ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 204th day of 2018 and the 33rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1962, the Telstar 1 satellite transmitted the first live, trans-Atlantic TV broadcast, featuring CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite.

In 1967, the 12th Street Riots began in Detroit, ending five days later and resulting in 43 people dead, hundreds injured and more than 1,400 buildings burned to the ground.

In 1999, with the launch of Columbia, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a U.S. space shuttle flight.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY: Emil Jannings (1884-1950), actor; Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), author; Anthony M. Kennedy (1936- ), Supreme Court justice; Don Imus (1940- ), radio personality; Woody Harrelson (1961- ), actor; Slash (1965- ), guitarist/songwriter; Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014), actor; Alison Krauss (1971- ), musician/singer-songwriter; Marlon Wayans (1972- ), actor; Daniel Radcliffe (1989- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Comet Hale-Bopp, discovered on this day in 1995, was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, from May 1996 to December 1997. The previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811, was visible for about nine months.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1996, injured American gymnast Kerri Strug scored a 9.7 on the vault as the U.S. won its first-ever Olympic gold medal in the women's team gymnastics competition.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. In the end he knows all of the tricks and has nothing to say." -- Raymond Chandler

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,400 -- the distance from Earth (in light years) of Kepler-452b, a potentially Earthlike exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of a star in the constellation Cygnus. NASA announced its discovery on this day in 2015.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (July 19) and full moon (July 27).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 203rd day of 2018 and the 32nd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1587, 115 English colonists arrived at Roanoke Island, near the coast of present-day North Carolina, to re-establish an earlier, deserted colony.

In 1934, FBI agents shot and killed notorious bank robber John Dillinger as he attempted to escape arrest outside a Chicago movie theater.

In 2003, American forces attacked a compound in Mosul, Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay.

In 2004, the 9/11 Commission issued its final report, stating that the U.S. government had not been fully prepared for a terrorist attack.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), poet; Edward Hopper (1882-1967), artist; Oscar de la Renta (1932-2014), fashion designer; Terence Stamp (1938- ), actor; Alex Trebek (1940- ), TV personality; George Clinton (1941- ), musician; Ron Turcotte (1941- ), race horse jockey; Albert Brooks (1947- ), actor/screenwriter; Don Henley (1947- ), singer-songwriter; Willem Dafoe (1955- ), actor; David Spade (1964- ), actor/comedian; Rufus Wainwright (1973- ), singer-songwriter; Selena Gomez (1992- ), actress; Prince George of Cambridge (2013- ).

TODAY'S FACT: The fates of the second Roanoke colony and Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas in 1587, remain undetermined.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1996, Naim Suleymanoglu of Turkey, known worldwide as "Pocket Hercules," became the first weight lifter in Olympic history to win three gold medals.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If you don't challenge yourself, life gets quite dull. ... I felt it was necessary to have another component pushing me that was still dangerous. What's great about classical music is that it's not about youth." -- Rufus Wainwright

TODAY'S NUMBER: 15,596 -- miles flown during the first solo flight around the world, completed on this day in 1933 by aviator Wiley Post.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (July 19) and full moon (July 27).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 202nd day of 2018 and the 31st day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, the first Battle of Bull Run -- the first major battle of the Civil War -- was fought in Virginia, ending in a Confederate victory.

In 1925, Tennessee teacher John Scopes was convicted of violating the state's law against teaching the theory of evolution.

In 1954, the French surrendered North Vietnam to Communist forces.

In 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle Program came to an end as the shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), author; Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), author/theorist; Isaac Stern (1920-2001), violinist; Don Knotts (1924-2006), actor/comedian; Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens (1948- ), singer/songwriter; Garry Trudeau (1948- ), cartoonist; Robin Williams (1951-2014), actor/comedian; Brandi Chastain (1968- ), soccer player; Josh Hartnett (1978- ), actor; Juno Temple (1989- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Turkish adventurer Erden Eruc completed the first solo, human-powered global circumnavigation on this day in 2012, after traveling 41,196 miles in 1,026 days.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1959, the Boston Red Sox (the last major league team to integrate) fielded their first African-American player when Pumpsie Green entered a game against the Chicago White Sox in the eighth inning.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In an age of multiple and massive innovations, obsolescence becomes the major obsession." -- Marshall McLuhan

TODAY'S NUMBER: -128.6 -- temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) at Vostok Station, Antarctica, on this day in 1983, the lowest temperature recorded at an inhabited location in world history.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (July 19) and full moon (July 27).