ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 198th day of 2017 and the 28th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1918, abdicated czar Nicholas II and his family were executed by Bolsheviks at Yekaterinburg, Russia.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman, Soviet Premier Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the Potsdam Conference in Germany.

In 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.

In 1975, a U.S. Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, and astronauts from both countries held the first international meeting in space.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970), author/lawyer; James Cagney (1899-1986), actor; Art Linkletter (1912-2010), TV personality; Phyllis Diller (1917-2012), comedian/actress; John Cooper (1923-2000), automobile designer; Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976), composer; Diahann Carroll (1935- ), actress; Donald Sutherland (1935- ), actor; David Hasselhoff (1952- ), actor; Mark Burnett (1960- ), television producer; Dawn Upshaw (1960- ), opera singer; Luke Bryan (1976- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: Disneyland's opening day, intended as an exclusive event with limited invitations, was a disaster. Counterfeit passes and thousands of uninvited guests led to overcrowding, power outages, malfunctioning rides and depleted concessions.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2005, Tiger Woods won the British Open, becoming only the second golfer (after Jack Nicklaus) to win each major championship more than once.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The best fighters don't worry about what the other man may do. And if they keep things moving fast enough, the other man is too busy to do much thinking." -- Erle Stanley Gardner, "The Case of the Baited Hook"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 20 -- U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers in service. The first flight of the aircraft was completed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on this day in 1989.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (July 16) and new moon (July 23).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 197th day of 2017 and the 27th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1790, the District of Columbia was established as the permanent capital of the United States.

In 1945, the United States successfully detonated a test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico, an event now considered to mark the beginning of the Atomic Age.

In 1951, J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" was published.

In 1979, Saddam Hussein became the president of Iraq.

In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., along with his wife and sister-in-law, died in a private plane crash near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), explorer; Kathleen Norris (1880-1966), author; Orville Redenbacher (1907-1995), farmer/businessman; Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990), actress; Ginger Rogers (1911-1995), dancer/actress; Jimmy Johnson (1943- ), football coach/broadcaster; Tony Kushner (1956- ), playwright; Michael Flatley (1958- ), dancer; Miguel Indurain (1964- ), cyclist; Will Ferrell (1967- ), actor; Barry Sanders (1968- ), football player; Adam Scott (1980- ), golfer.

TODAY'S FACT: The world's first parking meter, installed on this day in 1935 in Oklahoma City, charged 5 cents per hour.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1941, New York Yankees slugger Joe DiMaggio hit safely in his 56th consecutive game, setting a Major League Baseball record that still stands.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Just the knowledge that a good book is waiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier." -- Kathleen Norris

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2 -- cities in which the U.S. Senate met formally before settling permanently in Washington, D.C., in 1800. The Senate convened in New York City from 1789 to 1790 and in Philadelphia from 1790 to 1800.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (July 16).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 196th day of 2017 and the 26th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1799, French Lieutenant Pierre-Francois Bouchard found the Rosetta Stone in Rosetta, Egypt.

In 1903, Ford Motor Co. took its first order, a Model A automobile for a dentist in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon announced his intent to visit China in search of a "normalization of relations."

In 2002, "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty to having fought as a soldier with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In 2006, the social media platform Twitter was launched.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), painter; Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863), author/poet; St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), founder of charitable religious order; Clive Cussler (1931- ), archaeologist/author; Linda Ronstadt (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Arianna Huffington (1950- ), internet publisher; Jesse Ventura (1951- ), wrestler/former governor; Forest Whitaker (1961- ), actor; Adam Savage (1967- ), designer/TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: The Nintendo Entertainment System debuted in Japan on this day in 1983.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team became the first professional sports franchise to record its 10,000th loss.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Time is a thief. It steals our memory, our hopes, and our strength, leaving only the sense there’s never enough of it." -- Clive Cussler, "The Solomon Curse"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $850 -- price of the first automobile sold by Ford Motor Co.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 8) and last quarter moon (July 16).