Today is Tuesday, Oct. 7, the 281st day of 2008 with 85 to follow.
The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include poet James Whitcomb Riley in 1849; Grand Ole Opry star Uncle Dave Macon in 1870; Danish atomic physicist Niels Bohr in 1885; actor Andy Devine in 1905; singer/bandleader Vaughn Monroe in 1911; actress June Allyson in 1917; actor/singer Al Martino in 1927 (age 81); South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu in 1931 (age 77); Oliver North, the former White House aide who became the center of the Iran-Contra controversy, in 1943 (age 65); rock singer John Mellencamp in 1951 (age 57); classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1955 (age 53); and singer Toni Braxton in 1967 (age 41).
On this date in history:
In 1913, for the first time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park automobile factory was run on a continuously moving assembly line.
In 1916, in the most lopsided football game on record, Georgia Tech humbled Cumberland University, 222-0.
In 1949, less than five months after Britain, the United States and France established the Federal Republic of Germany in West Germany, the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany) was proclaimed within the Soviet occupation zone.
In 1968, the U.S. movie industry adopted a film ratings system for the first time: G (for general audiences), M (for mature audiences), R (no one under 16 admitted without an adult) and X (no one under 16 admitted).
In 1985, four Palestinian terrorists commandeered the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro with 511 passengers and crew off Egypt and threatened to blow it up unless Israel freed Palestinian prisoners. The hijackers, who surrendered in Port Said two days later, killed an American passenger.
Also in 1985, a mudslide in Ponce, Puerto Rico, killed an estimated 500 people in the island's worst disaster of the 20th century.
In 1989, East Germany celebrated its 40th anniversary as a communist state amid pro-reform demonstrations.
In 1991, Iran freed U.S. telecommunications engineer John Pattis, ending five years of captivity on charges of spying for the CIA.
Also in 1991, U.N. inspectors discovered an Iraqi nuclear weapons research center intact.
And in 1991, Slovenia and Croatia formally declared secession from Yugoslavia.
In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. The pact would create the world's largest trading bloc.
In 1994, U.S.
