ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 49th day of 2026 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; Len Deighton (1929- ), author; Toni Morrison (1931-2019), 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; Ike Barinholtz (1977- ), actor/comedian; J-Hope (1994- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: "Flora," a ballad opera performed in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1735, was the first opera of any kind to be produced in North America.

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: "The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power." -- 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 2019, it had dropped to 33rd place.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Feb. 17) and first quarter moon (Feb. 24).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 48th day of 2026 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 (1925-2021), actor; Jim Brown (1936-2023), football player; Rene Russo (1954- ), actress; Michael Jordan (1963- ), basketball player; Michael Bay (1965- ), filmmaker; Billie Joe Armstrong (1972- ), musician; Joseph Gordon-Levitt (1981- ), actor; Paris Hilton (1981- ), socialite/media personality; Ed Sheeran (1991- ), singer-songwriter; Jeremy Allen White (1991- ), actor.

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 2020, Denny Hamlin won his second consecutive Daytona 500, becoming the fourth person in the race's history to win it back-to-back.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I'm not interested in trying to work on people's perceptions. I am who I am, and if you don't take the time to learn about that, then your perception is going to be your problem." -- Jim Brown

TODAY'S NUMBER: 28 -- age of Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force on this day in 1943. He was released on medical discharge in September 1945 due to chronic stomach ulcers.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Feb. 17).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 47th day of 2026 and the 58th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1923, archaeologist Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of the recently discovered tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen.

In 1959, Fidel Castro was sworn in as prime minister of Cuba.

In 1968, the United States' first 911 emergency phone system went into service in Haleyville, Alabama.

In 2005, the Kyoto Protocol for the reduction of greenhouse gases took effect for 141 ratifying nations.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry M. Leland (1843-1932), Cadillac and Lincoln Motor Co. founder; Edgar Bergen (1903-1978), ventriloquist; Vera-Ellen (1921-1981), actress/dancer; Sonny Bono (1935-1998), singer/politician; Richard Ford (1944- ), author; LeVar Burton (1957- ), actor; Ice-T (1958- ), actor/rapper; John McEnroe (1959- ), tennis player; Christopher Eccleston (1964- ), actor; Jerome Bettis (1972- ), football player; Mahershala Ali (1974- ), actor; Elizabeth Olsen (1989- ), actress; The Weeknd (1990- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: Hundreds of millions of 911 emergency calls are made in the United States each year. The Federal Communications Commission estimates that more than 80% are wireless calls.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2005, the National Hockey League canceled its 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs due to a labor dispute.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Social media has colonized what was once a sacred space occupied by emptiness: the space reserved for thought and creativity." -- Mahershala Ali

TODAY'S NUMBER: 500 -- broadcast radio stations in the United States in 1922. Today there are more than 15,000.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 9) and new moon (Feb. 17).