Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Wednesday, July 24, the 205th day of 2013 with 160 to follow. The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Saturn and Venus. Advertisement Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include South American revolutionary and statesman Simon Bolivar in 1783; French novelist Alexandre Dumas the Elder, author of "The Three Musketeers," in 1802; British poet/author Robert Graves in 1895; aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in 1897; actor Chief Dan George in 1899; artist Zelda Fitzgerald in 1900; writer John D. MacDonald in 1916; feminist and former U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug, D-N.Y., in 1920; political cartoonist Pat Oliphant in 1935 (age 78); comedian Ruth Buzzi in 1936 (age 77); actors Dan Hedaya in 1940 (age 73), Chris Sarandon in 1942 (age 71), Robert Hays in 1947 (age 66), Michael Richards in 1949 (age 64) and Lynda Carter in 1951 (age 62); comedian Gallagher in 1946 (age 67) basketball Hall of Fame member Karl Malone in 1963 (age 50); actor/singer Kristin Chenoweth in 1968 (age 45); actor/singer Jennifer Lopez in 1969 (age 44); actors Rose Byrne in 1979 (age 34) and Anna Paquin in 1982 (age 31); and Australian television host Bindi Irwin in 1998 (age 15). Advertisement On this date in history: In 1679, New Hampshire became a royal colony of the British crown. In 1847, after 17 months and many miles of travel, Brigham Young led 148 Mormon pioneers into Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake. In 1956, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed together for the last time. In 1969, Apollo 11 returned to Earth after its historic moon-landing mission. In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Richard Nixon should surrender White House tapes for the criminal trials of his former associates. In 1983, George Brett of the Kansas City Royals has a home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident" after New York Yankees Manager Billy Martin had Brett's bat examined by umpires. The home run was later reinstated. In 1997, the Scottish scientists who produced Dolly the cloned sheep announced they had cloned a sheep with human genes. In 1998, a gunman opened fire at the Capitol in Washington, killing two police officers and wounding a tourist. Police shot the gunman, who survived and was later charged with murder. In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives expelled Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, by a vote of 420-1. Traficant, who had been convicted of racketeering, bribery and corruption, was the second House member expelled since the Civil War. Advertisement In 2006, deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was hospitalized on a forced-feeding tube in Baghdad as his massacre trial resumed without him. In 2009, an increase in the federal minimum wage, from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour, went into effect. Representatives of small businesses said the increase would threaten their survival. In 2011, hundreds of gay couples in formal suits and gowns and T-shirts recited vows after New York became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex weddings. In 2012, the British government said 18,200 military personnel are assigned to security duties at the London Olympics, opening in a few days. A thought for the day: Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, "There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life."
