The Almanac

Today is Friday, Sept. 5, the 248th day of 2003 with 117 to follow.

The moon is waxing in its first quarter. The morning stars are Jupiter and Saturn. The evening stars are Mars, Pluto, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Neptune.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include French King Louis XIV in 1638; outlaw Jesse James in 1847; marketing research engineer A.C. Nielsen in 1897; movie producer Darryl F. Zanuck in 1902; Hungarian-born author Arthur Koestler in 1905; retired Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker in 1927 (age 76); comedian Bob Newhart in 1929 (age 74); singer/actress Carol Lawrence in 1935 (age 68); actors William Devane in 1939 (age 64), Raquel Welch in 1942 (age 61) and Dennis Dugan in 1946 (age 57); and rock musician Dweezil Zappa, son of the late Frank Zappa, in 1969 (age 34).

On this date in history:

In 1774, the first Continental Congress convened in secret in Philadelphia.

In 1882, 10,000 workers marched in the first Labor Day parade in New York City.

In 1877, Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse was fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Neb. A year earlier, Crazy Horse was among the Sioux leaders who defeated George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory.

In 1935, Gene Autry starred in his first Western feature "Tumbling Tumbleweeds."

In 1972, Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic Village outside Munich, West Germany, and killed 11 Israeli athletes and six other people.

In 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of mass murderer Charles Manson, tried to shoot President Ford.

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Carter began a Middle East peace conference at Camp David, Md.

In 1991, former Panamanian leader Gen. Manuel Noriega went on trial in Miami on money-laundering and drug-trafficking charges. He was eventually convicted.

Also in 1991, six BCCI officials and a Medellin drug cartel leader were charged with laundering cocaine profits through the bank from 1983 to 1989.

In 1992, a Dallas judge sentenced the "Sweetheart Swindler" to 24 years in prison for stealing as much as $40,000 from women he claimed loved him.

In 1995, France conducted an underground nuclear test at the Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific. It was the first of several -- all of which were met by protests worldwide.

In 1996, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and two others were convicted in New York of planning to blow up jetliners.

Also in 1996, Moscow announced that Russian President Boris Yeltsin needed heart surgery.

In 1997, at least 172 people were slain in Algeria in three incidents believed linked to the country's upcoming election and to the long, though sporatically fought, civil war.

Also in 1997, Mother Teresa died at age 87.

And further in 1997, in an unusual television speech, Queen Elizabeth acknowledged the public expression of grief over Diana's death and expressed her own admiration for her former daughter-in-law.

In 2001, Mexican President Vicente Fox came to Washington to ask the Bush administration for a U.S. agreement to legalize the status of 3.5 million Mexicans who entered the country illegally.

In 2002, An attempted assassination of Afghanistan President Harmid Karzai failed when a gunman missed him after opening fire on his car. The would-be assassin was slain by guards.

A thought for the day: Norman Douglas said, "You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements."