UPI Almanac for Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Today is Wednesday, July 29, the 210th day of 2015 with 155 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 French historian Alexis de Tocqueville in 1805; novelist Booth Tarkington in 1869; Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1883; actor Theda Bara in 1885; composer Sigmund Romberg (" Lover Come Back to Me," "When I Grow Too Old to Dream"), in 1887; Dag Hammarskjold, second U.N. secretary-general/Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in 1905; actor William Powell in 1892; actor Clara Bow in 1905; actor Richard Egan in 1921; Elizabeth Dole, former U.S. labor secretary and U.S. senator (R-N.C.), in 1936 (age 79); TV anchorman Peter Jennings in 1938; actor David Warner in 1941 (age 74); documentary filmmaker Ken Burns in 1953 (age 62); musician Geddy Lee in 1953 (age 62); musician Patti Scialfa in 1953 (age 62); country singer Martina McBride in 1966 (age 49); actor Timothy Omundson in 1969 (age 46); actor Wil Wheaton in 1972 (age 43); Formula 1 champion driver Fernando Alonso in 1981 (age 34).

On this date in history:

In 1588, off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain's "Invincible Armada" was defeated by an English naval force under the command of Charles Howard and Francis Drake.

In 1848, at the height of the potato famine in Ireland, an abortive nationalist revolt against English rule was crushed by government police in Tipperary.

In 1900, Italian King Umberto I was shot to death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in the United States before returning to his homeland to kill the king.

In 1914, the first transcontinental telephone linkup was completed between San Francisco and New York City.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

In 1981, British Prince Charles, son of the queen, married Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. (Diana was killed in a car crash in 1997.)

In 1996, China conducted an underground atomic test and then declared a moratorium on such explosions.

In 1999, a federal judge in Little Rock, Ark., fined U.S. President Bill Clinton $89,000 for lying about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky in his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.

In 2005, authorities said heavy rains and flooding in Mumbai and surrounding areas killed about 1,000 people.

In 2008, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was indicted by a federal grand jury on seven felony counts accusing him of failing to disclose gifts from an oil services company. (Stevens died in a 2010 plane crash.)

In 2009, major U.S. technology companies Microsoft and Yahoo! agreed to collaborate on Internet search and advertising in an effort to better compete with rival Google.

In 2012, Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the United States needed to take Iran at its word when it called for the extermination of Israel.

In 2013, the FBI reported a nationwide roundup of 159 men charged with forcing more than 100 young girls, some only 13, to work as prostitutes.

In 2014, a 93-year-old water main burst under Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and released 20 million gallons of water that flooded the thoroughfare and parts of the UCLA campus.

A thought for the day: Samuel Davies, 18th-century American educator, said, "Intolerance has been the curse of every age and state."