The Almanac
Today is Saturday, July 25, the 206th day of 2015 with 159 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Neptune and Uranus. Evening
stars are Jupiter, Mercury Saturn and Venus. Those born on this date
are under the sign of Leo. They include Revolutionary War Gen. Henry
Knox in 1750; artist Thomas Eakins in 1844; artist Maxfield Parrish in
1870; actor Walter Brennan in 1894; actor Jack Gilford in 1908; actor
Estelle Getty in 1923; actor Barbara Harris in 1935 (age 80); guitarist
Jim McCarty (the Yardbirds) in 1943 (age 72); percussionist Jose Areas
(Santana) in 1946 (age 69); folk singer/songwriter Steve Goodman in
1948; football Hall of Fame member Walter Payton in 1954; model/actor
Iman Abdulmajid in 1955 (age 60); actor Matt LeBlanc in 1967 (age 48);
Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby, in 1978 (age 37); actor
Brad Renfro in 1982. On this date in history: In 1909, French pioneer
aviator Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air
machine across the English Channel. It took him 36 minutes. In 1917,
Mata Hari was sentenced to death in France as a spy for Germany in
World War I. (She was executed by firing squad less than three months
later and her name became a synonym for a seductive female spy.) In
1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing U.S. commonwealth. In 1956,
the Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria and Swedish liner Stockholm
collided at night in heavy fog off Nantucket, Mass. (The accident had a
death toll of 52. Hundreds of people were rescued. The Andrea Doria
sank the next morning.) In 1965, folk legend Bob Dylan performed for
the first time with electric instruments, so upsetting his fans that
they booed him. In 1972, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, U.S.
Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, disclosed he had undergone
psychiatric treatment in the 1960s. Presidential nominee George
McGovern replaced him on the ticket with Sargent Shriver. In 1978, the
world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in Oldham,
England. In 1986, former Navy radioman Jerry Whitworth was convicted of
selling U.S. military secrets to the Soviets through the John Walker
spy ring. The government called it the most damaging espionage case
since World War II. (Whitworth was sentenced to 365 years in prison.)
In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein
signed a declaration that ended the 46-year state of war between their
countries. In 2000, an Air France Concorde supersonic jet crashed on
takeoff from Paris, killing 113 people, including four on the ground.
It was the first crash of a Concorde. In 2007, as Iraqis celebrated
their national soccer team's victory over South Korea in the Asian Cup
semifinals, two suicide bombers attacked crowds in Baghdad, killing at
least 50 people and injuring about 140. In 2008, California banned the
use of trans fats in all restaurants and retail bakeries in the state,
beginning in 2010. In 2012, North Korea announced its leader, Kim Jong
Un, had married Ri Sol Ju. In 2013, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
said the death toll in the 2 1/2-year conflict in Syria had surpassed
100,000. In 2014, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least
85 Syrian soldiers were killed in IS assaults led by suicide car
bombers in Raqqa province. About 28 militants also died. A thought for
the day: Phil Jackson, who coached teams to 11 NBA titles, said,
Approach the game with no preset agendas and you'll probably come away
surprised at your overall efforts. .
