The almanac

Today is Tuesday, May 28, the 148th day of 2013 with 217 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include British statesman William Pitt (the Younger) in 1759; Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz in 1807; all-around athlete Jim Thorpe in 1888; British novelist Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, in 1908; biologist and politician Barry Commoner and musician Pappa John Creach in 1917; actor Carroll Baker in 1931 (age 82); Annette and Cecile Dionne, surviving members of Canada's Dionne quintuplets, in 1934 (age 79); basketball Hall of Fame member Jerry West in 1938 (age 75); singer Gladys Knight, actor Sondra Locke and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, all in 1944 (age 69); Rock And Roll Hall of Fame member John Fogerty in 1945 (age 68); actor Christa Miller in 1964 (age 49); singer Kylie Minogue in 1968 (age 45); and talk show panelist Elisabeth Hasselbeck in 1977 (age 36).

On this date in history:

In 1798, the U.S. Congress empowered President John Adams to recruit an American army of 10,000 volunteers.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was founded by naturalist John Muir.

In 1934, the Dionne sisters, Emilie, Yvonne, Cecile, Marie and Annette, first documented set of quintuplets to survive, were born near Callander, Ontario, and soon became world-famous. Emilie died in 1954, Marie in 1970 and Yvonne in 2001.

In 1961, Amnesty International was founded in London by lawyer Peter Berenson.

In 1987, West German Mathias Rust, 19, flew a single-engine plane from Finland through Soviet radar and landed beside the Kremlin in Moscow. Three days later, the Soviet defense minister and his deputy were fired.

In 1996, Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and two former business associates of U.S. President Bill Clinton were convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with Whitewater loans. Tucker resigned.

In 1998, in a first, digitized pictures taken by the Hubbell Space Telescope seemed to show an image of a planet outside the solar system. The planet circled two stars in the constellation Taurus.

In 2000, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori easily won a runoff election but nationwide demonstrations against him continued and he would resign in September.

In 2002, scientists said the Mars Odyssey found evidence of ice deposits on Mars.

In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law his modified tax-reduction plan, which lowered the tax rate for upper- and middle-income taxpayers and trimmed rates on capital gains and dividends.

In 2008, Nepal's newly elected Constituent Assembly voted to dissolve the 239-year-old monarchy and form a republic. King Gyanendra was given 15 days to step down.

In 2010, economic uncertainties in America and Europe were blamed for the U.S. stock market's worst May since 1940. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the month down 7.9 percent, the Standard and Poor's 500 had an 8.2 percent drop in May and the Nasdaq composite was down 8.3 percent.

In 2011, Egypt opened the Rafah crossing between Sinai and Gaza to Palestinians, ending a four-year enforcement of the Israeli blockade. Israel voiced fears of increased arms trafficking.

In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama, in a Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery, said: "For the first time in nine years, Americans are not fighting or dying in Iraq. We are winding down the war in Afghanistan and our troops will continue to come home."

A thought for the day: Ambrose Bierce defined painting as "The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic."