The Almanac
Today is Saturday, March 18, the 77th day of 2017 with 288 to follow.
The moon is waning. 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 John C. Calhoun,
the first U.S. vice president to resign that office, in 1782; Grover
Cleveland, 22nd and 24th president of the United States, in 1837;
Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1844; German engineer
Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the engine that bears his name, in 1858;
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1869; clairvoyant and
therapist Edgar Cayce in 1877; actor Edward Everett Horton in 1886;
actor Robert Donat in 1905; winemaker Ernest Gallo in 1909; auto race
promoter Andy Granatelli in 1923; actor Peter Graves in 1926; author
George Plimpton in 1927; author John Updike in 1932; former South
African President F.W. de Klerk in 1936 (age 81); country singer
Charley Pride in 1938 (age 79); singer/songwriter Wilson Pickett in
1941; Olympic gold medal-winning skier Ingemar Stenmark in 1956 (age
61); singer Irene Cara in 1959 (age 58); actor/singer Vanessa Williams
in 1963 (age 54); Olympic champion speed skater Bonnie Blair in 1964
(age 53); singer/actor Queen Latifah in 1970 (age 47);
singer-songwriter Adam Levine in 1979 (age 38); actor Lily Collins in
1989 (age 28). On this date in history: In 1922, Mahatma Gandhi was
sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience against the
British rulers of India. In 1925, the worst tornado in U.S. history
roared through eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern
Indiana, killing 695 people, injuring thousands of others and causing
$17 million in property damage. In 1931, the first electric razor was
marketed by Schick. In 1937, a natural gas explosion at a public school
in New London, Texas, killed almost 300 people, most of them children.
In 1962, France and Algeria signed a cease-fire agreement ending a
seven-year civil war and bringing independence to the North African
country. In 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov became the first
person to walk in space. In 1992, hotel queen and convicted tax cheat
Leona Helmsley was sentenced to four years in prison. In 1995, I'm
back. Superstar Michael Jordan announced he was returning to
professional basketball and the Chicago Bulls after a 17-month break,
during which he had tried a baseball career. In 2003, on the eve of war
with Iraq, the U.S. State Department listed 30 countries as members of
a coalition of the willing supporting military intervention, but only
the United States, Britain and Australia were known to be providing
troops. In 2005, doctors removed the feeding tube keeping Terri Schiavo
alive after a wide-ranging fight over the brain-damaged Florida woman's
care that involved U.S. President George Bush and Congress. In 2010,
U.S. President Barack Obama signed a jobs-stimulus measure into law. It
provided $17.5 billion in tax cuts and other employer incentives and
shifted $20 billion to boost transit programs. In 2013, a Washington
Post-ABC News poll indicated 58 percent of Americans supported same-sex
marriage, up from 37 percent a decade earlier. In 2014, Phil Jackson,
who won 11 NBA championships as a coach, was introduced as president of
the New York Knicks. A thought for the day: There just isn't any
pleasing some people. The trick is to stop trying. -- Robert Mitchum .
