The almanac

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Today is Thursday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2012 with 361 to follow.

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

Those born on this date were under the sign of Capricorn. They include Zebulon Pike, discoverer of Pike's Peak in Colorado, and Navy Capt. Stephen Decatur, both in 1779; King Camp Gillette, inventor of the safety razor, in 1855; U.S. baseball executive Ban Johnson in 1864; German statesman Konrad Adenauer in 1876; astrologer Jeane Dixon in 1904; Walter Mondale, former vice president and 1984 Democratic presidential candidate, in 1928 (age 84); choreographer Alvin Ailey in 1931; Italian writer Umberto Eco and U.S. football coach Chuck Noll both in 1932 (age 80); music producer Sam Phillips in 1923; football Hall of Fame member Jim Otto in 1938 (age 74); talk show host Charlie Rose in 1942 (are 70); actors George Reeves (TV's Superman) in 1914, Jane Wyman in 1917, Robert Duvall in 1931 (age 81), Diane Keaton in 1946 (age 66), Pamela Sue Martin in 1953 (age 59), Suzy Amis in 1962 (age 50) and Bradley Cooper in 1975 (age 37); and singers Iris DeMent in 1961 (age 51) and Marilyn Manson in 1969 (age 43).

On this date in history:

In 1643, in the first record of a legal divorce in the American colonies, Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was granted a divorce from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke.

In 1914, Ford Motor Co. increased its daily wage from $2.34 for a nine-hour day to $5 for eight hours of work.

In 1919, the National Socialist (Nazi) Party was formed in Germany.

In 1925, Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming was sworn in as the first woman governor in the United States.

In 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay.

In 1948, the first color newsreel, filmed at the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, Calif., was released on this date by Warner Brothers-Pathe.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras met in Jerusalem, the first meeting of a pope and a patriarch in more than five centuries.

In 1993, the state of Washington executed multiple child killer Westley Allan Dodd by hanging in the nation's first gallows execution in 28 years.

In 1995, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill requiring Congress to comply with its own civil rights and labor laws. The Senate followed suit six days later.

In 1996, the longest U.S. government shutdown ended after 21 days when Congress passed a stopgap spending measure that would allow federal employees to return to work. U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the bill the next day.

In 1998, U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono, R-Calif., of Sonny and Cher fame, was killed when he hit a tree while skiing at South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

In 2000, the Clinton administration decided that Elian Gonzalez, a 6-year-old Cuban refugee whose mother drowned while trying to enter the United States, should be returned to his father in Cuba. The next day, hundreds of Cuban-Americans marched in protest in Miami.

In 2002, a 15-year-old student pilot, flying alone, was killed when he crashed his single-engine Cessna into the 28th floor of the Bank of America building in Tampa, Fla. No one else was hurt.

In 2005, at least 24 people were killed in two car bomb explosions in Iraq in mounting violence ahead of upcoming elections.

Also in 2005, Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, was discovered.

And in 2005, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched a $977 million emergency appeal to cover six months of aid for 5 million victims of the Southeast Asia tsunami.

In 2006, at least 134 people were killed in two car bombings in Iraq and more than 120 others were wounded in a second day of heavy violence.

In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush named Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte to become deputy secretary of state and retired Adm. John McConnell to replace him at the national intelligence directorate.

Also in 2007, 43 people died in a two-day series of militant assaults on migrants, mostly milkmen, in two districts of India.

In 2008, tribal violence following the disputed Kenya presidential election claimed almost 500 lives, officials said. Turmoil exploded after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner over opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had a wide early lead.

In 2009, Leon Panetta, the former California congressman and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, was chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to be head of the CIA.

Also in 2009, Israeli troops, in a massive air, land and sea assault, pushed deeper into Gaza, seizing control of rocket-launching areas surrounding the city of Gaza, even as Israel pledged to allow humanitarian aid into the strip.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama said intelligence officials failed to act on information they had on a terror suspect who boarded a Detroit-bound airliner with explosives and tried unsuccessfully to blow up the plane as it neared its destination on Christmas Day.

Also in 2010, children were exempted from a British test-run of airport full-body scanners due to child pornography concerns.

In 2011, the 112th U.S. Congress convened with surging Republicans, buoyed by an infusion of conservative newcomers with Tea Party support, taking command of the House and Democrats retaining control of the Senate. Freshman GOP House members totaled 82, the party's largest rookie class in nearly 90 years.

A thought for the day: Maya Angelou said: "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."