Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Wednesday, July 3, the 184th day of 2002 with 181 to follow. The moon is waning, moving toward its last quarter. Advertisement The morning stars are Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Pluto. Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include playwright and songwriter George M. Cohan in 1878; Welsh poet and writer William Henry Davies ("The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp") in 1871; Czech novelist Franz Kafka in 1883; actor George Sanders in 1906; journalist and columnist Dorothy Kilgallen in 1913; Jerry Gray, band leader, arranger for Glenn Miller, in 1915; English filmmaker Ken Russell in 1927 (age 74); clarinetist and New Orleans jazz great Pete Fountain in 1930; English playwright Tom Stoppard in 1937 (age 64); humorist Dave Barry and actress Betty Buckley, both in 1947 (age 54); exiled Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier in 1951 (age 50); talk show host Montell Williams in 1956 (age 45); pop singer Laura Branigan in 1957 (age 44); actors Tom Cruise and Thomas Gibson ("Dharma & Greg"), both in 1962 (age 39); and pop singer Taylor Dayne in 1963 (age 38). Advertisement 1878 - George M. Cohan (actor, singer. composer: Over There, The Yankee Doodle Boy, Give My Regards to Broadway, Mary's a Grand Old Name, You're a Grand Old Flag, Harrigan; subject of movie: Yankee Doodle Dandy, and Broadway show: George M!) On this date in history: In 1608, French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded the Canadian town of Quebec. In 1775, George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass. In 1863, the Union army under command of Gen. George Meade defeated Confederate forces commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg, Penn. The same day, Vicksburg, Miss., surrendered to Union troops led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. In 1928, the first color television transmission was accomplished by John Logie Baird in London. In 1976, Israeli commandos raided the airport at Entebbe, Uganda, rescuing 103 hostages held by Arab terrorists. In 1986, President Reagan re-lit the Statue of Liberty's torch in New York Harbor after a $66 million restoration of the statue was completed during the 100th anniversary year of its dedication. Advertisement In 1988, missiles fired from the USS Vincennes brought down an Iranian airliner in the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard. In 1992, the U.S. Air Force joined the international airlift of food, medical supplies to besieged residents of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina. In 1993, exiled Haitian President Aristide and Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, who led the coup in 1991 that ousted him, announced an agreement that would put Aristide back in power by October. Cedras later broke the agreement. In 1994, tropical storm Alberto stalled over Georgia, bringing heavy rains and flooding to parts of the South. In 1996, Boris Yeltsin was re-elected president of Russia, defeating Gennadi Zyuganov in a runoff. In 2000, blasts caused by suicide bombers in Chechnya killed at least 37 Russian soldiers. A thought for the day: Flaubert said, "Of all lies, art is the least untrue."
