UPI Almanac for Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Today is Wednesday, July 26, the 207th day of 2017, with 158 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in 1856; Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, founder of analytic psychology, in 1875; British novelist Aldous Huxley in 1894; movie producer Blake Edwards in 1922; baseball Hall of Fame member Hoyt Wilhelm in 1922; children's author Jan Berenstain in 1923; filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in 1928; Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson in 1928 (age 89); singer Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) in 1943 (age 74); actor Helen Mirren in 1945 (age 72); former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in 1955 (age 62); Olympic gold medal skater Dorothy Hamill in 1956 (age 61); actor Kevin Spacey in 1959 (age 58); actor Sandra Bullock in 1964 (age 53); actor Jason Statham in 1967 (age 50); actor Kate Beckinsale in 1973 (age 44); actor Monica Raymund in 1986 (age 31); actor Francia Raisa in 1988 (age 29); singer and actor Taylor Momsen in 1993 (age 24).

On this date in history:

In 1775, Congress establishes the U.S. postal system.

In 1847, Liberia became a republic and Africa's first sovereign, black-ruled democratic nation.

In 1908, the FBI was born as the Bureau of Investigation, or BOI, when a group of newly hired investigators reported to the Justice Department. The special unit officially became the FBI in 1935.

In 1941, Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander of U.S. forces in the Philippines.

In 1945, voters ousted Winston Churchill as prime minister of Britain after five years in the position. His Conservative Party would be voted back into power in 1951, and he would regain his position.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman ordered desegregation of the U.S. military.

In 1956, Egypt created a crisis by nationalizing the British- and French-owned Suez Canal.

In 1984, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson became the first network television program to be broadcast in stereo.

In 1984, serial killer Ed Gein, the inspiration for the movie Psycho, dies of cancer.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibiting discrimination against the disabled in employment, public accommodations, in telecommunications, and on public or private buses or trains.

In 1992, under pressure, Iraq agreed to allow U.N. inspectors to look for documentation on weapons of mass destruction.

In 2005, the Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral in the first shuttle launch since the 2003 Columbia tragedy.

In 2007, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed anti-terrorism legislation that enhanced screening of air and sea cargo and allocated more funds to states deemed at risk of attack.

In 2010, the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, said it was decided to post more than 75,000 secret U.S. Afghan war documents on the Internet to give a more complete picture of the conflict. The White House said the deed had "a potential to be very harmful."

In 2013, Ariel Castro agreed to a plea bargain in the kidnapping of three Ohio women who were held for a decade. He was sentenced to life in prison. On September 3, 2013, Castro hanged himself in his cell.

A thought for the day: Matthew Arnold wrote, "The free thinking of one age is the common sense of the next."