Today is Saturday, July 6, the 188th day of 2024 with 178 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 John Paul Jones, founder of the U.S. Navy, in 1747; artist Frida Kahlo in 1907; musician LaVerne Andrews (Andrews Sisters) in 1911; U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan in 1921; TV entertainer/producer Merv Griffin in 1925; actor Janet Leigh in 1927; musician/actor Della Reese in 1931; the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader/Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in 1935 (age 89); actor Ned Beatty in 1937; actor Burt Ward in 1945 (age 79); actor Sylvester Stallone in 1946 (age 78); former U.S. President George W. Bush in 1946 (age 78); actor Shelley Hack in 1947 (age 77); actor Geoffrey Rush in 1951 (age 73); actor Allyce Beasley in 1951 (age 73); musician Nanci Griffith in 1953; actor Jennifer Saunders in 1958 (age 66); musician John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) in 1959 (age 65); actor Pip Torrens in 1960 (age 64); actor/comedian Brian Posehn in 1966 (age 58); musician Inspectah Deck, born Jason Hunter, (Wu-Tang Clan) in 1970 (age 54); musician 50 Cent, born Curtis James Jackson III, in 1975, (age 49); actor Tamera Mowry-Housley in 1978 (age 46); actor Tia Mowry in 1978 (age 46); comedian/actor Kevin Hart in 1979 (age 45); actor Eva Green in 1980 (age 44); musician Chris Wood (Bastille) in 1985 (age 39); actor Cody Fern in 1988 (age 36).
On this date in history:
In 1854, the Republican Party was formally established at a meeting in New York City.
In 1885, French bacteriologist Louis Pasteur inoculated a human being for rabies for the first time — a boy, who had been bitten by a dog. The youngster didn’t develop rabies.
In 1919, a British dirigible landed at New York’s Roosevelt Field to complete the first airship crossing of the Atlantic. Six hours into the flight, the R-34’s commander discovered a stowaway.
In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.
In 1942, diarist Anne Frank and her family took refuge in a secret section of an Amsterdam warehouse where they hid from the Nazis for two years. Finally discovered, they were sent to concentration camps. Anne died in a camp.
In 1944, a fire in the big top of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus in Hartford, Conn., killed 167 people, two-thirds of them children, and injured 682 others.
In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first African-American competitor to win a Wimbledon championship.
In 1971, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, one of the 20th century’s most influential American musicians, died at age 69.
In 1976, women were first admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy. The other military academies soon followed suit.
In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in a TV interview, said it was a “probability” that many young people now paying into Social Security “will never be able to receive as much as they’re paying.”
In 1994, Forrest Gump opened in U.S. theaters, earning actor Tom Hanks his second Oscar for Best Actor.
In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama met in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, and announced an agreement to reduce nuclear arsenals.
In 2013, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 carrying more than 300 people hit a sea wall in front of a runway on approach at San Francisco International Airport — a crash that resulted in three fatalities and scores of injuries.
In 2020, the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes reached an agreement on a 10-year contract extension worth $500 million — the largest contract in professional sports history.
In 2021, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Mary Simon would be the country’s first Indigenous governor general.
A thought for the day: “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” — Dalai Lama
