The Almanac
Today is Thursday, March 2, the 61st day of 2017 with 304 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and
Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars. Those born on
this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include statesman DeWitt
Clinton, chief sponsor of the Erie Canal project, in 1769; Sam Houston,
first president of the Republic of Texas, in 1793; Pope Leo XIII in
1810; journalist, politician and reformer Carl Schurz in 1829; Pope
Pius XII in 1876; publisher Max Schuster in 1897; German composer Kurt
Weill in 1900; baseball player and World War II-era spy Moe Berg in
1902; children's author Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel, in 1904; baseball
Hall of Fame member Mel Ott in 1909; entertainer Desi Arnaz in 1917;
actor Jennifer Jones in 1919; actor John Cullum in 1930 (age 87);
former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1931 (age 86); writer Tom
Wolfe in 1931 (age 86); basketball Hall of Fame member Denny Crum in
1937 (age 80); author John Irving in 1942 (age 75) ; musician Lou Reed
in 1942; musician Rory Gallagher in 1948; singer Karen Carpenter in
1950; comedian Laraine Newman in 1952 (age 65), rock singer Jon Bon
Jovi in 1962 (age 55); actor Daniel Craig in 1968 (age 49), musician
Chris Martin in 1977 (age 40); NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in
1982 (age 35). On this date in history: In 1836, Texas proclaimed
independence from Mexico. In 1925, the first system of interstate
highway numbering was introduced in the United States. In 1933, the
movie King Kong premiered in New York. In 1949, a U.S. Air Force plane
piloted by Capt. James Gallagher completed the first non-stop
around-the-world flight in just over 94 hours. In 1962, Philadelphia's
Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game NBA scoring record with 100 points
against the New York Knicks. In 1974, the cost of a U.S. first class
postage stamp was increased to 10 cents, up from 8 cents. In 1983, the
compact disc and player are released in the United States, beginning
the slow decline of the cassette tape and launching the digital audio
revolution. In 2007, U.S. Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey announced
his resignation amid charges of poor conditions for patients at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. In 2008, outgoing Russian
President Vladimir Putin's choice as his successor, Dmitri Medvedev,
was elected president in a landslide. Putin remained in power as prime
minister. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that an anti-gay
Kansas church had a constitutional right to stage a peaceful protest at
the funeral of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq. In 2015, more than 50,000
people gathered in central Moscow to remember Russian opposition leader
Boris Nemtsov. The outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin was
assassinated three days earlier while walking near Red Square. A
thought for the day: Americans have a severe disease -- worse than
AIDS. It's called the winner's complex. -- Mikhail Gorbachev .
