ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 50th day of 2019 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 learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction -- by skipping the parts that bored me." -- Jonathan Lethem

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

TODAY'S MOON: Full moon (Feb. 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 49th day of 2019 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 (1932-2018), 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: "If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it." -- 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 first quarter moon (Feb. 12) and full moon (Feb. 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 48th day of 2019 and the 59th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1801, the U.S. House of Representatives resolved an electoral tie by electing Thomas Jefferson president and his opponent, Aaron Burr, vice president.

In 1933, the Blaine Act initiated the repeal of Prohibition in the United States.

In 1974, a disgruntled U.S. Army private stole an Army helicopter at Fort Meade in Maryland and landed it on the White House lawn.

In 1996, world chess champion Garry Kasparov defeated the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in the last game of a six-game match, winning the series by a final score of 4-2.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Hans Morgenthau (1904-1980), political scientist; Red Barber (1908-1992), sportscaster; Hal Holbrook (1925- ), actor; Jim Brown (1936- ), football player; Rene Russo (1954- ), actress; Larry the Cable Guy (1963- ), comedian; Michael Jordan (1963- ), basketball player; Michael Bay (1965- ), filmmaker; Denise Richards (1971- ), actress; Billie Joe Armstrong (1972- ), musician; Joseph Gordon-Levitt (1981- ), actor; Paris Hilton (1981- ), socialite; Ed Sheeran (1991- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: The House of Representatives conducted 36 votes (one tie, 35 indecisive) before Thomas Jefferson was chosen as president over Aaron Burr.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1943, Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force. He was released on medical discharge in September 1945 due to chronic stomach ulcers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "All nations are tempted -- and few have been able to resist the power for long -- to clothe their own aspirations and action in the moral purposes of the universe." -- Hans Morgenthau, "Politics Among Nations"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 29 million -- certified U.S. album sales for "Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" (released on this date in 1976), the first album certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Feb. 12) and full moon (Feb. 19).