The almanac

Today is Monday, May 21, the 142nd day of 2012 with 224 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include German painter Albrecht Durer in 1471; King Philip II of Spain, who launched the Spanish Armada, in 1527; English poet and satirist Alexander Pope in 1688; French painter Henri Rousseau in 1844; France diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leon Bourgeois in 1851; industrialist Armand Hammer in 1898; architect Marcel Breuer in 1902; composer and barrelhouse piano player Thomas "Fats" Waller in 1904; author Harold Robbins and singer Dennis Day, both in 1916; actor Raymond Burr in 1917; Soviet physicist-turned-humanitarian Andrei Sakharov in 1921; Hall of Fame football coach Ara Parseghian in 1923 (age 89); actor Peggy Cass in 1924; former baseball manager Bobby Cox and singer Ronald Isley, both in 1941 (age 71); romance novelist Janet Dailey in 1944 (age 68); comedian and U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., in 1951 (age 61); convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in 1960; and actors Mr. T, born Lawrence Tureaud, in 1952 (age 60), Judge Reinhold in 1957 (age 55) and Lisa Edelstein in 1966 (age 46); and rapper The Notorious B.I.G. in 1972.

On this date in history:

In 1832, the first Democratic Party national convention met in Baltimore.

In 1856, Lawrence, Kan., was burned by pro-slavery forces.

In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed the "Spirit of St. Louis" in Paris, completing the first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic in 33 1/2 hours.

In 1932, five years to the day after Charles Lindbergh's historic flight, Amelia Earhart became the first pilot to repeat the feat, flying solo across the Atlantic from Newfoundland, Canada, to Ireland. She completed her flight in 13 1/2 hours.

In 1941, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed "an unlimited state of national emergency," seven months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1972, a Hungarian man, Lazlo Tooth, attacked Michelangelo's sculpture "The Pieta" while screaming "I am Jesus Christ!" The statue was badly damaged.

In 1985, after taking fertility drugs, Patti Frustaci of Orange, Calif., gave birth to the first recorded American septuplets. Six of the seven infants were born alive. Three survived.

In 1991, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while campaigning.

Also in 1991, South Korean Prime Minister Ro Jai-bong quit after four weeks of student protests demanding his resignation.

In 1993, the Venezuelan Senate authorized the country's Supreme Court to try President Carlos Andres Perez on corruption charges. Perez was suspended from office.

In 1998, two students were killed and 22 others wounded when a classmate opened fire in a high school cafeteria in Eugene, Ore. A 15-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the shootings; police found his parents shot to death at home.

Also in 1998, weeks of demonstrations led to the resignation of Indonesian President Suharto.

In 2003, an earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck near Algiers, killing more than 2,200 people and injuring another 10,000.

Also in 2003, a three-judge panel in Florida threw out a $145 billion punitive damage award against cigarette manufacturers.

In 2006, the FBI accused U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and said agents found $90,000 of the money in a freezer at his home.

In 2008, Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group, reached an agreement with the Lebanese government on a power-sharing formula, ending an 18-month political stalemate and clearing the way for the election of Gen. Michel Suleiman president.

In 2009, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began his second term after a coalition led by his Congress party scored a resounding victory in parliamentary elections.

In 2010, a Malawi judge sentenced two gay men to 14 years in prison for unnatural acts and gross indecency. The judge said he didn't believe the southeastern African nation was ready "to see its sons getting married to other sons."

In 2011, Mexican drug lord Barragan Gilberto Balderas, a major leader of the Gulf Cartel and wanted in the United States for alleged drug smuggling, was arrested in the border town of Reynosa near McAllen, Texas.

A thought for the day: Arthur Koestler said, "If the Creator had a purpose in equipping us with a neck, he surely meant us to stick it out."