UPI Almanac for Friday, Dec. 9, 2016

Today is Friday, Dec. 9, the 344th day of 2016 with 22 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include English poet John Milton in 1608; journalist Joel Chandler Harris, author of the "Uncle Remus" stories, in 1845; Clarence Birdseye, industrialist/inventor, noted as "the father of frozen foods," in 1886; actor Hermione Gingold in 1897; circus clown Emmett Kelly in 1898; actor Margaret Hamilton in 1902; bandleader Freddy Martin in 1906; actors Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in 1909 and Broderick Crawford in 1911; former Speaker of the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, D-Mass., in 1912; actor Kirk Douglas in 1916 (age 100); comedian Redd Foxx in 1922; actors Dina Merrill in 1925 (age 91), Dick Van Patten in 1928 (age 88), John Cassavetes in 1929, Buck Henry in 1930 (age 86); Judi Dench in 1934 (age 82) and Beau Bridges in 1941 (age 75); football Hall of Fame members Deacon Jones in 1938 and Dick Butkus in 1942 (age 74); actors Michael Nouri in 1945 (age 71), Michael Dorn in 1952 (age 64) and John Malkovich in 1953 (age 63); golf Hall of Fame member Tom Kite in 1949 (age 67); singers Joan Armatrading in 1950 (age 66) and Donny Osmond in 1957 (age 59); and actors Joe Lando in 1961 (age 55) and Felicity Huffman in 1962 (age 54).

On this date in history:

In 1907, the first Christmas Seals to raise money to fight tuberculosis went on sale in the post office in Wilmington, Delaware.

In 1920, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1936, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, with the country and the world waiting in painful suspense to hear confirmation or repudiation of a belief that King Edward had decided to abdicate, told Commons that he could not make an announcement before tomorrow, Dec. 10.

In 1955, two weeks of bloody student uprisings against President Fulgencio Batista appeared to follow the pattern of the student riots that deposed Cuban Dictator Gerardo Machado 22 years ago. Batista would remain in power four more years before losing power to Fidel Castro.

In 1958, in Indianapolis, retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H. W. Welch, Jr., established the John Birch Society, a right-wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceived to be the extensive infiltration of communism into U.S. society.

In 1974, White House aide John Ehrlichman testified at the Watergate trial that U.S. President Richard Nixon was responsible for a coverup.

In 1990, Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential vote.

In 1992, British Prime Minister John Major announced the formal separation of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

In 2002, United Airlines, which said it was losing $22 million a day, filed for bankruptcy.

In 2006, U.S. midterm election figures indicated Democrats made a 31-seat gain to recapture control of the House of Representatives, with 233 seats to 202 for the Republicans. Democrats earlier assured themselves the Senate majority.

In 2009, the U.S. government's bailout program for ailing major banks "played a critical role in renewing the flow of credit and preventing a more acute crisis," the independent Congressional Oversight Panel said in a year-end report.

In 2012, the death toll from Typhoon Bopha, which raged across the Philippines for five days, continued to rise. Officials later said more than 1,000 people had been killed with at least that many injured, and thousands of others were left homeless.

A thought for the day: "It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone." -- Marilyn Monroe