TODAY’S HISTORY

1790: the District of Columbia was established as the permanent capital of the United States. 1945: the United States successfully detonated a test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico, an event now considered to mark the beginning of the Atomic Age.

1951: J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” was published.

1979: Saddam Hussein became the president of Iraq.

1999: John F. Kennedy Jr., along with his wife and sister-in-law, died in a private plane crash near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Roald Amundsen (18721928), explorer; Kathleen Norris (1880-1966), author; Orville Redenbacher (1907-1995), farmer/businessman; Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990), actress; Ginger Rogers (1911-1995), dancer/actress; Jimmy Johnson (1943-), football coach/ broadcaster; Tony Kushner (1956-), playwright; Michael Flatley (1958-), dancer; Miguel Indurain (1964-), cyclist; Will Ferrell (1967-), actor; Barry Sanders (1968-), football player; Adam Scott (1980-), golfer; Carli Lloyd (1982-), soccer player.

TODAY’S FACT: The world’s first parking meter, installed on this day in 1935 in Oklahoma City, charged 5 cents per hour.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1941, New York Yankees slugger Joe DiMaggio hit safely in his 56th consecutive game, setting a Major League Baseball record that still stands.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Every once in a while, someone will mail me a single popcorn kernel that didn’t pop. I’ll get out a fresh kernel, tape it to a piece of paper and mail it back to them.” — Orville Redenbacher

TODAY’S NUMBER: 2 — cities in which the U.S. Senate met formally before settling permanently in Washington, D.C., in 1800. The Senate convened in New York City from 1789 to 1790 and in Philadelphia from 1790 to 1800.

TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (July 13) and last quarter moon (July 20).