The almanac

Today is Monday, March 1, the 60th day of 2010 with 305 to follow.

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

Those born on this day are under the sign of Pisces. They include Polish composer Frederic Chopin in 1810; author William Dean Howells in 1837; big band leader Glenn Miller in 1904; actor David Niven in 1910; writer Ralph Ellison in 1913; legendary St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray in 1914; poet Robert Lowell in 1917; Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Yitzhak Rabin in 1922; Mad magazine publisher William Gaines in 1922; Donald "Deke" Slayton, one of the original Mercury astronauts, in 1924; singer Harry Belafonte and jurist Robert Bork, both in 1927 (age 83); actors Robert Conrad in 1930 (age 80) and Alan Thicke in 1947 (age 63); Roger Daltrey of The Who in 1944 (age 66); director Ron Howard in 1954 (age 56); actor Timothy Daly in 1956 (age 54); and singer Justin Bieber in 1994 (age 16).

On this date in history:

In 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was established.

In 1692, the notorious witch-hunt began in the Salem village of the Massachusetts Bay colony, eventually resulting in the executions of 19 innocent men and women.

In 1780, Pennsylvania became the first state to abolish slavery.

In 1781, the American colonies adopted the Articles of Confederation, paving the way for a federal union.

In 1803, Ohio was admitted to the union as the 17th state.

In 1867, Nebraska was admitted to the union as the 37th state.

In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established by an act of Congress. It was the first area in the world to be designated a national park.

In 1932, aviator Charles Lindbergh's son was kidnapped. The boy's body was found May 12 and Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the crime in 1936.

In 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress.

In 1961, U.S. President John Kennedy formed the Peace Corps.

In 1971, a bomb exploded in a restroom in the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol, causing $300,000 damage but no injuries. The Weather Underground, a leftist radical group that opposed the Vietnam War, claimed responsibility.

In 1991, the United States reopened its embassy in newly liberated Kuwait.

Also in 1991, after 23 years of insurgency in Colombia, the Popular Liberation Army put down its arms in exchange for two seats in the national assembly.

In 1992, the collapse of a building housing a cafe in East Jerusalem killed 23 people.

In 1994, the Muslim-dominated government of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bosnia's Croats agreed to a federation embracing portions of their war-torn country under their control.

In 1996, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who reportedly had assisted more than two dozen suicides, was acquitted of murder for a third time.

In 1999, Rwandan rebels killed eight tourists, including two Americans, a Ugandan game warden and three rangers in a national forest in Uganda.

In 2000, in a rare unanimous vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to allow most Social Security recipients to earn as much money as they want without losing any benefits.

In 2003, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States was captured in Pakistan.

Also in 2003, as the possibility of war in Iraq grew, Turkey's parliament refused to permit U.S. troops on Turkish soil.

In 2004, a new interim government took over in Haiti after a bloody, monthlong insurrection, one day after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile.

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that execution of juvenile offenders is unconstitutional.

In 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush made an unscheduled visit to Afghanistan to discuss security matters.

In 2007, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced that he would be a candidate for president in 2008.

Also in 2007, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who served as an adviser in the Kennedy Administration, died at age 89.

In 2008, the Dow Jones industrials fell 315.17 points and went into March at 12,266.39 after a fourth consecutive monthly drop. Crude oil prices topped $101 a barrel.

Also in 2008, Israeli forces carried out more attacks in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 Palestinians, reports said. About 60 others were injured.

In 2009, longstanding rivalries between civilian and military leaders in the small West African nation of Guinea Bissau led to the assassinations of two of the country's top officials. President Joao Bernardo Vieira and Gen. Batista Tagme Na Waie, the army chief of staff, were slain in separate attacks within a short time of each other.

A thought for the day: "Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week." William Dean Howells said that.