The almanac

Today is Friday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2009 with 125 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include German poet, novelist and dramatist Johann von Goethe in 1749; Elizabeth Ann Seton, first U.S.-born saint of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1774; actor Charles Boyer in 1899; psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in 1903; actor/dancer Donald O'Connor in 1925; actor Ben Gazzara in 1930 (age 79); former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen in 1940 (age 69); singer/actor David Soul in 1943 (age 66); actor Daniel Stern in 1957 (age 52); ice skater Scott Hamilton in 1958 (age 51); actors Emma Samms in 1960 (age 49) and Jason Priestley in 1969 (age 40); and country singers Shania Twain in 1965 (age 44) and LeAnn Rimes in 1982 (age 27).

On this date in history:

In 1922, a New York City realty company paid $100 for the first radio commercial, on station WEAF.

In 1955, while visiting family in Money, Miss., 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African-American from Chicago, was slain for flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His alleged killers were acquitted.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before more than 200,000 people gathered for the "Freedom March" in Washington.

In 1968, the Democratic Party nominated Hubert Humphrey for president as thousands of anti-Vietnam War demonstrators battled police in the streets and parks of Chicago.

In 1986, Soviet spy Jerry Whitworth was sentenced in San Francisco to 365 years in prison and fined $410,000.

In 1988, more than 50 people were killed in the Philippines in an unsuccessful coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino.

In 1990, at least 27 people died and more than 350 were injured when a tornado struck Will County, Ill., southwest of Chicago.

In 1996, after four years of separation, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana, were formally divorced.

In 2002, four men, three of them working at the airport, were indicted in Detroit as suspected terrorists. Another man, suspected of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, was indicted in Seattle.

In 2003, North Korea said it would prove it had nuclear weapons by conducting a test. The warning came at the conclusion of talks in Beijing with other nations over North Korea's weapons program.

In 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell canceled plans to attend closing ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in Athens after protests against U.S. foreign policy.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina picked up strength as it roared toward the Gulf Coast, reaching Category 5 status, with winds of almost 150 miles an hour, touching off one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history. The mayor of New Orleans issued a mandatory evacuation order while fleeing residents clogged highways in other parts of Louisiana and in Mississippi and Alabama.

In 2006, U.S. schoolteacher John Mark Karr was returned to the United States to face charges of killing JonBenet Ramsey, the 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen 10 years earlier and whose slaying he had admitted. But the case against him quickly crumbled when DNA tests showed he wasn't involved.

In 2007, Abdullah Gul was elected president in the third round of parliamentary voting in Turkey, reported to be the nation's first Islamist chief in modern history.

Also in 2007, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, admitted he pleaded guilty without consulting a lawyer to disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis airport men's room incident in June but insisted he had done nothing wrong.

In 2008, Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president, chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

Also in 2008, as part of a $3 billion deal, China agreed to provide Iraq with technical advisers, workers and equipment to develop the Ahdab oil field.

A thought for the day: author Salman Rushdie said, "Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way."