ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 186th day of 2018 and the 15th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1775, the Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition, an appeal to King George III for reconciliation between the colonies and Great Britain.

In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act was passed, guaranteeing workers the right to organize and bargain collectively.

In 1954, Elvis Presley recorded his first single, "That's All Right," at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon certified the 26th Amendment, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

In 1996, Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, was born.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: P.T. Barnum (1810-1891), circus founder; Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), writer; Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902-1985), diplomat; Huey Lewis (1950- ), singer-songwriter; Bill Watterson (1958- ), cartoonist; Edie Falco (1963- ), actress; Ronald D. Moore (1964- ), screenwriter/producer; Adam Young (1986- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: The bikini swimsuit, introduced by French fashion designer Louis Reard on this day in 1946, was named for the Bikini Atoll, where the United States had conducted a news-making atomic test earlier in the week.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2009, Roger Federer won his world-record 15th Grand Slam tournament with a victory over Andy Roddick at Wimbledon.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "History is facts which become lies in the end; legends are lies which become history in the end." -- Jean Cocteau

TODAY'S NUMBER: 5 billion -- cans of Spam sold worldwide by the end of the 20th century. The canned meat product from Hormel Food Corp. was introduced on this day in 1937.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (June 27) and last quarter moon (July 6).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 185th day of 2018 and the 14th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

In 1826, founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1960, the modern version of the American flag (with 50 stars) debuted at a ceremony in Philadelphia.

In 1997, NASA's Pathfinder space probe landed on Mars.

In 2012, the discovery of Higgs boson-like particles through experiments at the Large Hadron Collider was announced at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Everest (1790-1866), surveyor/geographer; Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), writer; Stephen Foster (1826-1864), songwriter; Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), 30th U.S. president; Eva Marie Saint (1924- ), actress; Neil Simon (1927- ), playwright; Al Davis (1929-2011), Oakland Raiders owner; George Steinbrenner (1930-2010), New York Yankees owner; Geraldo Rivera (1943- ), TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: Renowned advice columnists Eppie Lederer and Pauline Phillips, known as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby") respectively, were twin sisters, born on this day in 1918.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1939, New York Yankee slugger Lou Gehrig, who was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, announced his retirement at Yankee Stadium, delivering the famous line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is, to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when to be obeyed." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Blithedale Romance"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,000 -- approximate number of "Gorilla Sign Language" signs in the working vocabulary of Koko, a female lowland gorilla born on this day in 1971.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (June 27) and last quarter moon (July 6).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 184th day of 2018 and the 13th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1775, George Washington assumed command of the Continental Army.

In 1844, the last two confirmed great auk specimens were killed on the island of Eldey, off the coast of Iceland.

In 1863, an assault by Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces failed, and the Battle of Gettysburg ended in a Union victory.

In 1890, Idaho was admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.

In 1998, Bill Clinton completed the first presidential visit to China since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George M. Cohan (1878-1942), songwriter/entertainer; Franz Kafka (1883-1924), author; Dave Barry (1947- ), author/journalist; Montel Williams (1956- ), TV personality; Tom Cruise (1962- ), actor; Thomas Gibson (1962- ), actor; Yeardley Smith (1964- ), actress; Connie Nielsen (1965- ), actress; Brian Cashman (1967- ), baseball executive; Teemu Selanne (1970- ), hockey player; Patrick Wilson (1973- ), actor; Olivia Munn (1980- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The world speed record for a steam locomotive is held by London and North Eastern Railway’s Mallard, which reached 125.88 mph on this day in 1938.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1974, Mike Marshall of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched in relief of starter Tommy John, setting a major-league record for consecutive games pitched in, at 13.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?" -- Franz Kafka

TODAY'S NUMBER: 22 -- films starring Tom Cruise that have grossed more than $200 million worldwide, as of June 2018.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (June 27) and last quarter moon (July 6).