The Almanac

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Today is Sunday, July 11, the 193rd day of 2004 with 173 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Venus, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Mars and Pluto.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include Scottish King Robert the Bruce in 1274; John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, in 1767; author E.B. White in 1899; actors Yul Brynner in 1920 and Tab Hunter in 1931 (age 73); fashion designer Giorgio Armani in 1936 (age 68); Leon Spinks, who in 1978 won and then lost the heavyweight boxing title in fights with Muhammad Ali, in 1953 (age 51); actress Sela Ward in 1956 (age 48); and "Talk Soup" host John Henson in 1967 (age 37).

On this date in history:

In 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr killed long-time political foe Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary and chief architect of the nation's political economy, in a duel at Weehawken, N.J.

In 1847, songwriter Stephen Foster's first major hit, "Oh! Susanna," was performed for the first time, in a Pittsburgh saloon, and soon became a standard for minstrel shows.

In 1952, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, with Richard Nixon as his running mate. They were elected that November.

In 1955, the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado was dedicated with 300 cadets in its first class.

In 1979, America's Skylab space station fell to earth, scattering tons of debris across the Australian desert.

In 1985, two explosions sank the Rainbow Warrior, flagship of the Greenpeace environmental activist group, in Auckland, New Zealand, killing a ship's photographer and launching an international uproar. France later acknowledged responsibility.

In 1991, Japan's prime minister agreed to pay the United States an additional $500 million requested for military expenses in the Persian Gulf War.

In 1993, the collapse of a river levee left Des Moines, Iowa, without any potable tap water. The water was not declared safe to drink until month's end.

In 1994, Haiti kicked human-rights monitors out of the country.

In 1995, the United States resumed diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

In 1996, the international court at The Hague handed down more indictments for Bosnian war crimes, including the political leader of Serbs within Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic. Karadazic resigned under international pressure but was rumored to continue wielding power from behind the scenes.

In 2000, peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis opened at Camp David, Md.

In 2003, seeking outside views, leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met with a group of prominent Catholic business executives, academics and journalists to discuss the church's future in light of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

A thought for the day: Martin Farquhar Tupper wrote, "A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever."