UNIVERSAL UCLICK ALMANAC

Today is the 350th day of 2013 and the 86th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1773, patriots in Massachusetts held the infamous "Boston Tea Party."

In 1835, a huge fire destroyed nearly 700 buildings in New York City.

In 2000, President George W. Bush selected Colin Powell as the first African-American secretary of state.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jane Austen (1775-1817), novelist; Noel Coward (1899-1973), playwright; Margaret Mead (1901-1978), anthropologist; Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), writer; Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), writer; Lesley Stahl (1941- ), journalist; Steven Bochco (1943- ), screenwriter/producer; Shane Black (1961- ), actor/screenwriter/director; William "The Refrigerator" Perry (1962- ), football player; Benjamin Bratt (1963- ), actor; Krysten Ritter (1981- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Margaret Mead was named "Mother of the World" by Time magazine in 1969.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1973, Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson became the first player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke

TODAY'S NUMBER: $2.8 billion -- worldwide box office gross of James Cameron's "Avatar," which began its wide international release on this day in 2009. It remains the highest-grossing film of all time.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 9) and full moon (Dec. 17).

UNIVERSAL UCLICK ALMANAC

Today is the 349th day of 2013 and the 85th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1791, the Bill of Rights took effect after ratification by Virginia.

In 1939, the film "Gone With the Wind" premiered in Atlanta.

In 1961, Adolf Eichmann, considered the architect of the Nazis' "final solution," was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter announced his intention to grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China, severing ties with Taiwan, on Jan. 1, 1979.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), engineer/architect; Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959), playwright; J. Paul Getty (1892-1976), oil tycoon/philanthropist; Tim Conway (1933- ), actor/comedian; Dave Clark (1942- ), musician; Don Johnson (1949- ), actor; Julie Taymor (1952- ), director; Rodney Harrison (1972- ), football player; Adam Brody (1979- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell died in 1949 at age 48 from injuries sustained when she was struck by a drunken driver on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1982, Bill Parcells became the coach of the NFL's New York Giants.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If you practice an art, be proud of it and make it proud of you. It may break your heart, but it will fill your heart before it breaks it; it will make you a person in your own right." -- Maxwell Anderson

TODAY'S NUMBER: $17 million -- ransom demanded of billionaire J. Paul Getty by the kidnappers of his 16-year-old grandson in 1973, which Getty refused to pay. After the kidnappers sent his grandson's severed ear by mail a few weeks later, Getty secured his grandson's release by agreeing to pay no more than $2.2 million (the maximum amount that would be tax deductible).

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 9) and full moon (Dec. 17).

UNIVERSAL UCLICK ALMANAC

Today is the 348th day of 2013 and the 84th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1799, George Washington died at Mount Vernon, his home in Virginia.

In 1819, Alabama was admitted as the 22nd U.S. state.

In 1911, explorer Roald Amundsen and his party became the first humans to reach the South Pole.

In 2001, after Hurricane Michelle devastated Cuba, a commercial shipment of food left the United States for the island nation for the first time since 1962.

In 2012, a 20-year-old gunman killed 26 people, including 20 first-graders, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., before taking his own life.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Doolittle (1896-1993), military aviator; Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), politician; Shirley Jackson (1919-1965), author; Don Hewitt (1922-2009), TV producer; Lee Remick (1935-1991), actress; Patty Duke (1946- ), actress; Bill Buckner (1949- ), baseball player; Michael Moloney (1963- ), interior designer; Vanessa Hudgens (1988- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Historians have estimated that physicians drained five to seven pints of blood from President George Washington in the day prior to his death, in an attempt to cure him.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, after losing the first 17 games of the season, the Miami Heat defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 89-88 for the franchise's first win.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us as they are in danger because we forget to use them." -- Margaret Chase Smith

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- actual poles at the South Pole: the ceremonial pole, the geographical pole and the magnetic pole.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 9) and full moon (Dec. 17).