The almanac

Today is Thursday, Sept. 27, the 271st day of 2012 with 95 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include patriot Samuel Adams in 1722; political cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1840; magician Harry Blackstone Sr. in 1885; composers Joseph McCarthy ("You Made Me Love You") also in 1885 and Vincent Youmans ("Tea for Two") in 1898; former U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin, D-N.C., in 1896; actor Jayne Meadows in 1920 (age 92); filmmaker Arthur Penn in 1922; actors William Conrad in 1920, Sada Thompson in 1927, Greg Morris in 1933 and Wilford Brimley in 1934 (age 78); rock musician Randy Bachman in 1943 (age 69); singer Meat Loaf in 1947 (age 65); baseball Hall of Fame member Mike Schmidt in 1949 (age 63); actor/singer Shaun Cassidy in 1958 (age 54), actor Gwyneth Paltrow in 1972 (age 40); rapper Lil Wayne in 1982 (age 30); and singer Avril Lavigne in 1984 (age 28).

On this date in history:

In 1540, the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, was chartered by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1825, in England, George Stephenson operated the first locomotive to pull a passenger train.

In 1905, Albert Eisenstein published a paper introducing his equation E=mc2.

In 1930, golfer Bobby Jones won the U.S. Amateur Championship, capturing the era's Grand Slam. Earlier in the year, he won the British Amateur, British Open and U.S. Open tournaments.

In 1935, 13-year-old Judy Garland signed her first contract with MGM.

In 1939, after 19 days of heavy air raids and artillery bombardment, Polish defenders of Warsaw surrendered to the Germans.

In 1954, "The Tonight Show" made its television debut with host Steve Allen.

In 1964, the Warren Commission report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was released after a 10-month investigation, concluding that there was no conspiracy and that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, acted alone.

In 1987, mudslides in slum areas of Medellin, Colombia, killed up to 500 people.

n 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced the United States would unilaterally eliminate tactical nuclear weapons on land and at sea in Europe and Asia.

Also in 1991, the Palestine Liberation Organization legislature voted to support U.S.- and Soviet-sponsored Middle East peace efforts.

In 1994, U.S. forces in Haiti took control of the Parliament building and began paying Haitians to turn in weapons to reduce firepower on the streets.

In 1996, rebels seized control of Afghanistan from the previous rebel group that had taken the country from Moscow. The new rebels hanged Afghani leader Mohammad Najibullah and his brother.

In 1998, Gerhard Schroeder led Germany's Social Democratic Party to victory in parliamentary elections, bringing to an end 16 years of power by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his Christian Democratic Party.

And in 1998, St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire set an all-time major-league season home run record when he hit his 70th home run. Barry Bonds eclipsed that mark in 2001 when he hit 73 homers.

In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin said they would join forces to oppose nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.

In 2007, nine people were reported killed and another 100 injured as the Myanmar military junta sought to break up nine days of demonstrations by Buddhist monks and nuns in Yangon over the more than doubling of gas prices.

Also in 2007, the U.S. Senate voted to attach a measure that would extend federal hate-crime protection to sexual orientation to the defense authorization bill.

In 2008, Zhai Zhigang left the Shenzhou VII spacecraft and became the first Chinese astronaut to take a space walk.

Also in 2008, a bomb made of more than 400 pounds of explosives killed 17 people near a Shiite shrine in Damascus -- Syria's worst attack in more than 20 years.

In 2009, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was assured of another term when her party, the Christian Democrats, easily won the nation's parliamentary elections.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act into law, touting it as an economic building block. The measure set up a $30 billion loan fund and provided $12 billion in tax breaks to aid small businesses.

Also in 2010, Southwest Airlines, the biggest low-cost carrier in the United States, bought AirTran Airways, a competitor in the discount air travel business, for $1.4 billion.

And, Jimi Heselden, 62, manufacturer of the upright Segway scooter, was killed in Britain when he apparently lost control of one of the two-wheeled, self-balancing machines and ran over a cliff into a river.

In 2011, an estimated 20,000 surface-to-air missiles said to be capable of shooting down a commercial jet were reported missing from unguarded army weapons warehouses in Libya.

Also in 2011, Israel approved construction of 1,100 new housing units in Jerusalem, sparking outrage among Palestinians and disapproval from foreign leaders.

A thought for the day: in "The Republic," Greek philosopher Plato wrote, "The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life."