UPI Almanac for Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Today is Wednesday, April 13, the 104th day of 2016 with 262 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include British anti-government conspirator Guy Fawkes in 1570; Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, in 1743; Frank Woolworth, founder of the five-and-dime stores, in 1852; outlaw Butch Cassidy in 1866; Alfred Butts, inventor of the game Scrabble, in 1899; Irish playwright Samuel Beckett in 1906; Harold Stassen, former Minnesota governor who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination seven times, in 1907; author Eudora Welty in 1909; actor/singer Howard Keel in 1919; atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair in 1919; actor Don Adams in 1923; actor Lyle Waggoner in 1935 (age 81); actor Paul Sorvino in 1939 (age 77); composer Bill Conti in 1942 (age 74); actor Tony Dow (Wally on Leave It To Beaver) in 1945 (age 71); singer Al Green in 1946 (age 70); actor Ron Perlman in 1950 (age 66); singer Peabo Bryson in 1951 (age 65); author/critic Christopher Hitchens in 1949; Max Weinberg, band leader/Bruce Springsteen drummer, in 1951 (age 65); chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1963 (age 53); and actor Rick Schroder in 1970 (age 46);

On this date in history:

In 1742, George Frideric Handel's "Messiah" made its world premiere.

In 1932, Democrats at a Jefferson Day luncheon accused the Hoover administration of wrecking the economy, plunging millions into misery and engulfing the government in debt due to extravagance.

In 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win an Oscar for Best Actor, honored for his work in Lilies of the Field.

In 1970, an oxygen tank exploded aboard Apollo 13 en route to a planned moon landing and one of the three astronauts aboard, Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, famously said, "Houston, we've had a problem." The mission was aborted and the craft, also carrying James Lovell, the commander, and Fred Haise,the lunar module pilot, returned safety to Earth April 17 after some harrowing moments.

In 1972, the first Major League Baseball strike ended, eight days after it began.

In 1984, Christopher Wilder, the FBI's "most wanted man," accidentally killed himself as police moved in to arrest him in New Hampshire. Wilder was a suspect in the deaths, rapes and disappearances of 11 young women in eight states.

In 1987, the Population Reference Bureau reported the world's population had exceeded 5 billion.

In 1997, Tiger Woods, 21, won the Masters, the youngest golfer to accomplish that feat and the first African American to win any of the four men's major professional golf tournaments. Woods also won the Masters in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

In 2005, as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to four bombings that killed two people and injured more than 120. Among the attacks were bombings at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and two abortion clinics. Rudolph was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2008, about 1,300 Iraqi police officers and soldiers were fired in Basra and Kut for failing to fight Shiite militias, the Iraqi government said. Some of those fired were said to have merely switched sides during the battles.

In 2009, music producer Phil Spector was found guilty of second-degree murder by a Los Angeles jury in his second trial for the 2003 slaying of Lana Clarkson, an actress and club hostess. He was sentenced to 19 years-to-life in prison.

In 2012, the White House reported that President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama had income of $789,674 in 2011 and paid $162,074 in taxes, a rate of about 20.5 percent. They paid an additional $31,914 to the state of Illinois.

In 2013, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis appointed eight cardinals to look into ways of reforming the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2014, for the second time in three years, Bubba Watson took home the famous Green Jacket after winning the Masters.

A thought for the day: "Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." -- Oprah Winfrey