Today is the third day of 2013 and the 14th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1777, Revolutionary forces under the command of George Washington defeated the British at Princeton, N.J.

In 1947, a session of Congress was televised for the first time to viewers in three East Coast cities.

In 1959, Alaska entered the union as the 49th state.

In 2004, the unmanned NASA spacecraft Spirit landed on Mars.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), women's rights pioneer; J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), author; Victor Borge (1909-2000), comedian/pianist; Robert Loggia (1930- ), actor; Victoria Principal (1950- ), actress; Mel Gibson (1956- ), actor; Danica McKellar (1975- ), actress; Eli Manning (1981- ), football player.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1983, Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett set an NFL record that still stands by running 99 yards from scrimmage for a touchdown.

TODAY'S FACT: C-SPAN was launched in 1979 to "provide live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives." C-SPAN2, covering the Senate, was launched in 1986.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We too often bind ourselves by authorities rather than by the truth." -- Lucretia Mott

TODAY'S NUMBER: 722,718 -- population of the state of Alaska in 2011 -- more than triple the population of the state at the time it attained statehood.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 28) and last quarter moon (Jan. 4).

Today is the second day of 2013 and the 13th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1492, the Moors were driven out of Spain as Granada fell to the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon signed legislation that required all states to institute a 55-mph highway speed limit or lose federal highway aid.

In 2006, a methane gas explosion in a Sago, W.Va., coal mine trapped 13 miners. Only one survived.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Sir Michael Tippett (1905-1998), composer; Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), writer; Roger Miller (1936-1992), singer/songwriter; Tia Carrere (1967- ), actress; Cuba Gooding Jr. (1968- ), actor; Christy Turlington (1969- ), model; Taye Diggs (1971- ), actor; Dax Shepard (1975- ), actor; Kate Bosworth (1983- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1984, Miami upset heavily favored Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, 31-30, as Nebraska failed on a two-point conversion at game's end.

TODAY'S FACT: Castillian Spanish is the official language of Spain, but Catalan, Galician and Basque are all official regional languages.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Literature is my utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised." -- Helen Keller

TODAY'S NUMBER: 466 -- books written by Isaac Asimov, according to his memoir.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 28) and last quarter moon (Jan. 4).

Today is the first day of 2013 and the 12th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, freeing slaves in Confederate states.

In 1892, the Ellis Island immigration station opened in New York City.

In 1962, the Republic of China was established.

In 1994, provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Paul Revere (1735-1818), American patriot; E.M. Forster (1879-1970), novelist; J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), FBI director; J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), writer; Frank Langella (1938- ), actor; Grandmaster Flash (1958- ), musician.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1961, the Houston Oilers won the first American Football League championship, 24-16, against the Los Angeles Chargers.

TODAY'S FACT: Kathleen Casey Wilkins, considered the first of some 78 million postwar "baby boomers," was born in Philadelphia one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free." -- Abraham Lincoln

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1.25 million -- people processed through the Ellis Island immigration station in 1907, the peak year for immigration to the United States.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 28) and last quarter moon (Jan. 4).