The Almanac

Today is Saturday, May 10, the 130th day of 2003 with 235 to follow.

The moon is waxing.

The morning stars are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The evening stars are Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include British statesman and scholar James Bryce in 1838; Swiss theologian Karl Barth in 1886; Max Steiner, who composed movie themes, including the "Gone With The Wind" score, in 1888; actor/dancer Fred Astaire in 1899; movie producer David O. Selznick ("Gone With The Wind") in 1902; pediatrician/author T. Berry Brazelton in 1918 (age 85); actress Nancy Walker in 1921; actor Gary Owens ("Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In") in 1936 (age 67); and U2 lead singer Bono in 1960 (age 43).

On this date in history:

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops and spent the next two years in prison.

In 1869, the "golden spike" was driven at Promontory, Utah, joining the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific lines to form America's first transcontinental railway.

In 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, swinging 89 army divisions around France's so-called "impregnable" Maginot Line. Scarcely one month later, German forces entered Paris.

In 1973, a federal grand jury investigating the Watergate scandal indicted former Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans on perjury charges.

In 1984, a federal judge in Utah found the U.S. government negligent in above-ground Nevada nuclear tests from 1951 to 1962 that exposed downwind residents to radiation.

In 1992, at least 14 coal miners were killed in an underground explosion at a mine in Nova Scotia, Canada.

In 1993, in Orlando, Fla., jury selection began in the racially charged retrial of William Lozano, the Hispanic Miami police officer charged with killing two black motorcyclists.

Also in 1993, the FDA approved the sale of the first female condom.

In 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

Also in 1994, the Michigan Court of Appeals struck down the state's ban on assisted suicide.

And in 1994, John Wayne Gacy, the convicted killer of 33 young men and boys, was executed in Illinois.

In 1995, a second man, Terry Nichols, was charged in the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Also in 1995, the World Health Organization said a mysterious disease in Zaire was caused by the deadly Ebola virus. By the time the outbreak was declared over in late August, 244 of the 315 known victims had died.

In 1997, President Clinton attended a summit of 15 Caribbean leaders in Barbadoes.

In 2000, Pentagon officials said an investigation had concluded that the Army's highest-ranking woman had been the victim of sexual harassment from another Army general.

In 2001, six days before convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was scheduled to be executed, the FBI announced it had found more documents related to the incident that had not been turned over to the defense during McVeigh's trial. The revelation prompted McVeigh's execution to be postponed.

In 2002, former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who had spied for the Soviet Union and Russia, off and on, for more than 20 years, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

A thought for the day: in "Don Juan," George Gordon Byron wrote, "Adversity is the first path to truth."