The almanac

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2009 with 85 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include poet James Whitcomb Riley in 1849; Grand Ole Opry star Uncle Dave Macon in 1870; Danish atomic physicist Niels Bohr in 1885; actor Andy Devine in 1905; singer/bandleader Vaughn Monroe in 1911; actress June Allyson in 1917; actor/singer Al Martino in 1927 (age 82); South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu in 1931 (age 78); Oliver North, the former White House aide who became the center of the Iran-Contra controversy, in 1943 (age 66); rock singer John Mellencamp in 1951 (age 58); classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1955 (age 54); and singer Toni Braxton in 1967 (age 42).

On this date in history:

In 1913, for the first time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park automobile factory was run on a continuously moving assembly line.

In 1916, in the most lopsided football game on record, Georgia Tech humbled Cumberland University, 222-0.

In 1949, less than five months after Britain, the United States and France established the Federal Republic of Germany in West Germany, the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany) was proclaimed within the Soviet occupation zone.

In 1968, the U.S. movie industry adopted a film ratings system for the first time: G (for general audiences), M (for mature audiences), R (no one under 16 admitted without an adult) and X (no one under 16 admitted).

In 1985, four Palestinian terrorists commandeered the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro with 511 passengers and crew off Egypt and threatened to blow it up unless Israel freed Palestinian prisoners. The hijackers, who surrendered in Port Said two days later, killed an American passenger.

Also in 1985, a mudslide in Ponce, Puerto Rico, killed an estimated 500 people in the island's worst disaster of the 20th century.

In 1991, Iran freed U.S. telecommunications engineer John Pattis, ending five years of captivity on charges of spying for the CIA.

Also in 1991, U.N. inspectors discovered an Iraqi nuclear weapons research center intact.

And in 1991, Slovenia and Croatia formally declared secession from Yugoslavia.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. The pact would create the world's largest trading bloc.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced he was sending the Navy and Marines in response to an Iraqi military build-up along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border.

In 1997, scientists announced they had found one of the most massive stars known, behind a dense dust cloud in the Milky Way that had previously concealed it. The star was 25,000 light-years from Earth.

In 1999, American Home Products, the makers of the diet drug combination known as "fen-phen," agreed to a $3.75 billion settlement of a class-action lawsuit stemming from the drugs' use, which was linked to heart valve problems.

In 2000, Vojislav Kostunica was sworn in as Yugoslavia's new president.

In 2001, in the war on terror, the United States and Britain began a series of nightly attacks on targets in Afghanistan.

In a pre-recorded tape played on this date, 2001, Osama bin Laden warned, "America will not live in peace" until peace came to "Palestine" and "until the army of infidels depart the land of Mohammed."

In 2002, the sniper terrorizing the Washington area struck again, critically wounding a 13-year-old boy as he was being dropped off at school in Bowie, Md.

In 2003, Californians voted to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and elected actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, as their new governor.

In 2004, at least 56 people were killed and about 100 others injured when three bombs exploded at Egyptian resort areas near the Israeli border.

In 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, were awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2006, three former congressional pages joined two others in accusing former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., of making "sexual approaches" over the Internet. Foley resigned a week earlier when the first of the reports surfaced.

In 2007, more than 1 million people were evacuated from China's southeastern coast ahead of a powerful typhoon that killed five in northern Taiwan.

In 2008, a federal immigration raid on a poultry processing plant in South Carolina netted the arrest of about 300 people as part of a 10-month criminal investigation into alleged illegal employment practices.

Also in 2008, anti-government protests in Thailand turned deadly with two deaths in fighting with security forces. More than 400 were injured.

A thought for the day: in "Don Quixote," Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes wrote, "Diligence is the mother of good fortune."