ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 182nd day of 2017 and the 12th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg began.

In 1908, SOS was adopted as the international distress signal.

In 1968, 62 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, signed the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

In 1997, China resumed sovereignty of Hong Kong after 156 years of British rule.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin aka George Sand (1804-1876), author; Walter Francis White (1893-1955), NAACP leader; Estee Lauder (1906-2004), cosmetics company co-founder; Jamie Farr (1934- ), actor; Sydney Pollack (1934-2008), filmmaker; Dan Aykroyd (1952- ), actor; Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997); Carl Lewis (1961- ), Olympic athlete; Pamela Anderson (1967- ), actress; Claire Forlani (1972- ), actress; Liv Tyler (1977- ), actress; Nelson Cruz (1980- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The International Criminal Court, established on this day in 2002, is an independent institution and is not part of the United Nations.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1903, the first Tour de France bicycle race began in Paris. Of the 60 cyclists who began the nearly 2,500-kilometer race, only 21 finished, including champion Maurice Garin.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I have an object, a task, let me say the word, a passion. The profession of writing is a violent and almost indestructible one." -- George Sand

TODAY'S NUMBER: $150 -- approximate price in U.S. dollars of the first Sony Walkman portable cassette player when it went on sale in Japan on this day in 1979.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 30) and full moon (July 8).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 181st day of 2017 and the 11th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1934, the "Night of the Long Knives," a series of murders ordered by Adolf Hitler to eliminate his political rivals, began in Germany.

In 1936, Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" was published.

In 1966, the National Organization for Women was formed.

In 1982, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, designed to guarantee equal rights for women, failed when its ratification deadline passed.

In 2007, an SUV loaded with propane canisters exploded in a terrorist attack at Glasgow airport in Scotland.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), poet/essayist; Lena Horne (1917-2010), singer; Paul Berg (1926- ), biochemist; Robert Ballard (1942- ), oceanographer; David Alan Grier (1956- ), actor; Vincent D'Onofrio (1959- ), actor; Mike Tyson (1966- ), boxer; Monica Potter (1971- ), actress; Matisyahu (1979- ), rapper; Lizzy Caplan (1982- ), actress; Michael Phelps (1985- ), Olympic swimmer.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1953, the first Chevrolet Corvette was produced at the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1994, Tonya Harding was stripped of the national figure skating championship title and banned for life from the sport for planning an attack that injured rival skater Nancy Kerrigan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism." -- Czeslaw Milosz, "The Captive Mind"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 999 -- telephone number of the world's oldest emergency call service, which was introduced in London on this day in 1937.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (June 30).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 180th day of 2017 and the 10th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Federal-Aid Highway Act, creating the interstate system.

In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as it was then applied in the United States was unconstitutional "cruel and unusual punishment."

In 1974, Isabel Peron was sworn in as Argentina's president, becoming the Western Hemisphere's first female head of government.

In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian Mir station in orbit for the first time.

In 2007, Apple Inc. released the first iPhone.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Harry Frazee (1881-1929), producer/Red Sox owner; Alan Blumlein (1903-1942), engineer; Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), composer; Slim Pickens (1919-1983), actor; Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011), baseball player; Gary Busey (1944- ), actor; Richard Lewis (1947- ), actor/comedian; Dan Dierdorf (1949- ), football player/sportscaster; Matthew Weiner (1965- ), TV writer/producer; Bret McKenzie (1976- ), comedian/musician; Kawhi Leonard (1991- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States executed 20 convicts in 2016; nine were executed by the state of Georgia.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson became the fourth pitcher in Major League Baseball with 4,000 career strikeouts.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There's no shame in being a starving artist. Get a day job, but don't get too good at it. It will take you away from your writing." -- Matthew Weiner

TODAY'S NUMBER: 47,856 -- miles of roads in the U.S. interstate highway system.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (June 23) and first quarter moon (June 30).