ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 77th day of 2017 and the 88th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1850, the American Express Company was founded.

In 1852, Henry Wells, William G. Fargo and a group of investors founded Wells, Fargo and Co.

In 1965, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk.

In 1974, members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.

In 1990, two men stole 13 pieces valued at $300 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), 22nd and 24th U.S. president; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer; Peter Graves (1926-2010), actor; George Plimpton (1927-2003), author/actor; John Updike (1932-2009), author/critic; Charley Pride (1938- ), singer-songwriter; Bonnie Blair (1964- ), Olympic speed-skater; Queen Latifah (1970- ), actress/singer; Dane Cook (1972- ), comedian/actor; Adam Levine (1979- ), singer-songwriter/TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: Among the 13 works stolen in Boston's Gardner Museum art theft in 1990 was "The Concert," a painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is considered the most valuable unrecovered stolen painting in the world, with an estimated value of $200 million.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1991, the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers retired Wilt Chamberlain's No. 13 jersey.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Writers may be disreputable, incorrigible, early to decay or late to bloom but they dare to go it alone." -- John Updike

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- number of NATO member countries that possess nuclear weapons: the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 76th day of 2017 and the 87th day of winter.

In 1861, Italy -- excluding Rome and Venice -- was unified as a nation under King Victor Emmanuel II.

In 1905, Franklin D. Roosevelt married distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt.

In 1950, physics researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, announced the creation of californium, the radioactive 98th element.

In 1958, the United States launched the first solar-powered satellite, the Vanguard 1.

In 1995, the FDA licensed Varivax, the first chicken pox vaccine.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900), engineer/inventor; Paul Green (1894-1981), playwright; Bobby Jones (1902-1971), golfer; Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), civil rights activist; Nat King Cole (1919-1965), singer; Kurt Russell (1951- ), actor; Gary Sinise (1955- ), actor; Rob Lowe (1964- ), actor; Billy Corgan (1967- ), singer-songwriter; Mia Hamm (1972- ), soccer player; Hozier (1990- ), singer-songwriter; John Boyega (1992- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Gottlieb Daimler is credited with building the first internal combustion motorcycle in 1885.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2005, six Major League Baseball players, including All-Star sluggers Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, appeared before a congressional hearing on steroid use.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back ... play for her." -- Mia Hamm

TODAY'S NUMBER: 13 -- elements in the periodic table that were identified before the year A.D. 1.

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 75th day of 2017 and the 86th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1945, U.S. military forces declared the island of Iwo Jima secure after 25 days of fighting.

In 1968, U.S. Army soldiers massacred more than 300 civilians in the My Lai village in South Vietnam.

In 1988, Lt. Col. Oliver North and Vice Adm. John Poindexter were indicted on charges of conspiracy during the Iran-Contra affair.

In 1998, mass trials began in Rwanda for roughly 125,000 suspected perpetrators of the country's 1994 genocide.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Madison (1751-1836), fourth U.S. president; Henny Youngman (1906-1998), comedian; Pat Nixon (1912-1993), U.S. first lady; Jerry Lewis (1926- ), comedian; Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), U.S. senator; Chuck Woolery (1941- ), game show host; Erik Estrada (1949- ), actor; Nancy Wilson (1954- ), singer-songwriter; Ozzie Newsome (1956- ), football player/executive; Gore Verbinski (1964- ), filmmaker; Lauren Graham (1967- ), actress; Blake Griffin (1989- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: James Madison was the shortest U.S. president, at 5 feet 4 inches tall. He is estimated to have weighed 100 lbs.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1994, figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation into the conspiracy to attack rival Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time." -- James Madison

TODAY'S NUMBER: 400 -- current inhabitants (all Japanese soldiers) of the island formerly known as Iwo Jima. Japan formally reverted to the island's prewar name, Iwo To, in June 2007, prompted by the release of the Clint Eastwood movies "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Flags of Our Fathers" earlier that year.

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