age 86); comedian Soupy Sales in 1926 (age 83); newsman Charles Osgood in 1933 (age 76); rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley in 1935; singer Shirley Bassey in 1937 (age 72); Bob Eubanks in 1938 (age 71); actress Yvette Mimieux in 1942 (age 67); physicist and author Stephen Hawking in 1942 (age 67), and singer David Bowie in 1947 (age 62).

On this date in history:

In 1815, the forces of U.S. Gen. Andrew Jackson decisively defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, the closing engagement of the War of 1812.

In 1867, the U.S. Congress approved legislation that, for the first time, allowed blacks to vote in the District of Columbia.

In 1916, Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire that resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties.

In 1976, Chinese Premier Chou En-lai died in Beijing.

In 1987, Kay Orr was inaugurated in Lincoln, Neb., as the nation's first woman Republican governor.

Also in 1987, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at more than 2,000 for the first time.

In 1991, one person was killed and 248 injured when a London commuter train crashed into the buffers at a station.

Also in 1991, Pan American World Airways filed for bankruptcy.

In 1993, thousands gathered at Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn., to purchase the first issue of a stamp honoring the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" on what would have been his 58th birthday.

In 1997, a report by University of Texas scientists concluded that exposure to a combination of chemicals was somehow linked to Gulf War Syndrome, responsible for the various ailments reported by veterans of the 1991 conflict.

In 2002, U.S. President George Bush signed a major education bill that mandated annual testing for students in grades 3-8 and called for tutors for poor schools.

In 2004, the U.S. Defense Department announced it had designated former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a prisoner of war.

In 2005, the U.S. military said an airstrike in Mosul, Iraq, hit the wrong target, demolishing a civilian home and killing 14 people.

In 2006, a fire swept through a one-story wooden orphanage in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and killed 13 disabled children. Seventy-one others escaped.

Also in 2006, a reported 12 U.S. military personnel were killed when a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq.

In 2007, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced he would nationalize the nation's telecommunications and electric power industries then controlled by U.S. companies.

Also in 2007, more than 17,000 Iraqi civilians and police officers died violently since July, three times as many as in the first half of 2006, officials said.

In 2008, a series of winter tornadoes caused by record-breaking temperatures killed at least six people, destroyed houses and flooded roads in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Also in 2008, U.S. troops opened a major offensive in Iraq to drive Sunni insurgents from strongholds in Diyala Province.

A thought for the day: William Feather said, "Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."