UPI Almanac for Friday, Oct. 21, 2016

Today is Friday, Oct. 21, the 295th day of 2016 with 71 to follow.

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

Those born this date are under the sign of Libra. They include English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1772; Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prize, in 1833; dancer/choreographer Ted Shawn in 1891; conductor Georg Solti in 1912; mathematician Martin Gardner in 1914; jazz trumpeter John "Dizzy" Gillespie in 1917; baseball Hall of Fame member Whitey Ford in 1928 (age 88); author Ursula K. Le Guin in 1929 (age 87); rock musician Manfred Mann in 1940 (age 76); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Steve Cropper in 1941 (age 75); Judith "Judge Judy" Sheindlin in 1942 (age 74); Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1949 (age 67); actor-author Carrie Fisher in 1956 (age 60); actor Ken Watanabe in 1959 (age 57); and socialite Kim Kardashian in 1980 (age 36).

On this date in history:

In 1805, in one of history's greatest naval battles, the British fleet under Adm. Horatio Nelson defeated the combined French-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar off the coast of Spain.

In 1879, after 14 months of experiments, Thomas Edison invented the first practical electric incandescent lamp.

In 1908, The Saturday Evening Post magazine carried an ad for a brand new product: a two-sided phonograph record.

In 1948, Western Allies decided to withdraw their condemnation of Russia as a threat to peace on the condition that the Berlin blockade was lifted, accepting a small-nation formula as a "hopeful basis" for solving the Berlin crisis.

In 1950, Chinese troops occupied Tibet.

In 1959, rocket designer Wernher von Braun and his team were transferred from the U.S. Army to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

In 1983, Grenada's newly installed military rulers sought to consolidate control as 1,900 Marines steamed toward the Cuban-backed island following a week-old coup that left as many as 15 people dead.

In 1991, Beirut University Professor Jesse Turner, a hostage since January 1987, was released by his captors in Lebanon.

In 1994, Rosario Ames, wife of confessed spy Aldrich Ames, was sentenced to 63 months in prison for collaborating with him.

In 1996, the Dow Jones industrial average of 30 major stocks topped the 6,000 mark for the first time.

In 2004, the most senior soldier accused in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq, Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released on parole in 2007.

In 2010, a U.S. government report indicated that the mortgage-financing enterprises known as Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac, already recipients of $148 billion in federal bailout funds, might need $200 billion more to stay solvent through 2013.

In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the United States would withdraw all troops from Iraq at the end of the year and engage in a "normal relationship" with the nation. "After nearly nine years," Obama said, "America's war in Iraq will be over."

In 2012, a gunman shot seven women in a day spa in Brookfield, Wis., killing three of them before taking his own life. Police said one of the women killed was the gunman's wife, who worked at the spa.

In 2013, Jim Leyland, 68, long considered one of Major League Baseball's top managers, announced he was retiring as manager of the Detroit Tigers but would stay with the club in another capacity. Leyland took the Tigers to three division titles and two AL pennants and led the Florida Marlins to the World Series championship in 1997.

A thought for the day: "If you focus on success, you'll have stress. But if you pursue excellence, success will be guaranteed." -- Deepak Chopra