ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 225th day of 2017 and the 55th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1521, Hernando Cortes captured the capital of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan (later Mexico City), after a three-month siege.

In 1907, the first gasoline-powered taxicab took fares in New York City.

In 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1961, East German soldiers began constructing a barbed-wire barrier between the eastern and western parts of Berlin.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Annie Oakley (1860-1926), sharpshooter; Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980), film director; Ben Hogan (1912-1997), golfer; Fidel Castro (1926-2016), former Cuban president; Don Ho (1930-2007), singer; Philippe Petit (1949- ), tightrope walker; Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), singer-songwriter; Paul Greengrass (1955- ), film director; John Slattery (1962- ), actor; Valerie Plame (1963- ), CIA agent/author; Shani Davis (1982- ), Olympic speed skater; Demetrious Johnson (1986- ), mixed martial artist; DeMarcus Cousins (1990- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Fidel Castro, a 14-year-old boarding school student in 1940, wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requesting a $10 bill. The U.S. Embassy in Havana sent a brief thank-you note to Castro in response.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1948, Baseball Hall of Famer Satchel Paige pitched his first complete game at age 42.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Give them pleasure -- the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare." – Alfred Hitchcock, on audiences

TODAY'S NUMBER: 305 -- women who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps (women were allowed to enlist for office, clerical and secretarial duties) in 1918.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Aug. 7) and last quarter moon (Aug. 14).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 224th day of 2017 and the 54th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1898, Spain agreed to peace protocols with the United States, bringing an end to the Spanish-American war.

In 1898, the United States took formal possession of the Hawaiian Islands.

In 1953, the USSR detonated the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.

In 1981, IBM announced the release of its first personal computer.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929), songwriter; Christy Mathewson (1880-1925), baseball player; Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959), film director/producer; Cantinflas (1911-1993), actor/filmmaker; William Goldman (1931- ), author/screenwriter; George Hamilton (1939- ), actor; Ann Martin (1955- ), author; Bruce Greenwood (1956- ), actor; Peter Krause (1965- ), actor; Michael Ian Black (1971- ), actor; Pete Sampras (1971- ), tennis player; Casey Affleck (1975- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: "Sue," one of the largest and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever found, was discovered in South Dakota on this day in 1990 by paleontologist Susan Hendrikson. The skeleton is now displayed at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1994, Major League Baseball players began a 232-day strike that resulted in the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "... When you take fright and add to it ignorance, you get hatred. That's a very unattractive equation." -- Ann Martin, "Here Today"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 64,000 -- bytes (62.5 kilobytes) of memory available in the "typical system for home and school" offered in IBM's 1981 press release announcing the personal computer. The system retailed for $3,005.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Aug. 7) and last quarter moon (Aug. 14).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 223rd day of 2017 and the 53rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1934, the first federal prisoners were incarcerated at the Alcatraz Island prison in San Francisco Bay.

In 1965, rioting began in the Watts district of Los Angeles.

In 1972, the last U.S. ground combat unit left South Vietnam.

In 2003, NATO took over command of peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: David Atchison (1807-1886), legislator; Enid Blyton (1897-1968), children's author; Alex Haley (1921-1992), historian/author; Arlene Dahl (1925- ), actress; Steve Wozniak (1950- ), Apple co-founder; Hulk Hogan (1953- ), wrestler/actor; David Brooks (1961- ), journalist; Viola Davis (1965- ), actress; Joe Rogan (1967- ), actor/comedian; Anna Gunn (1968- ), actress; Chris Hemsworth (1983- ), actor; Pablo Sandoval (1986- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The Mall of America, which opened in Bloomfield, Minnesota, on this day in 1992, cost $650 million to build and generates more than $50 million in taxes for the state each year.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1984, Carl Lewis replicated Jesse Owens's 1936 performance at the Summer Olympics by winning his fourth and final gold medal, all in the same track events Owens had won nearly 50 years earlier.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You should start your life with the illusion that you are completely in control of what you do. You should finish life with the recognition that, all in all, you got better than you deserved." -- David Brooks

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,545 -- federal prisoners interned at Alcatraz during its 28-year use as a prison.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Aug. 7) and last quarter moon (Aug. 14).