ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 226th day of 2018 and the 55th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, guaranteeing income for retirees and the unemployed.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced Japan's unconditional surrender and the end of World War II.

In 2003, 50 million people in the northeastern United States and Ontario, Canada, lost power in one of the largest blackouts in history.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Doc Holliday (1851-1887), gambler; David Crosby (1941- ), singer-songwriter; Steve Martin (1945- ), actor/writer/musician; Danielle Steel (1947- ), novelist; Gary Larson (1950- ), cartoonist; James Horner (1953-2015), composer; Rusty Wallace (1956- ), race car driver; Earvin "Magic" Johnson (1959- ), basketball player/businessman; Halle Berry (1966- ), actress; Mila Kunis (1983- ), actress; Tim Tebow (1987- ), athlete/sportscaster.

TODAY'S FACT: The New York Times reported in 1945 that an estimated 2 million people flooded New York City's Times Square following the announcement of the Japanese surrender in World War II.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, Braves manager Bobby Cox was ejected from his 132nd major league game, passing the record previously set by John McGraw. Cox retired in 2010 with 158 regular season and three post-season ejections in his career.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration." -- Steve Martin, "Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $47 million -- price paid by pop legend Michael Jackson when he purchased the company that owned the publishing rights to the majority of the Beatles' catalog (251 compositions) on this day in 1985.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 11) and first quarter moon (Aug. 18).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 225th day of 2018 and the 54th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1521, Hernando Cortes captured the capital of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan (later Mexico City), after a three-month siege.

In 1907, the first gasoline-powered taxicab took fares in New York City.

In 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1961, East German soldiers began constructing a barbed-wire barrier between the eastern and western parts of Berlin.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Annie Oakley (1860-1926), sharpshooter; Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980), film director; Ben Hogan (1912-1997), golfer; Fidel Castro (1926-2016), Cuban president; Don Ho (1930-2007), singer; Philippe Petit (1949- ), tightrope walker; Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), singer-songwriter; Paul Greengrass (1955- ), film director; John Slattery (1962- ), actor; Valerie Plame (1963- ), CIA agent/author; Shani Davis (1982- ), Olympic speed skater; Demetrious Johnson (1986- ), mixed martial artist; DeMarcus Cousins (1990- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Alfred Hitchcock never won an Academy Award for directing. When he was honored with the Academy’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968, his speech was five words long: “Thank you, very much indeed.”

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1948, Baseball Hall of Famer Satchel Paige pitched his first complete game at age 42.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If it's a problem of fire, fire might very well be the answer." -- Philippe Petit, "Creativity: The Perfect Crime"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 305 -- women who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps (women were allowed to enlist for office, clerical and secretarial duties) in 1918.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 11) and first quarter moon (Aug. 18).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 224th day of 2018 and the 53rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1898, Spain agreed to peace protocols with the United States, bringing an end to the Spanish-American war.

In 1898, the United States took formal possession of the Hawaiian Islands.

In 1953, the USSR detonated the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.

In 1981, IBM announced the release of its first personal computer.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929), songwriter; Christy Mathewson (1880-1925), baseball player; Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959), film director/producer; Cantinflas (1911-1993), actor/filmmaker; William Goldman (1931- ), author/screenwriter; George Hamilton (1939- ), actor; Ann Martin (1955- ), author; Bruce Greenwood (1956- ), actor; Peter Krause (1965- ), actor; Michael Ian Black (1971- ), actor; Pete Sampras (1971- ), tennis player; Casey Affleck (1975- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: "Sue," one of the largest and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever found, was discovered in South Dakota on this day in 1990 by paleontologist Susan Hendrikson. The skeleton is now displayed at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1994, Major League Baseball players began a 232-day strike that resulted in the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I think beaches kind of get in your blood, and if you grow up near one you never feel quite right when you're away from it." -- Ann Martin, "Dawn and the Surfer Ghost"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 64,000 -- bytes (62.5 kilobytes) of memory available in the "typical system for home and school" offered in IBM's 1981 press release announcing the personal computer. The system retailed for $3,005.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 11) and first quarter moon (Aug. 18).