The almanac

Today is Friday, July 11, the 193rd day of 2008 with 173 to follow.

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

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 77); fashion designer Giorgio Armani in 1934 (age 74); former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks, in 1953 (age 55); actress Sela Ward in 1956 (age 52); and TV host John Henson in 1967 (age 31).

On this date in history:

In 1804, U.S. 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, U.S. Army 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, The United States' Skylab space station fell to earth, scattering tons of debris across the Australian desert.

In 1993, the collapse of a river levee left Des Moines, Iowa, without 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 an indictment for Radovan Karadzic, the political leader of Serbs within Bosnia.

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

In 2004, the United Nations said Asia was on the brink of an AIDS catastrophe with more than 8 million people living with HIV or AIDS.

In 2006, more than 200 people were killed and another 700 injured in coordinated rush-hour terrorist attacks on the transit system in Mumbai.

In 2007, Iraqi authorities accused guards of stealing $282 million from the Dar Es Salaam bank in Baghdad.

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