ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 220th day of 2019 and the 49th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the United Nations charter, making the United States the first nation to join the organization.

In 1963, 15 thieves stole close to 2.6 million pounds from a mail train in Britain's "Great Train Robbery."

In 1974, President Richard Nixon announced on national television that he would resign the presidency at noon the following day.

In 1990, Iraq announced its "unification" with Kuwait, days after its military forces had invaded and taken over the country.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Sara Teasdale (1884-1933), poet; Marjorie Rawlings (1896-1953), novelist/Pulitzer Prize winner; Benny Carter (1907-2003), jazz musician; Esther Williams (1921-2013), actress; Mel Tillis (1932-2017), singer-songwriter; Dustin Hoffman (1937- ), actor; Keith Carradine (1949- ), actor; Deborah Norville (1958- ), journalist; The Edge (1961- ), guitarist; Roger Federer (1981- ), tennis player; Meagan Good (1981- ), actress; Shawn Mendes (1998- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: Thomas Edison received a patent for the mimeograph on this day in 1876.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, the Chicago Cubs hosted the first-ever night game under the newly installed lights at Wrigley Field. Rain caused the game to be called in the fourth inning with the Cubs leading the Mets 3-1.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I would live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea, / Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes." -- Sara Teasdale, "I Would Live in Your Love"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2,121 -- height (in feet) of the Warsaw radio mast in Poland, which held the title of the world's tallest structure until it collapsed on this day in 1991.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Aug. 7) and full moon (Aug. 15).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 219th day of 2019 and the 48th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established.

In 1942, the U.S. 1st Marines Division landed on the island of Guadalcanal, marking the first major American offensive of World War II.

In 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in response to reported Vietnamese attacks.

In 1998, U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were bombed.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ralph Bunche (1904-1971), activist/Nobel laureate; Tobin Bell (1942- ), actor; Garrison Keillor (1942- ), writer/entertainer; Wayne Knight (1955- ), actor; David Duchovny (1960- ), actor; Harold Perrineau (1963- ), actor; Jimmy Wales (1966- ), Wikipedia co-founder; Michael Shannon (1974- ), actor; Charlize Theron (1975- ), actress; Sidney Crosby (1987- ), hockey player; Mike Trout (1991- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1947, Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of five crashed into a reef at Raroia, near Tahiti, aboard their balsa wood raft, Kon-Tiki. The 4,300-mile, 101-day voyage from Peru was undertaken to prove that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian Islands.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 756th career home run, surpassing the record set by Hank Aaron.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The world and its peoples being as they are, there is no easy or quick or infallible approach to a secure peace. It is only by patient, persistent, undismayed effort, by trial and error, that peace can be won." -- Ralph Bunche

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,368 -- height (in feet) of the wire suspended between the World Trade Center towers and walked by French high-wire artist Philippe Petit on this day in 1974. Petit walked back and forth, sat and even danced on the 200-foot-long wire for 45 minutes before surrendering to police.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Aug. 7).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 218th day of 2019 and the 47th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1787, the "Great Debate" over the future of the U.S. Constitution began at the Constitutional Convention.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

In 1945, the U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed some voting qualifications thought to disenfranchise black voters.

In 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), poet; Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), biologist/pharmacologist; Lucille Ball (1911-1989), actress/comedian; Robert Mitchum (1917-1997), actor; Andy Warhol (1928-1987), artist/filmmaker; Michelle Yeoh (1962- ), actress; David Robinson (1965- ), basketball player; Mike Greenberg (1967- ), sportscaster; M. Night Shyamalan (1970- ), filmmaker; Vera Farmiga (1973- ), actress; Max Kellerman (1973- ), sportscaster.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1991, CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first website and webpage, which offered information about the World Wide Web project.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1963, Philadelphia's NBA team changed its name from the Nationals to the 76ers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Break, break, break, / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! / And I would that my tongue could utter / The thoughts that arise in me." -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Break, Break, Break"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4,862 -- ring count of Prometheus, a bristlecone pine tree cut down for research purposes on this day in 1964 by U.S. Forest Service personnel in eastern Nevada. Scientists believe the tree may have been more than 5,000 years old, making it the oldest non-clonal organism ever discovered.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (July 31) and first quarter moon (Aug. 7).