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The Almanac

By United Press International
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Today is Thursday, Nov. 14, the 318th day of 2002 with 47 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

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The evening stars are Mercury, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Robert Fulton, American inventor of the steamboat, in 1765; French Impressionist painter Claude Monet, in 1840; Indian statesman Jawaharlal Nehru in 1889; Mamie Doud Eisenhower, wife of President Eisenhower, in 1896; American composer Aaron Copland in 1900; actor Dick Powell in 1904; Sen. Joseph McCarthy, D-Wis., in 1908; former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1922 (age 80); actors Brian Keith in 1921 and McLean Stevenson in 1929; astronaut Edward White, killed in the 1967 Apollo I launchpad fire, in 1930; King Hussein of Jordan in 1935; Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, in 1948 (age 54); New Age singer/songwriter Yanni in 1954 (age 48); and actress Laura San Giacomo ("Just Shoot Me") in 1962 (age 40).

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On this date in history:

In 1666, the first blood transfusion took place in London. Blood from one dog was transfused into another.

In 1832, the first horse-drawn streetcar made its appearance in New York City.

In 1889, newspaper reporter Nellie Bly set off to break the record of voyaging around the world in 80 days set by Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg. She did beat Fogg's record, taking 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds.

In 1940, German planes bombed Coventry, England, destroying or damaging 69,000 buildings.

In 1972, for the first time in its 76-year history, the Dow Jones Industrial Stock Average closed above 1,000.

In 1984, former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon went to court in New York with a $50 million libel suit against Time (Magazine) Inc. He lost after a two-month trial.

In 1986, the White House acknowledged the CIA role in secretly shipping weapons to Iran.

In 1988, the PLO proclaimed an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, endorsing a renunciation of terrorism and an implicit recognition of Israel.

In 1989, the Navy ordered a 48-hour "stand-down" for a safety review following 10 unrelated accidents resulting in 10 deaths during a three-week period.

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In 1990, a gunman in Dunedin, New Zealand, killed 11 neighbors, then was killed by police in the nation's worst mass slaying at that time. A 12th victim died later.

In 1991, U.S. and British officials accused two Libyan agents in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in which 270 people died.

Also in 1991, a former postal worker in Royal Oak, Mich., returned to work and killed four people before turning the gun on himself.

In 1993, in a referendum, residents of Puerto Rico voted in favor of continuing their U.S. commonwealth status.

In 1994, the 31-mile Chunnel Tunnel under the English Channel opened to passenger traffic.

In 1997, Sara Lister, an assistant secretary of the Army, resigned after apologizing for having spoken of the U.S. Marine Corps as "extremists."


A thought for the day: Russian author Boris Pasternak wrote, "Life itself, the phenomenon of life, the gift of life, is so breathtakingly serious."

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