Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Friday, May 31, the 151st day of 2002 with 214 to follow. The moon is waning, moving toward its last quarter. Advertisement There are no morning stars. The evening stars are Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include poet Walt Whitman and surgeon William Mayo, founder of the Mayo Clinic, both in 1819; radio humorist Fred Allen in 1894; clergyman-author Norman Vincent Peale in 1898; actor Don Ameche in 1908; Sen. Henry Jackson, D-Wash., in 1912; Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1923 (age 79); actor Clint Eastwood in 1930 (age 72); Peter, Paul and Mary's Peter Yarrow in 1938 (age 64); country singer Johnny Paycheck in 1941 (age 61); NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath and actress Sharon Gless ("Cagney and Lacey"), both in 1943 (age 59); actors Tom Berenger and Gregory Harrison, both in 1950 (age 52), and Kyle Secor ("Homicide: Life on the Street") in 1958 (age 44); actor/writer Chris Elliot in 1960 (age 42); actress Lea Thompson ("Caroline in the City") in 1961 (age 41); and actress/model Brooke Shields in 1965 (age 37). Advertisement On this date in history: In 1790, President Washington signed into law the first U.S. copyright law. In 1889, a flood in Johnstown, Pa., left more than 2,200 people dead. In 1902, Britain and South Africa signed a peace treaty ending the Boer War. In 1962, Israel hanged Adolf Eichmann for his part in the killing of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II. In 1973, the Senate voted to cut off all funds for U.S. bombing of Cambodia. In 1985, seven federally insured banks in Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oregon were closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It was a single-day record for closings since the FDIC was founded in 1934. In 1990, President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev opened a four-day summit in Washington, D.C., focusing on the role of a united Germany in Europe. Also in 1990, "Seinfeld" -- the show about nothing -- premiered on NBC. In 1991, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney announced the United States had begun storing military supplies in Israel for use in future conflicts. In 1994, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., was indicted on felony charges, including embezzlement. Under the rules of the Democratic caucus, he had to step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Advertisement A thought for the day: Tolstoy said, "It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness."
