UPI Almanac for Thursday, July 26, 2018

Today is Thursday, July 26, the 207th day of 2018, with 158 to follow.

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

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; actor Vivian Vance in 1909; 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; singer Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) in 1943 (age 75); actor Helen Mirren in 1945 (age 73); former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in 1955 (age 63); Olympic gold medal skater Dorothy Hamill in 1956 (age 62); actor Kevin Spacey in 1959 (age 59); actor Sandra Bullock in 1964 (age 54); actor Jason Statham in 1967 (age 51); actor Kate Beckinsale in 1973 (age 45); actor Monica Raymund in 1986 (age 32); actor Francia Raisa in 1988 (age 30); actor Bianca Santos in 1990 (age 28); singer/actor Taylor Momsen in 1993 (age 25).

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, 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.

In 2017, President Donald Trump, in a series of Twitter posts, announced the U.S. government would not "accept or allow" transgender people to serve in the military, setting up a legal battle.

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