The Almanac

Today is Sunday, Nov. 16, the 320th day of 2003 with 45 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Tiberius, emperor of Rome, in 42 B.C.; composer W.C. Handy, known as the "Father of the Blues," in 1873; Broadway director and playwright George S. Kaufman in 1889; jazz guitarist and bandleader Eddie Condon in 1904; actors Burgess Meredith in 1909, Marg Helgenberger in 1958 (age 45), and Lisa Bonet in 1967 (age 36); and Olympic figure skater Oksana Baiul in 1977 (age 26).

On this date in history:

In 1892, the University of Chicago, a founding member of the Big 10, won its first football game, beating Illinois, 10-4.

In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state admitted to the Union.

In 1933, the United States established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

In 1982, National Football League players ended a 57-day strike.

In 1984, the space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth with the first two satellites ever plucked from space.

In 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter were shot to death at their residence in San Salvador. Three years later, in 1991, House Democrats reported that Salvadoran Defense Minister Gen. Rene Ponce had planned the killings.

1989, seven children were killed when a tornado struck an elementary school near Newburgh, N.Y.

In 1990, the Soviet Union indicated its approval of the use of military force to oust Iraq from Kuwait.

In 1991, former Democratic Gov. Edwin Edwards of Louisiana was overwhelmingly elected to a new term, defeating former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke.

In 1992, a federal judge in Los Angeles refused to reconsider the Navy's appeal of an injunction that forced the service to reinstate sailor Keith Meinhold, the first openly homosexual person on active duty in the U.S. military.

Also in 1992, prosecutors in Detroit filed second-degree murder charges against two police officers who allegedly beat black motorist Malice Green to death. Two other officers were charged with lesser offenses.

In 1993, the United Nations Security Council voted to end the manhunt for Somali warlord Gen. Mohammed Farah Aideed.

In 1997, 85 percent of citizens of Hungary voted in favor of joining NATO.

In 2001, a letter containing anthrax was found at the capitol in Washington, addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Demmocrat.

Also in 2001, U.S. officials said a bomb had killed Muhammad Atef, one of Osama bin Laden's oldest and closest strategists who was believed to have helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks.

In 2002, top U.S. national security advisers were reported discussing creation of a domestic intelligence organization that would take over the FBI's responsibility for counter-terrorism spying and analysis.

Also in 2002, a memo appearing to lay the groundwork for resumption of U.S. nuclear testing and allow development of new nuclear weapons was said to be circulating within the Bush administration.

A thought for the day: it was Henry Kissinger who said, "History knows no resting places and no plateaus."