The almanac

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 13, the 225th day of 2013 with 140 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include social reformer Lucy Stone in 1818; sharpshooter Annie Oakley in 1860; Scottish inventor John Baird, a pioneer in television technology, in 1888; actors Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz") in 1895, Regis Toomey in 1898 and Charles "Buddy" Rogers in 1904; film director Alfred Hitchcock in 1899; bandleader Skinnay Ennis in 1907; golf Hall of Fame member Ben Hogan in 1912; actor Neville Brand in 1920; Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1926 (age 87); actor Pat Harrington Jr. in 1929 (age 84); singer Don Ho in 1930; former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders in 1933 (age 80); opera singer Kathleen Battle in 1948 (age 65); hockey Hall of Fame member Bobby Clarke in 1949 (age 64); pop singer Dan Fogelberg in 1951; actor/announcer Danny Bonaduce in 1959 (age 54); entrepreneur Kevin Plank (Under Armour) in 1972 (age 41); and Olympic gold medal speed skater Shani Davis in 1982 (age 31).

On this date in history:

In 1889, William Gray patented the coin-operated telephone.

In 1930, Capt. Frank Hawkes set an air speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 12 hours, 25 minutes.

In 1961, East Germany closed the Brandenburg Gate and prepared to start building the Berlin Wall.

In 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter was nominated for a second term by the Democratic National Convention in New York. He lost in November to Ronald Reagan.

In 1990, singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield was left paralyzed when he was hit by a wind-blown lighting rig on an outdoor stage in New York. He died in 1999.

In 1994, North Korea agreed to allow U.N. monitors to inspect a secret nuclear laboratory.

In 2004, the Summer Olympics opened in Athens, Greece, with a record 202 countries and 10,500 athletes taking part.

In 2006, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who spent his 80th birthday in a Havana hospital after surgery for gastro-intestinal bleeding, urged optimism but warned he might not recover. He promised Cubans he would "fight for it."

In 2008, Bill Gwatney, chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party and a former legislator, was shot to death in his Little Rock office. After a 30-mile chase, a suspect was killed in an exchange with gunfire with police. A motive for Gwatney's killing was never determined.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Southwest Border Security Bill, described as a good first step toward comprehensive immigration reform. It provided more agents and equipment along the U.S.-Mexican boundary.

In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama told a campaign crowd in Iowa the result of the 2012 presidential election "will impact your lives and your children's lives for decades to come."

A thought for the day: "I think being a liberal, in the true sense, is being non-doctrinaire, non-dogmatic, non-committed to a cause, but examining each case on its merits. Being left of center is another thing; it's a political position." -- Walter Cronkite.