The Almanac

Today is Monday, Dec. 11, the 345th day of 2006 with 20 to follow.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include Scottish physicist and kaleidoscope inventor David Brewster in 1781; French composer Hector Berlioz in 1803; German pioneer bacteriologist Robert Koch in 1843; New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1882; Italian film producer Carlo Ponti in 1912 (age 94); Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1918 (age 88); actress Rita Moreno (first performer to win an Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy) in 1931 (age 75); singers David Gates in 1940 (age 66) and Brenda Lee in 1944 (age 62); actors Donna Mills in 1943 (age 63), Teri Garr in 1949 (age 57) and singer Jermaine Jackson in 1954 (age 52).

On this date in history:

In 1941, four days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

In 1951, Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from baseball.

In 1953, Alaska's first TV station signed on the air.

In 1983, 30,000 women tried to rip down fences around a U.S. cruise missile base at Greenham Common, England.

In 1984, a nativity scene was displayed near the White House for the first time since courts ordered it removed in 1973.

In 1989, Bulgarian leader Peter Mladenov set a May 31 deadline for free elections and called for a constitution that did not guarantee the Communist party a dominant role in the Eastern European country.

In 1992, the three major TV networks agreed on joint standards to limit entertainment violence by the start of the next fall's season.

In 1993, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the ruling center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy won Chile's presidential election.

In 1994, up to 40,000 Russian troops invaded Chechnya, a semi-autonomous republic on Russia's border with Georgia, to put down a secessionist rebellion.

In 1995, two Japanese cult members admitted they had released the toxic sarin gas in Tokyo subway trains the previous March that killed 12 people.

In 1997, a U.S. judge in Washington ruled that Microsoft Corp. could not bundle its Internet Explorer with Windows 95.

In 1998, the International Olympic Committee began an internal investigation into rumors that bribes had been offered by cities seeking to be chosen as sites for the Olympic Games.

In 2001, the United States filed its first charges in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, accusing Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, of conspiring with others to carry out the assault.

In 2004, Vienna doctors treating the mystery illness of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko determined he was poisoned by dioxin while campaigning for president.

Also in 2004, a study indicated that U.S. teen sexual activity dropped significantly since 1995.

In 2005, reports say Britain's Prince Charles was formally interviewed by Scotland Yard detectives investigating the death of Princess Diana, his former wife. A letter left by Diana allegedly accused Charles of plotting against her.

Also in 2005, news reports said French intelligence had warned the CIA several times there was no evidence Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger before U.S. President George Bush went to war.

A thought for the day: Paul Valery said, "That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false."