The Almanac

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include author L. Frank Baum (The Wizard of Oz) in 1856; French chemist Pierre Curie in 1859; author Katherine Anne Porter in 1890; former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1902; actor Joseph Cotten in 1905; actor James Mason in 1909; country singer Eddy Arnold in 1918; photographer Richard Avedon in 1923; actor Anna Maria Alberghetti in 1936 (age 81); former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 1937 (age 80); singer Trini Lopez in 1937 (age 80); actor/singer Lainie Kazan in 1940 (age 77); musician Brian Eno in 1948 (age 69); Hall of Fame baseball player George Brett in 1953 (age 64); composer Mike Oldfield in 1953 (age 64); sports broadcaster Dan Patrick in 1956 (age 61); writer Laura Hillenbrand in 1967 (age 50); Hall of Fame football player Emmitt Smith in 1969 (age 48); tennis player Andy Murray in 1987 (age 30).


On this date in history:

In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, ordered the dissolution of the company after determining it to be a monopoly.

In 1918, the first regular U.S. airmail service was established between Washington and New York City.

In 1930, Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess, flying on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Cheyenne, Wyo.

In 1940, nylon stockings went on sale in U.S. stores for the first time.

In 1941, the Gloster-Whittle E 28/39 aircraft flew over Cranwell, England, in the first successful test of an Allied aircraft using jet propulsion.

In 1948, troops from Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded Israel starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

In 1958, Gen. Charles De Gaulle announced I hold myself ready to take over the powers of the Republic. Thus, the 67-year-old World War II hero stepped back into the political picture in a crisis that brought France to the brink of civil war.

In 1963, U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper was launched into space atop an Atlas rocket in the final Mercury flight. He completed 22 orbits.

In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas, under fire for a money deal with jailed financier Louis Wolfson, resigned from the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1972, Alabama Gov. George Wallace and three others were injured by a gunman at a presidential campaign rally in Laurel, Md. Wallace was partially paralyzed but active in Southern politics until his death in 1998.

In 1988, Soviet forces began their withdrawal from Afghanistan in compliance with the Geneva accords.

In 1991, Edith Cresson, a Socialist and former trade minister, became the first female prime minister of France.

In 2006, the U.S. State Department said it would restore diplomatic relations with Libya for the first time since 1980 and remove the country from its terrorism sponsors list.

In 2009, two of the Big 3 U.S. automakers, bankrupt Chrysler and almost-bankrupt General Motors, sent notices terminating relationships with nearly 2,000 car dealers.

In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave British oil giant BP the go-ahead to use chemicals in an effort to break up a massive offshore crude oil leak spewing an estimated 70,000 barrels a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2012, Socialist Francois Hollande was inaugurated as president of France.

In 2013, Steven Miller resigned as acting commissioner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service amid a controversy over its alleged targeting of the Tea Party and other conservative groups.

In 2014, charges were filed against the captain and some crew members of a ferry that capsized off South Korea's southwest coast in April, killing more than 300 people. The captain was eventually sentenced to 36 years in prison for deserting the vessel. Others received varying prison terms.

A thought for the day: Samuel Butler said, The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you but he will make a fool of himself, too.