The almanac

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 5, the 249th day of 2012 with 117 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include French King Louis XIV in 1638; outlaw Jesse James in 1847; distiller Jack Daniel in 1846; baseball Hall of Fame member Napoleon Lajoie in 1874; marketing research engineer A.C. Nielsen in 1897; movie producer Darryl F. Zanuck in 1902; Hungarian-born author Arthur Koestler in 1905; retired Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker in 1927 (age 85); comedian Bob Newhart in 1929 (age 83); singer/actor Carol Lawrence in 1932 (age 80); film director Werner Herzog in 1942 (age 70); singer/songwriters Al Stewart in 1945 (age 67) and Loudon Wainwright III in 1946 (age 66); British rock singer Freddie Mercury in 1946; cartoonist Cathy Guisewite in 1950 (age 62); actors William Devane in 1937 (age 75), George Lazenby in 1939 (age 73); Raquel Welch in 1940 (age 72), Dennis Dugan in 1946 (age 66) and Michael Keaton in 1951 (age 61); and rock musician Dweezil Zappa, son of Frank Zappa, in 1969 (age 43).

On this date in history:

In 1774, the first Continental Congress convened in secret in Philadelphia.

In 1882, 10,000 workers marched in the first Labor Day parade in New York City.

In 1877, Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse was fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guard house at Fort Robinson, Neb. A year earlier, Crazy Horse was among the Sioux leaders who defeated George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory.

In 1935, singing cowboy Gene Autry starred in his first Western feature "Tumbling Tumbleweeds."

In 1972, Palestinian militants invaded the Olympic Village outside Munich, West Germany, and killed 11 Israeli athletes and six other people.

In 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of mass murderer Charles Manson, failed in an attempt to shoot U.S. President Gerald Ford.

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and U.S. President Jimmy Carter began a Middle East peace conference at Camp David, Md.

In 1991, six BCCI officials and a Medellin drug cartel leader were charged with laundering cocaine profits through the bank from 1983-89.

In 1995, France conducted an underground nuclear test at the Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific. It was the first of several -- all of which were met by protests worldwide.

In 1997, at least 172 people were killed in Algeria in three incidents believed linked to the country's upcoming election and to the long, though sporadically fought civil war.

Also in 1997, Mother Teresa died at age 87.

And further in 1997, in an unusual television speech, Britain's Queen Elizabeth acknowledged the public expression of grief over Princess Diana's death and expressed her own admiration for her former daughter-in-law.

In 2001, Mexican President Vicente Fox traveled to Washington to ask the Bush administration for a U.S. agreement to legalize the status of millions of Mexicans who entered the United States illegally.

In 2004, two weeks after Hurricane Charley hit Florida, Hurricane Frances barged in north of Palm Beach and cut across the state to the northwest before going into the Gulf of Mexico. The reported death toll was more than 30 and Florida damage from the two storms was placed at more than $10 billion.

In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush announced he would nominate U.S. Circuit Judge John Roberts to succeed William Rehnquist as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Also in 2005, an Indonesian Boeing 737-200 plane crashed shortly after takeoff in the suburbs of the Sumatran city of Medan killing at least 147 people, including 30 on the ground. Six people in the rear of the plane escaped with minor injuries.

In 2006, conservative candidate Felipe Calderon was declared winner of the Mexican presidency by a razor-thin margin.

Also in 2006, Katie Couric, long-time co-host of the NBC Today Show, became the first solo female anchor on a major U.S. television network when she took over the "CBS Evening News."

In 2007, wealthy, record-setting U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett, 63, vanished on a short flight in western Nevada. He was declared dead five months later. Among his many records in the skies and on the water, he was the first person to fly around the world solo in a balloon and first to fly around the globe solo without refueling.

In 2008, the U.S. unemployment rate climbed to 6.1 percent in August, highest point in five years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Some 84,000 people lost jobs in August.

Also in 2008, Tropical Storm Hanna struck the Haitian port city of Gonalves, killing at least 500 people.

And, in Angola's first elections in 16 years, the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola won about 82 percent of the legislative vote.

In 2009, at least 15 people died when a tourist boat sank in southwest Macedonia's Lake Ohrid, with about 60 others rescued. Overloading was seen as a possible cause.

In 2010, heavy rains that triggered massive mudslides were blamed for at least 44 deaths in Guatemala, including 12 people killed when a landslide struck their bus on the Pan-American Highway.

Also in 2010, an alleged terror network aimed at toppling the Bahrain government was uncovered with the arrest of 23 people.

In 2011, a U.N. report said 750,000 Somalis were at risk of dying of starvation by the end of the year. Severe drought was a major threat throughout much of East Africa but Somalia's plight was magnified by its civil war.

Also in 2011, Iran's first nuclear power plant was connected to the national power grid with an official kickoff due Sept. 12. The Bushehr plant, under development for three decades, could pave the way for the Middle East's first atomic power plant, reports said.

A thought for the day: Norman Douglas said, "You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements."