The almanac

Today is Saturday, March 29, the 88th day of 2014 with 277 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include John Tyler, 10th president of the United States, in 1790; baseball pitching legend Cy Young in 1867; Eugene McCarthy, the Minnesota Democrat whose 1968 presidential campaign focused on U.S. opposition to the Vietnam War, in 1916; actor/singer Pearl Bailey, and Walmart founder Sam Walton, both in 1918; political commentator John McLaughlin in 1927 (age 87); former British Prime Minister John Major, actor Eric Idle and Greek composer Vangelis, all in 1943, (age 71); basketball Hall of Fame member Walt Frazier in 1945 (age 69); Karen Ann Quinlan, the focus of arguments over the "right to die" when she fell into an irreversible coma, in 1954; football Hall of Fame member Earl Campbell and actor Brendan Gleeson, both in 1955 (age 59); gymnast Kurt Thomas in 1956 (age 58); actors Christopher Lambert in 1957 (age 57), Amy Sedaris in 1961 (age 53) and Lucy Lawless in 1968 (age 46); model Elle Macpherson in 1963 (age 51); and tennis star Jennifer Capriati in 1976 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1812, Lucy Payne Washington, sister-in-law of U.S. President James Madison, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Dodd in the first wedding performed in the White House.

In 1886, Coca-Cola was created by Dr. John Pemberton who produced it in his back yard in Atlanta.

In 1951, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing atomic weapons information to the Soviet Union, were sentenced to death. (They were executed in 1953.)

In 1961, The 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment gave District of Columbia residents the right to vote in presidential elections.

In 1971, cult leader Charles Manson and three followers (Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel) were sentenced to death in the Tate-Labianca slayings in Los Angeles. (The sentences and a fifth death sentence, for Charles "Tex" Watson, were later commuted to life in prison.)

In 1973, the last U.S. troops left South Vietnam.

In 1991, six-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti quit, opening the way for the country's 50th government since World War II.

In 1999, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at more than 10,000 for the first time.

In 2004, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined NATO.

In 2006, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party narrowly won the national election, taking 28 seats, forcing it into a coalition situation.

In 2009, Rick Wagoner, chief executive of troubled General Motors during a period of rapid decline, resigned at the request of the Obama administration.

In 2009, eight people died in a shooting rampage at a Carthage, N.C., nursing home and six others were killed in what police called murder-suicide shootings in Santa Clara., Calif.

In 2010, two female suicide bombers killed 39 people in attacks on the Moscow subway system.

In 2011, minuscule levels of radiation from Japan's earthquake-tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant were detected in at least 15 U.S. states but the Environmental Protection Agency said they posed no threat to public health.

In 2013, U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, following withering criticism from Republican leaders, apologized for using the term "wetback."

A thought for the day: "Do something worth remembering." -- Elvis Presley