The almanac

Today is Thursday, March 1, the 61st day of 2012 with 305 to follow.

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

Those born on this day are under the sign of Pisces. They include Polish composer Frederic Chopin in 1810; author William Dean Howells in 1837; big band leader Glenn Miller in 1904; actor David Niven in 1910; writer Ralph Ellison and St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray, both in 1914; poet Robert Lowell in 1917; Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Yitzhak Rabin and Mad magazine publisher William Gaines, both in 1922; Donald "Deke" Slayton, one of the original Mercury astronauts, in 1924; NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1926; singer Harry Belafonte and jurist Robert Bork, both in 1927 (age 85); actors Robert Conrad in 1930 (age 82) and Alan Thicke in 1947 (age 65); Roger Daltrey of The Who and Mike d'Abo of Manfred Mann, both in 1944 (age 68); director Ron Howard in 1954 (age 58); actors Catherine Bach in 1954 (age 58) and Tim Daly in 1956 (age 56); and singers Ke$ha in 1987 (age 25) and Justin Bieber in 1994 (age 18).

On this date in history:

In 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was established.

In 1692, the notorious witch hunt began in the Salem village of the Massachusetts Bay colony, eventually resulting in the executions of 19 innocent men and women.

In 1780, Pennsylvania became the first state to abolish slavery.

In 1781, the American colonies adopted the Articles of Confederation, paving the way for a federal union.

In 1803, Ohio was admitted to the union as the 17th state.

In 1867, Nebraska was admitted to the union as the 37th state.

In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established by an act of Congress. It was the first area in the world to be designated a national park.

In 1932, aviator Charles Lindbergh's son was kidnapped. The boy's body was found May 12 and Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the crime in 1936.

In 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress.

In 1961, U.S. President John Kennedy formed the Peace Corps.

In 1971, a bomb exploded in a restroom in the Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol, causing $300,000 damage but no injuries. The Weather Underground, a leftist radical group that opposed the Vietnam War, claimed responsibility.

In 1991, the United States reopened its embassy in newly liberated Kuwait.

Also in 1991, after 23 years of insurgency in Colombia, the Popular Liberation Army put down its arms in exchange for two seats in the national assembly.

In 1992, the collapse of a building housing a cafe in East Jerusalem killed 23 people.

In 1994, the Muslim-dominated government of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bosnia's Croats agreed to a federation embracing portions of their war-torn country under their control.

In 1999, Rwandan rebels killed eight tourists, including two Americans, a Ugandan game warden and three rangers in a national forest in Uganda.

In 2000, in a rare unanimous vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to allow most Social Security recipients to earn as much money as they want without losing any benefits.

In 2003, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States was captured in Pakistan.

In 2004, a new interim government took over in Haiti after a bloody, monthlong insurrection, one day after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile.

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that execution of juvenile offenders is unconstitutional.

In 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush made an unscheduled visit to Afghanistan to discuss security matters.

In 2007, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced that he would be a candidate for president in 2008.

Also in 2007, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who served as an adviser in the Kennedy administration, died at age 89.

In 2008, the Dow Jones industrials fell 315.17 points and went into March at 12,266.39 after a fourth consecutive monthly drop. Crude oil prices topped $101 a barrel.

Also in 2008, Israeli forces carried out attacks in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 Palestinians. About 60 others were injured.

In 2009, longstanding rivalries between civilian and military leaders in the small West African nation of Guinea Bissau led to the assassinations of President Joao Bernardo Vieira and Gen. Batista Tagme Na Waie, the army chief of staff.

In 2010, after refusing contributions from foreign governments, officials of earthquake-devastated Chile changed course and asked other countries for help. Authorities fought off looters who stole valuable museum artifacts and trashed and burned stores in hard-hit Concepcion.

In 2011, the U.S. Interior Department approved the first deep-water drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP off-shore explosion and massive oil spill in April 2010.

A thought for the day: "Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week." William Dean Howells said that.