The almanac

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 21, the 21st day of 2014 with 344 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include soldier and Vermont folk hero Ethan Allen in 1738; explorer and historian John Fremont in 1813; Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in 1824; firearms designer John Browning in 1855; Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, in 1884; French fashion designer Christian Dior and German high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, both in 1905; actors Telly Savalas and Paul Scofield, both in 1922; British comedian Benny Hill in 1924; disc jockey Robert "Wolfman Jack" Smith in 1938; golfer Jack Nicklaus in 1940 (age 74); opera star Placido Domingo (age 72) and folk musician Richie Havens, both in 1941; singers Mac Davis (age 72) and Edwin Starr, both in 1942 and Billy Ocean in 1950 (age 64); actors Jill Eikenberry in 1947 (age 67), Robby Benson and Geena Davis, both in 1956 (age 58); U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke in 1950 (age 64); U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in 1951 (age 63); Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 1953 (age 61); basketball Hall of Fame member Hakeem Olajuwon in 1963 (age 51); and singer Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton in 1976 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1793, French King Louis XVI was executed in Paris.

In 1861, Mississippi Sen. Jefferson Davis resigned from the U.S. Senate, 12 days before Mississippi seceded from the Union. He later became president of the Confederate States of America.

In 1924, Vladimir Lenin, architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and the first leader of the Soviet Union, died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 54.

In 1954, the world's first atomic-powered submarine, the Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn.

In 1976, the supersonic Concorde airplane was put into service by Britain and France.

In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardoned American Vietnam War-era draft evaders and ordered a case-by-case study of deserters.

In 1997, the full U.S. House of Representatives voted 395-28 to reprimand Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., for violating House rules and misleading congressional investigators looking into his possible misuse of tax-exempt donations for political purposes.

In 1998, Pope John Paul II arrived in Havana for his first visit to Cuba.

In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau said Hispanics had moved past African-Americans as the largest minority group in the United States.

In 2009, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who lost a tough fight against Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, won near unanimous Senate confirmation as secretary of state.

In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a far-reaching and controversial 5-4 decision, ruled that the government cannot restrict the spending of corporations and unions for political campaigns.

In 2012, signaling what observers believed to be a new political era in Egypt, Islamist parties won 47 percent of the seats in parliamentary elections.

In 2013, a sudden snowfall caused two massive pileups on slippery interstates in the Cincinnati area. The crashes in near-whiteout conditions killed a young girl and injured about 20 other people. "It was just chaos, absolute chaos," a sheriff's officer said.

A thought for the day: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." -- Henry David Thoreau