UPI Almanac for Saturday, July 20, 2024

Today is Saturday, July 20, the 202nd day of 2024 with 164 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include Macedonian leader Alexander the Great in 356 B.C.; poet Petrarch in 1304; Pope Innocent IX in 1519; monk/botanist Gregor Johann Mendel in 1822; explorer Edmund Hillary, who in 1953 reached the summit of Mount Everest, in 1919; artist Nam June Paik in 1932; writer Cormac McCarthy in 1933; former Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., the longest serving woman in U.S. Congress history, in 1936 (age 88); actor Diana Rigg in 1938; actor Natalie Wood in 1938; artist Judy Chicago in 1939 (age 85); musician John Lodge (Moody Blues) in 1943 (age 81); musician Kim Carnes in 1945 (age 79); musician Carlos Santana in 1947 (age 77); musician Jay Jay French (Twisted Sister) in 1952 (age 72); musician Paul Cook (Sex Pistols) in 1956 (age 68); actor Donna Dixon in 1957 (age 67); musician Mick McNeil (Simple Minds) in 1958 (age 66); musician Chris Cornell (Soundgarden/Audioslave/Temple of the Dog) in 1964; actor Dean Winters in 1964 (age 60); musician Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) in 1966 (age 58); actor Josh Holloway in 1969 (age 55); actor Sandra Oh in 1971 (age 53); actor Omar Epps in 1973 (age 51); actor Simon Rex in 1974 (age 50); actor Judy Greer in 1975 (age 49); actor Charlie Korsmo in 1978 (age 46); musician Mike Kennerty (All-American Rejects) in 1980 (age 44); model Gisele Bundchen in 1980 (age 44); actor/filmmaker John Francis Daley in 1985 (age 39); actor Osric Chau in 1986 (age 38); dancer/actor Julianne Hough in 1988 (age 36); actor Alycia Debnam-Carey in 1993 (age 31); U.S. Olympic figure skater Maia Shibutani in 1994 (age 30).

On this date in history:

In 1859, American baseball fans were charged an admission fee for the first time. About 1,500 spectators each paid 50 cents to see Brooklyn play New York.

In 1881, five years after U.S. Army Lt. Col. George A. Custer's defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrendered to the Army, which promised amnesty for him and his followers.

In 1940, Billboard magazine published its first "Music Popularity Chart," topped by "I'll Never Smile Again" by the Tommy Dorsey orchestra with Frank Sinatra.

In 1945, the U.S. flag was raised over Berlin as the first U.S. troops moved in to take part in the post-World War II occupation.

In 1951, while entering a mosque in the Jordanian sector of east Jerusalem, King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist.

In 1968, the first Special Olympics Games were contested at Soldier Field in Chicago.

In 1969, U.S. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon -- Armstrong first and Aldrin about 20 minutes later.

In 1976, the Viking 1 lander, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, became the first spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of Mars.

In 1985, treasure hunter Mel Fisher located a Spanish galleon sunk by a 1622 hurricane off Key West, Fla. It contained $400 million worth of treasure.

In 1989, U.S. President George H.W. Bush called for the United States to organize a long-range space program to support an orbiting space station, a moon base and a manned mission to Mars.

In 1993, White House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster was found shot to death in a park in northern Virginia. His death was ruled a suicide.

In 2005, the U.S. Justice Department activated its online National Sex Offender Public Registry, linking the registries of 22 states.

In 2012, a gunman set off tear gas grenades and opened fire at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises at a theater in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and wounding 58. The accused killer, James E. Holmes, later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In 2015, he was convicted on multiple counts of murder.

In 2013, Helen Thomas, UPI White House reporter through the administrations of 10 presidents, died at age 92. President Bill Clinton called Thomas "a symbol of everything American journalism can and should be -- the embodiment of fearless integrity, fierce commitment to accuracy, the insistence of holding government accountable." Thomas left the news agency in 2000 and became a columnist for Hearst Newspapers.

In 2015, Cuba and the United States restored full diplomatic relations, with the reopening of reciprocal embassies in Havana and Washington.

In 2022, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi failed to survive a no-confidence vote after members of his coalition refused to take part in the vote. He resigned the next day.

A thought for the day: Baseball hall of fame member Ty Cobb said, "I have observed that baseball is not unlike a war, and when you come right down to it, we batters are the heavy artillery."