The almanac

Today is Sunday, June 3, the 155th day of 2012 with 211 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy during the Civil War, in 1808; automaker Ransom Olds in 1864; British King George V in 1865; race car driver Barney Oldfield in 1878; British actor Maurice Evans in 1901; opera tenor Jan Peerce in 1904; jazz dancer and singer Josephine Baker in 1906; actors Paulette Goddard in 1910, Ellen Corby in 1911, Colleen Dewhurst in 1924 and Tony Curtis in 1925; country blues singer Jimmy Rogers in 1924; poet Allen Ginsberg in 1926; sax virtuoso Boots Randolph in 1927; TV producer Chuck Barris in 1929 (age 83); authors Marion Zimmer Bradley in 1930 and Larry McMurtry in 1936 (age 76); Cuban President Raul Castro in 1931 (age 81); singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield in 1942; singer Deniece Williams in 1950 (age 62); actor Scott Valentine in 1958 (age 54); journalist Anderson Cooper in 1967 (age 45); comedic author John Hodgman in 1971 (age 41); and tennis player Rafael Nadal in 1986 (age 26).

On this date in history:

In 1888, the comic baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" was published in the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Examiner.

In 1937, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, married divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson of Baltimore after abdicating the British throne.

In 1942, the battle of Midway began. It raged for four days and was the turning point for the United States in the World War II Pacific campaign against Japan.

In 1965, Gemini IV astronaut Ed White made the first American "walk" in space.

In 1985, an accord between Italy and the Vatican ended Roman Catholicism's position as "sole religion of the Italian state."

In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic revolution, died.

In 1991, France signed the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which prohibits signatories from helping other countries acquire nuclear weapons.

In 1994, North Korea's refusal to allow inspections of two of its nuclear power plants prompted the United States to ask the United Nations about new economic sanctions against Pyongyang.

In 1997, French Socialist Party leader Lionel Jospin became prime minister.

In 2004, CIA Director George Tenet, criticized for his handling of the terrorist threat, resigned.

In 2006, Canadian police arrested 17 people in an alleged plot to commit a series of terror attacks against targets in southern Ontario.

In 2008, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on the final day of the party's primary season.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama called for "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world" aiming for "new alliances based on mutual respect and common interests."

Also in 2009, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed legislation allowing same-sex marriage, effective January 2010.

In 2010, heavy rain and landslides killed more than 50 people in southern China, officials said. Rains forced 79,600 people to evacuate and caused economic losses estimated at $102.5 billion.

In 2011, embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and several other leading officials were injured in a rocket attack on the presidential compound in Sanaa. Saleh was flown to Saudi Arabia for treatment and his vice president became acting president as the United States stepped up its military activities in Yemen.

Also in 2011, a federal grand jury indicted former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., for allegedly using campaign contributions to hide his mistress from the public while running for president in 2008.

And, Jack Kevorkian, 83, the Michigan physician known as "Dr. Death," died. His advocacy for assisted suicide created havoc for medical ethicists and law agencies.

A thought for the day: Bert Leston Taylor said, "A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you."