ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 81st day of 2018 and the third day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1882, the U.S. Congress passed an act that made polygamy a felony.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act, which legalized the sale of alcoholic beverages.

In 1945, the Arab League charter was adopted in Cairo.

In 1995, cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned to Earth after completing the longest single spaceflight in history, at 437 days 18 hours.

In 2017, a terrorist attack near the Palace of Westminster in London left five dead and more than 50 injured.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Louis L'Amour (1908-1988), author; Karl Malden (1912-2009), actor; Marcel Marceau (1923-2007), mime artist; Stephen Sondheim (1930- ), composer; William Shatner (1931- ), actor; James Patterson (1947- ), author; Wolf Blitzer (1948- ), journalist; Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948- ), composer; Bob Costas (1952- ), sportscaster; Keegan-Michael Key (1971- ), actor/comedian; Kathryn Jean Lopez (1976- ), journalist; Reese Witherspoon (1976- ), actress; J.J. Watt (1989- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The Beatles' debut album, "Please Please Me," was released in the United Kingdom on this day in 1963.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1894, the Montreal AAA beat the Ottawa Generals 3-1 in the first Stanley Cup championship hockey game.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Work is what you do for others, liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself." -- Stephen Sondheim, "Sunday in the Park With George"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $223.2 billion – total alcoholic beverage sales in the United States in 2016.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (March 17) and first quarter (March 24).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 80th day of 2018 and the second day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1788, a fire destroyed most of the city of New Orleans.

In 1963, the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was closed.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympic Games.

In 2006, the social media site Twitter was founded.

In 2011, a team of 30 surgeons and other physicians at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston completed the first full face transplant in the United States.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Benito Juarez (1806-1872), Mexican president; Florenz Ziegfeld (1867-1932), theater producer; Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978), author; Timothy Dalton (1946- ), actor; Gary Oldman (1958- ), actor; Ayrton Senna (1960-1994), race car driver; Matthew Broderick (1962- ), actor; Rosie O'Donnell (1962- ), actress/talk show host; Ronaldinho (1980- ), soccer player; Adrian Peterson (1985- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones completed the first nonstop hot air balloon flight around the world on this day in 1999.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, an investigative report by Sports Illustrated revealed evidence that Major League Baseball player-manager Pete Rose had illegally gambled on baseball games.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The other day I chanced to meet / An angry man upon the street -- / A man of wrath, a man of war, / A man who truculently bore / Over his shoulder, like a lance, / A banner labeled 'Tolerance.'" -- Phyllis McGinley, "The Angry Man"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 14 -- attempted escapes, involving 36 inmates, from Alcatraz Prison over the 29 years that the prison operated. None of the attempts are believed to have been successful.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (March 17) and first quarter (March 24).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 79th day of 2018 and the first day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was published.

In 1952, the U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty returning sovereignty to Japan.

In 1987, the FDA approved AZT, a drug shown to delay the development of AIDS.

In 1995, members of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas into the Tokyo Metro subway system, killing 13 and injuring more than 1,000.

In 2003, the United States and a coalition of allied states began military operations in Iraq.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), poet/playwright; B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), psychologist; Ozzie Nelson (1906-1975), actor/bandleader; Carl Reiner (1922- ), comedy writer/director/performer; Fred Rogers (1928-2003), TV personality; Hal Linden (1931- ), actor; Pat Riley (1945- ), basketball coach/executive; Bobby Orr (1948- ), hockey player; William Hurt (1950- ), actor; Spike Lee (1957- ), filmmaker; Holly Hunter (1958- ), actress; Kathy Ireland (1963- ), model/actress; David Thewlis (1963- ), actor; Michael Rapaport (1970- ), actor; Chester Bennington (1976-2017), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: The constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947, forbids the country from participating in wars.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1934, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson pitched one inning of exhibition baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics in a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She allowed one walk and no hits.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Oh courage ... oh yes! If only one had that ... Then life might be livable, in spite of everything." -- Henrik Ibsen, "Hedda Gabler"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 542 -- length (in feet) of the USS Langley, commissioned on this day in 1922 as the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The USS Gerald R. Ford, a supercarrier commissioned into the Navy's fleet in 2017, is 1,106 feet long.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (March 17) and first quarter (March 24).