ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 344th day of 2017 and the 80th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1817, Mississippi was admitted as the 20th U.S. state.

In 1869, Wyoming became the first U.S. state or territory to grant women the right to vote.

In 1884, Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published.

In 1898, the Spanish-American War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded.

In 1967, 26-year-old singer-songwriter Otis Redding died in a plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Cesar Franck (1822-1890), composer; Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), poet; Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), librarian; Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996), actress; Susan Dey (1952- ), actress; Michael Clarke Duncan (1957-2012), actor; Kenneth Branagh (1960- ), actor/director; Bobby Flay (1964- ), celebrity chef; Greg Giraldo (1965-2010), comedian; Meg White (1974- ), drummer; Raven-Symone (1985- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: President Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, on this day in 1906.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1935, Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago won the first Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, which was renamed the Heisman Trophy in 1936.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I took one Draught of Life — / I'll tell you what I paid — / Precisely an existence — / The market price, they said." -- Emily Dickinson, "I Took One Draught of Life"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4 -- American presidents who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Dec. 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 343rd day of 2017 and the 79th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1793, Noah Webster published New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva.

In 1872, Pinkney Benton Stewart Pinchback became the first serving U.S. governor of African-American descent when he was named acting governor of Louisiana.

In 1968, engineer Douglas Engelbart demonstrated the first computer system to use hypertext links and a mouse.

In 1979, the World Health Organization certified that smallpox had been eradicated.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Emmett Kelly (1898-1979), clown; Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937), author; Kirk Douglas (1916- ), actor; Redd Foxx (1922-1991), comedian; Dick Van Patten (1928-2015), actor; Judi Dench (1934- ), actress; Deacon Jones (1938-2013), football player; Beau Bridges (1941- ), actor; Dick Butkus (1942- ), football player; John Malkovich (1953- ), actor; Donny Osmond (1957- ), singer; Felicity Huffman (1962- ), actress; Kurt Angle (1968- ), wrestler/actor; Simon Helberg (1980- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: After Pinkney Benton Stewart Pinchback was appointed acting governor of Louisiana, it would be more than 100 years before the first elected African-American governor, Lawrence Douglas Wilder of Virginia, took office, in 1990.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1934, the New York Giants exchanged their cleats for sneakers during the third quarter, then outmaneuvered the Chicago Bears on a frozen field to turn a 13-3 deficit into a 30-13 victory.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The only honest reaction and true loyalty that we get is from our animals. Once they're you're friends, you can do no wrong." -- Dick Van Patten

TODAY'S NUMBER: 7 -- number of classic children's books about Babar the elephant written and illustrated by Jean de Brunhoff. He died of tuberculosis at age 37, and his son Laurent continued the series.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 3) and last quarter moon (Dec. 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 342nd day of 2017 and the 78th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1941, the United States declared war on Japan and officially entered World War II.

In 1980, John Lennon was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building.

In 1991, the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Eli Whitney (1765-1825), inventor; James Thurber (1894-1961), humorist; Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990), entertainer; David Carradine (1936-2009), actor; Jim Morrison (1943-1971), singer-songwriter; Kim Basinger (1953- ), actress; Ann Coulter (1961- ), political commentator; Teri Hatcher (1964- ), actress; Kevin Harvick (1975- ), race car driver; Ryan Newman (1977- ), race car driver; Ian Somerhalder (1978- ), actor; Nicki Minaj (1982- ), rapper; Dwight Howard (1985- ), basketball player; Josh Donaldson (1985- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: SpaceX became the first private company in the world to successfully launch, place in orbit and recover a spacecraft on this day in 2010.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1940, the Chicago Bears routed the Washington Redskins in the NFL championship game, 73-0. It remains the largest margin of victory in NFL history.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Where most of us end up there is no knowing, but the hellbent get where they are going." -- James Thurber, "Further Fables for Our Time"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 500,000 -- pounds of cotton exported by the United States in 1793, before Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin. By 1810, the U.S. was exporting 93 million pounds of cotton annually.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 3) and last quarter moon (Dec. 10).