The almanac

Today is Wednesday, July 7, the 188th day of 2010 with 177 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include composer Gustav Mahler in 1860; painter Marc Chagall in 1887; film director George Cukor in 1899; film director Vittorio De Sica in 1901; baseball pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Paige and zither player Anton Karas ("The Third Man") in 1906; science fiction author Robert Heinlein in 1907; composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1911; Chicago 7 defense lawyer William Kunstler in 1919; Ezzard Charles, heavyweight boxing champion, in 1921; French fashion designer Pierre Cardin in 1922 (age 88); bandleader Doc Severinsen in 1927 (age 83); singer Mary Ford in 1924; historian David McCullough in 1933 (age 77); former Beatle Ringo Starr in 1940 (age 70); film critic Joel Siegel in 1943; actors Joe Spano in 1946 (age 64); Shelley Duvall in 1949 (age 61) and Bill Campbell in 1959 (age 51); and figure skater Michelle Kwan in 1980 (age 30).

On this date in history:

In 1846, U.S. Navy Commodore J.D. Sloat proclaimed the annexation of California by the United States.

In 1865, four people convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln were hanged in Washington.

In 1898, U.S. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution of Congress authorizing the annexation of Hawaii by the United States.

In 1946, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) became the first American to be canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1973, U.S. President Richard Nixon said he wouldn't appear before the Senate Watergate Investigating Committee or give it access to White House files.

In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor was chosen by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to become the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was unanimously approved by the Senate.

In 1994, 16 people died in Americus, Ga., in flooding caused by a storm that dropped 21.1 inches of rain.

In 1999, a Miami-Dade County jury held the leading tobacco companies liable for various illnesses of Florida smokers. The class-action lawsuit, filed in 1994, was the first of its kind to reach trial.

In 2003, the 37-member Iraqi governing council, representing all major ethnic and religious groups in the nation, began work aimed at taking control by the end of the month.

Also in 2003, actor and dancer Buddy Ebsen, known to millions of TV fans as "Beverly Hillbilly" Jed Clampett and detective Barnaby Jones, died in Southern California. He was 95.

In 2004, Ken Lay, founder and former chief executive officer of the bankrupt Enron Corp., was indicted on 11 criminal counts, including conspiracy, bank fraud and securities fraud.

In 2005, terrorists struck the London transit system setting off explosions in three subway cars and a double-decker bus in a coordinated rush-hour arrack. Fifty-two people were killed and more than 700 injured.

In 2007, a truck loaded with an estimated 2 tons of explosives was detonated in an outdoor market in Amerli, Iraq, killing a reported 150 people, injuring hundreds more and destroying much of the Shiite village north of Baghdad. About 250 were reported killed in three days of insurgent attacks.

In 2008, 41 people died and 130 were injured in a suicide car bombing in front of the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

Also in 2008, Serbia formed a new government, led by the Democratic faction, vowing to reach out to the West, join the European Union and deal with nationalistic fervor brought on by Kosovo's bid for independence.

In 2009, thousands of famous figures from the worlds of entertainment, politics, sports and activism jammed into Los Angeles' Staples Center, and about 250,000 others gather outside the building, for a public memorial service for pop icon Michael Jackson.

A thought for the day: Benjamin Franklin wrote in "Poor Richard's Almanac" that "If you'd know the value of money, go and borrow some."