ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 94th day of 2017 and the 16th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1850, Los Angeles was incorporated as a city.

In 1949, 12 nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pact.

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1973, the World Trade Center was dedicated in New York City.

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Tris Speaker (1888-1958), baseball player; Robert Sherwood (1896-1955), playwright; Muddy Waters (1913-1983), blues musician; Maya Angelou (1928-2014), poet/author; Anthony Perkins (1932-1992), actor; Craig T. Nelson (1944- ), actor; David E. Kelley (1956- ), TV writer/producer; Hugo Weaving (1960- ), actor; Graham Norton (1963- ), TV personality; David Cross (1964- ), actor/comedian; Robert Downey Jr. (1965- ), actor; David Blaine (1973- ), magician; Dave Mirra (1974-2016), BMX rider; Heath Ledger (1979-2008), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The Beatles remain the only artists in history to simultaneously hold the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a feat the group accomplished on this day in 1964.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1982, Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers finished the season with 212 points. He remains the only player in NHL history to top 200 points in a season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." -- Maya Angelou

TODAY'S NUMBER: 31 -- days in office for William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, who died of pneumonia on this day in 1841. Harrison was the first U.S. president to die in office, and his tenure remains the shortest in U.S. presidential history.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 3) and full moon (April 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 93rd day of 2017 and the 15th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1865, Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy.

In 1882, American outlaw Jesse James was killed by Robert Ford, a member of James' own gang who hoped to earn a state reward.

In 1948, President Harry Truman signed into law the Marshall Plan aid bill, which was designed to help rebuild war-torn Europe.

In 1996, "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski was arrested at his cabin near Lincoln, Montana.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Washington Irving (1783-1859), writer; Marlon Brando (1924-2004), actor; Doris Day (1924- ), singer/actress; Gus Grissom (1926-1967), astronaut; Jane Goodall (1934- ), primatologist; Wayne Newton (1942- ), singer; Alec Baldwin (1958- ), actor; David Hyde Pierce (1959- ), actor; Eddie Murphy (1961- ), actor/comedian; Adam Scott (1973- ), actor; Cobie Smulders (1982- ), actress; Amanda Bynes (1986- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: After Marlon Brando returned his script for "On the Waterfront" twice, Frank Sinatra was cast in the lead role. Brando was ultimately convinced to star and went on to win an Oscar for his iconic performance.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins won the NHL's Art Ross trophy as the league's top scorer, ending Wayne Gretzky's streak of consecutive scoring titles at seven.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "How convenient it would be to many of our great men and great families of doubtful origin, could they have the privilege of the heroes of yore, who, whenever their origin was involved in obscurity, modestly announced themselves descended from a god." – Washington Irving, "Knickerbocker’s History of New York"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 214,488 -- offshore entities (used as tax havens) revealed in the "Panama Papers," a massive leak of financial and legal documents first published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on this day in 2016.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (April 3).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 92nd day of 2017 and the 14th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, establishing the U.S. Mint.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Richmond, Virginia, as Union forces closed in on the Confederate capital.

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.

In 1982, Argentine forces mounted amphibious landings on the British-held Falkland Islands, marking the beginning of the Falklands War.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), writer; Emile Zola (1840-1902), author/critic; Walter Chrysler (1875-1940), Chrysler founder; Max Ernst (1891-1976), artist; Buddy Ebsen (1908-2003), actor; Alec Guinness (1914-2000), actor; Jack Webb (1920-1982), actor; Marvin Gaye (1939-1984), singer-songwriter; Emmylou Harris (1947- ), singer-songwriter; Christopher Meloni (1961- ), actor; Clark Gregg (1962- ), actor; Michael Fassbender (1977- ), actor; Jesse Plemons (1988- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: German artist Max Ernst created an art technique called "frottage" in which blank paper is placed over an object and rubbed with a pencil or another drawing tool to reproduce the texture or pattern of the object's surface.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1931, Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old female pitcher, struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition match between the Class AA minor league Chattanooga Lookouts and the New York Yankees.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman." -- Emile Zola

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4,700 -- area (in square miles) of the Falkland Islands, which is slightly less than the state of Connecticut.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (March 27) and first quarter moon (April 3).