Today is the seventh day of 2013 and the 18th day of winter.
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TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a balloon.
In 1955, Marian Anderson made her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, becoming the first African-American to perform there.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court's 99th and 100th justices, Lewis F. Powell Jr. and William H. Rehnquist, were sworn in.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), 13th U.S. president; Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), writer; Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), composer; Charles Addams (1912-1988), cartoonist; David Caruso (1956- ), actor; Katie Couric (1957- ), TV news anchor; Nicolas Cage (1964- ), actor; Jeremy Renner (1971- ), actor; John Rich (1974- ), musician; Francisco Rodriguez (1982- ), baseball player.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1927, in Hinckley, Ill., the Harlem Globetrotters played the first game of their long franchise history.
TODAY'S FACT: The original Harlem Globetrotters were actually from Chicago. The team didn't play a game in Harlem until 1968.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." -- Zora Neale Hurston
TODAY'S NUMBER: 2.5 hours -- length of the first balloon trip across the English Channel, which crossed at the channel's narrowest point (21 miles).
TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Jan. 4) and new moon (Jan. 11).