The almanac

Today is Thursday, Nov. 4, the 308th day of 2010 with 57 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include humorist Will Rogers in 1879; reporter Walter Cronkite in 1916; actors Gig Young in 1913, Art Carney in 1918, Martin Balsam in 1919, Doris Roberts in 1930 (age 80) and Loretta Swit in 1937 (age 73); former U.S. first lady Laura Bush in 1946 (age 64); controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in 1946; novelist Charles Frazier in 1950 (age 60); actors Markie Post in 1950 (age 60), Ralph Macchio in 1961 (age 49) and Matthew McConaughey and singer/actor/songwriter Sean "Puffy" Combs, both in 1969 (age 41); and television personality Jeff Probst in 1962 (age 48).

On this date in history:

In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of ancient Egypt's child-king, Tutankhamen.

In 1952, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president, ending 20 years of Democratic administrations.

In 1956, Soviet forces entered Budapest to crush the anti-communist revolt in Hungary.

In 1979, Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking some 90 people hostage, 63 of them Americans.

In 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th U.S. president in a landslide victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter.

In 1991, Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines, returned home, ending more than five years of exile in the United States.

In 1993, Canadian Liberal Party leader Jean Chretien was sworn in as prime minister.

In 1994, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to withdraw the remaining 17,000 U.N. troops from Somalia by mid-March 1995.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 73, was assassinated by a Jewish extremist following a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

In 2002, Roman Catholic Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston apologized for assigning priests who may have been sexually abusive to parishes where they continued to have access to children.

In 2003, the elevation of a gay Episcopal priest to bishop prompted worldwide opposition, including a remark from a Kenya cleric, "The devil has clearly entered our church."

In 2004, medical sources in Paris confirmed that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was brain dead. However, doctors denied they had removed Arafat from life support.

Also in 2004, U.S. Army reservists and guardsmen in Iraq said they saw looters make off with truckload of explosives from al-Qaqaa after the fall of Baghdad.

In 2005, protests turned violent at the Summit of the Americas in Argentina where demonstrators hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at security. However, thousands of protesters were peaceful during a meeting of 34 world leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush.

In 2006, six Arab nations -- Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates -- announced plans to pursue nuclear energy.

In 2008, Barack Obama, a Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois, was elected the first African-American president of the United States, taking 338 electoral votes to 161 for Republican John McCain.

Also in 2008, Californians voted to outlaw same-sex marriage again, overturning a May decision by the state supreme court that such couples had a constitutional right to wed.

In 2009, Anthony Sowell, a 50-year-old convicted rapist suspected of killing 11 women whose remains were found buried in and around his Cleveland home, was ordered held without bond on five counts of aggravated murder.

Also in 2009, the U.S. government, in separate actions, took steps to expand economic aid to the unemployed, first-time homebuyers and homeowners facing foreclosure.

A thought for the day: humorist Will Rogers said, "My forefathers didn't come over on the Mayflower but they met the boat."