The almanac

Today is Saturday, Nov. 16, the 320th day of 2013 with 45 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Tiberius, emperor of Rome, in 42 B.C.; composer W.C. Handy, known as the "Father of the Blues," in 1873; Broadway director and playwright George S. Kaufman in 1889; jazz guitarist and bandleader Eddie Condon in 1905; actors Burgess Meredith in 1907, Clu Gulager in 1928 (age 85); Donna McKechnie in 1940 (age 73); Marg Helgenberger in 1958 (age 55) and Lisa Bonet in 1967 (age 46); singer Diana Krall in 1964 (age 49); and Olympic figure skater Oksana Baiul in 1977 (age 36).

On this date in history:

In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state admitted to the union.

In 1933, the United States established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

In 1984, the space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth with the first two satellites plucked from space.

In 1990, the Soviet Union indicated its approval of the use of military force to oust Iraq from Kuwait.

In 2001, U.S. officials said a bomb had killed Muhammad Atef, one of Osama bin Laden's closest strategists who was believed to have helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

In 2007, the United Nations warned global warming of 1-3 degrees Celsius would lead to a rise in sea levels that would swallow up island nations, decimate one-quarter or more of the world's species, cause famine in Africa and spark increasingly violent hurricanes.

In 2008, after nearly a year of negotiations with the United States, the Iraqi Cabinet agreed to withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by Dec. 31, 2011.

In 2010, a U.S. House committee found Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., guilty of 11 counts of ethics violations and recommended the former Ways and Means chairman be censured for misconduct, the stiffest House penalty short of expulsion.

In 2011, Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach facing 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys, admitted in an interview he had showered with boys and "horsed around" but maintained there was no sexual abuse.

In 2012, a Gallup-USA Today poll indicated that 54 percent of Americans are upbeat about the country's prospects during the next four years. Forty-one percent said they thought the country could be in a worse condition.

A thought for the day: It was Henry Kissinger who said, "History knows no resting places and no plateaus."