The almanac

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 6, the 218th day of 2013 with 147 to follow.

The moon is new. 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 Leo. They include English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson in 1809; Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons, Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, and actor Leo Carrillo, all in 1881; movie cowboy star Hoot Gibson in 1892; basketball Hall of Fame member Henry Iba in 1904; comedian Lucille Ball in 1911; actor Robert Mitchum in 1917; British airline executive Freddie Laker in 1922; artist Andy Warhol in 1928; writer Piers Anthony in 1934 (age 79); actor Catherine Hicks in 1951 (age 62); basketball Hall of Fame member David Robinson in 1965 (age 48); film director M. Night Shyamalan in 1970 (age 43); and British singer Geri Halliwell in 1972 (age 41).

On this date in history:

In 1890, the first execution by electric chair was carried out. William Kemmler was put to death at Auburn Prison in New York for the ax murder of his girlfriend.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first American to swim the English Channel.

In 1940, Italy invaded British Somaliland, starting the Battle of North Africa in World War II.

In 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, after Nagasaki also was bombed, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.

In 1965, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. The measure barred states from conducting discriminatory voting practices.

In 1978, Pope Paul VI died at the age of 80 after a heart attack. He had led the Roman Catholic Church for 15 years.

In 1986, William Schroeder died of a stroke in Louisville, Ky., after 620 days with the Jarvik-7 mechanical heart. He was the longest-living permanent artificial heart patient.

In 1990, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose a worldwide economic and military embargo on Iraq as punishment for its invasion of Kuwait.

In 1993, Morihiro Hosokawa was elected prime minister of Japan.

In 1995, police in Colombia captured Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, the reputed co-leader of the Cali drug cartel.

In 1996, NASA announced the discovery of evidence of a primitive life form on Mars.

In 1997, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all-time high of 8,259.31.

In 2003, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for governor of California on NBC-TV's "The Tonight Show."

In 2008, federal authorities accused former U.S. Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins of being solely responsible for a series of anthrax-laced letters that killed five people in the fall of 2001. Ivins apparently committed suicide after he was informed a murder indictment was being prepared against him, officials said.

In 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court on a 68-31 vote.

In 2011, this was the deadliest day for U.S. military forces in the decade-long Afghan war. Taliban insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter killing 30 service personnel, including 22 members of the Navy SEALs unit that killed Osama bin Laden in May. (The Pentagon said these victims weren't involved in the bin Laden mission.)

In 2012, U.S. President Obama signed legislation that bans protests within 300 feet of military funerals 2 hours before or after the services.

A thought for the day: it was Will Rogers who said, "Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else."