The almanac

Today is Thursday, Sept. 5, the 248th day of 2013 with 117 to follow.

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

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 86); comedian Bob Newhart in 1929 (age 84); singer/actor Carol Lawrence in 1932 (age 81); film director Werner Herzog in 1942 (age 71); singer/songwriters Al Stewart in 1945 (age 68) and Loudon Wainwright III in 1946 (age 67); Rock and Roll Hall of fame member Freddie Mercury (Queen) in 1946; cartoonist Cathy Guisewite in 1950 (age 63); actors William Devane in 1937 (age 76), George Lazenby in 1939 (age 74); Raquel Welch in 1940 (age 73), Dennis Dugan in 1946 (age 67) and Michael Keaton in 1951 (age 62); and rock musician Dweezil Zappa (son of musician-composer Frank Zappa), in 1969 (age 44).

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 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, Mother Teresa died at age 87.

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.

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, 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, Tropical Storm Hanna struck the Haitian port city of Gonaives, killing at least 500 people.

In 2011, Iran's first nuclear plant was connected to the national power grid, with an official start due Sept. 12. The Bushehr plant had been under development for three decades.

In 2012, a suitcase containing a human torso was found floating in Lake Ontario. Police said the remains, and other body parts discovered in Toronto-area parks and waterways, were those of Guang Hua Liu, 41, missing since mid-August. Her former boyfriend, Chun Qi Jiang, 40, was arrested and charged with murder.

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