The Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 10, the 223rd day of 2004 with 143 to follow.

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

Those born on this day are under the sign of Leo. They include Edmund Jennings Randolph, the first U.S. attorney general, in 1753; Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States, in 1874; actor Jack Haley in 1899; actresses Norma Shearer in 1900 and Rhonda Fleming in 1923 (age 81); guitar maker Leo Fender in 1909; singers Jimmy Dean and Eddie Fisher, both in 1928 (age 76); rock musician Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull in 1947 (age 57); and actors Roseanna Arquette in 1959 (age 45) and Antonio Banderas in 1960 (age 44).

On this date in history:

In 1776, a committee of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson suggested the United States adopt "E pluribus unum" -- "Out of many, one" -- as the motto for its Great Seal.

In 1821, Missouri entered the United States as the 24th state and the first located entirely west of the Mississippi River.

In 1977, the United States and Panama reached agreement in principle to transfer the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000.

Also in 1977, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz was arrested and charged with being the "Son of Sam," the serial killer who terrorized New York City for more than a year, killing six young people and wounding seven others with a .44-caliber revolver.

In 1984, Nevada's chief U.S. district judge, Harry Claiborne, was convicted on tax evasion charges. It was the first conviction of a sitting federal judge.

In 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 2600 for the first time.

In 1990, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was convicted on one misdemeanor cocaine possession charge and acquitted on another. The jury deadlocked on the 12 other counts and a mistrial was declared.

In 1991, China agreed in principle to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court's 107th justice, and second female member.

Also in 1993, President Clinton signed a bill designed to reduce the federal budget deficit by $496 billion dollars over five years.

In 1994, lawyers for President Clinton sought the dismissal, for the duration of his presidency, of a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by a former Arkansas state worker.

In 1995, Michael Fortier, who'd been implicated in the April bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, pleaded guilty in a plea-bargain agreement that required him to testify for the prosecution.

In 1996, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole selected former congressman, cabinet secretary and NFL quarterback Jack Kemp as his running mate.

In 1999, a white supremacist gunman opened fire in the lobby of a Jewish community center in Los Angeles, wounding three children and two adults. He then fled, and killed a letter carrier a few miles away. The gunman, Buford Furrow Jr., surrendered in Las Vegas the next day.

In 2001, about 250 people were killed in a violent train wreck in Albania, caused by a land mine set on the tracks by rebels, and in the attack that followed.

In 2003, more than 80 prisoners tunneled their way out of Brazil's Joao Pessoa prison, one of the nation's top security facilities.

A thought for the day: Leonard Nimoy, as Mr. Spock, said to a captured enemy commander, "Military secrets are the most fleeting of all."