The almanac

Today is Saturday, Oct. 3, the 276th day of 2009 with 89 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include Cherokee Chief John Ross, who led opposition to the forced move of his people to what is now Oklahoma, in 1790; historian George Bancroft in 1800; novelists Thomas Wolfe in 1900 and Gore Vidal in 1925 (age 84); rock 'n' roll singer Chubby Checker in 1941 (age 68); singer/songwriter Lindsey Buckingham in 1947 (age 62); guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1954; actor/singer Jack Wagner in 1959 (age 50); and actress Neve Campbell in 1973 (age 36).

On this date in history:

In 1922, Rebecca Felton, a Georgia Democrat, became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

In 1932, Iraq won its independence after Britain ended its mandate over the Arab nation following 17 years of British rule.

In 1952, Britain successfully tested its first atomic bomb.

In 1955, the children's TV show "Captain Kangaroo" with Bob Keeshan in the title role was broadcast for the first time.

In 1967, folksinger and songwriter Woody Guthrie died at the age of 55.

In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko signed strategic arms limitation agreements, putting the first restrictions on the two countries' nuclear weapons.

In 1981, IRA prisoners at Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended a seven-month hunger strike in which 10 men died.

In 1989, troops loyal to Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega crushed a coup attempt by rebel mid-level officers. Noriega was held briefly by coup plotters but escaped unharmed.

In 1990, formerly communist East Germany merged with West Germany, ending 45 years of post-war division.

In 1992, William Gates III, the college-dropout founder of Microsoft Corp., headed the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans with a net worth of $6.3 billion.

In 1993, fighting erupted in the streets of Moscow between pro- and anti-Yeltsin forces. Sixty-two people died in the violence that ended two days later when the rebel vice president and speaker of parliament surrendered.

In 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of charges that he killed his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.

Also in 1995, a bomb nearly killed the president of Macedonia, a relatively peaceful part of the former Yugoslavia.

In 2001, amid rising concerns about the use of lethal substances by terrorists, the U.S. government said it was planning to stockpile 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine.

In 2002, fear escalated in the Washington area as five people were killed over a 16-hour period in apparent random sniper shootings.

In 2005, Harriet Miers, the White House counsel, was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by U.S. President George Bush to succeed the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor. Meanwhile, the high court opened a new term with a new chief justice, John Roberts.

Also in 2005, a Texas grand jury indicted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the former House of Representatives majority leader, for money laundering. The new indictment was aimed at correcting problems with an earlier charge against him.

And, in 2005, U.N. monitors said Afghanistan's parliamentary elections were marred by significant fraud and voter intimidation.

In 2006, a hijacked Turkish Airlines jetliner with 113 aboard landed safely in Brindisi, Italy, after Italian military jets escorted it down. The Italian civil aviation agency said the two hijackers were unarmed and wanted to get a message to Pope Benedict XVI.

In 2007, U.S. President George Bush vetoed a bill that would have increased funding of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to provide health coverage to more than 10 million children. Bush said the proposal was a move toward universal healthcare, which he opposed.

Also in 2007, more than 3,000 miners were trapped in a South African gold mine after power was cut accidentally to an elevator used to take them to the surface. There were no injuries reported but rescue by the remaining elevator took hours.

In 2008, U.S. President George Bush signed the $700 billion bailout bill into law. The House of Representatives, which had rejected the plan, approved a revised proposal following the lead of the Senate, which endorsed it two days earlier.

Also in 2008, trouble continued in the banking sector. Wachovia, which would later report a record third-quarter loss of $23.7 billion, agreed to be purchased by Wells Fargo for $15.4 billion.

And, O.J. Simpson and a co-defendant were convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping in connection with a 2007 Las Vegas incident. Simpson and five others were charged with stealing sports memorabilia from two collectibles dealers.

A thought for the day: American poet Emily Dickinson wrote,

"Behold this little Bane --

"The Boon of all alive --

"As common as it is known

"The name of it is Love."