ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 348th day of 2025 and the 84th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1799, George Washington died at Mount Vernon, his home in Virginia.

In 1819, Alabama was admitted as the 22nd U.S. state.

In 1911, explorer Roald Amundsen and his party became the first humans to reach the South Pole.

In 2001, after Hurricane Michelle devastated Cuba, a commercial shipment of food left the United States for the island nation for the first time since 1963.

In 2012, a 20-year-old gunman killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before taking his own life.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Doolittle (1896-1993), military aviator; Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), politician; Shirley Jackson (1916-1965), author; Don Hewitt (1922-2009), TV producer; Lee Remick (1935-1991), actress; Patty Duke (1946-2016), actress; Bill Buckner (1949-2019), baseball player; Kyle Shanahan (1979- ), football coach; Vanessa Hudgens (1988- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Historians have estimated that physicians drained 5 to 7 pints of blood from President George Washington in the day prior to his death, in an attempt to cure him.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, after losing the first 17 games of the season, the Miami Heat defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 89-88 for the franchise's first win.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "As an American, I do not want a Democratic administration 'whitewash' or 'coverup' any more than I want a Republican smear or witch hunt. ... As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves." -- Margaret Chase Smith

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- points known as the South Pole: the ceremonial pole, the geographic pole and the magnetic pole.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Dec. 11) and new moon (Dec. 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 347th day of 2025 and the 83rd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1577, Sir Francis Drake left England on a three-year voyage around the world.

In 1972, American astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt began the third and final lunar excursion of the Apollo 17 mission. They remain the most recent humans to set foot on the moon.

In 2002, Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of Boston following sex abuse scandals in the archdiocese.

In 2003, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. military forces in a small underground hideout near Tikrit, Iraq.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), poet; Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), first lady; Dick Van Dyke (1925- ), actor; Christopher Plummer (1929-2021), actor; Ted Nugent (1948- ), singer-songwriter; Ben Bernanke (1953- ), economist; Steve Buscemi (1957- ), actor; Rex and Rob Ryan (1962- ), football coaches/TV analysts; Mike Tirico (1966- ), sportscaster; Jamie Foxx (1967- ), actor/singer; Sergei Fedorov (1969- ), hockey player; Taylor Swift (1989- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: Jamie Foxx is one of six performers to have both a Billboard No. 1 single and an Oscar win for acting. The others are Will Smith, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, the Mitchell Report was released, indicating widespread steroid use in professional baseball and naming dozens of players involved.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamed that I was reading on, so I awoke from sheer boredom." -- Heinrich Heine

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 -- Mary Todd Lincoln's age when her mother died. Abraham Lincoln's mother died when he was 9.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Dec. 11) and new moon (Dec. 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 346th day of 2025 and the 82nd day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1901, the first trans-Atlantic radio transmission was received by inventor Guglielmo Marconi in Newfoundland.

In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore, effectively resolving the 2000 presidential election.

In 2012, North Korea successfully launched Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2, its first satellite.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Jay (1745-1829), first chief justice of the United States; Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), novelist; Edvard Munch (1863-1944), artist; Edward G. Robinson (1893-1973), actor; Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), singer/actor; Bob Barker (1923-2023), TV personality; Dionne Warwick (1940- ), singer; Bill Nighy (1949- ), actor; Royce Gracie (1966- ), mixed martial artist; Jennifer Connelly (1970- ), actress; Mayim Bialik (1975- ), actress; Lucas Hedges (1996- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: As of November 2025, the telecommunications company Starlink has 8,811 individual satellites in orbit around the Earth.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1965, rookie running back Gale Sayers of the Chicago Bears scored an NFL record-tying six touchdowns (four rushing, one receiving and one punt return) in a 61-20 win over the visiting San Francisco 49ers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The public wants work which flatters its illusions." -- Gustave Flaubert, "Madame Bovary"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 18 years, 195 days -- age of Indian chess grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju when he won the World Chess Championship on this day in 2024, becoming the youngest undisputed open-category world champion in history.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Dec. 11) and new moon (Dec. 19).