Today is Wednesday, July 31, the 212th day of 2002. <$>There are 153 days left in the year.

On this date

<*In 1498, during his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad.

In 1556, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus — the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers — died in Rome.

In 1875, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, died in Carter Station, Tenn., at age 66.

In 1919, Germany’s Weimar Constitution was adopted.

In 1989, a pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a grisly videotape purportedly showing the body of American hostage William R. Higgins dangling from a rope.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.

Thought for the Day

“The art of life is to show your hand. There is no diplomacy like candor. You may lose by it now and then, but it will be a loss well gained if you do. Nothing is so boring as having to keep up a deception.” — E.V. Lucas, English author and critic (1868-1938).