Today is the seventh day of 2014 and the 18th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a balloon.

In 1927, the first commercial transatlantic telephone call was made from London to New York City.

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), author; Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), composer; Charles Addams (1912-1988), cartoonist; Kenny Loggins (1948- ), singer-songwriter; David Caruso (1956- ), actor; Katie Couric (1957- ), TV news anchor; Rand Paul (1963- ), politician; Nicolas Cage (1964- ), actor; Five for Fighting (1965- ), singer-songwriter; Jeremy Renner (1971- ), actor; John Rich (1974- ), singer-songwriter; Francisco Rodriguez (1982- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Millard Fillmore, who assumed the presidency in 1850 upon the death of Zachary Taylor, was the last president from the Whig party. Fillmore sought re-election in 1852, but the Whig party nominated Gen. Winfield Scott instead.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1927, the Harlem Globetrotters (who were actually from Chicago) played their first game in Hinckley, Ill. The team didn't play a game in Harlem until 1968.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Bitterness is the coward's revenge on the world for having been hurt." -- 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: First quarter moon (Jan. 7).

Today is the sixth day of 2014 and the 17th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1838, Samuel F.B. Morse and Alfred Vail publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time.

In 1912, New Mexico was admitted as the 47th U.S. state.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the "Four Freedoms" in his State of the Union address.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jedediah Smith (1799-1831), explorer/author; Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), poet; Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), poet/novelist; Danny Thomas (1912-1991), actor/comedian; Loretta Young (1913-2000), actress; Lou Holtz (1937- ), football coach/sportscaster; Rowan Atkinson (1955- ), actor/comedian; Nancy Lopez (1957- ), golfer; Howie Long (1960- ), football player/broadcaster; John Singleton (1968- ), filmmaker; Norman Reedus (1969- ), actor; Asante Samuel (1981- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" outlined his principal goals for people "everywhere in the world": freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear.

TODAY's SPORTS: In 1994, U.S. champion figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the knee after a practice session on the orders of skating rival Tonya Harding.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Yesterday is done. Tomorrow never comes. Today is here. If you don't know what to do, sit still and listen." -- Carl Sandburg

TODAY'S NUMBER: $30,000 -- amount Congress appropriated in 1843 for Samuel F.B. Morse to construct the first experimental telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Jan. 1) and first quarter moon (Jan. 7).

Today is the fifth day of 2014 and the 16th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1781, British forces led by Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold captured and burned Richmond, Va.

In 1914, Ford Motor Co. raised basic wages from $2.40 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour day.

In 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay.

In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that the U.S. would intervene militarily and economically at the request of other nations in response to the spread of communism.

In 2005, the dwarf planet Eris was discovered.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: King Camp Gillette (1855-1932), safety razor inventor; George Reeves (1914-1959), actor; Jane Wyman (1917-2007), actress; Walter Mondale (1928- ), former U.S. vice president; Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), dancer/choreographer; Robert Duvall (1931- ), actor; Umberto Eco (1932- ), writer; Juan Carlos (1938- ), king of Spain; Charlie Rose (1942- ), talk show host; Diane Keaton (1946- ), actress; Bradley Cooper (1975- ), actor; January Jones (1978- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: King Camp Gillette invented safety razors, a new product that consumers would need to purchase repeatedly. His razors were one of the first disposable products ever made.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Pete Rose admitted to gambling on baseball games while serving as manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "To be who you are and become what you are capable of is the only goal worth living." -- Alvin Ailey

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,672 -- performances of "The Wiz," an adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," at the Majestic Theatre and the Broadway Theatre in New York, after premiering this day in 1975.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Jan. 1) and first quarter moon (Jan. 7).