The almanac

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 15, the 349th day of 2009 with 16 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include the Roman emperor Nero in 37 A.D.; Polish linguist Ludwik Zamenhof, creator of the international language Esperanto, in 1859; French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, builder of the Paris tower that bears his name and engineer of the Statue of Liberty, in 1832; playwright Maxwell Anderson in 1888; billionaire oilman J. Paul Getty in 1892; bandleader Stan Kenton in 1911; pioneer rock 'n' roll disc jockey Alan Freed in 1921; comic actor Tim Conway in 1933 (age 76); rock musician Dave Clark in 1942 (age 67); and actors Don Johnson in 1949 (age 60); Helen Slater in 1963 (age 46) and Garrett Wang ("Star Trek: Voyager") in 1968 (age 41).

On this date in history:

In 1791, the Bill of Rights, comprising the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, took effect.

In 1890, Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull was killed in a skirmish with U.S. soldiers along the Grand River, S.D.

In 1939, the film version of "Gone with the Wind" premiered in Atlanta.

In 1943, the Battle of San Pietro between U.S. forces and a German panzer battalion left the 700-year-old Italian town in ruins.

In 1948, a federal grand jury in New York indicted former U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss on perjury charges.

In 1954, what may be considered TV's first mini-series premiered. "Davy Crockett" aired in a series of five segments on Walt Disney's "Disneyland" show.

In 1961, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer regarded as the architect of the World War II Jewish Holocaust, was condemned to death by an Israeli war crimes tribunal.

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association reversed its longstanding position and declared that homosexuality is not a mental illness.

Also in 1973, Jean Paul Getty III, grandson of U.S. billionaire J. Paul Getty, was found alive near Naples, five months after his kidnapping by an Italian gang.

In 1982, Teamsters Union President Roy Williams and four others were convicted in federal court of conspiring to bribe Sen. Howard Cannon, D-Nev.

In 1989, Panamanian lawmakers designated Gen. Manuel Noriega head of state and declared that a "state of war" existed with the United States.

In 1990, in a landmark right-to-die case, a Missouri judge cleared the way for the parents of Nancy Cruzan to remove their daughter from life-support systems.

In 1991, more than 400 people drowned when a ferry headed from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Egypt sank in the Red Sea. Some 150 people were rescued.

In 1992, the governor of Michigan signed a bill making assisted suicide a felony on the same day two chronically ill women killed themselves with the help of "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian.

Also in 1992, Salvadorans celebrated the formal end to their country's 12-year civil war.

In 1993, British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds issued a "framework for lasting peace" in Northern Ireland.

Also in 1993, the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ended with agreement on new global-trade regulations.

In 1997, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered all 1.4 million men and women in uniform to be inoculated against anthrax.

Also in 1997, 85 people were killed when a Tajik charter airliner crashed in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2000, first lady and senator-elect Hillary Clinton signed an $8 million book deal to write a memoir of her years in the White House.

In 2003, as Iraqi leaders urged that a war crime tribunal try Saddam Hussein, U.S. President George W. Bush said he favored "ultimate justice" and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the trial must meet international standards.

In 2005, as many as 11 million Iraqis turned out to select their first permanent parliament since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

In 2006, Al Jazeera English, the world's first English-language news TV channel based in the Middle East, was launched in Doha, Qatar.

In 2007, at the end of a two-week conference on climate change in Indonesia, delegates from 187 countries, including the United States, agreed to negotiate a new accord on global greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2008, the Illinois state legislature began impeachment proceedings against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Also in 2008, national records indicate that unemployment was a chief culprit in the rise of U.S. foreclosures, triggering 46 percent of all 90-day delinquencies in the first half of 2008.

A thought for the day: the title of a poem by Stephane Mallarme is "A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance."