The almanac

Today is Saturday, April 23, the 113th day of 2011 with 252 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include English playwright William Shakespeare in 1564; James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States, in 1791; Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Planck in 1858; Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev in 1891; Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Warren Spahn in 1921; actor/diplomat Shirley Temple Black in 1928 (age 83); singer Roy Orbison in 1936; actors Lee Majors and David Birney, both in 1939 (age 72), Herve Villechaize and Sandra Dee, both in 1942, Joyce DeWitt in 1949 (age 62), Jan Hooks in 1957 (age 54), Valerie Bertinelli in 1960 (age 51), Melina Kanakaredes in 1967 (age 44) and Kal Penn in 1977 (age 34); and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1968.

On this date in history:

In 1635, the first public school in America, the Boston Latin School, was opened.

In 1898, the first movie theater opened at the Koster and Bials Music Hall in New York City.

In 1898, the U.S. government asked for 125,000 volunteers to fight against Spain in Cuba.

In 1965, more than 200 U.S. planes struck North Vietnam in one of the heaviest raids of the Vietnam War.

In 1985, former U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin died at age 88. The North Carolina Democrat directed the Senate Watergate investigation that led to U.S. President Richard Nixon's resignation.

In 1990, the West German government bowed to East German demands and agreed to a 1-1 exchange rate between East and West marks, clearing the path to a planned currency union.

In 1991, Virgilio Pablo Paz Romero was arrested for the 1976 car-bomb killing of Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier in Washington.

In 1992, McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Beijing.

In 1993, United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez died at age 66.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II met at the Vatican with U.S. cardinals to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that had rocked the Roman Catholic clergy. He expressed an apology to victims of abuse, saying what had happened to them was a crime and "an appalling act in the eyes of God."

In 2003, after a 10-day stalemate, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reached agreement on a new Cabinet with his choice for prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas.

In 2006, Hungary's Socialist-Liberal coalition recaptured government control by a comfortable majority in parliamentary elections.

In 2007, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who faced down army tanks during the fall of the Soviet Union, died of cardiac arrest at the age of 76.

In 2008, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, top U.S. military official in Iraq, was promoted to head of Central Command, overseeing military affairs in the Middle East and Central Asia, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2009, the U.S. government told Chrysler, the third member of Detroit's "Big 3" automakers, to prepare to file for bankruptcy. Chrysler was given a few days to complete a deal with Fiat, the Italian carmaker.

In 2010, Arizona enacted a controversial law requiring local governments and police to crack down on illegal immigrants. The law, among other things, made it a state crime to be in the United States illegally and eased the arresting process.

A thought for the day: Douglas Adams observed, "I may not have gone where I intended to go but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."