ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 241st day of 2017 and the 71st day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first atomic bomb test.

In 1957, Democratic Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina concluded his 24-hour-long filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

In 1991, the parliament of the Soviet Union suspended all Communist Party activities indefinitely.

In 2005, Category 3 storm Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Locke (1632-1704), philosopher; Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809-1894), author; Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), actress; Charlie Parker (1920-1955), musician; Richard Attenborough (1923-2014), filmmaker; William Friedkin (1935- ), film director; John McCain (1936- ), U.S. senator; Elliott Gould (1938- ), actor; Joel Schumacher (1939- ), film director; GG Allin (1956-1993), singer-songwriter; Michael Jackson (1958-2009), singer-songwriter; Roy Oswalt (1977- ), baseball player; Lea Michele (1986- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Strom Thurmond's 1957 civil rights filibuster remains the longest one-man filibuster in history. It lasted 24 hours, 18 minutes and opened with Thurmond reading the voting laws of all 48 states.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1977, St. Louis Cardinal Lou Brock stole two bases to match, then break, Ty Cobb's record for career stolen bases, which had stood at 892 bases for 49 years.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 175 -- top sustained wind speed (in mph) during Hurricane Katrina.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Aug. 29).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 240th day of 2017 and the 70th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1867, the United States took possession of Midway Atoll.

In 1955, 14-year-old African-American Emmett Till was murdered for flirting with a white woman in Money, Mississippi.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. made his "I have a dream" speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom event in Washington, D.C.

In 1968, protesters fought with police at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

In 1996, Prince Charles and Princess Diana formally divorced.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), author; Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990), psychologist; Jack Kirby (1917-1994), writer/illustrator; Donald O'Connor (1925-2003), actor/performer; Ben Gazzara (1930-2012), actor; Lou Piniella (1943- ), baseball player/manager; Luis Guzman (1956- ), actor; David Fincher (1962- ), film director; Shania Twain (1965- ), singer-songwriter; Jack Black (1969- ), actor; LeAnn Rimes (1982- ), singer-songwriter; Armie Hammer (1986- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The first issue of Scientific American was published on this day in 1845.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1977, Brazilian soccer superstar Pele played in his last competitive game, leading his New York Cosmos team to a win over the Seattle Sounders 2-1 for the National American Soccer League championship.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2.4 -- square miles of land that makes up Midway Atoll.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 21) and first quarter moon (Aug. 29).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 239th day of 2017 and the 69th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1859, the first successful oil well in the United States was drilled by Edwin L. Drake near Titusville, Pennsylvania.

In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which outlawed war and provided guidelines to peaceful conflict resolution, was signed by 15 nations in Paris.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three others were killed in a boat explosion for which the Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility.

In 1999, the final crew left Russia's Mir space station.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), philosopher; Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945), novelist; Man Ray (1890-1976), artist/filmmaker; Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), 36th U.S. president; Ira Levin (1929-2007), author; Alice Coltrane (1937-2007), jazz musician; Paul Reubens (1952- ), actor; Cesar Millan (1969- ), dog trainer; Chandra Wilson (1969- ), actress; Sarah Chalke (1976- ), actress; Aaron Paul (1979- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars, also known as the Mars Grand Canyon, stretches for 2,500 miles and is up to four miles deep.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1982, Oakland Athletics outfielder Rickey Henderson stole his 119th base of the year, setting a new single-season record. He went on to steal three more bases by the end of the game and finished the season with 130 stolen bases, a record that still stands.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail." -- Theodore Dreiser

TODAY'S NUMBER: 43,129,566 -- votes cast for Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 presidential election. Johnson won 61.1 percent of the popular vote over his opponent, Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, in the most lopsided win since James Monroe's re-election in 1820.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 21) and first quarter moon (Aug. 29).