The almanac

Today is Saturday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2013 with 87 to follow.

The moon is waxing. 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 French philosopher Denis Diderot in 1713; Chester A. Arthur, 21st president of the United States, in 1829; movie pioneer Louis Lumiere in 1864; rocket pioneer Robert Goddard in 1882; restaurant entrepreneur Ray Kroc (McDonald's) and comic Larry Fine of The Three Stooges (the one with the wild, wavy hair) in 1902; British actor Donald Pleasence in 1919; political activist and defrocked priest Philip Berrigan in 1923; "Family Circus" cartoonist Bil Keane in 1922; actor Glynis Johns in 1923 (age 90); actor/comedian Bill Dana in 1924 (age 89); Vaclav Havel, first president of the Czech Republic, in 1936; football Hall of Fame member Barry Switzer in 1937 (age 76); rock singer/songwriter Steve Miller in 1943 (age 70); baseball writer and theorist Bill James in 1949 (age 64); actor Karen Allen and Irish rock musician Bob Geldof, organizer of the 1985 Live Aid famine relief concert, both in 1951 (age 62); comedian Bernie Mac in 1957; astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson in 1958 (age 55); architect Maya Lin in 1959 (age 54); race car driver Michael Andretti in 1962 (age 51); hockey Hall of Fame members Mario Lemieux and Patrick Roy, both in 1965 (age 48); and actor Kate Winslet in 1975 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1813, the Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh was killed while fighting on the side of the British during the War of 1812.

In 1918, Germany's Hindenburg Line was broken as World War I neared an end.

In 1973, Egypt and Syria, hoping to win back territory lost during the third Arab-Israeli war, launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

In 1989, TV evangelist Jim Bakker was convicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy for fleecing his PTL flock.

In 1994, 53 members of a secretive religious cult were found dead -- the victims of murder or suicide -- over a two-day period in Switzerland and Canada.

In 1999, MCI WorldCom Inc. announced it had agreed to buy the Sprint Corp. in a $129 billion deal that would be the largest corporate acquisition ever at that point.

In 2000, hundreds of thousands of Yugoslavians overthrew the Belgrade government, causing Slobodan Milosevic, the defeated presidential incumbent, to resign, ending 13 years of rule.

In 2001, Barry Bonds hit his 71st home run, most by a player in one season, breaking Mark McGwire's 1998 Major League Baseball record. The San Francisco Giants slugger finished the season with 73 homers.

In 2005, scientists announced that a form of bird flu that jumped directly to humans was the real cause of a 1918 pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.

In 2007, U.S. sprinter Marion Jones, who won five medals during the 2000 Olympic Games, three of them gold, admitted taking steroids to enhance her track performance. She drew a two-year ban and forfeiture of medals on her guilty plea to lying to federal investigators.

In 2010, Faisal Shahzad, who left an explosives-laden vehicle in New York's Times Square, hoping to detonate it on a busy night, was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2011, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc. and hailed by his colleagues as a "visionary and creative genius," died at age 56, two months after resigning as chief executive officer because he could "no longer meet [his] duties and expectations."

In 2012, the U.S. Labor Department reported the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent, its lowest level since early 2009.

A thought for the day: "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." -- Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)