The almanac

Today is Thursday, July 11, the 192nd day of 2013 with 173 to follow.

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

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 82); critic Harold Bloom in 1930; Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani in 1934 (age 79); soul singer Bonnie Pointer in 1950 (age 63); former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks in 1953 (age 60); actor Sela Ward in 1956 (age 57); musicians Richie Sambora and Suzanne Vega, both in 1959 (age 54); TV host John Henson and TV naturalist Jeff Corwin, both in 1967 (age 46); and rapper Lil' Kim in 1974 (age 39).

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 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.

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 2008, Tony Snow, who was press secretary under U.S. President George W. Bush and a Fox News Channel host, died of cancer at age 53.

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.

In 2012, thousands of people gathered in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, to mark the 17th anniversary of the massacre of 8,000 Muslim males by Bosnian Serb forces.

A thought for the day: Martin Farquhar Tupper wrote, "A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever."