The almanac

Today is Thursday, May 9, the 129th day of 2013 with 236 to follow.

The moon is new. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include abolitionist John Brown in 1800; Scottish novelist James Barrie, author of "Peter Pan," in 1860; Howard Carter, the British Egyptologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen, in 1874; industrialist Henry J. Kaiser in 1882; Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset in 1883; country singer Hank Snow in 1914; TV journalist Mike Wallace in 1918; tennis champion Richard "Pancho" Gonzales in 1928; English actors Albert Finney and Glenda Jackson, both in 1936 (age 77); TV producer and filmmaker James L. Brooks in 1940 (age 73); former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and pop singer Tommy Roe, both in 1942 (age 71); rock musician Richie Furay in 1944 (age 69); actor Candice Bergen in 1946 (age 67); singer/songwriter Billy Joel in 1949 (age 64); baseball Hall of Fame member Tony Gwynn in 1960 (age 53); and actor John Corbett in 1962 (age 51).

On this date in history:

In 1502, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain on his fourth and final voyage to the New World.

In 1926, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett were the first to fly over the North Pole.

In 1961, in a speech to TV executives at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow referred to television as "a vast wasteland."

In 1974, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened its hearing on the possible impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon.

In 1978, former Italian Prime Aldo Moro, who had been kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists, was found shot to death in the back of a car in Rome.

In 1979, the United States and Soviet Union reached a basic accord on the SALT 2 nuclear arms treaty.

In 1980, a Liberian freighter rammed a bridge in Florida's Tampa Bay, collapsing part of the span and dropping 35 people to their deaths. A new $240 million Sunshine Skybridge opened April 30, 1987.

In 1987, 183 people died when a Polish airliner bound for New York crashed near Warsaw.

In 1993, thousands of war veterans, politicians and anti-government demonstrators gathered across Moscow and the former Soviet Union to mark the World War II victory over Germany at Stalingrad.

In 2001, at least 123 people were killed during a stampede at a soccer match in Accra, Ghana.

In 2003, a well-connected Los Angeles socialite, Katrina Leung, who also allegedly acted as a double-agent for China, was formally charged with passing sensitive documents on to Chinese intelligence officers.

In 2004, President Akhmad Kadyrov of Chechnya was assassinated in an explosion at a stadium in Grozny where Russia's World War II victory was being celebrated. Thirty-one other people also died.

In 2008, the acting chief of the Mexican federal police was assassinated in reported response to the government's crackdown on organized crime and drug cartels.

In 2009, Jacob Zuma, African National Congress leader, was sworn in as president of South Africa.

In 2011, thousands of citizens in Mexico City protested raging violence that bedeviled the country since the government launched its drug cartel crackdown and demanded more steps to protect the people.

In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama said he had reversed his opposition to same-sex marriage: "I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

A thought for the day: Benjamin Franklin said, "Experience keeps a dear school but fools will learn in no other."