ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 226th day of 2020 and the 55th 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; Sebastian Stan (1982- ), actor; Devin and Jason McCourty (1987- ), football players; 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: "I am a typed director. If I made 'Cinderella,' the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach." –- Alfred Hitchcock

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 last quarter moon (Aug. 11) and new moon (Aug. 18).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 225th day of 2020 and the 54th 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 1953, the USSR detonated the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.

In 2017, one person was killed and several others were injured when a car was driven into a crowd of counterprotesters during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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 (1931-2018), 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; Tyson Fury (1988- ), boxer.

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. 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: "Life isn't fair, it's just fairer than death, that's all." -- William Goldman, "The Princess Bride"

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

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 224th day of 2020 and the 53rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1934, the first federal prisoners were incarcerated at the Alcatraz Island prison in San Francisco Bay.

In 1965, rioting began in the Watts district of Los Angeles.

In 1972, the last U.S. ground combat unit left South Vietnam.

In 2003, NATO took over command of peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: David Atchison (1807-1886), legislator; Enid Blyton (1897-1968), children's author; Alex Haley (1921-1992), historian/author; Arlene Dahl (1925- ), actress; Steve Wozniak (1950- ), Apple co-founder; Hulk Hogan (1953- ), wrestler/actor; David Brooks (1961- ), journalist; Viola Davis (1965- ), actress; Joe Rogan (1967- ), actor/comedian; Anna Gunn (1968- ), actress; Chris Hemsworth (1983- ), actor; Pablo Sandoval (1986- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The Mall of America, which opened in Bloomington, Minnesota, on this day in 1992, cost $650 million to build and generates more than $50 million in taxes for the state each year.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1984, Carl Lewis replicated Jesse Owens' 1936 performance at the Summer Olympics by winning his fourth and final gold medal, all in the same track events Owens had won nearly 50 years earlier.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I don't have any time to stay up all night worrying about what someone who doesn't love me has to say about me." -- Viola Davis

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,545 -- federal prisoners interned at Alcatraz during its 28-year use as a prison.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Aug. 11).