ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 74th day of 2017 and the 85th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 44 B.C., Roman emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.

In 1820, Maine was admitted as the 23rd U.S. state.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sent 4,800 U.S. troops into Mexico to capture revolutionary Pancho Villa.

In 1985, the computer manufacturing company Symbolics registered the first internet domain name.

In 2011, security forces opened fire on protesters in Damascus, marking the beginning of the Syrian Civil War.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), seventh U.S. president; Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933- ), U.S. Supreme Court justice; Judd Hirsch (1935- ), actor; Phil Lesh (1940- ), musician; Sly Stone (1943- ), singer-songwriter; Bobby Bonds (1946-2003), baseball player; Dee Snider (1955- ), singer-songwriter; Bret Michaels (1963- ), singer-songwriter; Mike Tomlin (1972- ), football coach; Eva Longoria (1975- ), actress; will.i.am (1975- ), rapper/record producer; Jai Courtney (1986- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The salary of the chief justice of the United States was $4,000 in 1789. Chief Justice John Roberts' salary is currently $263,300.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1962, the NBA's Wilt Chamberlain became the first and only player to score 4,000 points in a single season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If I didn't mold my reality then I'd still be in the ghetto where people like me are supposed to stay. You have to dream your way out of the nightmare." -- will.i.am

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2 -- Ranking of "The Godfather," which opened this day in 1972, on the 10th anniversary edition of the American Film Institute's "100 Years ... 100 Movies" list of the greatest American movies of all time. Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" ranked No. 1.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (March 12) and last quarter moon (March 20).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 73rd day of 2017 and the 84th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1794, inventor Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin.

In 1900, the Gold Standard Act was signed into law by President William McKinley.

In 1950, the Federal Bureau of Investigation instituted the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list.

In 1990, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the first (and last) president of the Soviet Union.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), composer; Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844-1881), poet; Albert Einstein (1879-1955), physicist/Nobel Prize winner; Lee Petty (1914-2000), race car driver; Hank Ketcham (1920-2001), cartoonist; Diane Arbus (1923-1971), photographer; Michael Caine (1933- ), actor; Quincy Jones (1933- ), record producer; Wolfgang Petersen (1941- ), filmmaker; Billy Crystal (1948- ), actor/comedian; Grace Park (1974- ), actress; Jamie Bell (1986- ), actor; Stephen Curry (1988- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Albert Einstein was offered the Israeli presidency after the death of the country's first president in 1952, but Einstein declined, saying he was not suited for the position.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1967, the AFL and NFL held their first common draft of college football players. The Baltimore Colts selected defensive tackle Bubba Smith of Michigan State with the first pick.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." -- Albert Einstein

TODAY'S NUMBER: 79 -- record number of Grammy nominations for producer Quincy Jones.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (March 12) and last quarter moon (March 20).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 72nd day of 2017 and the 83rd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1781, German-born astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.

In 1865, the Confederacy approved the use of slave troops against the Union armies.

In 1925, a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution went into effect in Tennessee.

In 1991, the U.S. Justice Dept. announced that Exxon had agreed to pay $1 billion to settle all claims resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

In 2013, Pope Francis was elected 266th pope of the Catholic Church.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Percival Lowell (1855-1916), astronomer; Giorgos Seferis (1900-1971), poet; Walter Annenberg (1908-2002), publisher/philanthropist; Sammy Kaye (1910-1987), bandleader; L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), author/Church of Scientology founder; Al Jaffee (1921- ), cartoonist; Neil Sedaka (1939- ), singer-songwriter; William H. Macy (1950- ), actor; Dana Delany (1956- ), actress; Common (1972- ), rapper/actor; Johan Santana (1979- ), baseball player; Emile Hirsch (1985- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The 27 known moons of Uranus are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1960, the NFL approved the relocation of the Chicago Cardinals franchise to St. Louis.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "To say what you want to say, you must create another language and nourish it for years with what you have loved, with what you have lost, with what you will never find again." -- Giorgos Seferis

TODAY'S NUMBER: 14.5 -- length in miles of the undersea portion of the Seikan Tunnel in Japan, the longest and deepest operational rail tunnel in the world, which opened this day in 1988.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (March 12) and last quarter moon (March 20).