Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Wednesday, July 11, the 193rd day of 2012 with 173 to follow. The moon is waning. Morning stars are Venus, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Saturn and Mars. Advertisement 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 81); critic Harold Bloom in 1930; Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani in 1934 (age 78); soul singer Bonnie Pointer in 1950 (age 62); former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks in 1953 (age 59); actor Sela Ward in 1956 (age 56); musicians Richie Sambora and Suzanne Vega, both in 1959 (age 53); TV host John Henson and TV naturalist Jeff Corwin, both in 1967 (age 45); and rapper Lil' Kim in 1974 (age 38). Advertisement On this date in history: In 1804, U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr killed long-time political foe Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary, 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 1859, Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" was published. 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 1960, Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published. 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 wasn't declared safe to drink until month's end. In 1995, the United States resumed diplomatic relations with Vietnam. 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. Advertisement 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. In 2008, federal regulators seized IndyBank, one of the largest U.S. banks to fail in the economic crisis. IndyBank faced huge losses from defaulted mortgages. Its takeover was expected to cost the U.S. government as much as $8 billion. Also in 2008, authorities said the corruption investigation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expanded to include the possibility that Olmert pocketed fraudulently acquired money for his private use. And, Tony Snow, former White House press secretary under U.S. President George W. Bush and Fox News Channel host, died of cancer at age 53. In 2010, the death toll reached at least 74 from three bombings in Kampala, Uganda, two at locations where crowds were watching the World Cup soccer finals on television. More than 70 others were hurt. Somali militants claimed responsibility. In 2011, an overloaded Russian cruise ship, reportedly unlicensed for passengers and with a malfunctioning engine, capsized in the Volga River during a thunderstorm and quickly sank, killing 122 people. There were 79 survivors. Advertisement Also in 2011, more than 50 people died and around 250 were injured when 15 cars of an Indian passenger train jumped tracks and crashed on its way to New Delhi. A thought for the day: Martin Farquhar Tupper wrote, "A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever."
