ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 229th day of 2025 and the 59th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, Union forces began shelling Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

In 1959, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck near Hebgen Lake in Montana, causing a landslide that later formed Earthquake Lake.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton testified before a grand jury and later apologized on national television for having a "wrong" relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Davy Crockett (1786-1836), frontiersman/soldier; Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), black nationalist leader; Mae West (1893-1980), actress/playwright; W. Mark Felt (1913-2008), FBI agent; Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015), actress; Robert De Niro (1943- ), actor; Belinda Carlisle (1958- ), singer; Jonathan Franzen (1959- ), author; Sean Penn (1960- ), actor/director; Donnie Wahlberg (1969- ), singer/actor.

TODAY'S FACT: At the time when he was providing key information on the Watergate scandal to The Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, W. Mark Felt was the acting associate director of the FBI, the bureau's second-highest ranking official.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2008 in Beijing, swimmer Michael Phelps won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay, becoming the first athlete to win eight gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Reading enables me to maintain a sense of something substantive -- my ethical integrity, my intellectual integrity." -- Jonathan Franzen, "How To Be Alone"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 17,508 -- islands counted within the territory of Indonesia, which declared its independence from the Netherlands on this day in 1945.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Aug. 15) and new moon (Aug. 22).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 228th day of 2025 and the 58th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln prohibited Union states from trading with states that had seceded.

In 1896, gold was discovered near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory, sparking a gold rush.

In 1977, Elvis Presley died at age 42.

In 2007, U.S. citizen Jose Padilla and two co-defendants were convicted of conspiracy in a "dirty bomb" terrorism case and sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, increased on appeal to 21.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) (1888-1935), soldier/archaeologist/writer; Hal Foster (1892-1982), author/illustrator; George Meany (1894-1980), union leader; Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), poet/writer; Ann Blyth (1928- ), actress; Eydie Gorme (1928-2013), singer/actress; James Cameron (1954- ), filmmaker; Angela Bassett (1958- ), actress; Madonna (1958- ), singer/actress; Steve Carell (1962- ), actor/comedian; Taika Waititi (1975- ), actor/filmmaker; Yu Darvish (1986- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: An 18-year-old Elvis Presley paid a private recording studio $4 in 1953 to record "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" on a two-sided record as, according to legend, a belated birthday gift to his mother.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1954, the first issue of Sports Illustrated was published.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I was depressed about the roles that were on offer, so I had to make my own stories." -- Taika Waititi

TODAY'S NUMBER: 102,800 -- height (in feet) from which Joseph Kittinger jumped during a record-setting U.S. Air Force experiment on this day in 1960. Though his height and speed records were broken during the Red Bull Stratos project in 2012, Kittinger's 4 minutes, 36 seconds of free fall remain unsurpassed.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Aug. 15) and new moon (Aug. 22).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 227th day of 2025 and the 57th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1483, the Vatican's Sistine Chapel was consecrated.

In 1914, the Panama Canal officially opened.

In 1947, India and Pakistan won independence from Britain.

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon canceled the direct convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold.

In 2021, the Taliban regained control of Kabul, Afghanistan.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), French emperor; Walter Scott (1771-1832), poet/novelist; Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959), actress; Edna Ferber (1885-1968), author; Julia Child (1912-2004), cookbook author/TV personality; Stephen Breyer (1938- ), U.S. Supreme Court justice; Stieg Larsson (1954-2004), journalist/author; Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (1963- ), filmmaker; Debra Messing (1968- ), actress; Ben Affleck (1972- ), actor/filmmaker; Carl Edwards (1979- ), race car driver; Jennifer Lawrence (1990- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The price of gold skyrocketed from $35 per ounce in 1971 to $850 per ounce in 1980 as a result of the economic measures undertaken by President Nixon in 1971.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1948, Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the third women's golf U.S. Open.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I didn't have a normal academic career. I never studied cinema. I learned from life." -- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

TODAY'S NUMBER: 450,000 -- estimated number of concertgoers who attended the Woodstock Music and Art Fair when it opened near Bethel, New York, on this day in 1969.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Aug. 15).