The almanac

Today is Thursday, Nov. 26, the 330th day of 2009 with 35 to follow.

This is Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include English poet William Cowper in 1731; air conditioning engineer Willis Carrier in 1876; surgeon and women's rights leader Mary Walker Edwards in 1832; gambler, frontier lawman and sports writer William "Bat" Masterson in 1853; French playwright Eugene Ionesco in 1909; TV journalist Eric Sevareid in 1912; cartoonist Charles Schulz ("Peanuts") in 1922; singer Robert Goulet in 1933; impressionist Rich Little in 1938 (age 71); and singer Tina Turner in 1939 (age 70).

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On this date in history:

In 1789, U.S. President George Washington declared Nov. 26, 1789, to be Thanksgiving Day. It was the first U.S. holiday by presidential proclamation.

In 1832, the first streetcar railway in America started public service in New York City from City Hall to 14th Street. The car was pulled by a horse and the fare was 12 1/2 cents.

In 1922, In Egypt's Valley of the Kings, British archaeologists Howard Carter and George Carnarvon became the first humans to enter King Tutankhamen's treasure-laden tomb in more than 3,000 years.

In 1940, German Nazis forced 500,000 Jews in Warsaw to live in a ghetto surrounded by an 8-foot concrete wall.

In 1941, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull submitted U.S. proposals to the Japanese peace envoys in Washington.

In 1956, bandleader Tommy Dorsey died at age 51. His records sold more than 110 million copies.

In 1965, France launched a satellite into space, becoming the world's third space power after the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1984, the United States and Iraq restored diplomatic relations, ending a 17-year break.

In 1992, the United States offered to send up to 20,000 U.S. ground troops to civil war-torn Somalia as part of a U.N. force to get relief supplies to the starving populace.

In 1997, the international price of gold in New York City fell to $298 per ounce, the lowest level in 12 years.

In 2001, the Afghanistan prison revolt, which was crushed the third day, claimed the life of a CIA operative, Johnny Michael Spann, 32, a former U.S. Marine captain. He was the first U.S. combat casualty of the war. Five other Americans were injured.

In 2003, the U.N. nuclear watchdog passed a resolution condemning Iran's nuclear program but stopped short of recommending sanctions.

In 2004, a man broke into a high school dormitory in central China and killed eight students with a knife as they were sleeping. The killer got away.

In 2005, police officials said at least 30 people were killed and injured in a series of bombings and armed attacks in Iraq.

Also in 2005, an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi killed at least 14 people and injured hundreds of others.

And, in 2005, a 67-year-old textile tycoon in India, Vijaypat Singhania, set a world's altitude record of 69,852 feet in a hot air balloon over Mumbai.

In 2006, Russia's state-run arms exporter denied Russian news agency reports it had begun delivering Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

In 2007, an exiled Iraqi journalist claimed sectarian gunmen massacred 11 members of his family in their Baghdad home.

Also in 2007, riots broke out in suburban Paris after two teenagers on a stolen motorcycle were reported killed when they hit a police car.

In 2008, terrorists launched a series of coordinated attacks on Mumbai landmarks and commercial hubs popular with foreign tourists, killing at least 173 people and wounding about 300 more.

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A thought for the day: Richard Bentley said, "It is a maxim with me that no man was ever written out of reputation but by himself."