The almanac

Today is Thursday, Nov. 29, the 334th day of 2012 with 32 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include Austrian physicist Christian Doppler in 1803; author Louisa May Alcott in 1832; Chinese Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi in 1835; English electrical engineer John Fleming, who devised the radio tube-diode, in 1849; film choreographer Busby Berkeley in 1895; Irish novelist C.S. Lewis in 1898; sports broadcasting legend Vin Scully in 1927 (age 85); former French President Jacques Chirac in 1932 (age 80); British blues musician John Mayall in 1933 (age 79); actor Diane Ladd in 1935 (age 77); rock 'n' roll Hall of Fame member Denny Doherty and musician/composer Chuck Mangione (age 72), both in 1940; comedians Garry Shandling in 1949 (age 63) and Howie Mandel in 1955 (age 57); filmmaker Joel Coen in 1954 (age 58); Janet Napolitano. U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, in 1957 (age 55); Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 1959 (age 53); actors Cathy Moriarty in 1960 (age 52), Kim Delaney and Tom Sizemore, but in 1961 (age 51), Andrew McCarthy in 1962 (age 50) and Don Cheadle in 1964 (age 48); and record-setting relief pitch Mariano Rivera in 1969 (age 43).

On this date in history:

In 1877, Thomas Edison demonstrated his invention, a hand-cranked phonograph that recorded sound on grooved metal cylinders. Edison shouted verses of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" into the machine which played back his voice.

In 1890, the first Army-Navy football game was played with Navy winning 24-0.

In 1929, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard Byrd and three crewmen became the first people to fly over the South Pole.

In 1947, despite strong Arab opposition, the United Nations voted for the partition of Palestine and the creation of the independent Jewish state of Israel.

In 1963, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of U.S. President John Kennedy.

In 1986, movie icon Cary Grant died of a stroke at the age of 82.

In 1988, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev told a landmark Supreme Soviet session that the country's system of government needed radical change.

In 1989, Romanian Olympic gymnastic hero Nadia Comaneci fled to Hungary. She eventually reached the United States.

In 1990, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing "all necessary means," including military force, against Iraq if it didn't withdraw from Kuwait by Jan. 15, 1991.

In 1991, a dust storm in Coalinga, Calif., triggered a massive pileup by more than 250 vehicles on Interstate 5, killing 15 people and injuring more than 100.

In 1992, blacks killed four whites and wounded 17 more at a South African golf club. The attack was thought to be the first by blacks against white civilians since the 1990 legalization of anti-apartheid groups.

In 1994, voters in Norway rejected a proposal to join the European Union.

In 2001, George Harrison, lead guitarist of the Beatles, died of cancer. He was 58.

In 2003, Iraqi insurgents killed seven members of Spain's National Intelligence Center and two Japanese diplomats in a series of attacks apparently aimed at non-American foreigners.

Also in 2003, plans by Britain, France and Germany to give the European Union a military planning arm, independent of NATO, won backing from the rest of the bloc.

In 2005, Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals reported 1,086 bodies were recovered in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In 2007, an Islamic court found a British teacher working in Sudan guilty of inciting religious hatred by allowing her class of 7-year-olds to name a Teddy bear "Mohammed." Gillian Gibbons, 54, was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation while street mobs demanded her execution.

In 2008, the United Nations said a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe killed more than 400 people with almost 10,000 cases reported.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama, saying the federal government must tighten its belt, proposed a two-year pay freeze on civilian federal employees.

In 2011, Michael Jackson's personal physician was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the pop star's 2009 death. Dr. Conrad Murray, a Texas cardiologist, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Also in 2011, AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines and American Eagle, said the carriers will keep flying despite declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

A thought for the day: Helmuth von Moltke wrote, "A war, even the most victorious, is a national misfortune."