The almanac

Today is Saturday, March 20, the 79th day of 2010 with 286 to follow.

This is the first day of spring.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Roman poet Ovid in 43 B.C.; adventurer and writer Edward Judson, originator of the dime novel, writing as Ned Buntline, in 1823; Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen in 1828; psychologist B.F. Skinner in 1904; actor/bandleader Ozzie Nelson in 1906; former New York Mayor Abe Beame in 1906; British actor Michael Redgrave in 1908; diplomat and socialite Pamela Harriman in 1920; actor, producer, director Carl Reiner in 1922 (age 88); Fred Rogers (TV's "Mister Rogers") in 1928; actor Hal Linden in 1931 (age 79); singer/songwriter Jerry Reed in 1937; former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1939 (age 71); basketball coach Pat Riley in 1945 (age 65); former hockey star Bobby Orr in 1948 (age 62); actor William Hurt in 1950 (age 60); blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan in 1951 (age 59); filmmaker Spike Lee and actor Theresa Russell, both in 1957 (age 53); actor Holly Hunter in 1958 (age 52); actor David Thewlis and model Kathy Ireland, both in 1963 (age 47).

On this date in history:

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published.

In 1854, in what is considered the founding meeting of the Republican Party, former members of the Whig Party met in Ripon, Wis., to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories.

In 1916, Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity.

In 1963, a volcano on the East Indies island of Bali erupted, killing 1,500.

In 1976, San Francisco newspaper heiress and kidnapping victim Patty Hearst was convicted of bank robbery.

In 1977, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son, Sanjay, lost parliamentary races in India's general elections.

In 1986, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at more than 1,800 for the first time.

In 1987, the federal government approved the sale of AZT, a treatment but not a cure for AIDS.

In 1991, Baghdad was warned to abide by the cease-fire after U.S. fighter jets shot down an Iraqi jet fighter in the first major air action since the end of the Persian Gulf War.

In 1995, 12 people were killed and more than 5,000 made ill by a nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. Members of a religious sect were blamed.

In 1996, the world learned of "mad cow" disease from a British government report questioning the safety of British beef.

In 1997, the Liggett Group, fifth-largest U.S. tobacco company, agreed to admit that smoking was addictive and caused health problems and that the tobacco industry had sought for years to sell its products to children as young as 14.

In 2001, five days after explosions destroyed a support beam, the largest oilrig in the world collapsed and sank off the coast of Brazil.

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Peru was preceded by a car bomb explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Lima that killed nine and injured 30.

Also in 2002, the office of the special prosecutor Robert Ray announced there wasn't enough evidence that either former U.S. President Bill Clinton or his wife Hillary Clinton had committed crimes in connection with the failed Whitewater real estate venture in Arkansas.

In 2003, early ground combat in the Iraq war found U.S. soldiers heading north toward Baghdad and U.S. and British Marines going northeast toward Basra, Iraq's second largest city.

Also in 2003, Brian Patrick Regan, a retired Air Force master sergeant, was sentenced to life in prison for offering to sell intelligence secrets to Saddam Hussein and the Chinese government.

In 2004, after narrowly escaping assassination the day before, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian was re-elected with about 50 percent of the vote.

In 2005, more than 30 Shiite Muslim worshippers were killed when a bomb exploded at a shrine in the village of Fatehpur, Pakistan.

Also in 2005, which was Palm Sunday, ailing Pope John Paul II appeared at his window in the Vatican but didn't speak.

In 2006, reports from Iraq said that over a two-week period, nearly 200 bodies were found in Baghdad, apparent victims of execution or torture.

In 2007, an early morning nursing home fire in southern Russia killed at least 62 people and injured 30 others.

Also in 2007, former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was hanged in Baghdad for his part in the 1982 deaths of 148 Shiites.

In 2008, despite China's claims of calm in Tibet, various reports indicated Tibetan protests against Chinese rule were spreading to other regions.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama revealed plans for fighting al-Qaida and the Taliban by sending additional troops to Afghanistan and increasing aid to Pakistan.

A thought for the day: "Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of 10 people couldn't start a conversation." Kin Hubbard said that.