ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 51st day of 2018 and the 62nd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1792, President George Washington signed into law the Postal Service Act, establishing the U.S. Post Office Deptartment.

In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits aboard the Mercury program's Friendship 7 spacecraft.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the core module of the Mir space station.

In 2003, a pyrotechnics display during a Great White concert set fire to the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ansel Adams (1902-1984), photographer; Robert Altman (1925-2006), filmmaker; Richard Matheson (1926-2013), author/screenwriter; Sidney Poitier (1927- ), actor; Nancy Wilson (1937- ), singer/actress; Patty Hearst (1954- ), actress/socialite; Charles Barkley (1963- ), basketball player/broadcaster; Cindy Crawford (1966- ), fashion model; Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), musician; Lili Taylor (1967- ), actress; Trevor Noah (1984- ), comedian/TV host; Miles Teller (1987- ), actor; Rihanna (1988- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: More NASA astronauts (31 men and women, as of 2018) have come from New York than any other state.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1998, 15-year-old Tara Lipinski became the youngest person in history to win a singles figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes." -- Robert Altman

TODAY'S NUMBER: 10,506 -- duration (in hours) of the longest single human spaceflight, by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov from January 1994 to March 1995. Polyakov spent 437 days aboard the Mir space station.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 15) and first quarter moon (Feb. 23).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 50th day of 2018 and the 61st day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1807, former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested for treason.

In 1878, Thomas Edison received a patent for the phonograph.

In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, allowing the internment of Japanese-Americans.

In 1945, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.

In 1963, Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" was published, sparking a new wave of feminism in the United States.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), astronomer; Lee Marvin (1924-1987), actor; John Frankenheimer (1930-2002), director; Smokey Robinson (1940- ), singer-songwriter; Amy Tan (1952- ), author; Jeff Daniels (1955- ), actor; Ray Winstone (1957- ), actor; Roger Goodell (1959- ), NFL commissioner; Seal (1963- ), singer-songwriter; Jonathan Lethem (1964- ), author; Benicio Del Toro (1967- ), actor; Jeff Kinney (1971- ), cartoonist/children's author; David Mazouz (2001- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an average surface temperature of 867 degrees F.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1995, Sterling Marlin became the third person to win back-to-back Daytona 500s in the race's history, a feat that has not been accomplished since.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "'I want what we all want,' said Carl. 'To move certain parts of the interior of myself into the exterior world, to see if they can be embraced.'" -- Jonathan Lethem, "You Don't Love Me Yet"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 33,000 -- number of Japanese-Americans who served in the U.S. military in World War II.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 15) and first quarter moon (Feb. 23).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 49th day of 2018 and the 60th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.

In 1885, Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published.

In 1930, astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Planet X, the dwarf planet later renamed Pluto.

In 2001, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), artist/designer; Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939), businessman; Jack Palance (1919-2006), actor; Toni Morrison (1931- ), author; Milos Forman (1932- ), filmmaker; Yoko Ono (1933- ), singer/performance artist; John Hughes (1950-2009), filmmaker; John Travolta (1954- ), actor; Vanna White (1957- ), TV personality; Matt Dillon (1964- ), actor; Dr. Dre (1965- ), rapper/record producer; Jillian Michaels (1974- ), TV personality; Le’Veon Bell (1992- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: Snow has fallen on the Sahara Desert only twice in recorded weather history: on this date in 1979 and on Jan. 17, 2012.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2001, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. was fatally injured in a three-car crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power." -- Toni Morrison

TODAY'S NUMBER: 5th -- place held by "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" on the American Library Association's list of books whose availability in schools and libraries was most frequently challenged in the 1990s. For the decade ending in 2009, it had dropped to 14th place.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 15) and first quarter moon (Feb. 23).