The almanac

Today is Monday, Sept. 30, the 273rd day of 2013 with 92 to follow.

The moon is waning. 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 Libra. They include Persian poet Rumi in 1207; chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in 1861; German physicist Hans Geiger, co-inventor of the Geiger counter, in 1882; film director Lewis Milestone ("All Quiet on the Western Front") in 1895; singer Kenny Baker in 1912; drummer Buddy Rich in 1917; novelist Truman Capote in 1924; baseball Hall of Fame member Robin Roberts in 1926; actors Deborah Kerr in 1921 and Angie Dickinson in 1931 (age 82); Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel in 1928 (age 85); singers Johnny Mathis in 1935 (age 78), Frankie Lymon in 1942 and Marilyn McCoo in 1943 (age 70); actors Len Cariou in 1939 (age 74) and Victoria Tennant in 1950 (age 63); rock singer Marc Bolan in 1947; actors Jack Wild in 1952, Fran Drescher in 1957 (age 56), Eric Stoltz and Crystal Bernard, both in 1961 (age 52) and Jenna Elfman in 1971 (age 42), and tennis star Martina Hingis in 1980 (age 33).

On this date in history:

In 1452, the first section of the Guttenberg Bible, the first book printed from movable type, was published in Germany.

In 1630, John Billington, one of the first pilgrims to land in America, was hanged for murder -- the first European criminal executed in the American colonies.

In 1791, Mozart's "The Magic Flute" was performed for first time.

In 1846, a dentist in Charleston, Mass., extracted a tooth with the aid of an anesthetic -- ether. It was the first time an anesthetic had been used.

In 1927, Babe Ruth set a Major League Baseball record with his 60th home run of the season. The mark would stand for 34 years.

In 1938, Germany, France, Britain and Italy met in Munich, Germany, for a conference after which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain predicted "peace for our time." World War II began less than one year later.

In 1946, the verdicts were handed down in the Nuremberg war crimes trial. Twelve Nazi leaders were sentenced to death by hanging.

In 1954, the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine, was commissioned by the U.S. Navy.

In 1955, movie idol James Dean died in a car crash at age 24.

In 1962, James H. Meredith, an African-American, was escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. marshals, setting off a riot in which two men died before violence was quelled by more than 3,000 soldiers. Meredith enrolled the next day.

In 1991, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a military coup.

In 1992, the United States returned most of the Subic Bay Naval Base to the Philippine government after more than a century of use.

In 2004, Merck and Co. announced a voluntary worldwide withdrawal of the arthritis and pain medication drug Vioxx. Clinical trials showed an increased risk of heart attack and strokes.

In 2006, Congress ordered construction of a 700-mile, $1.2 billion fence along the U.S.-Mexican border in a move to control immigration. Mexico said the barrier would hurt relations between the two countries.

In 2008, thousands of worshipers making their way through a narrow passage to a Hindu temple in India for a religious festival broke into a stampede when a wall collapsed. Police put the death toll at 224 with more than 100 injured.

In 2009, back-to-back earthquakes and mudslides hit Sumatra in Indonesia, leaving an official death toll of close to 1,200 and smashing thousands of homes.

In 2010, U.S. stocks reported their best September since 1939. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,788.05, a gain of 7.7 percent for the month.

In 2011, a missile from an American drone aircraft strike over Yemen killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born Islamic cleric linked to several high-profile terrorist incidents in the United States and subject of a two-year manhunt.

In 2012, the International Security Assistance Force said a "suspected insider attack" in Afghanistan during the weekend killed three Afghans, an American civilian contractor and a member of the U.S. military.

A thought for the day: Spanish nun, mystic and reformer St. Teresa said, "Whenever conscience commands anything, there is only one thing to fear, and that is fear."