The almanac

Today is Friday, Nov. 1, the 305th day of 2013 with 60 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Jupiter and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include journalist and novelist Stephen Crane in 1871; Argentine politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Carlos Saavedra Lamas in 1878; sportswriter/poet Grantland Rice and Polish author Sholem Asch, both in 1880; Canadian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Philip Noel-Baker in 1889; journalist James Kilpatrick in 1920; actor Betsy Palmer in 1926 (age 87); hockey Hall of Fame member Al Arbour in 1932 (age 81); golf Hall of Fame member Gary Player in 1935 (age 78); "Hustler" publisher Larry Flynt in 1942 (age 71); musician and politician Kinky Friedman in 1944 (age 69); country singer Lyle Lovett in 1957 (age 56); rock drummer Rick Allen in 1963 (age 50); and actors Rachel Ticotin in 1958 (age 55) and Toni Collette and Jenny McCarthy, both in 1972 (age 41).

On this date in history:

In 1512, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, one of Italian artist Michelangelo's finest works, was exhibited to the public for the first time.

In 1604, William Shakespeare's "Othello" was staged for first time.

In 1611, Shakespeare's "The Tempest" made its debut.

In 1755, an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, killed 60,000 people.

In 1765, American colonists were furious over the new British Stamp Act, termed "taxation without representation" and, ultimately, a major cause of the revolution.

In 1800, U.S. President John Adams and his family moved into the newly built White House after Washington became the U.S. capital.

In 1918, the Hapsburg monarchy of Austria-Hungary was dissolved. Vienna became the capital of Austria and Budapest the capital of Hungary.

In 1922, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey became a republic.

In 1938, Seabiscuit beat War Admiral in horse racing's "match of the century."

In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into the Blair House in Washington in an attempt to assassinate U.S. President Harry Truman.

In 1986, a warehouse fire in Basel, Switzerland, triggered massive chemical pollution of the Rhine River in Switzerland, France, West Germany and the Netherlands.

In 1990, McDonald's, under pressure from environmental groups, said it would replace plastic food containers with paper.

In 1991, the Russian Congress of People's Deputies granted Boris Yeltsin sweeping powers to launch and direct radical economic reforms.

In 2008, Maj. Sebastian Morley, the top British Special Forces commander in Afghanistan, resigned to protest what he called lack of proper equipment for combat troops. He blamed "chronic underinvestment."

In 2011, a U.N. report said the world's population has topped the 7 billion mark, doubling the total of 1968. The U.N. Population Fund predicted 8 billion people by 2025.

In 2012, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had said he wouldn't endorse President Barack Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the presidential race, decided to back Obama. Bloomberg wrote in an op-ed article he changed his mind because of the president's response to the superstorm Sandy disaster.

A thought for the day: Eubie Blake, who lived to be 100, said, "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."