The almanac

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Today is Monday, March 5, the 65th day of 2012 with 301 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator in 1512; the Rev. William Blackstone, the first settler in what is now Boston, in 1595; Antoine Cadillac, founder of Detroit, in 1658; poet Lucy Larcom and lithographer James Ives, partner of Nathaniel Currier, both in 1824; author Frank Norris in 1870; water treatment pioneer Emmett J. Culligan in 1893; actors Rex Harrison in 1908, Jack Cassidy in 1927, Paul Sand in 1935 (age 77), Dean Stockwell in 1936 (age 76), Samantha Eggar in 1939 (age 73), Michael Warren in 1946 (age 66) and Marsha Warfield in 1954 (age 58); magician Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller in 1955 (age 57); journalist Ray Suarez in 1957 (age 55); singer Andy Gibb in 1958; televangelist Joel Osteen in 1963 (age 49); football Hall of Fame member Michael Irvin in 1966 (age 46); actor Eva Mendes in 1974 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1770, British troops killed five colonials in the so-called Boston Massacre, one of the events that led to the American Revolution.

In 1933, in German elections, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won nearly half the seats in the Reichstag, the German Parliament.

In 1946, Winston Churchill, speaking in Fulton, Mo., established the Cold War boundary during his famed "Iron Curtain" speech.

In 1953, the Soviet Union announced that dictator Josef Stalin had died at age 73.

In 1984, the Standard Oil Co. of California, also known as Chevron, bought Gulf Corp. for more than $13 billion in the largest business merger in U.S. history at the time.

In 1991, rebellions against Saddam Hussein were reported in southeastern Iraq. U.S. military officials predicted the unrest probably would lead to his downfall.

In 1993, Canada's Ben Johnson, once called the world's fastest human, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was banned for life from track competition.

In 1997, Switzerland announced plans to establish a $4.7 billion government-financed fund, using interest from its gold reserves, to compensate survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and their descendants.

In 1998, NASA announced that ice had been found at the moon's north and south poles.

In 2006, Iran threatened to launch full-scale uranium enrichment if its nuclear program was referred to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions.

In 2008, OPEC turned a deaf ear to U.S. President George W. Bush's request for increased oil production, citing what some members called "mismanagement" of the U.S. economy as a major cause for high oil prices.

In 2010, the U.S. Labor Department said 36,000 jobs were lost in February, fewer than expected, leaving the nation's unemployment rate unchanged at 9.7 percent.

In 2011, New Zealand rescue teams completed their search of the earthquake-devastated Christchurch cathedral and reported no further bodies, leaving the unofficial death toll from the Feb..22 magnitude-6.3 temblor at.180.

Also in 2011, archeologists renovating the Rio de Janeiro harbor for the 2016 Olympics reported uncovering the remains of a 19th-century port where thousands of people were brought in from Africa and sold into slavery.

A thought for the day: Winston Churchill said: "It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary."