The Almanac

Today is Saturday, June 3, the 154th day of 2006 with 211 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy during the Civil War, in 1808; automaker Ranson Olds in 1864; actor Maurice Evans in 1901; opera tenor Jan Peerce in 1904; jazz dancer and singer Josephine Baker in 1906; actors Paulette Goddard in 1911, Tony Curtis in 1925 (age 80) and Colleen Dewhurst in 1926; country blues singer Jimmy Rogers in 1924; poet Allen Ginsberg in 1926; sax virtuoso Boots Randolph in 1927 (age 79); TV producer Chuck Barris in 1929 (age 77); singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield in 1942; singer Deniece Williams in 1951 (age 55); and actor Scott Valentine ("Family Ties") in 1958 (age 48).

On this date in history:

In 1888, the famous comic baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" was first published in the Sunday edition of The San Francisco Examiner.

In 1937, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, married divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson of Baltimore after abdicating the British throne.

In 1942, the battle of Midway began. It raged for four days and was the turning point for the United States in the World War II Pacific campaign against Japan.

In 1965, Gemini IV astronaut Ed White made the first American "walk" in space.

In 1985, an accord between Italy and the Vatican ended Roman Catholicism's position as "sole religion of the Italian state."

In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic revolution, died.

In 1991, France signed the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which prohibits signatories from helping other countries acquire nuclear weapons.

In 1992, U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali opened the largest meeting on the environment in history amid tight security in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1993, after reading her writings, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced he was withdrawing the nomination of University of Pennsylvania law professor Lani Guinier to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department.

In 1994, North Korea's refusal to allow inspections of two of its nuclear power plants prompted the United States to ask the United Nations about new economic sanctions against Pyongyang.

In 1997, French Socialist Party leader Lionel Jospin became prime minister.

In 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Moscow to discuss a wide range of subjects. But they were unable to agree on the proposed U.S. missile defense system.

In 2003, President George W. Bush, speaking at a summit with Arab leaders in Egypt, renewed his commitment to work for peace between Arabs and Israelis.

Also in 2003, North Korea accused South Korean navy ships of intruding its territorial waters, warning the border violation would lead to a second war on the Korean peninsula.

In 2004, CIA Director George Tenet, criticized for his handling of the terrorist threat, resigned.

In 2005, jury deliberations began in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial in Santa Maria, Calif., after 14 weeks of testimony.

Also in 2005, U.S. military investigation found that guards or interrogators at Guantanamo Bay mishandled the Koran, according to reports.

A thought for the day: Bert Leston Taylor said, "A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you."