ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 55th day of 2017 and the 66th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1836, Colonel William Travis issued a call for help on behalf of the Texan troops defending the Alamo in San Antonio.

In 1868, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson.

In 1942, anti-aircraft guns were fired at the night skies due to erroneous reports of Japanese aircraft over Los Angeles.

In 2008, Fidel Castro's brother Raul Castro was officially named president by Cuba's parliament.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), author; Winslow Homer (1836-1910), artist; George A. Moore (1852-1933), poet/dramatist; Honus Wagner (1874-1955), baseball player; Abe Vigoda (1921-2016), actor; Dominic Chianese (1931- ), actor; Phil Knight (1938- ), business magnate; Joe Lieberman (1942- ), U.S. senator; Edward James Olmos (1947- ), actor; Steve Jobs (1955-2011), computer pioneer; Paula Zahn (1956- ), TV journalist; Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005), comedian; Floyd Mayweather Jr. (1977- ), boxer.

TODAY'S FACT: Andrew Johnson was the only U.S. senator from a Southern state to remain loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." – Steve Jobs

TODAY'S NUMBER: $500 -- investment by Phil Knight, which was matched by his business partner and former track coach, Bill Bowerman, to start Blue Ribbon Sports, the progenitor to Nike, in 1964.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 18) and new moon (Feb. 26).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 54th day of 2017 and the 65th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1778, Baron von Steuben joined the U.S. encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to help train the Continental Army.� In 1942, a Japanese submarine fired artillery shells at coastal targets near Santa Barbara, California.

In 1945, American Marines raised the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima.

In 1954, the first mass vaccination of children against polio began in Pittsburgh.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush announced the beginning of an allied ground offensive in Iraq.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), author/activist; Tom Osborne (1937- ), football coach; Peter Fonda (1940- ), actor; Fred Biletnikoff (1943- ), football player; Michael Dell (1965- ), businessman; Kelly Macdonald (1976- ), actress; Josh Gad (1981- ), actor; Aziz Ansari (1983- ), actor/comedian; Emily Blunt (1983- ), actress; Skylar Grey (1986- ), singer-songwriter; Dakota Fanning (1994- ), actress; Andrew Wiggins (1995- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Von Steuben Day is celebrated in mid-September with parades in many U.S. cities. Chicago's Von Steuben Day parade was featured in the 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1968, Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBA player to score 25,000 career points.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor, -- all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked, -- who is good? not that men are ignorant, -- what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men." -- W.E.B. Du Bois, "The Souls of Black Folk"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6,825 -- American soldiers who died taking Iwo Jima in 1945.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 18) and new moon (Feb. 26).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 53rd day of 2017 and the 64th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1819, Spain signed the Adams-Onis Treaty, ceding Florida to the United States and redefining the boundary between U.S. and Spanish territories from Louisiana to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1935, new regulations outlawed aircraft flying over the White House.

In 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid, New York, a victory popularly known as the "Miracle on Ice."

In 1993, the U.N. Security Council approved the creation of a war crimes tribunal to address atrocities committed during the former Yugoslavia's civil war.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Washington (1732-1799), soldier/first U.S. president; Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), philosopher; Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), poet; Don Pardo (1918-2014), radio and TV announcer; Edward "Ted" Kennedy (1932-2009), U.S. senator; Julius Erving (1950- ), basketball player; Kyle MacLachlan (1959- ), actor; Steve Irwin (1962-2006), TV personality; Drew Barrymore (1975- ), actress; Iliza Shlesinger (1983- ), actress/comedian; Rajon Rondo (1986- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Like Mozart, Frederic Chopin (born on this day in 1810, according to his baptismal register) was considered a musical prodigy in childhood. By age 7 he had composed two simple marches.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1959, Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Memory works like the collection glass in the camera obscura: It gathers everything together and therewith produces a far more beautiful picture than was present originally." -- Arthur Schopenhauer

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1 -- Broadway performance (excluding 13 previews) for Arthur Bicknell's play, "Moose Murders," which opened and closed at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on this day in 1983. The play is widely considered the most infamous flop in Broadway history.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 18) and new moon (Feb. 26).